Except the pavement they had parked on was not meant for high heels, and after she’d stumbled for the second time Jordan snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. Her body immediately groaned in delight at the feel of him so close, and her mind was fogged by the intoxicating smell of his body wash and cologne.
She ignored the effects it had on her body and pulled her coat tighter around her, as though the action would somehow protect her. She pulled away from him the moment they were inside the building, ignoring the way her heart protested at the emptiness she felt immediately, and gave her coat to a man with an unnecessarily prudish expression on his face.
‘Mila, I’m so glad that you made it!’
Mila turned at the familiar male voice, and opened her arms to return a hug when she saw it was Simon.
‘I’m so glad that you invited us, Simon! We appreciate Karen taking the time to speak to us.’
She pulled back and smiled, and then her skin prickled and she realised that Jordan had joined them.
‘You’ve never met my...’ She’d been about to say husband, but that didn’t seem right. ‘You’ve never met Jordan, have you? He owns the vineyard where Karen performed at the event where we met. Jordan—Simon.’
They shook hands, and she noted the way Jordan’s ‘businessman’ expression slid easily onto his face.
‘I’m glad to see you both. Unfortunately Karen won’t have time until after the performance to talk to you two, but can you come backstage immediately after and we’ll discuss the event then?’
‘Yes, of course,’ Mila answered.
‘Great! I’ve given your names to the guys at the door, so you can go straight through.’ Simon brushed a kiss on Mila’s cheek, nodded at Jordan and then moved on to whoever was behind them in the line.
‘I suppose we can’t sneak out now,’ she whispered to Jordan as they walked towards the door. She looked at his face when he didn’t respond, and was treated to the stormy expression she had seen that first day after he had returned.
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked, but there was only silence.
She sighed and pulled him out of the line they were standing in, not wanting to be overheard.
‘Look, I know what happened this afternoon was...wasn’t ideal...’ she rolled her eyes at her description ‘...but this is work. This is why we’re here. Can you put your feelings aside so we can do this?’
His expression grew darker, and she was about to launch into another lecture about keeping the event and their personal feelings separate when his face grew blank. He gave her a curt nod, and then extended his arm for her to hook hers onto. She hesitated for a moment and then slipped her arm through his. If he was going to put his feelings aside then so could she, she thought, and ignored the spread of warmth through her body at his touch.
CHAPTER TWELVE
‘YOU’RE HEARING THE same thing I am, right?’
Jordan glanced over at Mila, and saw that her jaw had dropped. She nodded at his question, and then quickly closed her mouth.
‘This is ridiculous,’ she whispered back to him, her eyes still riveted on the stage. ‘Why do they have her doing those awful pop songs when she can sing like this?’
He chuckled—more at Mila’s reaction than at the fact that Karen-the-pop-star was actually Karen-with-the-most-incredibly-beautiful-classical-voice. She was standing alone in front of an orchestra, her usual red curls straightened into a sophisticated updo that, along with her green ballgown, made her look a lot older than she was. More mature, too, he thought—which was probably the point, though not entirely necessary. Not when each note sent a wave of appreciation through the audience.
‘Maybe this is so that she won’t have to do “awful pop songs” any more,’ he responded, and received a death glare from a woman in front of him, who looked like the kind of woman who always shushed people.
It was effective, though, and he didn’t speak again until Karen’s performance was over. She had been one of many performers that night, all of them students who were singing as part of their evaluation for a degree. And, although he knew that was why Karen had been performing that night, he had expected the beauty of her voice almost as much as he had expected that kiss he and Mila had shared that afternoon.
He sighed when he realised that he was thinking about it yet again.
Though how could he not? an inner voice asked him, and his mind played back portions of it. Mila coming towards him with passion in her eyes...the feeling of her lips on his...the desire that had shot through him and had him tearing at her clothes—literally—just about ready to take her against the wall of the house they had once shared...
If she hadn’t taken that phone call he wasn’t sure he would have been able to help himself, although he definitely should have...
He wasn’t sure if he was grateful for that call or annoyed by it.
Since his mind kept slipping back to that afternoon, he was grateful when all the performances were over and they could make their way backstage. Jordan saw Simon standing with Karen, and warned himself against the jealousy that still threatened. When he’d met Simon, Jordan had noted the easiness of the interaction between him and Mila. He’d only vaguely been able to remember a time when things had been that easy between himself and Mila—when they’d been married, probably—and that thought had led to the annoyance that Mila had incorrectly interpreted as anger earlier.
But Jordan had shaken it off now, and he forced himself to remember that as Simon waved them over.
‘Karen, I can’t believe it was you out there!’ Mila pulled the smiling girl in for a hug. ‘It can’t be only two years since that event. You have grown up so much since then!’
‘It makes a huge difference when I’m not in leather tights singing about boys breaking my heart, doesn’t it?’ Karen responded, and Mila laughed.
‘Yeah—although I can’t disregard the value of the tights or the songs. They’re the reason we’re able to see this amazing side of you.’
