He stood there with his focus directly on her, trying to figure out what attracted him to the point where he wanted to strip her naked, right there in his kitchen

But not before he got to taste her again, to see if the flavor of her mouth had changed, and to see if she could still work her tongue as she had before.

His eyes slowly shifted lower to her chest, to the top she was wearing. He pulled in a choppy breath. He saw her nipples start to harden, right before his eyes.

Hell, if just a look could do that to her, he wondered what would happen if he were to touch her, taste her. He could feel his own eyes darkening with heat and knew the moment she saw it, as well. She continued to hold his gaze, then asked, “Is there something else?”

He couldn’t help the smile that touched his lips, a predatory one at best. She could ask the damnedest questions. This time he would give her an answer and he hoped she was ready for his response. “Yes, there is something else,” he said, walking towards her.

Dear Reader,

I love starting a new series! I can recall when I wrote the first books of my Madaris, Westmoreland and Steele series. It felt wonderful introducing my readers to a family I had created in my mind and held in my heart. I am proud to now introduce to you men whose ties that bind them forever were created by their fathers, best friends in college.

I envisioned close friends, deciding their lives would be connected forever through their offspring and making their firstborn sons godbrothers to each other. What also would be unique was that their first names would be taken from the last letters of the alphabet.

These guys, for various reasons, are members of the Bachelors in Demand Club, and are determined to stay single for as long as they can. It will be fun to see how many will retain their membership when the right woman comes along.

Book one, Bachelor Untamed, is Uriel Lassiter’s story and his leading lady is someone from his past, Ellie Weston. And although Uriel wishes otherwise, she is also someone for his future.

I hope you enjoy reading Uriel and Ellie’s story.

Happy reading!

Brenda Jackson

About the Author

BRENDA JACKSON is a die “heart” romantic who married her childhood sweetheart and still proudly wears the “going steady” ring he gave her when she was fifteen. Because she’s always believed in the power of love, Brenda’s stories always have happy endings.

In her real-life love story, Brenda and her husband of thirty-seven years live in Jacksonville, Florida, and have two sons. A New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of more than sixty romance titles, Brenda is retired from a major insurance company and now divides her time between family, writing and traveling with her husband, Gerald. You may write Brenda at PO Box 28267, Jacksonville, Florida 32226, by e-mail at WriterBJackson@aol.com or visit her website at www.brendajackson.net.

Bachelor
Untamed

Brenda Jackson

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MILLS & BOON

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To the love of my life, Gerald Jackson, Sr.

To all the members of the Brenda Jackson Book Club.

This one is for you.

Apply your heart to instruction,

and your ears to words of knowledge.

—Proverbs 23:12

Prologue

“Go ahead and do it, El. You’ve been dying to kiss him forever. Do it. I dare you.”

Ellie Weston rolled her eyes at her best friend Darcelle Owens’s statement. She was used to Darcy getting them in trouble with her dares. But, this was one dare that she was more than tempted to carry through.

The two of them stood hiding in the thicket of trees and bushes while spying on the guy Ellie had had a crush on forever. It didn’t matter that Uriel Lassiter was twenty-one to her sixteen and a senior in college. All that mattered was how her heart started beating fast in her chest whenever she saw him.

“Come on, El. He’s leaving tomorrow to go back home, and you’re going to hate yourself for a missed opportunity. This will probably be the last time you’ll see him until who knows when. He graduates next spring and will probably never come back here for the summer.”

Ellie felt a thump in the pit of her stomach and pondered Darcy’s words. With Uriel graduating from college next year, he probably wouldn’t be coming back to the lake, at least not as often. Uriel’s parents owned a summerhouse right next door to her aunt’s home on Cavanaugh Lake, a few miles outside of Gatlinburg. For a entire month during the summer she would visit her aunt, and it was only then when she would see Uriel. The thought that she might not ever see him again was too painful to think about.

She could recall only one summer that he hadn’t come, and that had been last year. She’d heard that he and his five godbrothers had taken a trip abroad that summer. It had been the most boring summer of her life.

Ellie glanced over at Darcy and whispered, “If I take you up on your dare, what do I get?”

Now it was Darcy’s turn to roll her eyes. “I would think to lock lips with your dreamboat would be enough. But since you want to be greedy, if you take me up on my dare you can have my autographed picture of Maxwell.”

Ellie’s eyes widened. She had been scheduled to go to that Maxwell concert with Darcy, but had come down with the mumps and missed it. “You’ll risk the chance of losing that?” she asked, since she knew what a big Maxwell fan Darcy was. She probably sang “Fortunate” in her sleep.

“Yes, but only if the kiss lasts for more than a minute. I don’t want to see just a peck on the lips, El. You’re going to have to make him kiss you for a long time.”

Ellie was aghast. How was she supposed to do something like that, when she’d never kissed a boy before? “Any bright ideas how to pull that off?”

Of course Miss-Know-It-All Darcy would have all the answers. “You’re going to have to use your tongue. I heard Jonas tell one of his friends that he liked kissing girls who used their tongue.”

Ellie lifted a brow. Jonas was Darcy’s oldest brother, who was a senior in high school, so he would know. All the girls back home in Minneapolis just loved Jonas and he loved all the girls. “And he said guys actually liked it?” Ellie asked, to be sure.

Darcy nodded her head. “Yes, I heard him say it. He and Leroy Green didn’t know I was hiding under the bed.”

Ellie knew better than to ask Darcy what she was doing hiding under her brother’s bed. “Well, okay. But if he doesn’t want to keep his mouth on mine I can’t make him. But I’ll try.”

Darcy’s eyes brightened. “You’re going to do it?”

Ellie released a deep breath. “Yes, but you can’t make a sound.”

“Okay, but remember the kiss has to last for at least a whole minute.”

Ellie frowned. “You don’t have to remind me.”

Uriel glanced to the side when he heard the sound of footsteps crunching on fallen leaves.

Ellie Weston.

Good grief! She was only sixteen, but last week when he had arrived to join his parents at the lake, he hadn’t been able to believe how much she changed since two summers ago. She was no longer a tall, lanky girl, but now she had curves in places that he couldn’t help notice.

