“Of course,” he said, leaning back in his chair as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders. And she figured it probably was. Being named Chief of Surgery of any hospital was a great opportunity, especially for someone his age. But she knew her brother was a gifted surgeon. The beauty of it, as far as she was concerned, was he worked hard and deserved it.
“Do you have any idea when you’ll be leaving?” she asked.
He nodded. “They want me in Jacksonville in two weeks. There is an immediate need for my presence there and Phoenix Baptist has agreed to release me at the requested date.”
She nibbled on her bottom lip. She hadn’t expected him to be leaving so soon. “Two weeks won’t give me enough time to plan anything.”
“You don’t have to do that, Stace.”
“Of course I do. Like I said earlier, you have a lot of friends here and they’ll want to see you off and celebrate your good news. Have you told anyone else yet?”
He shook his head. “No, I wanted you to be the first to know.”
She plastered a smile on her lips, determined not to let him know how she really felt. She was missing him already. “Okay, now that I know, I want to work on your guest list for the party.”
His eyes glinted with amusement. “You’re really going to go all out, aren’t you?”
Her smile widened. “Of course. You’re the only brother I have and I’m extremely proud of you, so yes, I am going all out.”
Eli leaned back in his chair and built a steeple with his fingers as he listened to his mother. He’d heard all of it before, so he decided to let his mind wander. And for some reason, his thoughts shifted to Stacey Carlson and he wondered what she was doing. Usually she closed the shop around two every day for lunch. Had she gone out or had she grabbed a snack like she normally did?
And why did he give a royal damn?
The only reason he knew about her eating habits was because one day he’d gotten to her shop around two, only to find the out-to-lunch sign posted in the window. Through the glass door he could see her sitting at the counter eating a bag of chips and drinking a diet soda while paging through a magazine. He had stood there staring at her longer than necessary. And as if she’d felt his presence, she had glanced up and he was hit with an intense moment of potent attraction. Before she could get out of her seat to see what he’d wanted, he had quickly moved on.
“Eli, are you listening to me?”
He blinked. Knowing he’d been caught, he could only smile across the desk at his mother. There was no need to lie and claim he had been listening. Eden Steele had the uncanny ability to know when each one of her sons was not being completely honest with her. He and his brothers were convinced she had a sixth sense about that.
“Not really,” he said, and immediately felt the heat of her glare.
“Then why did you let me continue talking?”
He raised a brow. Had she really expected him to tell her to shut up? Her? Eden Tyson Steele? The former international fashion model whose face graced magazine covers the likes of Vogue and Elle? The woman who reminded them often that she’d given birth to six males and for as long as they lived she would always be their mother? He knew that didn’t mean she didn’t respect the men they’d become because they all knew she had.
But…
And with Eden Steele there had to be a but in there somewhere. He figured she should be happy. For years she had complained about not having any daughters-in-law. Now she had one and she was still whining. Good grief! Was Brittany not enough? Evidently not.
His parents had sons who’d appreciated the opposite sex from early childhood. They had grown up as womanizers, all six of them. And it amused them to no end that there was barely a year between their ages. That meant his mother had gotten pregnant every year for six years. Knowing his father, Eli wasn’t surprised.
He breathed out a deep sigh. As far as he was concerned, Eden needed to count her blessings for Brittany and be satisfied because if she was waiting for him, Tyson, Jonas, Mercury and Gannon to follow in Galen’s footsteps, then she had a long wait coming. A very long wait.
“You don’t think there’s a woman out there who’s good enough for the suave, debonair and charming Eli Steele, do you?” she asked in what he detected was an irritated tone.
He shrugged. “I didn’t say that, but since you brought it up…that possibility has crossed my mind a time or two.”
In truth, it hadn’t, but he liked getting a rise out of his mother every once in a while. She would go home and complain to the old man, but honestly, what could Drew say? Especially considering the skirt chaser he’d been before settling down and marrying Eden. Eli and his brothers had heard the story of their father’s past enough to know he made the rakish of rakes look like innocent choirboys.
“You know what I’m hoping for, Eli?”
He saw the gleam in his mother’s eyes and decided not to ask, but then he figured what the hell, she was going to tell him anyway. “No, Mom, what are you hoping for?”
“That some woman comes along who’ll knock you off that high horse you’re sitting on. And I hope when you tumble that you’ll fall head over heels in love with her.”
Eli frowned as he gazed into eyes that were identical in color to his and his five brothers’. Now his mother was being downright cruel. He forced a smile to his lips. “It won’t happen. I’m more like Dad than any of my brothers. Sorry.”
In a way, he was sorry, not for himself but for his mother who was hell-bent on marrying off all six of her sons. She had her work cut out for her. She might eventually break down Tyson, Jonas, Mercury and Gannon, but not him. He liked his freedom too much and could never bind himself to an exclusive relationship.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “And just what do you have against marriage, Eli? Haven’t your father and I set an example of how good a marriage can be?”
He smiled again. “Of course. I know you and Dad have a great marriage, are deeply in love even after thirty-plus years and are extremely dedicated to each other. But Drew Steele’s saving grace was you, Mom. You’re beautiful. There’s not another woman out there who can make a Steele want to give up his freedom.”
“So how do you explain Brittany?”
“Britt’s beautiful as well. I can definitely see why Galen fell in love with her.”
His mother leaned in closer. “Are you saying you don’t know any beautiful women?”
Eli’s chest tightened as the image of one particular woman flashed in his mind. He forced it back. “Of course I do. But she has to have more than just a pretty face. She has to have a degree of intelligence.” Stacey Carlson’s face forced its way back into his mind once again and he pushed it right back out.
His mother straightened in her seat. “Well, I’m glad that at least you’re not stuck on just a pretty face. There’s more to it than that. That might be what snarls a man in the beginning, but he needs to know the woman has other things going for her than just good looks. They need to be compatible in a number of other things as well. Your father and I have lasted this long because we’re also the best of friends.”
Eli knew that to be true. His parents were partners in all things. More than once while growing up, he and his brothers had tried pitting their parents against each other when they wanted something one parent refused to give them. They soon discovered Drew and Eden stuck together like glue.
“You do know they refer to you and your brothers as the ‘Bad News’ Steeles, don’t you?”
Yes, he knew but he wondered how she’d found out about it. “Who told you that?”
“Sandra Tompkins. Mercury