It still impressed Jordan to see how good Mila was at networking, even though he’d spent the afternoon witnessing it. She had made every vendor feel as though they were her friend, he remembered, asking them about details of their lives that he was sure they had only mentioned to her in passing. And then, when they had been buttered up by the personal conversation, she would segue into the professional.
Now she was complimenting Karen on her current performance but still highlighting their need for the other side of her to perform. It wasn’t only a testament to how good she was at networking, he realised suddenly, it was smart, too.
‘They’re the reason she’s here, too,’ Simon chimed in. ‘Some well-placed donations helped her get in, even though she had missed the application deadline.’
Mila smiled at Simon, though Jordan saw the flash of annoyance in her eyes, and he found himself agreeing. Why would Karen’s manager undermine her talent like that?
‘I’m sure it didn’t take that much convincing with your voice, though,’ Mila said smoothly, and Jordan felt warmth radiate from the smile Karen aimed at Mila.
She cared, he thought, though he wasn’t sure why he hadn’t thought about that before. Since he’d come back Jordan had learned all kinds of things about his wife—and was clearly still learning. He knew more than he’d known before. She was feisty, and he was beginning to realise just how much he liked it. It made her a lot more confident, he thought as he watched it first-hand and felt the tug of attraction.
‘Oh, I’m sorry!’ Mila turned to him and he realised it was his turn to perform. ‘I don’t think you met Jordan the night of the first Under the Stars event, did you?’
‘No, I didn’t.’
Karen held out her hand, and Jordan smiled at the interest he saw coming from her. She didn’t try to hide it, which amused him even more.
It seemed she’d grown up a lot from the whiny teen who’d cried at a broken heart, he thought.
‘It’s lovely to meet you, Karen. Mila was absolutely right about that performance. If you don’t get an A for that, then I’m not sure the lecturers were listening properly.’
‘How very kind of you to say, Jordan.’
He hid a smile at the flirtatious tone of her voice.
‘Simon tells me that you’re interested in me performing at an event you’re hosting at the vineyard?’
‘Yeah, Mila and I are hosting it, actually.’
‘You mean she’s hosting the event for you?’ Karen’s eyes didn’t leave his face.
‘No, I mean we’re hosting it together.’
Karen didn’t know they were married, Jordan thought, and wondered how it would change things if he told Karen they were.
But then he saw the slight shake of Mila’s head and continued, ‘My father grew quite fond of Mila after the last event, and his dying wish was that we plan one more event in his name.’
It wasn’t exactly a lie, was it?
‘He essentially requested a replica of the event you performed at a couple of years ago, in fact. Said he couldn’t remember hearing someone sing as beautifully as you.’ That, he thought, was an outright lie. But desperate times called for desperate measures.
‘Oh, wow...’ Karen breathed, and Jordan realised his earlier assumption hadn’t been entirely correct.
She was still a teenager—she had just learned to hide it better.
‘Well, I can’t see myself saying no to such an amazing offer. I have time towards the end of the year, right, Simon?’
‘Actually...’ Mila interrupted whatever answer Simon had been about to give ‘...I mentioned to Simon that the concert will have to happen quite soon. Like before the end of next month.’
Karen frowned. ‘Why so soon?’
Mila exchanged a look with Jordan that screamed “Help me!” and words came out of his mouth before he had an opportunity to think about them.
‘Well, Mila’s moving away at the end of next month to teach in Korea. She won’t be able to do anything once she’s gone, and I’d like to honour my father before she leaves, since we don’t know when she’ll be back.’
Mila bit her lip, and he could see she was trying to hide a smile.
‘Yes, Karen—I’m going to teach English to little children in Korea, and I need to do this before I leave. Can you help?’
Karen looked at Simon. ‘Tonight was my last exam, but I’ll be going on tour in a few weeks and then I won’t be available.’
‘The proceeds will be going to charity,’ Jordan said suddenly, inspired by his fear of losing Karen’s performance and the repercussions that might have on their event. But now that he’d said it, he realised it wasn’t a bad idea.
Mila raised her eyebrows at him, but said, ‘An event for charity will have an awesome effect on your public image, Karen. And, Simon, I don’t have to tell you how much that can do for Karen’s tour.’
Simon waited a beat, and then whipped out his phone and tapped on the screen. ‘She has a sold-out concert at Westgate Stadium this Saturday, but the following Saturday—the one before the tour—we don’t have anything booked. It was intended to give her some rest before she leaves on tour. Would you be willing to sacrifice that?’ Simon directed the question to Karen.
‘Yeah, sure.’ Karen turned to them in expectation, and all they could do was look at her with stunned expressions.
Mila was the first to recover.
‘That’s great. Would you mind helping us with the marketing, then? We’ll organise the tickets, but support from you on social media will properly ensure that we have an audience for you. And enough support for charity.’