She had been wearing a pair of shorts and a blouse and she looked quite stunning. The fitted top she wore outlined breasts that were full and perfectly formed. She had the tiniest waist he’d ever seen, and her hips flared out rather nicely, to join a pair of gorgeous long legs.

He swallowed, trying not to notice how she was dressed now. She was wearing another pair of shorts and they were way too skimpy for his comfort. And the way her blouse fit exposed a sliver of her bare stomach.

He frowned, trying to deny the attraction. He was five years older than her, and shouldn’t be thinking about her this way. Damn, but he could remember when she was a kid in braces climbing trees. Now he could imagine them hooking up as a couple. He shook his head slightly to clear his thoughts.

“Hey, Uri. What are you doing?” she asked, coming closer.

He shifted his gaze from her legs to glance out over the lake. “Fishing. Where’s your friend?” He nearly let his fishing rod fall in the water when she came and sat on the pier beside him.

“Oh, Darcy’s taking a nap. We were both up late last night.”

He forced his gaze to stay straight ahead. “Why aren’t you taking a nap, too?”

“Umm, not sleepy. I was taking a walk, and then I saw you and thought I’d come keep you company.”

He was about to tell her not to do him any favors, but decided against it. She had no way of knowing he was seeing her in a whole new light. Her aunt, Ms. Mable, would probably kill him if she knew what kind of light that was.

“So, how is college?” she asked him.

He shrugged. “It’s okay. What about you? Are you looking forward to the end of the summer to head back to school?”

She giggled. It wasn’t a kid’s giggle, either. It had a sensuous twang to it. At least he thought so. “Heck no. I don’t like school. I can’t wait to get out,” she said.

He heard her words and recalled feeling that way when he’d been her age. “Don’t you have plans to go to college?” he couldn’t help but ask.

“No. I want to get married.”

Now that got his attention and he couldn’t help but glance over at her. Then he wished he hadn’t. She had brought her face close to his. Too close. He could actually see the dark irises staring back at him. That cute little mole on the side of her nose was even more visible. And the shape of her lips … When had they gotten so full? So well defined?

He swallowed, tried forcing his gaze back to the lake, but his eyes refused to budge. “Why do you want to get married?”

She smiled and his gut pulled so tight he could barely breathe. “I want to get married because …”

Her voice had lowered and he could barely hear her words. And was he imagining things, but had she just inched her face a little closer to his? Or was he the one leaning in closer?

“Because of what?” He somehow found his voice to ask her, and couldn’t stop his gaze from dropping from her eyes to her lips.

“Because I want to know how it is to sleep with the man I love. To feel his body beside me in bed. To become acquainted with his lips on mine.”

He felt himself leaning in closer to her. “Aren’t you too young to be thinking of such things?” he managed to ask in a voice so deep he barely recognized it as his own.

“No.” And then in a move that was totally unexpected, she leaned over and plastered her lips to his.

The first thought that came to his mind was to push her away, but her lips felt so soft and sweet that he found himself entranced. His body shuddered as he sank his hand into her hair, deepening the kiss.

“That’s it, El. Hang on in there! You’ve made the one-minute mark, so now you can go for the gusto!”

Uriel jerked up, and in the process nearly tumbled them both into the water. He had to catch his breath before he could say anything, and then he looked from Ellie Weston and her thoroughly kissed lips, to her friend, the one that should have been napping.

He narrowed his gaze, first at the other girl and then at Ellie. “What’s going on, El?” he asked in a rough voice.

Before Ellie could reply, Darcy spoke up, grinning proudly, “You kissed her for one minute and twelve seconds, so she won the dare.”

Those words hit him hard in the chest. That kiss had been part of a dare. He had been the butt of these girls’ joke? That very idea made his blood boil and intense anger rushed through him. He glanced over at Ellie. “Is that true, El?”

Her face had tinted in embarrassment, and she looked everywhere but at him, mostly glaring over at her friend. “I asked you a question, El,” he said, when she didn’t say anything.

She drew in a deep breath and then glanced back over at him and said. “I can explain, Uri.”

He shook his head. “No explanations. Just answer the question. Was that kiss about a dare between you and your friend here?”

“Yes, but—”

Not giving her a chance to say anything else, he snatched up his fishing rod and angrily began walking off the pier. He got halfway, turned back around and said directly to Ellie, “The next time I come to Cavanaugh Lake, I’m going to make sure that you aren’t here.”

And then he turned around and kept walking, while wishing that he could forget the sweet taste of her lips.

Chapter 1

Ten years later

“To Flame, with all my love. D.”

Ellie Weston studied the elegant sprawling handwriting across the bottom of a framed picture on the wall in her aunt’s bedroom.

She lifted a brow. Aunt Mable had probably purchased the painting at one of those garage sales she’d enjoyed getting up on Saturday mornings to drive forty miles into Knoxville to attend. In fact, Ellie had noticed several new paintings in all of the bedrooms, as well as the living room. However, this particular one caught Ellie’s eye because it wasn’t one she would have expected her unmarried seventy-year-old aunt to be attracted to.

Ellie studied the painting some more. It was a colorful piece of art that showed a faceless but very naked couple in a risqué embrace. So much in fact, that upon closer study it appeared they were having sex.

She felt a heated blush stain her face as she stepped back and glanced around. It seemed that rather recently her aunt had gotten a new bedroom suite—a king-size Queen Anne four-poster bed in beautiful cherry mahogany. The bedroom suite had a romantic flair that Ellie liked. And there was a matching desk in one section of the room with, of all things, a computer. When had her aunt entered the computer age? Ellie hadn’t been aware she’d owned one. If she’d known, they could have been staying in contact by e-mail.

To Ellie, her aunt’s two-story house had always seemed too large for one person. It had a spacious layout that included a huge living room, a bathroom, dining room and eat-in kitchen downstairs, and four bedrooms and three bathrooms upstairs. The wood paneling had been removed and the walls had been painted an oyster white. The bright color actually made the entire interior appear larger, roomier.

Had it been five years since she had last visited her aunt here? Although she had stopped coming to the lake house when she’d turned twenty-one, she and her aunt still got together every year when she could convince Aunt Mable to come visit her in Boston, where she had moved after college. It had worked well for the both of them. It gave her aunt a chance to leave the lake and visit someplace else, and it gave Ellie a chance to not dwell on the most embarrassing memory of all her visits here.

