Her Little Black Book by Brenda Jackson Page B

there was no close living relative to offer advice on whether or not she was making a bad decision.
    So Lola had taken the money and basically ran, not away from Orlando but to a nice section of town where she had raised her daughters in grace and style and given them whatever she felt they would need to survive in what she saw as a harsh and oftentimes cruel world. She had educated them at some of the finest private schools, and had sent them to Atlanta to be educated at Spellman, letting them know from the jump that just a bachelor’s degree wouldn’t do. They would need graduate degrees. Then she had established trust funds for them, which meant that even after the last breath had left her body, they would be taken care of. And she had lived long enough to see the both of them married off to well-educated men.
    Peggy always admired her mother’s strength, her ability to handle just about anything in life—including men. And that is where, Peggy thought sadly, her mother had failed them. She had provided them the proper grace and breeding to carry themselves as ladies in the truest
form, but Lola hadn’t educated her daughters on how to deal with doggish, no-good men. Men who didn’t believe in keeping their vows. Men who constantly thought with their pecker instead of their head. Men obsessed with sleeping with women more than half their age. Men who were just plain outright assholes. The exact men she and Barbara had married.
    At least she had gotten Joe out of her life and finally out of her system and had moved on. Barbara, for whatever reason, was still holding on to Ron. Peggy shook her head sadly, thinking about the conversation she’d had with her younger sister over dinner a week or so ago. Barbara actually thought that Ron was through screwing around on her, and that he was actually going to keep his pants zipped. He had promised her. On his mother’s grave. Yeah. Right.
    â€œGood morning, Ms. Morrison.”
    She smiled at Toni’s secretary. “Good morning, Sharon.”
    â€œHow was the drive in to the office this morning?”
    â€œFunny you should ask,” Peggy said, grinning. “I was just thinking about how nice it was. Oh, I ran into the usual traffic snarls, but that was okay. The radio station I was listening to was belting out some of my favorites, songs I haven’t heard in years, so I decided to do a sing-along. It was wonderful.”
    â€œI’m glad, because Mr. Baker wants to know if your appointment with him could be moved up an hour. Something has come up, and he needs to fly out of Orlando sooner than he’d originally planned.”

    Peggy nodded. “Sure. How soon did he want us to meet?”
    A sheepish look came into Sharon’s eyes. “Umm, how about right now? He arrived unexpectedly, so I placed him in your office, thinking it would be better than having him wait in the lobby—especially when he said that he had a few private calls to make.”
    â€œOkay. Meeting him now won’t be a problem.”
    A few moments later she was walking down the long hallway to her office. When Toni had brought her back into the workforce a year ago, her best friend had done it in style by giving her a beautifully decorated office on the executive floor, overlooking a huge lake. Toni had claimed she needed her close by to be her sounding board when things got crazy in the office. She was yet to be used that way and always figured she wouldn’t be, since Toni was the most easygoing person she knew.
    The door to her office was slightly ajar, but as she got near, she could hear the distinct sound of a male voice. It had a deep, husky tone combined with a smoothed silken timbre. When she got to the door and looked inside, a man stood talking on his mobile phone, his profile to her. She was about to take a step back to give him privacy when suddenly he turned and saw her standing there.
    For some reason, her muscles suddenly