it would be for love and nothing else.
She was about to blow-dry her hair when her cell phone rang. She immediately recognized the caller. Harold. Moving to the bed, she picked up her phone. “Why are you calling me?”
“Thanks to you, the folks, both yours and mine, are mad at me.”
Did he honestly call to tell her that? “Not my problem.”
“It is your problem because now they blame me for you ending our engagement. They’ve given me one week to have you back here in Cincinnati and planning our wedding. So, where are you?”
If Sloan hadn’t known it before, she definitely knew it now. Harold Cunningham was a jackass, especially if he thought there was a chance for them to get back together. “You don’t need to know where I am because there won’t be a wedding between us. Ever.”
And without saying goodbye, Sloan disconnected the call.
Six
“Is it true?”
Mercury glanced up to find his brothers Eli and Tyson standing in the doorway of his office. Neither believed in knocking, and since Pauline had left early today, they’d taken advantage of not having to be announced.
He really wasn’t surprised to see either Eli or Tyson today. Eli’s law firm took up the entire twentieth floor and he was known to drop in and talk about his wife and one-year-old son, Elias. Like Galen, Eli had fallen into the role of family man like he’d been bred for the part.
As far as Tyson, the Steele brother who was a gifted heart surgeon, was concerned, Mercury knew, from running into Hunter earlier, that Tyson was here picking her up from work for one of their date nights.
A huge smile touched Mercury’s lips. “I guess you guys heard that I signed Norris Eastwood today. It will probably make the news this evening.”
“We hadn’t heard that,” Eli said, coming into Mercury’s office with Tyson on his heels.
“Congratulations,” they both then said.
“Thanks.” Mercury leaned back in the chair behind his desk. “If the two of you didn’t know about Eastwood, then what are you asking about being true?”
Eli eased down in one of the guest chairs. “The fact that you took a woman home to Mom. And according to Galen, she’s a sizzling-hot looker and a prim-and-proper lady. She’s just the type a guy would take home to his mother. What could you have been thinking? A man never takes a woman home to his mother for any reason unless it’s serious.”
Mercury rolled his eyes. “Galen has blown things all out of proportion. The woman was down on her luck and needed a place to stay for the night.”
“And you honestly think our mother will give her refuge for just one night? If Mom likes her, and Galen is convinced that she will, chances are that woman will stay while Mom turns her into your future bride.”
Mercury sat up straight in his chair. “That won’t be happening.”
“You’ll never convince Mom of that,” Tyson said. “Have you forgotten how Mom and Dad met?”
“Of course I haven’t forgotten. Mom stowed away in the back of Dad’s rig.”
Tyson was still grinning. “And do you recall just why Mom did that?”
The line of concentration along Mercury’s brow deepened. “Yes. She was on the run from her parents...”
His voice trailed off when he remembered. Clearly remembered. He gazed over at his brothers, who were staring at him. Now they were both grinning with a “you really set yourself up for that one” look on their faces.
“I need to talk to Mom,” Mercury said, quickly moving to the coatrack and grabbing his jacket. The last thing he wanted was for Eden Tyson Steele to fill her head up with romantic ideas, just because she had ended up marrying her rescuer.
“It might be too late, Mercury. You might as well accept your fate.”
He ignored Eli’s comment as he briskly walked out of his office.
“And you’re sure you’ll be okay?” Eden asked Sloan again.
Sloan smiled. Drew and Eden had a prior dinner engagement that