She had stopped speaking to her best friend Darcy for an entire month after that kissing incident with Uriel Lassiter, regardless of the number of times Darcy had told her how sorry she was for getting carried away with her excitement. In the end, Ellie had accepted full responsibility for ever accepting Darcy’s dare in the first place.

And it was her fault that Uriel had kept his word and had made sure their paths never crossed at Cavanaugh Lake again.

She had not seen him in ten years. He had been out of the country, unable to attend her aunt’s funeral last month, but her parents had mentioned getting a nice floral arrangement from him.

Ellie shook her head, remembering that Uriel’s parents had gotten a divorce two years ago. Who would have thought the Lassiters would ever split? And according to her parents, Carolyn Lassiter was now involved with a much younger man, one only a few years older than her own son.

The last Ellie had heard, according to Aunt Mable before she’d died, was that Anthony and Carolyn Lassiter were in court, battling over who would get ownership of the lake house. As a result of the bitter embroilment, the courts had ruled that the house should be put up for sale and the proceeds split. Aunt Mable had no idea who’d bought the lake house next door and hadn’t met her new neighbor before she’d died.

Deciding she needed something to eat before she began unpacking, Ellie left her aunt’s bedroom and began walking down the stairs, remembering how her aunt, who hadn’t been sick a day in her life, had died peacefully in her sleep. Although Ellie knew she would miss her, she felt it was befitting for her to go that way—without any type of sickness to destroy her mind and body. And from what she could tell, although Aunt Mable had probably been lonely at times living out here at the lake, her aunt was happy. At least she had appeared happy and content the last time Ellie had seen her. And she had left everything she owned to her one and only grandniece. Ellie was overwhelmed by such a grand gesture of love.

She walked into the kitchen and immediately noticed the new cabinets. It seemed her aunt had given the house a face-lift, one that had been beautifully done. There were new marble countertops, stainless steel appliances and polished tile floors.

The drive from Boston had been a long one, and Ellie had stopped by one of those fast-food places to grab a hamburger, fries and a shake before getting off Interstate 95. Then, once she had reached Gatlinburg, she stopped at a market to pick up a few things for dinner, deciding that later in the week she would take an inventory of what she would need for her month-long stay at the lake. It was a beautiful day, the first week in August, and the first thing Ellie intended to do tomorrow was open up the windows to air out the place. The living-room window was huge, wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling and provided a lot of sunlight and a beautiful view of Cavanaugh Lake, no matter where you stood or sat.

Crossing the kitchen floor, she opened the pantry and wasn’t surprised to find it well stocked. Her aunt was known to prepare for the winter months well in advance. Settling on a can of soup for dinner, she proceeded to warm it on the stove.

Standing at the kitchen sink, she glanced through the trees to look at the house that used to be owned by the Lassiters. She could easily recall how often she would stand in this very spot, hoping for a glimpse of Uriel when he would come outside. But she had discovered long ago that the best view from her aunt’s bedroom window was that of the backyard and pier.

A half hour later, Ellie had finished her soup and was placing her bowl in the sink when she glanced out the window and saw that a car was parked in front of the house next door. She lifted a brow, wondering if perhaps the new owners had decided to spend some time at their lake place.

Ellie had parked her car in the garage, so they would not know someone was in residence at her place. Her place. That seemed so strange, when this home had belonged to Aunt Mable for so long.

She was about to turn around and go upstairs to start unpacking when something caught her eye. She drew in a tight breath as she leaned closer toward the window to make sure her eyesight wasn’t playing tricks on her.

The man who had come to stand outside on the front porch, while talking on a cell phone, was older-looking now, but was just as handsome as she remembered. She was twenty-six now, which meant he was thirty-one.

She might be mistaken, but it appeared he had gotten taller. She figured his height to be at least six foot three. The T-shirt he was wearing covered broad shoulders and his jeans were molded to firm thighs. Her gaze slid to his face. The color of dark chocolate, his features were and always had been striking, a pleasure to look at.

Ellie scanned his face, from the thick brows that canopied a pair of beautiful dark eyes, to the long, angular nose that sat perfectly in the center of his face and more than highlighted the sensuous shape of his lips, to the perfect lines of his jaw. Strong. Tight. Every feature was totally flawless. Him standing there in his bare feet made her think of a chocolate marshmallow all ready to eat.

The thought of that made her stomach stir, generated a tingling sensation even lower, and it made the nipples of her breasts that were pressing against her blouse feel achy. She quickly moved away from the window, crossed the room and sat down at the table.

Uriel Lassiter had returned to the lake house, and the one thing she knew for certain was that he hadn’t made sure she wasn’t there.

Uriel threw his head back and laughed. He was still in shock. One of his closest friends from college, who was also one of his investment partners, had called to let him know he was getting married. He just couldn’t believe it. Who in their right mind would have thought that there was a woman somewhere capable of winning the heart of Donovan Steele. The Donovan Steele. The man who always claimed he wanted to be buried wearing a condom, because even then he knew he would be hard.

Uriel had the pleasure of meeting Donovan’s woman a few weeks ago. With a PhD and a professorship at Princeton, Natalie Ford had just as much brains as she had beauty. And she was a beauty. That was one of the first things Uriel had noticed that night when she had come storming into the Racetrack Café, ready to give Donovan hell about something. Evidently, their disagreement had gotten resolved, since Donovan was now talking about a wedding.

“Hey, Don, we’re going to have to get together when I return to Charlotte,” he said. “And we’ll make it one hell of a celebration. Have the two of you set a date yet?”

“We’re having a June wedding,” Donovan replied easily. “After we marry, she’ll take a sabbatical to write another book and work on several projects with NASA. You can’t imagine how happy my family is.”

Uriel could just imagine. Donovan, the youngest of the Steele brothers, headed the Product Administration Division of the Steele Corporation, and Uriel was Vice President of Lassiter Industries, the telecommunications company his father, Anthony Lassiter—CEO and president—had founded over thirty-eight years ago.

Although both he and Donovan had major roles at their family-owned businesses, years ago, right out of college, they had partnered in a co-op. They had started out by flipping real estate, and later moved on to small businesses. The co-op had proven to be highly successful, and they had moved on to even larger investments, like the publishing company they had recently purchased.