‘Yeah, of course.’ Karen’s eyes shifted to someone behind them and she smiled. ‘Look, you can chat to Simon about the arrangements—the set, details about soundcheck—and he’ll let me know what the deal is. We can take it from there. I’m going to run. It was nice seeing you again, Mila... Jordan.’
Karen fluttered her eyelashes, and then walked over to join a group of giggling girls.
‘I’ll contact you tomorrow, when I’ve had more time to look at the schedule, and we can talk about things,’ Simon said to them.
‘Yeah, that’s perfect. Thanks, Simon.’
Mila smiled at him, and Jordan nodded a farewell, his mind too consumed by what Mila had just got them into to be concerned about the interested look Simon threw at Mila as he walked away.
They stood in silence after Simon had left, and then Jordan gathered his wits to ask, ‘Did you just agree to holding our event in two weeks’ time?’
‘I...I think I did,’ Mila stammered, not quite believing that it was true. But her instincts had taken over, and the event planner inside her had jumped at the opportunity to secure a performer who would ensure their event was a success.
‘What were you thinking?’ he asked under his breath, and then gave a polite smile to the man who was returning their coats.
‘I was thinking that we need Karen to make the event a success.’
‘But you realise we don’t actually need the event to be a success, right?’
He shot her a frown as he slid his coat on, and then turned for her to help him when his arm got stuck. Her hands shook a little, but she forced them to behave and helped him into the garment, lingering a tad too long at his shoulders.
‘We just need there to be an event. Whether we have five or five hundred people there doesn’t matter.’
‘You were the one who said it was for charity,’ she hissed at him. ‘And you heard that she wouldn’t be able to do it before our deadline otherwise. What was I supposed to do?’
‘Find another performer?’
‘It would have been more of an effort,’ she replied, and he nodded as though he’d thought of that, too.
‘You’ve made this much more difficult for us now,’ he said stonily.
‘I know that. But we both knew that this was a possibility when we spoke to the vendors today. It was either at the end of this month with Karen, or the beginning of next month without her.’
She was trying to convince herself as much as she was him, but suddenly she knew that she had done the right thing. That her actions would make the event a success. She really wanted it to be a success, she thought. And because she had just realised why, she said, ‘It’ll be the last thing I do for Greg, Jordan. I want it to go as well as it possibly can.’
Her stomach knotted at her words. The intimacy of what she had revealed and the fact that she’d said it out loud warned her that she was growing too comfortable around Jordan. But up until that point it hadn’t occurred to her that she might want to do the event for any reason other than the fact that she had to.
Now she knew she wanted to do it as a thank-you to Greg for all he had done for her—the last one she would be able to give him—and perhaps as a goodbye present to all those she cared about at the vineyard. A successful event would boost the vineyard’s image and be a foundation they would be able to use to rebuild everything that had been put on pause over the last year with Greg’s illness.
‘I’m sorry, I—’
‘No, it’s fine,’ she interrupted him, not wanting his sympathy.
She thanked the man for her coat, and took care to slip it on so that she wouldn’t need Jordan’s help as he had needed hers. They walked to the car in silence, though Jordan once again put an arm around her waist to keep her steady. She murmured a thank-you when she got into the car, and wondered why the silence was suddenly so bothersome. Maybe it was because she could feel, just beneath the armour she had put around her heart, her need for Jordan become stronger.
And he had only been back for three days.
That was
another reason—one that also hadn’t occurred to her until now—that she’d agreed to expedite the event. The quicker it happened, the sooner she would be able to get away from the reminder of a life that had never been hers to begin with. She would be free of all the wants and needs that were beyond her grasp, and she would finally be able to move on to a more realistic future, where she would be safe from hurt...
‘So, I’m going to teach in Korea?’ she blurted out, sick of the direction of her thoughts.
Jordan chuckled, and the vibration of his voice sent a chill up her spine. Or maybe that was just the cold, she told herself desperately.
‘One of the fellows at the research institute we started in Johannesburg told me about how his daughter was going to teach there in a few months. For some reason that was what jumped into my head when you sent me the fire signal for help.’
She smiled. ‘Fire signal?’
‘Your eyes were screaming “Help me!” so loudly I’m surprised no one else heard it.’
‘I’m grateful that you came to my rescue—though now I’m wondering if Korea might be a good next step for me.’
She was still smiling, but her words reminded them that she would be leaving after the event. The thought was sobering—for both of them, she thought, when Jordan didn’t respond—and again she sought for something to break the tension.
‘How did things go with the institute?’
He looked over at her, and she wondered why he seemed to be checking to see if she was asking him seriously.
Because that’s the excuse he used to leave the first time, she thought, and shook her head at the fact that everywhere she turned there was a reminder of a life she no longer had and a future that was uncertain.
‘It went well,’ he said after a moment. ‘We had already started the ball rolling by then, so I just went there to finalise the staffing and ensure that the premises were suited for the expected capacity.’
‘Was it?’
‘Yeah, it was. It’s in central Johannesburg, which is a great location, and it has enough space for the research fellows and for research seminars.’
A Marriage Worth Saving Page 12
