From Riches To Redemption. Andrea Laurence
Twelve
“Morgan? There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”
Turning at the sound of her brother Sawyer’s voice, Morgan Steele found herself suddenly frozen on the spot. Her eyes were wide and unblinking, her lips trembling but soundless as she stared at the man standing at her brother’s side.
She wasn’t sure what she had been expecting. Probably just another polite and boring chat with one of her parents’ friends and colleagues. Charity fund-raisers for Steele Tools usually meant an endless stream of champagne and small talk with people whose names she wouldn’t remember in ten minutes. Her family hosted events like this at their home all the time. But she knew this man’s name. There was no way she would have ever forgotten it.
He’d grown out of his boyish lanky build and into the strong physique of a man who worked with his hands for a living. His closely cropped beard made him look older and more sophisticated than before, but Morgan would know those eyes anywhere. Those navy blue beauties had seen right through her.
“Morgan, this is River Atkinson. He’s the owner and CEO of Southern Charm Construction. He’ll be working with you this year on our summer housing development project.”
Sawyer continued to prattle on, completely oblivious to the reactions of the two people standing with him. At least to Morgan’s stunned reaction. For River’s part, he actually looked a bit...well...smug. He smiled in a way that told anyone who bothered to look that he was in on the joke. His eyes held a touch of amusement in them as he extended his hand to her.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Steele,” he said.
She knew she should shake his hand. Play along with this ruse and not make a scene. And yet, she couldn’t make herself reach out and touch him. That was the same hand that had caressed every inch of her body. The same hand that had slipped a petite diamond ring onto her ring finger during a small rustic mountain ceremony in the Smoky Mountains. The same hand that had taken a hundred grand from her father and walked away without looking over his shoulder.
“Morgan?”
Her brother’s concerned voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She plastered her practiced grin onto her face and thrust her arm out to shake River’s hand. She had to treat him like any other business acquaintance. Sawyer didn’t know about her past with River. Almost no one did, including all three of her brothers. “It’s nice to meet you, too, Mr. Atkinson. I’m sure our companies will do great things together this summer.”
His shake was firm, but she could tell that he wasn’t interested in immediately letting go of her hand. To be honest, she had a hard time pulling away herself. There was something when they touched—a familiar connection—that lingered there. As though their bodies remembered each other, even if their minds resisted the idea.
Finally, he released her from his grasp. She switched her champagne flute into that hand to let the chilly glass dull the feel of him against her skin. Then she took a large sip to dull the feel of him inside her head as well.
Who the hell had approved this? Her father certainly wasn’t involved. He’d just as soon shoot River on the doorstep as let him inside after what happened back in college. But her family was good at keeping secrets, even from each other. It was news to Morgan that Southern Charm Construction and River Atkinson were one and the same entity. She’d heard mention of the company and never once questioned who owned it.
“Sawyer? Can you come here for a minute?” Their mother’s voice beckoned one of Morgan’s older brothers.
Morgan tensed. She didn’t want to be left alone with River. They would hardly be alone in the traditional sense, but being in the same room having a discussion was more intimate than they’d experienced since the day her family pulled them apart.
“If you’ll excuse me.” Sawyer smiled and clapped River on the back before he departed.
With just the two of them standing on the fringe of the crowd together, Morgan wasn’t quite sure what to do. It was more awkward than a junior high dance. What was she supposed to say to the boy—man—who had turned his back on her all those years ago?
“You’re looking well, Morgan,” River said. He was clutching a glass tumbler of scotch in his hand as his dark eyes raked over her from top to bottom. “That emerald dress suits you. It brings out the green in your eyes.”
It seemed they were going for polite, but intimate. “Thank you. I like the beard. It makes you look distinguished.” It was silly, but she wasn’t sure what else to say to him.
River chuckled at her choice of words. “Distinguished. If by that you mean rich and important, then yes, that’s exactly the look I was going for.” He glanced down at her hand as she held her glass. “Not married yet?” he asked.
Morgan couldn’t prevent one dark eyebrow from arching up in surprise and confusion at his question. “Yet? Don’t you mean married again, River?”
He just shrugged off her challenge with a roll of his eyes. “As far as the state of Tennessee and your family is concerned, you’ve never been married, Morgan, and neither have I. That’s what getting an annulment means. It never happened. That’s why you mailed the ring back, remember?”
“Shhh!” Morgan’s eyes widened as she looked around at the people nearby to see if anyone was listening. Thankfully, everyone seemed to be involved in their own discussions. She reached out for River’s elbow and tugged him with her into a far corner of the ballroom where no one could hear them.
“What is all this about, River?” she hissed at him through clenched teeth.
He crossed his arms over his chest, straining the shoulders of his designer tuxedo. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The hell you don’t. Why are you here tonight?”
“I was invited,” he replied with a satisfied smirk.
Morgan sighed in frustration. He was going to make her spell this out just because he could. “How did our companies end up working together, River? This is the first I’ve heard of it or it sure as hell wouldn’t have been approved. Was this your big idea? To weasel back into the family somehow through your business?”
“Why would I want to be in your family, Morgan? For the few hours I was related to the Steeles, I was treated like dirt. You’ve always been so arrogant. Acting like somehow everything always revolves around your important family and what people want from you.” There was audible venom in his voice. “I didn’t want anything from you but your love, Morgan, and your father wouldn’t even let me have that.”
Morgan watched a flicker of pain dance across his eyes. Yes, he’d been hurt. But he hadn’t been abandoned the way she had been. “No, he wouldn’t, but you seemed all too happy to settle for a fat check instead.”
Her father, Trevor Steele, had tried to reason with her when they got back to Charleston that morning. River wasn’t good enough for her. He was only using her to get to her money. Eloping? Without a prenuptial agreement? A background check? That little stunt could’ve had a disastrous outcome, he had insisted. And the boy she loved had his price. His affections were worth a hundred grand. When her father agreed to River’s price, money in hand, River had stopped fighting and let Morgan go.
River stiffened at her words. Perhaps he wasn’t very proud of that, either. He narrowed his dark sapphire gaze at her for a moment, and then let his arms fall helplessly to his side. “If that’s what you