“You’re right—she can, and I’m sure she will make the right decision.” The older man then moved to Sloan. “I’m going back to the airport and will wait for you. Here’s your ticket,” he said, placing the ticket on the coffee table. “I expect you to make that plane with me, Sloan Elizabeth.”

  Carter H. Donahue then walked to the door and slammed it shut behind him.

  Mercury couldn’t help but stare at the door the man had just walked out of, not believing what he’d witnessed. No wonder Sloan had needed to escape her father’s control. The man was worse than a tyrant. He was a damn dictator.

  “Is what my father claimed true, Mercury? Do you own my car and is this apartment in your name?”

  “Yes,” he said, without hesitation, turning back to look at Sloan. “Remember our discussion on temporary fixes? I made decisions to use a couple.”

  He then came to stand in front of her, but not before tossing the package he carried onto the same coffee table where her father had tossed the plane ticket. “I had planned to explain things to you tonight when I dropped by. If you care to check that packet, you’ll see the car and the apartment are both in your name now.”

  “B-but why?”

  He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Because I knew how much both meant to you, and without me handling things the way I did, you would not have gotten either. I wanted to see you happy.”

  Sloan broke eye contact with him to look at the package. She then looked back at him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Mercury knew he needed to make her understand. “Because the one thing I had gotten to know about you was that being independent meant everything to you. It boosted your confidence in yourself, and I wanted to help make it happen. Had I told you then, you would have fought me on it. Look how you didn’t want the money I gave you to open that bank account. I’m used to women wanting my money more than not wanting it.”

  She placed her hands on her hips and glared at him. “Then maybe you need to know better women.”

  “True, and I found that out the hard way—trust me.” He moved past her to look out the window at the lake. He then turned to her. “While in college I fell in love with a woman who I thought loved me back. I later found out that all she wanted was to hook up with a football player who she thought had a future in the NFL. Like you, she had parents with goals established for her. They wanted their daughter to marry for money.”

  She eyed him speculatively. “What happened?”

  He drew in a deep breath. “I was injured and was told I would never play football again. That’s when I discovered my purpose in her life. She moved on to another player.”

  Sloan raised a brow. “But you did play again?”

  “Yes. I was determined to show her that she’d written me off too soon. It took me an entire year of rehab and therapy, but I came back better and stronger than ever. And I told myself I would never love another woman. All they see are dollar signs. Not one proved me wrong...until I met you. You’re the only woman I know who prefers being poor to being rich.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t take it that far, Mercury. I like nice things like anyone else. I just never want money to define me.”

  “Most women wouldn’t care about such a definition.”

  Spine straight and her chin tilted high, she said, “When are you going to realize I’m not like most women?”

  Leaving his spot by the window, he slowly walked over to stand in front of her. “I realized it the moment I accepted that I had fallen in love with you.”

  She released a shocked gasp. “You love me?”

  He nodded. “Yes, I love you,” he said, thinking the shocked look on her face was so painfully beautiful. At that moment nothing mattered more than for her to believe what he was saying. “I absolutely, positively, undeniably, unequivocally love you, Sloan.”

  She didn’t say anything, but he saw the lone tear that fell from her eye. “You love me even knowing what kind of parents I have?” she asked in a voice filled with emotion.

  He drew her into his arms. “Your parents have nothing to do with you other than that they created you. I just hope you’re not going to rush off to the airport and leave town with your father. I couldn’t handle it if you left me.”

  “Oh, Mercury,” she said, leaning up on tiptoe to brush a kiss across his lips. He was about to slant his mouth over hers when she said, “And just so you know, I already love you. I love you so much, Mercury.”

  Surprise lit his eyes and he smiled before taking her lips in an open-mouth kiss that seemed to last forever. When he finally released her mouth, she buried her face against his neck.

  Mercury closed his eyes and inhaled her scent. He was thankful for the misadventures that had brought her into his life. However, there was something he had to tell her. Something she needed to know that Quade had found out.

  Lifting her off her feet, he held her securely in his arms, carried her over to the sofa and sat down with her in his lap. “There is something I need to tell you. It’s about your father.”

  She lifted a brow. “What?”

  “I told you that my cousin Quade, who used to work for the CIA, was investigating your father for me.”

  “Yes, you told me that.”

  “Well, Quade called me right before I came over here.”

  She nodded. “And?”

  “Your father is being blackmailed. That’s why he needs money. He’s borrowed as much as he could get and now you’re the only source he has left. Namely your trust fund. That’s why he needs you to marry Cunningham.”

  “Why is he being blackmailed? What has he done?”

  Mercury paused and then said, “A couple of years ago, he and a couple more bankers took what was supposedly a business trip to this island off the Caribbean. The entire weekend they were sexually involved with underage girls who’d been kidnapped to pleasure them. Some as young as eleven.”

  Sloan’s hand flew to her mouth. “No!”