Two years ago, Uriel’s father had taken a leave of absence due to stress and depression brought on when the wife he’d been happily married to for over thirty-five years asked for a divorce. That had forced Uriel to take over the day-to-day operations of Lassiter Industries.

Uriel was glad his dad had finally snapped out of his depression, decided life was too short to drown in self-pity over a woman whom you still loved but didn’t want you, and had returned to Lassiter Industries sharper than ever. Uriel had quickly turned things back over to him and decided to take some much needed R and R. The lake house was his first choice. His parents had been forced to sell it, so he decided to be the buyer.

“While you were in Princeton yesterday, I signed my part of the paperwork, so that the consulting firm could proceed with our most recent acquisition,” he said of the publishing company they’d just purchased. “Now, you need to make sure you swing by their office on Friday to put your John Hancock on the papers, so they can officially begin going through the books to see what areas we want to keep and those we want to trim.

“I know Bronson has a race next weekend in Michigan, and I promise you’ll be out of Manning’s office in no time just in case you’re planning to go,” he added, mentioning their friend, Bronson Scott, who raced for NASCAR.

“Yes, I’m going and will be taking Natalie with me. I can’t wait to introduce her to the world of auto racing. What about you? Will you be there?” Donovan asked.

“Umm, not this time. With Dad back at the helm at Lassiter Industries, I’m staying here at the lake for an entire month, and plan on getting in a lot of fishing. And I did bring some papers with me on the publishing company, to do my own evaluation. I’ll let you know what I come up with, and I’ll compare it with the recommendations of those consultants.”

Less than five minutes later, Uriel was ending the call with Donovan. He slipped his cell phone in the back pocket of his jeans and decided to sit down on the porch swing his father had built for his mom years ago.

His mom.

Uriel could only shake his head with sadness whenever he thought of her and the pain she had caused his father. The pain she had caused him. When his parents had first told him they were getting a divorce, they’d shocked the hell out of him. All it took was to see the hurt and sadness in his father’s eyes to know that a divorce hadn’t been Anthony Lassiter’s idea.

Neither of his parents had wanted to talk about the reason for the divorce, and had asked that he simply accept their decision. It hadn’t taken long for him to find the reason. His mother had been going through a midlife crisis, which had been evident when she’d hooked up with a boy-toy within months of leaving his father. His mother, for God’s sake, was openly living with a man only six years older than him.

Carolyn Lassiter, he had to admit, was a beautiful woman at fifty. The first time Uriel had seen her lover with her at a restaurant, Uriel had wanted to smash the dude’s face in. No man wanted to think of his mother in the arms of any man other than his father.

Her actions had not only nearly destroyed his father, but had left a bad taste in Uriel’s mouth where marriage was concerned. That was the reason he had joined the Guarded Heart Club, a private fraternity he and his five godbrothers had established. Each had his own reasons for wanting to remain a bachelor for life.

He was about to get up from the pier and go inside, when he glanced through the trees at the house next door. He’d been sorry to hear about Ms. Mable’s passing and missed her already. Whenever his parents would arrive for their three-month summer stay, the older lady would be there ready to greet them with a cold pitcher of the best lemonade he’d ever drunk and a platter of her mouth-watering peanut butter cookies.

He pulled in a deep breath thinking how much he loved it here. Gatlinburg was less than ten miles away, and there were only two houses on Cavanaugh Lake. The only other homes were about five miles down the road on Lake Union. Both lakes were nestled in a wooded area within a stone’s throw of the Smoky Mountains.

The fresh August air filled his lungs. Nothing relaxed him more than sitting on the pier with a fishing rod in his hand and a cooler of beer not far away. As he’d mentioned to Donovan, he brought along some reading material, but he would work it in. At the moment, well-deserved R and R was at the top of his agenda.

He stretched his body thinking after taking a nap he would go skinny-dipping. It was something he could truthfully say he’d always wanted to do. Now he had the chance. With the house next door vacant, he didn’t have to worry about shocking the socks off anyone.

He lay back and looked forward to his naked swim, all alone in the lake.

Chapter 2

Ellie finished putting the last piece of her clothing away, after deciding to sleep in her aunt’s bedroom instead of the guest room she’d used whenever she would come to visit. Tomorrow she would start going through her aunt’s things. She would donate the clothes to the Salvation Army, and any items of her aunt’s that Ellie considered as keepsakes would be put away in the attic, to one day be passed on to her offspring.

She could only shake her head, wondering how she could think of a family when she didn’t even have a boyfriend. Her last serious relationship had been a few years ago, right out of college.

His name was Charles Wilcox, and the affair had lasted far longer than it should have. Never had she met a more boring man, one whose sole purpose in life other than his job as a computer programmer was his fixation with pro wrestling. He practically lived for the WWE Smackdown.

She had landed her first job after college as a financial advisor with a major bank, and she thought her career was set for a while—only to get laid off in the first year. Instead of trying to compete in a job market that hadn’t seemed to be going anywhere, she decided to go back to college to obtain her masters degree. She had graduated last week, but intended to chill a few months before going back into the job market.

She glanced out the bedroom window. The sun had gone down and pretty soon night would come, and she would need to turn on the lights. Once she did, there was no way Uriel wouldn’t know someone was occupying her aunt’s home. Would he immediately assume it was her? And if he did, would he hightail it back to Charlotte?

But then, there was a possibility he didn’t even remember what had happened that summer day on the pier. After all, ten years had passed. However, she could not forget the ice-cold look he had leveled at her when he’d pretty much told her he never wanted to see her again.

She was about to leave the room to go downstairs when the ringing of her cell phone stopped her. Her parents were presently out of the country, taking a well-earned vacation in the Bahamas. It was probably them checking to see how she was doing. Being the only child, she’d always had a special relationship with her parents.

A quick check of the caller ID screen indicated the phone call was from Darcy and not her parents. “Hello.”

“What’s up, El? You didn’t call to let me know you’d arrived safely.”

Ellie smiled. Darcy was acting the mother hen as usual. “Sorry, but I got busy as soon as I got here,” she said, dropping into the chair next to the window.

“Have you started going through your aunt’s things yet?”

