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the house from him free and clear.”
    “Really? How?”
    “I have to live with him for a week.”
    Nikki nearly choked as she sipped on her water.
    “What?”
    “You heard me right. He offered to sign the house over to me if I’d agree to spend a week with him.”
    Nikki looked aghast. “Just who is this guy? Of all the nerve.”
    “His name is Galen Steele and I have—”
    “Galen Steele?” Nikki sat straight up in her chair.
    “Are you sure?”
    “Yes, I’m sure. He gave me his business card and I have forty-eight hours to get back to him with my decision.”
    Nikki shook her head. “I can’t believe he actually approached you like that, a complete stranger.”
    “We’re not exactly strangers,” Brittany said and then went on to explain how they’d met over the cab.
    “Luckily, I was early for the airport and another cab was dispatched within minutes. But still, before he left Itold him that someone should teach him some manners. So now he wants me to move in with him and do just that.”
    “To teach him manners?” Nikki asked.
    Brittany gave her friend a straight look. “I wasn’t born yesterday, Nikki. I’m sure a class on manners isn’t all he’s expecting.”
    Nikki nodded. “Knowing those Steeles, it’s probably not.”
    She raised a brow. “Do you know him?”
    “Not personally, but there aren’t many single women in Phoenix who don’t know of the Steeles. There are six of them. All handsome as sin with green eyes that can make your panties wet if they look at you long enough. The green eyes are from their mother’s side of the family. She used to be a fashion model and was well-known in her day. I heard that even now she’s still quite beautiful.”
    “And Galen has five brothers?”
    “Yes, and all of them were born within a year of each other. Galen is the oldest. It seems their father was serious about keeping his wife pregnant. And in addition to being handsome, all those Steeles are very successful. The only one I’ve ever said more than two words to is Jonas. He owns a marketing firm and I’ve done freelance photography work for him once or twice. Jonas is a pretty nice guy, but all those Steeles have one thing in common besides good looks, success and green eyes.”
    “What?” Brittany wanted to know.
    “They are hard-core womanizers, all six of them, which is why women consider them the ‘Bad News Steeles.’ People claim they got their womanizing ways from their father. I heard he used to be something else before settling down and marrying Eden Tyson.”
    Nikki then leaned over the table. “With you owning an etiquette school, you’ll be the perfect person to teach him manners. Are you going to take Galen Steele up on his offer?”
    Brittany pushed a lock of hair out of her face. “Of course not! He doesn’t even know what I do for a living.”
    Nikki chuckled. “There’s a joke around town that a woman hasn’t been bedded unless she’s been bedded by a Steele. They’re supposed to be just that good.”
    No man was that good, Brittany thought. At least none in her past had been worth the trouble. “Well, I plan on contacting him tomorrow. There has to be another way.”
    Nikki shrugged as a half smile eased across her lips. “I don’t know. I understand when they see a woman they want, they go after her. Of course they drop her after a while, but there are a lot of women who would love to be in your shoes right now, including me. Not for Galen, mind you, but I’ve always had this thing for Jonas. He’s a hottie.”
    Brittany stared across the table at her long-lost friend. “Let me get this straight. If given the chance you would accept his terms of an affair?”
    “Of course,” Nikki said without any thought. “I’m acareer woman and I’ve pretty much given up the notion of finding Mr. Right because it seems they’re already taken. What you have out there now are men like the Steeles, the Hard-Ons, the Idiots and the Dawgs. They are the men who