Brenda Jackson - A Steele for Christmas

He smiled at her ankle bracelet. It did something to enhance the look of her leg, made it appear even sexier. He caught one of his fingers in the thin gold chain and gently rubbed it back and forth against her skin. “Nice.”

He picked up on her ultrasoft moan and knew she was getting aroused from him rubbing her leg that way. She hadn’t seen anything yet. Her response to what he was doing sent shivers all through his body, and caused a throbbing ache in his groin that was so intense, he knew he had to get out of his clothes now or suffer irreparable damage to that part of him later. The way his erection was pressing against his zipper was no joke.

“Eli?”

“Hmm?”

“What are you doing to me?”

He held her gaze. “Something called foreplay. At least the start of it anyway.”

“There’s more?” she asked.

“Definitely. As much as you can handle.”

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 Gerald, her husband of thirty-eight years, live in Jacksonville, Florida, and have two sons.

A New York Times bestselling author of more than seventy-five romance titles, Brenda is a retiree from a major insurance company and now divides her time between family, writing and traveling with Gerald. You may write to Brenda at P.O. Box 28267, Jacksonville, Florida 32226; her email address WriterBJackson@aol.com; or visit her website at www.brendajackson.net.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Dear Reader,

You have to love those “Bad News” Steeles!

When I introduced the Steeles with Chance’s story five years ago, little did I know that I would be writing beyond Donovan’s story. But the more I wrote about that family, the more I knew I had to tell you about their cousins—those other Steeles who live in Phoenix. They are the ones known as the “Bad News” Steeles.

There are six brothers. Last year, Galen Steele’s story debuted in Hidden Pleasures. While writing Galen’s story, I just knew I had to write about his brother Eli Steele here in A Steele for Christmas.

Eli is such a no-nonsense guy who always thought he knew just what he wanted. He loves his job as an attorney and his favorite pastime is enjoying women. Little does Eli know that he’ll become a present for some woman under her Christmas tree. Wow! Can you imagine a Steele for Christmas? Read between the covers to see how it all turns out!

Thank you for making the Steeles a very special family. I look forward to bringing you more books of endless love and red-hot passion.

Happy reading!

Brenda Jackson

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

This year marks my 16th anniversary as a published

author and I want to thank all of you for your support.

To those readers who I got to meet during my book

tour this past spring, this book is especially for you!

To my cast and crew of Truly Everlasting, the movie.

Thank you for a job well done!

For none of us lives for ourselves alone,

and none of us dies for ourselves alone.

—Romans 14:7

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Epilogue

E li Steele’s looks should be outlawed.

Stacey Carlson couldn’t help reaching that conclusion each and every time she saw him. She had been in town less than a week when she’d heard about the six Steele brothers—mainly from the feminine whispers at the health spa she’d joined. At the time, she had merely rolled her eyes in the sauna room thinking the women had to be delusional. No men could look that good.

She was proven wrong a few months later when she ran into the “Bad News” Steeles at her brother Cohen’s birthday party. That’s when she met all six of them. All it took was one look and she had to admit they were the most gorgeous men she’d ever encountered in all twenty-five years of her life. And with their Smokey Robinson green eyes, chiseled lips, long eyelashes, dimpled cheeks, sculpted jaws and mahogany-colored skin, they were definitely hotties of the most arousing kind.

There was Galen, the oldest of the group, who’d gotten married six months ago. At thirty-five he’d made millions as a video game creator. Tyson was thirty-four and a gifted surgeon. Eli, at thirty-three, was a prominent attorney in town. Jonas, who was thirty-two, owned a marketing business. Thirty-one-year-old Mercury was a well-known sports agent, and Gannon, who had recently turned thirty, managed the million-dollar trucking firm he’d taken over when their father had retired.

The five single Steeles had a reputation for being womanizers and came with a banner a mile long that warned—Get pleasure now but expect severe heartbreak later. Stacey didn’t find the thought at all amusing while she studied Eli out of the corner of her eye as he browsed her gift shop.

Technically, it was his shop since he owned the space. To be more specific, he owned the entire high-rise building, all twenty floors of the Steele Building in downtown Phoenix. She was a tenant and he was her landlord. Her gift shop was on the ground floor, a perfect location that drew both in-house and outside traffic. It was worth the amount she paid each month for the lease.

The only drawback was Eli’s daily visits to purchase a copy of the Wall Street Journal. She would open up at nine and, like clockwork, he would walk into Stacey’s Gift Shop at nine-fifteen. The only exceptions were those mornings when he had an early court appearance.

With nothing more than a terse “Good morning,” he would grab his paper and place the exact amount for his purchase on the counter before walking out with the male scent of him following in his wake and leaving her all but drooling.

Lately, he had gotten into the habit of returning every day right before the lunch hour rush to take his time to browse. She shouldn’t complain since he would always purchase something, even if it was only a pack of gum. Still, the fact that he was in the shop was unsettling, mainly because the man was so darn pleasing to the eyes that it was hard to keep her gaze off him. He was so stunning, he could snatch a woman’s breath right from her lungs.

She hated admitting that she’d been lusting after him for months. She should be the last person to have that sort of reaction to any man considering the fix Wallace Flowers had left her in seven months ago. Even now, it was hard for her to believe that her fiancé had called off their wedding a mere week before it was to take place. He’d told her he wasn’t in love with her and had wanted to marry Stacey’s friend Gail instead.

Heartbroken and humiliated beyond belief, she had quit the computer programming job she’d hated anyway, packed up her belongings and left Memphis far behind when Cohen invited her to come join him in Phoenix. And it had been her brother who’d convinced her to do something she had always wanted to do, which was to go into business for herself.