“No, not yet. I’ve decided to put it off until tomorrow. Right now the only thing I want to do is rest. I don’t care if I ever read another book again,” she said.

Darcy laughed. “Hey, you just haven’t read the right book. Now that you have time, you need to read one by Desiree Matthews.”

Ellie rolled her eyes. Darcy, who was a corporate executive with the city of Minneapolis, had gotten married right out of college and had gotten a divorce within the first year, when her husband, Harold, began showing abusive tendencies. The first time it happened, by the time the police arrived, Harold had been on the losing end, discovering how well his wife could defend herself. Evidently, Darcy had never told him she had taken karate while growing up.

“Thanks, but no thanks. I don’t need to read a book that gets me all hot and bothered,” Ellie said, pushing the curtain aside when she thought she saw movement through the trees.

“Trust me, reading about it is better than doing something stupid like making booty calls. Besides, sex isn’t all Desiree Matthews’s books are about. They’re love stories, and there’s plenty of romance between the two people. You root for the hero and heroine to work out their problems and get together.”

“Yippee,” Ellie said, rolling her eyes and twirling her finger in the air. “Romance or sex is the last thing I need right now. You have a tendency not to miss what you never got a lot of anyway.”

“Yeah, I guess so. And speaking of romance and sex, did that guy you went out with two weeks ago call you back?”

Ellie shook her head. “Nope. Just as well. He was ready for us to make out on the first date, and that wasn’t going to happen.”

She was about to pull the curtains together when something again caught her gaze. She strained her eyes to look through the trees and blinked, not believing what she was seeing. A naked Uriel Lassiter. “Damn.”

“El? What’s wrong? Why did you curse just now?”

“Trust me. You don’t want to know,” she said, easing back from the window so she couldn’t be seen, but keeping her gaze glued to the man walking toward the pier.

“I do want to know. What is it? Tell me. Tell me now.”

Ellie wanted to roll her eyes at Darcy’s persistence, but didn’t. If she rolled her eyes she might miss something, and she intended to keep her gaze focused on Uriel.

“Ellie Mable Weston, tell me!”

Seeing that Darcy wasn’t about to let up, she said, “It’s Uriel.”

There was a pause. And then, “Uriel Lassiter?”

“Yes.”

“He’s there at the lake house? Oh, El, that’s wonderful.”

“What’s so wonderful about it?” Ellie asked, as she continued to stare at Uriel. The only wonderful thing she could think of at the moment was seeing such a nice looking hunk of dark chocolate. The man was built, superbly so. She wasn’t close enough to see his front, but his profile and back were simply magnificent.

Ellie couldn’t believe that he was walking around stark naked, regardless of the fact he assumed no one was living at her aunt’s place.

“I think it’s wonderful that he’s ten years older and so are you. Chances are, he’s forgotten all about that stunt we pulled that summer.”

“Don’t count on it. Some men have long memories.”

“Well, what did he say to you when he saw you? Did he act like he is still angry?” Darcy asked.

“He doesn’t know I’m here yet. I’m upstairs in my aunt’s bedroom and watching him through the window.”

“Oh. What is he doing? What is he wearing?” Darcy asked excitedly. As usual, she wanted every single detail. “Has he changed much over the years? Is he still good-looking?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing? What do you mean, nothing?”

“Darcy, please keep up. You asked what Uriel was doing and what he was wearing, and the answer to both questions is nothing.”

There was a pause. “Nothing? Are you saying the man is naked?”

“Yep, that’s what I’m saying. I think he’s about to go skinny-dipping in the lake.”

“What parts of him can you see?” Darcy was not ashamed to ask.

“Mostly the back—and before you ask, the answer is yes. He is as fine as fine can be. Extremely well built. It’s quite obvious that he works out regularly.” Ellie nervously bit her lip when Uriel eased into the water. It was only then that she rested her eyes. “I shouldn’t be spying on him like this. It’s not right.”

“Hell, yes it is,” Darcy almost screamed in her ear. “If I was there I would be pulling out a pair of binoculars and getting an eyeful. Men are known to girl-watch, so what’s wrong with us boy-watching?”

Ellie smiled at the logic in that. “Nothing. But then I shouldn’t be discussing it with you.”

“Why not? We tell each other everything. Don’t try holding out on me now.”

Ellie couldn’t help but laugh at that. She glanced back at Uriel. He was just getting out of the water, and when he pulled himself up onto the pier, he was facing her and she nearly caught her breath. The man was an Adonis. Perfect in every way.

As if in a trance, she rose from her seat to lean closer to the window, literally pressing her face against the glass to see more clearly, to check out every inch of him. Her gaze took in his wet, muscular thighs, strong-looking legs, tight abs—and she blinked at what she saw at the apex of his legs. His thick shaft seemed to glisten proudly in the sunlight as it lay nested in a thick, curly bed of hair.

At that particular moment he had to be the most beautifully built man she’d ever seen out of clothes. And her eyes took their fill. She stood there entranced. Mesmerized. Captivated. Every bone in his body seemed possessed of strong density: muscular, solid.

She mentally dismissed the familiar landscape that encompassed him and the body of water surrounding him. The only thing occupying her mind was his body in all its glorious and masculine splendor. Without a stitch of clothing, he appeared rough, unmanageable.

Untamed.

She felt a tug in the pit of her stomach and wondered how it would be to tame such a male. She doubted such a thing could be done. At least not by her.

“Ellie? Are you still there? What’s going on? Why aren’t you saying anything? What do you see?”

Ellie swallowed tightly. There was no way she could tell Darcy what she was staring at. Barely breathing through constricted lungs, she merely said, “I’ll call you back later.” Refusing to listen to any argument from her best friend, she clicked off the phone.

As if the clicking sound had the ability to travel through the frame of the house, through the trees and toward the lake, Uriel glanced up toward her house, and before she could move out of the way, his gaze found hers as she stood staring at him through the window like a deer caught in headlights. He returned her stare.

She felt the flush of embarrassment flicker from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet. Uriel Lassiter had caught her watching him in his very impressive birthday suit.

Chapter 3

Uriel’s lips formed in a tight line when he recognized the woman who was standing at the window spying on him.

Ellie Weston.

Oddly, he felt not even an ounce of shame at having been caught naked. How was he to have known she was over at Ms. Mable’s house?

