Seduced By A Steele (Forged of Steele #12) - Brenda Jackson Page 0,14
served with chips and a glass of iced tea.
“My parents refused to back down about me marrying Harold. When I left home, I had a small amount of cash and a couple of credit cards in my name. I used most of my cash when I bought Mercury’s car.”
Sloan drew in a deep breath. Already she could tell that Mercury’s parents were different from her own. That made her wonder if perhaps they thought she’d made up the entire thing. “I know what I just told you about my circumstances might be hard to believe, but it’s true.”
Eden smiled and gently patted Sloan’s hand. “Oh, I believe you. In fact, listening to you brought back memories of how Drew and I met.”
Sloan was surprised to hear that. “Really?”
“Yes. Like yours, my parents also had money and an arranged marriage in my future. It wasn’t that Mark and I didn’t get along or that he wasn’t a nice guy, but we didn’t love each other, and I had other plans for my future. I wanted to be a model and had actually gotten an agent and was doing a few jobs behind my parents’ backs right after college.”
“What happened?”
“They found out and told me to quit the modeling and instead concentrate on becoming Mark’s wife...or else they would stop providing me with anything. Up until then, I’d had the best of everything. Of course, I didn’t believe they would do it, try forcing me into a marriage I didn’t want. But they were determined.”
Eden took a sip of her tea, and the expression on her face let Sloan know she was remembering that time. “I was deeply upset when they threatened to destroy the model agency representing me, and my agent caved in under pressure and dropped me. When I still refused to do what they wanted, my parents took my car and charge cards, as well as closing my bank account, leaving me with very little to my name.”
Sloan leaned forward, intrigued by what Eden was sharing and fascinated by how similar it was to her own situation. “What did you do?”
“I was determined to make it on my own, so with only a couple of hundred dollars in my pocket, I did something rather foolish. Something that these days I wouldn’t advise anyone to do, especially a woman.”
“And what was that?”
“I stowed away in the back of a tractor trailer at a truck stop, hiding behind boxes of auto parts the trucker was hauling from Phoenix to California. At the time I was too upset with my agent and my parents to consider the danger doing something like that involved. Luckily for me, the trucker was this guy here,” Eden said, smiling over at her husband. “He said my perfume gave me away and my scent was all over his truck. He’d gone ten miles before he pulled over and found me hiding. He threatened to take me back to the truck stop, but I talked him out of it and persuaded him to take me with him to California. Less than two years later, we were married.”
Sloan studied Eden and then recognition dawned. Eden Tyson. This was the Eden Tyson who’d been a renowned supermodel right along with the likes of Christie Brinkley, Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell. And she was Mercury’s mother? Wow!
“I recognize you now and you’re still beautiful,” she said in awe, complimenting the older woman.
“Thank you, Sloan.”
“And I’m glad your situation had a happy ending.”
Eden’s smile widened. “And I have a feeling yours will, as well.”
An hour later, Sloan walked out of the guest-room bath feeling totally refreshed after her shower. She appreciated Eden and Drew opening their home to her. This was such a lovely guest room. The entire house was beautiful and had the feel of a home and not just a house.
Sloan also appreciated Eden and Drew sharing their story with her. She could see by the way they looked at each other that Mercury had been right. His parents did love each other. That was how it was supposed to be. Although marriage was not in Sloan’s plans, if she ever did marry