“But it’s the truth. Daddy has no idea Tanner only wants to marry me because I’m pregnant.”
The heat of humiliation crept up her neck. Saying the words aloud, acknowledging that there would be no proposal if she were not pregnant stripped away all pretense of romance and laid out the situation for what it really was.
“Well, it is the honorable thing to do. While I will not tell you what to do—because you’re the only one who knows what’s in your heart—I would not discourage you from marrying him. It may be the new millennium, but people still talk.”
The bitter truth was hard to swallow. Even though her mother wasn’t saying it, Jordana knew there was a stigma attached to the daughter of a prominent family having a baby out of wedlock. They’d been through this before with her sister Wendy when she found herself in a similar situation, pregnant with Marcos Mendoza’s child. Wendy and Marcos had married and were happily living in Red Rock. Even though Jordana wholeheartedly knew she was perfectly capable of raising a child on her own, she also recognized that she was a little more traditional than she realized.
“I’m going to marry him and we are going to live in Red Rock, Texas. That’s where his business is and that’s where we will make our life. I can telecommute. Hopefully, if we keep the wedding modest and quiet—without a lot of hoopla—no one will keep track of our anniversary and the baby’s birthday.”
Virginia shook her head. “I suppose the opinions of other people should be the last thing on my mind right now. I’m sorry, honey.”
“Mama, it’s okay. I understand. You and I have always been able to talk so freely and openly. I want you to know how much I appreciate that.” Jordana paused, trying to summon the courage to tackle the scariest issue. Really, there was no sense in beating around the bush. “How in the world am I going to tell Daddy?”
Virginia squeezed Jordana’s hand. “You just leave that to me, sweetheart. Everything will be fine. However, I would like to get to know my future son-in-law, since I’ve only met him in passing. Why don’t y’all come by the house tomorrow night for supper?”
Jordana swallowed around the hard lump that had formed in her throat. It was made of equal parts fear of what her father might do to Tanner, and gratitude that she’d been blessed with such a saint for a mother. “Are you sure Daddy is going to be okay once he knows? Tanner may have asked him for my hand, but he didn’t mention the circumstances.”
Virginia smiled her serene smile, the one that always seemed to surface when there was an issue she had to discuss with her husband. “Don’t you worry about your daddy. He’s already been through this with your sister Wendy. You just leave the rest up to me.”
* * *
The Fortune estate sat on two acres of secluded land about an hour outside of Atlanta.
“Your father commutes all this way to the office every day?” Tanner asked as he steered the car along the lit winding driveway.
“Drives himself every day,” Jordana said. “My brothers and sisters and I grew up in this house. It’s just him and Mama now. I keep encouraging them to sell the house and move in closer to the city, but he likes the solitude. And Mama has a dream of someday seeing this house filled with grandkids. Looks like my sister Wendy and I are helping make Mama’s dream come true.”
He parked in the driveway and turned toward Jordana. The porch lights of the regal, two-story, Country-French-style house cast a soft glow on Jordana, highlighting just how beautiful, if not slightly nervous, she looked tonight. Pregnancy agreed with her. Or maybe he’d simply forgotten her ability to drive him mad. Her pink sweater, which hugged her in all the right places, brought out a subtle color in her cheeks and made him ache to touch her. Her blond hair hung in loose curls around her shoulders. Before he could stop, he found himself fingering a strand of it and allowing his index finger to brush the hollow of her cheek. Maybe it was his imagination, but he could’ve sworn she leaned into him a nearly imperceptible fraction.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Sure. Or at least I will be. I just want to get this over with.”
As a former Air Force pilot, Tanner had been stuck in way tougher situations than this meeting with her folks. No disrespect to them, but this was his and Jordana’s future. Not theirs.
He wasn’t upset with Jordana that she’d told her parents without him. Or, as she’d said, she’d told her mother. Her mother, Virginia, was telling Jordana’s father. No, it was up to Jordana how she wanted to break the news of the baby to her folks. They would tell his mom and his family together, but if this was how she wanted to handle it on her end, he supported her decision.
He and John Michael Fortune were on pretty good terms and he didn’t foresee this additional piece of news changing anything. At least not on his end. A surprise blessing, he’d once heard an unplanned pregnancy called. If Mr. Fortune needed some time to adjust to the news, he could have his space to do so. The only thing Tanner wouldn’t stand for was for him to upset Jordana. If that happened, they’d leave and the Fortunes could get in touch as soon as they were ready to play nice. But Tanner’s gut feeling told him it wouldn’t come to that. He just wished Jordana felt as confident as he did, because everything would be fine.
No matter what.
He moved his finger under her chin and gently tilted her head up so she would look him in the eyes.
“Don’t be nervous,” he whispered. “You have nothing to worry about. I’m here and I won’t let him hurt you.”
“He’d never hurt me. Not physically, anyway. He may be gruff, but he’s not violent.”
She had the most beautiful eyes, dark and almond shaped. The way their depth contrasted with her light hair gave her an exotic look that made it hard for him to take his eyes off her when she was near.
“I won’t allow him to upset you, either. There’s no reason to be afraid.”
He touched her cheek and the poignant warmth in her eyes made him achingly aware of her. He slid his hand down and traced her lower lip with the pad of his thumb, and suddenly the atmosphere changed, the tender need was replaced by something vibrant and gripping.