He grabbed his towel, deciding he had given her enough of a peep show. Since she was still standing there, he wondered if she had a fetish for naked men. Too bad the show was over.

Wrapping the towel around his waist, he broke eye contact with her and began walking back toward his house like he had all the time in the world, fighting the temptation to glance back at her. She was the last person he wanted to see, and in the past he would have asked his parents about her comings and goings at the lake to make sure their paths never crossed. But he hadn’t done so this time. Big mistake.

Uriel kept walking, and when he made it to the back door and went inside, he leaned against the kitchen counter and pulled in a deep breath. At a distance, from what he could see through the window, Ellie Weston had grown from a pretty-looking sixteen-year-old to an attractive twenty-six-year-old woman.

He frowned, thinking, so what? It had been expected. Her mother was a nice-looking lady, so Ellie had probably inherited some pretty good genes.

Moving away from the counter he opened the refrigerator and pulled out a beer. He popped the top and took a huge swig, not caring that he was standing, dripping-wet, in the middle of his kitchen. His mind was filled with too many thoughts of the woman he hadn’t seen in ten years.

Woman.

It was safe to think of her as a woman now, and not a kid any longer; although, at sixteen, she hadn’t really looked like your average kid, not at the rate her body had been developing. Even now he could recall how she had looked that day she and her friend had pulled one over on him.

He wondered how long had she been standing by the window watching him? How much of him had she seen? He would be the last person to admit to being an exhibitionist, and would never have considered a skinny-dip if he’d known someone was next door—especially if that someone was her.

When he finished off the beer, he sat the empty bottle on the counter, wondering if he was being unreasonable for still holding a grudge after all this time. She had been sixteen, and teenagers had a tendency to act silly and do stupid things. Hell, at that age he could remember all the trouble he and his five god-brothers used to get into. They would spend at least a week together every year while growing up, and would get into and do all sorts of crazy stuff.

He then thought about Ms. Mable and all the kindness she had bestowed upon him as a kid, and even through his adulthood. Although he hadn’t made it to the funeral, he had sent a floral arrangement. But he hadn’t spoken to anyone in the family.

The decent thing to do would be to go over there and offer his condolences in person. That was the least he could do. Nothing less. Nothing more. In addition to that, the gentlemanly thing to do would be to apologize for going swimming in the nude.

And with that decision made, he moved up the stairs to get dressed.

Ellie paced her bedroom, feeling the heat of embarrassment enflame her body with every step she took. Why did she have to share her most humiliating moments with Uriel Lassiter? First it had been the kiss, and now this. He had actually caught her spying on him while skinny-dipping. She didn’t want to think what he probably thought of her for doing such a thing. This was a great way to renew their acquaintance after ten years.

Realizing that wearing out the floor wasn’t getting her anywhere, she decided to sit in a chair—the same one she had sat in earlier, before getting into so much trouble. At least now she had pulled the drapes, so if he decided to go streaking across his back porch he would be doing so without having her as a captive audience.

She wished she could place the blame squarely at his feet without feeling guilty. After all, no one told him to parade around without any clothes on. She was a woman. Of course she was going to look. Come on now, get real.

The only thing real about it was how good he had looked. Even from a distance she had appreciated every inch of him that she saw; every body part, individually and collectively. She sighed deeply. When had she developed an interest in male body parts? Probably after seeing such outstanding workmanship on him earlier today.

Her cell phone rang and she didn’t have to wonder who it was. No doubt Darcy was calling to see what was going on after she’d all but hung up on her earlier. But given the choice between checking out a naked man and talking on the phone to Darcy, the naked man would win hands down.

She reached for her cell phone. “Yes?”

“Girl, you were wrong for doing what you did. The only reason I’ll forgive you is if you say you hung up because you decided to get naked and go join Uriel for a swim.”

Ellie rolled her eyes. “You’ve been reading way too many of those romance novels, Darcy.”

“I haven’t been reading enough. That’s how it goes when you don’t have a love life. It’s me, a good book and Bruce when I need him. It’s safer that way.”

Ellie couldn’t help but smile. Bruce was the name Darcy had given her little toy. Her friend was simply scandalous. “You have no reason not to get out and start dating again.”

“I do, too. I’m not ready. And until I am, Bruce will have to do. Now, enough about me, what about you and Uriel?”

Ellie frowned. “You’re saying it like we’re a couple.”

“You could be. You’ve always had a crush on him, you know. Some things you were able to outgrow, but I don’t think Uriel Lassiter was one of them.”

“I did outgrow him.”

“I don’t think you did, but I won’t argue with you about it. Just tell me how he looks now, and I’ll settle for above the waist, since you’re determined not to tell be about anything down south.”

Settling comfortably in the chair, Ellie closed her eyes and envisioned the much older Uriel. “Oh, Darcy,” she said, not realizing how much in awe she sounded. “He was always handsome. But now that I’m older, I see more things than just his eyes that used to make me drool. He has a cute nose and a nice set of lips.” Lips she once kissed. “I never realized until today how perfectly they’re shaped.”

“And you saw all of that from your aunt’s bedroom window?”

“Pretty much—especially when he looked up and saw me.”

“What! Are you saying he caught you watching him?”

Ellie opened her eyes, feeling her cheeks heat up all over again. “Yes, he caught me, so I can only imagine what he’s thinking about now. I acted no better today than I did that day ten years ago.”

“He was probably flattered that you were watching. Men like women who show an interest in their bodies. Besides, like I said earlier, he probably doesn’t even remember what happened then. Men typically don’t hold grudges.”

Ellie wasn’t all that convinced. “I hurt his pride. I could see it that day in his eyes. Men don’t typically forget something like that. I should have apologized about it. I never did.”

“What you should do is let it go and hope he has, too.”

Darcy’s last words were still ringing in Ellie’s ears a full hour later, after she had left the comfort of her bedroom to come downstairs. She planned to go to bed early, to get a good night sleep so she could be well rested in the morning.

Her mom had offered to postpone her vacation to come and help her pack up Aunt Mable’s things, but it was something she wanted to do by herself, no matter how long it took. There were a lot of fond memories in this house, and there was no rush. She had an entire month, and if she needed more time she would take it. Her aunt’s attorney, Daniel Altman, would be dropping by on Thursday evening to give her a listing of all the bank accounts her aunt had transferred to her name. When she had spoken with him on the phone last week, he’d given her the impression there were several of them.