  “Yes. What these businessmen didn’t know was that cameras had been installed in the bedrooms to deliberately blackmail them later. All the businessmen who participated in the orgy have received calls demanding money in exchange for the blackmailers’ silence.”

  Anger flared in Sloan’s eyes. “How could any of those men have participated in such a thing?” She then said, “If your cousin found out about it, that means...”

  “Yes, the FBI is on it, and it’s just a matter of time before arrests are made. That will include your father and I just wanted you to be prepared.” He paused again. “And I wanted you to know I will be here for you. In fact, all the Steeles will be. My family loves you as much as I do.”

  “Oh, Mercury.” He saw tears shimmering in her eyes. In the future he would put more smiles than tears in her eyes.

  He then leaned in and captured her mouth again before standing with her in his arms and heading for the bedroom.

  * * *

  At twenty-five Sloan finally knew how it felt to be loved by a man. To be totally cherished. And when Mercury placed her on the bed and stood back and stared at her, she knew how it felt to be desired.

  She didn’t have to sense his need for her. She saw blatant evidence of it. Then there was the look in his eyes that held so many sexual promises. She knew she was in for a wild ride. And a very satisfying one at that.

  “What are you thinking about, sweetheart?” he asked her.

  She couldn’t help but smile. “I’m thinking about how much I love you. How grateful I am for having you in my life and how I’d give anything if you stayed.”

  A serious expression appeared in his features. “I’m not going anywhere. Neither are you. We’re stuck in this crazy thing called love together.”

  Yes, they were stuck in it together.

  She reclined into a comfortable position and watched as he began removing his clothes. She always enjoyed this part, which left her wondering how any man could be so well toned, so powerfully built and so masterfully sexy. She wished she could concentrate on other things, but when he removed his clothes, his body always had her full attention. And when he finally stood in front of her, splendidly naked, she couldn’t help but be in awe of his masculine beauty.

  “Now for your clothes,” he said, drawing her attention to his mouth. It was a mouth she totally enjoyed kissing. Over the past weeks, he had shown her how to kiss him in so many enjoyable ways. He was right; she wasn’t going anywhere. She honestly pitied her father if he truly believed she would be showing up at the airport to return to Cincinnati with him. That wouldn’t be happening.

  She watched Mercury move to the bed and she leaned toward him. He always took his time undressing her, removing every piece of her clothing, then meticulously touching the areas he uncovered. He enjoyed fulfilling all her sexual needs. Making up for lost time and making sure she got everything she wanted and then some.

  She drew in a deep breath when his hand slid beneath her T-shirt, felt the braless breasts and unerringly went to her nipples. The moment his fingers touched them, she felt a tingling sensation between her legs. “Mercury...”

  “Tell me what you want, baby.”

  He’d first asked her that on their trip to Dallas and she’d had a bucket list. But not tonight. More than anything, she needed the feel of him buried deep inside her. The feel of him claiming her as his and her making him hers. That was what she both wanted and needed.

  “I need you inside me. Now,” she said in a desperate tone before leaning in to nip at his jaw.

  He must have heard the urgency in her voice because he suddenly ripped her T-shirt over her head and then grabbed the waistband of her shorts. In one lightning-quick motion, he removed both the shorts and her panties. Reaching out, he swiftly positioned her body against the mass of pillows, bedcovers and cushions and immediately joined her there, straddling her.

  He captured her wrists in his hands, held them over her head and looked down into her eyes. “If my lady doesn’t want seduction this time, I have no problem bypassing that part.”

  Sloan smiled. She had been seduced by this Steele more times than she could count. This time she wanted to go straight to being conquered. “Take me, Mercury. Make me yours.”

  The gaze staring down at her was fiercely possessive when he said, “You’re already mine, Sloan.”

  And then she felt the full length of the huge, solid erection slide into her. In response, her inner muscles tightened around him, holding him and squeezing him. She knew he’d felt it when a satisfying grin covered his features. “I love it when your body tries holding me hostage like that.”

  She smiled up at him. “Just getting all I can.” He had stopped using a condom the last time he’d made love to her, after establishing the fact that they were both healthy and she’d been on the pill for some time.

  “And I plan to give you all you want.”

  Then he began moving, just the way she liked and, more important, the way she needed. The feel of his shaft stroking inside her had her moaning his name over and over again. He released her hands to grab hold of her hips, lifting her up to assure she received every one of his hard thrusts. Their bodies were so in tune. She closed her eyes as he began pushing even deeper inside her, setting a rhythm and giving her everything she craved.

  His male scent filled her nostrils, stimulating her senses. When his thrusts grew harder and harder, she moaned more than just his name. She said words she’d heard him say while climaxing with her. Naughty words. Erotic words. Words she hadn’t known existed until he’d said them. Words she now found so wickedly sexy.

  “Do I need to start washing your mouth out with soap?” he asked her, leaning close to her ear and not missing a beat with his steady stream of thrusts.

  “Not with soap, but I can think of something else,” she told him, remembering how just last week he’d taught her to please him with her mouth. He said she was too good a student and would be the death of him yet.

  When he threw his head back and hollered her name, his actions triggered an orgasm of gigantic proportions. In that instant she wasn’t sure what was the loudest. His holler or her scream. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but this and each other.

  She knew at that moment that Mercury Morris Steele was all she wanted and needed in her life.

  “Will you marry me, Sloan?”

  She opened her eyes to stare up into his. She felt his shaft stretching her again. “Marry you?”

  “Yes.”

  What man could ask a woman that in the middle of making love? She smiled. Mercury could. Mercury would. Mercury just did. Her answer would be just as spontaneous as his question had been. “Yes! I will marry you.”

  He smiled down at her before capturing her mouth with a long, deep, thorough kiss. And then he began moving again, putting her inner muscles to work once more. Both of them were determined to drive each other off the edge. They had tonight and the rest of their lives to make it happen. And they would.

  EPILOGUE

  One month later

  Mercury smiled when he entered his condo to the aroma of food. Since finishing her cooking class, Sloan enjoyed coming over to his place and surprising him with different dishes. So far, he hadn’t convinced her to move in with him.

  He’d known she still needed the little bit of freedom and independence that came with having her own space, and he loved her enough to understand the need and give it to her. Just as long as he had this: her occasional surprise visits that often lasted for days.

  They would be getting married; they just hadn’t set a date yet. Understandably, she didn’t relish a large wedding and promised to let him know when she was ready. Hell, he was ready but refused to rush her.

  He walked into his kitchen and the woman he loved with all his heart was bending over to check something in the oven. His gaze roamed over her backside. She had the most delectable and sexiest behind of any woman he knew. It was perfect. As far as he was concerned, everything about Sloan Elizabeth Donahue was perfect.

  “Something smells good.”

  She jerked her head up. She smiled, closed the oven and raced across the room to jump into his arms. His hands immediately went to that backside he’d just been admiring to support her in place.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled brightly at him. “You’re early.”

  He returned her smile. “No, for you I’m right on time. Always.”

  Her smile seemed to brighten even more. “Yes, always.”

  And then he kissed her with all the love in his heart. She was his and he was hers. Both he and his family had been there for her two weeks ago when her father had been one of ten businessmen arrested. She had called to talk to her parents but they tried shifting the blame. Saying that if she’d married Harold when they’d wanted her to, then they would have had the money to pay off their extortionist.

  Mercury knew some people were better off not becoming parents, and the Donahues were a prime example of those who shouldn’t. But then they would not have created this beautiful woman in his arms. Then where would he be? Still a Bad News Steele with the only direction in his life being to some woman’s bedroom.

  Now he had a purpose, which was to make Sloan happy. Hell, he’d even made his mother happy by becoming an engaged man. Eden was just waiting for them to give her word so she could start planning what was supposed to be a small wedding. She claimed all she needed were two weeks, and knowing his mother, he had no reason not to believe her. He’d warned Sloan about how big the Steele family was and not to be surprised if a small wedding became a rather large one.

  No matter how hellish his days might have been, it was nice knowing he had this. He had her. He broke off the kiss and smiled when he saw how desire filled her eyes.

  “I love you, Mercury.”

  He leaned in and pressed another kiss on her lips. “I love you, too.”

  “And I’m ready for Eden to start planning our wedding.”

  He went momentarily still. “You sure?”

  She threw her head back and laughed. “Yes! I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life. I’m ready to be your wife, move in here with you, proudly wear your ring, one day have your babies, take your name, be your life partner in everything. I want it all.”

  “And I’m going to make sure you get everything you want.”

  And then he was kissing her again, knowing their lives together would be filled with plenty of love and happiness.

  * * *

  Read on for a sneak peek of

  Gannon’s story

  Claimed by a Steele

  by New York Times bestselling author

  Brenda Jackson.

  Claimed by a Steele

  by Brenda Jackson

  Gannon Steele held back a laugh as he watched his brother pull the woman he loved into his arms and gave her a whopper of a kiss. It was hard to believe that his I-will-never-fall-in-love-again brother had done just that. Fallen in love again.

  “Should we think that maybe you’re next?”

  Gannon glanced over at his oldest brother, Galen. Their parents, Drew and Eden Steele, had given birth to six sons. For years all six had been known around Phoenix as the “Bad News Steeles.” Mainly because of their die-hard bachelor ways. Now all of those previous die-hard bachelors were married...all except for Gannon.

  Unlike his five brothers, Gannon had never wanted to stay single forever. He viewed marriage as a part of his future. However, he was in no hurry to claim a wife, and now that Mercury was out of the picture, that meant more women for him to enjoy. He couldn’t wait.

  “You all should know that I’m next, Galen, since I’m the last of the Phoenix Steeles. But I intend to have the time of my life before that happens, which should be for another ten years or more.”