She found that odd, since her aunt’s only source of income that she knew about was the monthly pension check from working forty years as an English professor at the Smoky Mountains Community College.

It had just started to turn dark, and Ellie went through the house, turning on the lights. With the approach of night, she suddenly realized that she had never been here in this house alone. All the times she’d visited, her aunt had been present. She hadn’t realized just how quiet things were at night.

Ellie had checked all the doors and was about to go upstairs and settle in for the night, when she heard a knock at the front door. The hard rap against the wood startled her, and automatically her hand flew across her chest at the same time she took a deep breath. The only person she could imagine at her door was Uriel.

The thought of coming face-to-face with him again after all this time gave her pause. Was he coming to have words with her for staring at him through the window? A part of her doubted it, reasoning that if that was the case, he would have done so sooner.

She moved toward the door, inhaling and exhaling deeply. She hadn’t expected company, but she figured she looked decent. She had changed her outfit earlier, putting on another shorts set, and a pair of flats were on her feet.

She took a look through the peephole to make certain it was him, but even after verifying that fact, she asked anyway. “Who is it?”

“Uriel Lassiter.”

Glancing down again, reassuring herself that she looked okay, and trying to keep her fingers from trembling, she slipped the chain off the door and slowly opened it. Uriel stood there, and at that moment she had to literally catch her breath.

On her porch, while leaning against a post with his ankles crossed and hands in his pockets, standing beneath the beam of light from a fixture in the ceiling, he looked like he ought to be on the cover of one of those hot and steamy romance novels Darcy enjoyed reading. He had the right height and the perfect build, she thought, trying to keep her gaze from roaming all over him. She had done that enough earlier, and definitely knew how the body beneath the pair of jeans and white shirt looked. And speaking of shirt, she tried not to notice how his was open at the collar, with the first two buttons undone, giving her a glimpse of the spray of hairs there. Something about them nearly had her mesmerized.

She forced her gaze to his face and met his eyes. “Uri, this is a surprise.”

Surprise in what way? To see him in clothes instead of naked?

She suddenly realized just how lame her words had sounded, especially after having spent the last few moments checking him out.

“I hope I’m not bothering you this late,” he said, in what she thought was a deep and throaty voice. “But once I realized you were here, I felt I should come over and apologize. Had I known, I would have dressed more appropriately for swimming.”

Thinking it was probably rude to have him standing on the porch while they engaged in any kind of conversation, she took a step back and automatically he entered inside. “No apology necessary.”

And to move on past that, she said, “And how have you been? It’s been a while.”

A smile touched both corners of his lips and she almost melted into a puddle on the floor. He’d always had a knock-your-socks-off smile. It was still devastating, when he flashed pearly white teeth against chocolate skin.

“Yes, it has been, and I’ve been fine. What about you? I regret hearing about Ms. Mable. I’m sure her passing was hard on everyone, especially for you. I know how close the two of you were.”

“Thanks, and yes, it was, but at least she hadn’t been sick or anything. She passed away in her sleep.”

He nodded. “That’s what I heard.”

She recalled that she had more manners than she were presently displaying, and asked, “Would you like to sit down for a minute?”

Belatedly, she realized how that sounded. It was as if she was putting a time limit on how long he could stay. But if he had picked up on it, he didn’t show it. He merely crossed the room and sat down on the sofa.

“Would you like anything to drink?” she asked, and then couldn’t help noticing how his jeans stretched tight across his thighs when he sat down.

“Yes, thanks. Water will be fine, unless you have something stronger.”

She couldn’t help but smile, since she’d brought a bottle of wine at a market in Gatlinburg. “Umm, I think I might be able to find something a little stronger. What about a glass of wine?”

“That will definitely work.”

“Okay,” she said, backing up slowly. “I’ll be right back.” She then turned, to head straight for the kitchen.

“Take your time.”

She glanced over her shoulder and met Uriel’s gaze. It was the same gaze that had looked at her earlier, when she’d been standing at the window. She drew in a deep breath, turned back and kept walking.

Her heart was racing a million beats a minute, and she was suddenly beginning to feel a tingle in her inner muscles. Ten years had passed and their parting hadn’t been great. Now they were alone. And other than giving him a glass of wine, she had no idea what to do with him.

Uriel pulled in a deep breath the moment Ellie left the room. “Damn,” he muttered, and the word nearly got caught in his throat. When he’d seen her standing at the window he knew she had turned out to be a beauty; however, he hadn’t figured on that beauty being so spellbinding that it had the ability to strip a man of his senses.

And one of the first things he noticed right off the bat was that she still had the ability to wear a pair of shorts. She still had the flat tummy, curvy thighs and long, gorgeous legs for them. The T-shirt she was wearing was a bit too large for her medium-built frame, but it looked sexy on her instead of baggy.

He tried getting his thoughts together by studying the room. The last time he had been here was about two years ago, right after he’d been told about his parents’ divorce. He had needed to get away, and his father had suggested that he come here for the weekend. Ms. Mable had invited him to dinner. It seemed that she had spruced up the place since then. New furniture, new paintings on the wall and a different throw rug on the floor.

“Here you are.”

He glanced around and his gaze met Ellie. Another thing he noticed was that her brown hair was shorter. He really liked the stylish cut and thought it was perfect for her oval face. Her almond-shaped eyes were framed by perfectly arched brows, and her high cheekbones blended in well with the sexiest pair of lips he’d ever seen. They had eased into a smile when he mentioned he’d like something stronger than water. That smile had emphasized the smoothness of her mocha-colored skin.

He crossed the room to take the glass from her hand, and suddenly wished he hadn’t. The moment their hands touched he felt it: a spark of sensation that went straight to his toes. A quick glance at her face and the surprise she was trying to hide indicated she had felt it as well. “Thanks.” He said the words as calmly as he could.

“You’re welcome” was her quick response.

He moved to sit back down on the sofa, took a sip of his wine, and after a moment of trying to get his pulse under control, he said, “Your aunt Mable was a special woman. Everybody liked her.” He figured discussing her aunt was a safe topic.

“Yes, and I miss her already,” she said.

He saw the sad look in her eyes and quickly thought discussing her aunt wasn’t a safe topic after all. He took another sip of his wine.

“I understand you’ve moved back to Charlotte,” Ellie said.

He glanced over at her, wondering how she’d known that, and figured her aunt must have mentioned it to her at some point. “Yes, I had moved to Detroit after graduating from college, to open a new branch office of Lassiter Industries, but two years ago I moved back home.”

There was no need to tell her that his father had needed him back in Charlotte. The blow of a divorce had ended up being more than Anthony Lassiter could handle.

Evidently his parents’ marriage had had issues that even he hadn’t known about, hadn’t even realized, until they’d announced they were going their separate ways. Even at his age it had been hard on him. It had been even harder to remain neutral and not take sides. He loved them both.

Uriel suddenly picked up on Ellie’s nervousness and knew there was something she wanted to ask, even if only out of politeness. So, to make things easier for her, he said, “If you’re wondering how my parents are doing since the divorce, they’re fine. Dad still goes through life day-to-day, trying to cope, and Mom is out there having the time of her life. She has turned into a real party animal.”

He stared down into this wine glass, truly regretting that he might have sounded bitter, but the truth of the matter was that he was. That was something he knew he had to work on.

“And how are your godbrothers?”

He glanced up, as her question made him smile. She had deliberately changed the subject and he appreciated that. She had met all five of his godbrothers during their visits to the lake on several occasions. So she had gotten to know them pretty well.

“They’re all doing fine. All successful in their own right.”

“That’s good to hear. I liked them. They were nice guys.”

Uriel chuckled as he took another sip of his wine. She was right, they were nice guys. Most people were only blessed with one good friend, but he had five, which hadn’t happened by accident.

Almost forty years ago, his father and five close friends who were in their senior year at Morehouse had made a pledge that not only would they stay in touch after graduation from college, but that they would become godfathers to each other’s children, and that the name of each of their first sons would begin with the letters U to Z. The men had kept their promise, and all six sons, Uriel, Virgil, Winston, Xavier, York and Zion, became god-brothers to each other.

“Do you see them often?” she asked.

He met her gaze, deciding it wouldn’t be wise to tell her about the club they had formed, the Guarded Hearts Club, and that they met at least once or twice a year, usually on the ski slopes or abroad in Rome, where Zion, who’d become a world-renowned jewelry designer, had lived for the past three years.

“Yes, we get together on occasion, several times a year. They are still single and prefer remaining that way. Don’t be surprised if they show up while I’m here.”

He then tilted his head, met her gaze and decided it was time they got something out in the open, discuss it if she felt the need, but definitely put it to rest. “And what about that girlfriend you used to hang around? Darcy what’s-her-name? Do the two of you still keep in contact?” he asked.

He watched as she shifted nervously in her seat while taking several sips of her wine. Saying Darcy’s name had brought up the past, specifically that day ten years ago, and they both knew it. After taking yet another sip of her wine she met his gaze and said, “Yes, Darcy and I are still close friends. In fact, I talked to her earlier today on the phone. She’s divorced and still living in Minneapolis, and she works for the city government there.”

She breathed in deeply and then said, “Uriel, about that day when we …”

“Kissed?” He went ahead and supplied the word when he saw she was having trouble doing so.

“Yes. My first kiss, actually. I wanted to see how it was done and decided I wanted you to be the one to show me. Darcy knew it as well, and dared me to take matters into my own hands.”

After pausing briefly, she then said, “I owe you an apology. What I did was stupid. But then, during those days I did a lot of stupid stuff.”

“I understand,” he said, finally accepting that he did. She was right. When you’re young you sometimes do foolish things.

“Do you really, Uri?”

He saw the intense look in her eyes. Her need for him to know that she had regretted her actions that day was there for him to see. Evidently, the rift between them had bothered her over the years. Some young women would not have given a damn. But she did.

“Yes, I do,” he finally said. “I’d admit at the time I had gotten pretty pissed off about it, but it didn’t take me long to get over it.”

Now that was a lie if ever he’d heard one. He hadn’t been able to get over it as quick as he’d made it sound, mainly because it had taken him a long time to eradicate her taste from his mouth no matter how many women he’d kissed after that day.

“I’m glad. I’d hoped that you had, but hadn’t been sure when I never saw you at the lake again. I knew you came whenever I wasn’t here, because my aunt would mention it, and I always assumed it was deliberate.”

“Just a coincidence,” he said, lying again. No need to send her on a guilt trip. Ten years was ten years. Now they were older, wiser, and from the sexual chemistry he felt flowing in the room, just as attracted to each other. But then, that was the crux of his problem. He never really knew if she’d been attracted to him back then as much as he’d been to her, or if it had been nothing more than playacting as part of her dare with Darcy.

That was a mystery he needed to solve, a curiosity that he needed to explore. “So, how long are you staying out here on the lake?” he heard himself asking her.

“A month.”

He nodded. So was he. That meant he had a month to satisfy his curiosity about a few things.

He gave the room one final glance, thinking for some reason that, with all the changes, it now suited Ellie more than Ms. Mable. Everything seemed much too modern for an older woman’s taste. It was as if Ms. Mable had somehow known her niece would take up residency here one day.

Uriel returned his gaze to Ellie before placing his wineglass on the table and standing. “I just wanted to come over and apologize about my state of undress earlier today, as well as to convey my condolences regarding Ms. Mable.”

“Thanks.”

“It’s good seeing you again, Ellie. I’ll be here for a month, as well, so if you need anything I’ll be next door. You can call on me anytime,” he offered.

She smiled. “Thanks, Uri, I’ll remember that,” she said, walking him to the door.

“Do you have a lot of plans for this week?” he asked as they crossed the room.

She shrugged. “Not really. I’ll be busy going through Aunt Mable’s things. I plan on starting that tomorrow.”

“Okay.” He paused for a moment and then said, “I’ll be going into Gatlinburg on Tuesday to get a bunch of supplies. If you make a list of the things you need I can pick them up as well.”

He could tell by the smile on her face that she appreciated his generous offer. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Good night.” And deciding he had stayed longer than he should have, a lot longer than he’d planned, Uriel opened the door and left.

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