A swell of suppressed desire seared through him, gripping him by surprise. He knew he should be treading lightly, cautiously…but he just couldn’t help it. He didn’t want to help it. …
For a moment, they sat there transfixed in each other’s gaze, and he felt protective and a little bit Neanderthal as he tried to decipher the mix of emotions playing across her face. There was a hint of fear, and trepidation. He hated that she was uncertain, he wanted her to relax, to trust him. But he also sensed that there was something more in the way she looked at him…was it desire?
Or maybe he was glimpsing his own longing reflected back at him, because he was suddenly dying to pull her into his arms and taste her lips again. He wanted to see if they were as sweet as he remembered. His gaze dropped to her mouth and the next thing he knew, he had gathered her in his arms and her lips were right there, inches from his. Then he was leaning in and kissing her.
The kiss started soft and leisurely with a brush of lips and trace of tongue. He was testing the waters, trying to gauge how receptive she would be. But holding her made his heart pound and his brain time-travel back to the night of the storm, and that was all it took for reason to fly out the window.
As if reading his mind, she slid her arms around his neck and opened her mouth, inviting him in.
He’d forgotten how all-consuming her kiss could be.
There was no wavering, no inhibition, just his mouth on hers with shades of the one night they’d spent together fueling the fire of a ferocious need for her he hadn’t realized he’d harbored all these months they’d been apart. There hadn’t been anyone but her since that night. And right now, in this moment, he knew in his bones there never would be anyone but Jorda
na from here on out.
When he turned her so that he could deepen the kiss, Jordana fisted her hands into his hair and pulled their bodies closer. His hands were on her back, and his mouth was on her lips, but his entire body responded. Every sense was heightened as if the part of him that had died on the day she left was being resuscitated by her life breath.
Why had he not realized this until now? Or maybe he simply wouldn’t admit it to himself when he thought there was no possibility of a life with her.
And now there was.
As he tasted and teased, the last bit of reason he possessed took flight.
Damn.
He’d forgotten what kind of power she had over him. Most of all, he hoped here in his arms, she would finally realize she had nothing to fear. He wanted her to relax, let go and let him take charge for a while.
He heard the ragged rasp of her breath through the blood rushing in his ears. He felt the heat of her hands on his shoulders. She smelled like heaven: a sweet mix of what was probably her shampoo and a hint of something floral mingling with something soft and feminine. Yet despite the intoxicating way she smelled, the way she tasted—of sun-warmed honey and something else he couldn’t quite pin down—was sexy and inviting. She nearly made him drunk with pleasure. Jordana was a seductive contradiction of vulnerability and strength, mixed with a heady sexual magnetism and a soft femininity. Everything about her teased his senses, made him hot for her and just a little bit reckless.
It had been far too long. Far too long since a woman’s touch had made his blood burn with need and his body long to take her.
He was lost in the feel of her, the smell and taste of her, until something shifted and pushed its way into his awareness.
A ragged sigh escaped from him and he tightened his grip to pull her closer, but suddenly she pulled away, ducking her head and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
All she said was, “We can’t. Not now.”
She opened the car door and let herself out.
Chapter Five
“The keys to pulling off a quick wedding are extreme organization, the ability to prioritize and you must—absolutely must—be able to compromise.” Virginia ticked off the advice on her fingers as Jordana helped her do the dinner dishes in the kitchen while the men were talking and enjoying a cognac in the living room.
Since Jordana couldn’t drink due to the pregnancy and Virginia preferred softer drinks, mother and daughter had happily excused themselves to the kitchen to engage in a little planning while the men got to know each other better.
“Do you agree?” Virginia asked.
Jordana nodded. She was listening to her mother, but her mind kept drifting back to Tanner’s kiss in the car. She put the plate she’d just finished drying in the cupboard and pressed her fingers to her lips. She’d been so nervous about facing her father that she’d been terrified that he might catch them making out in the car in the driveway like a couple of teenagers.
Now she felt ridiculous for fleeing the way she did, especially after seeing the way her father had embraced Tanner. There was no ugly scene, no shotgun behind the door. In fact, the only slightly derogatory remark her father had made was when he shook Tanner’s hand and made a wisecrack about him making an honest woman out of his daughter.
And then there was the comment about him wanting the marriage to take place sooner rather than later. Tanner had beamed. “That’s exactly what I said to her. Tomorrow night we’re going to dinner to discuss our plans.”
It was all going a little fast for Jordana’s liking, but now that the train was in motion, it seemed futile to try and put on the brakes. Especially since her father was so onboard with the marriage.
Jordana realized given the circumstances she had to compromise on some old expectations, but the one thing she wished she could have—even more than her dream dress—was a groom who loved her. Tanner had been wonderful; he’d been charming and patient, but the fact remained that this was a marriage of convenience, a union in name only. Jordana couldn’t help but wonder what would become of them once their child was grown and set out to make his or her own life.
That was something they needed to discuss before they made anything official. Before they said “I do” and were stuck, they needed to make sure they were both on the same page.
Stuck…the thought made her want to run.
As she dried another piece of her mother’s china—Wedgwood Black Astbury pattern, it had been their family’s special-occasion china for as far back as Jordana could remember, and her mother had taken it out for tonight’s dinner—and she handled the piece with deliberate care, she wondered if her mother ever felt stuck. Her father wasn’t an easy man to live with and ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the time he was more focused on work than he was on her or the family. It was almost as if they were partners in the business of marriage. Mama was CEO and lone employee of the home-and-family division of the Atlanta Fortunes. Daddy was always preoccupied with everything but her.
Even though her mother was a good sport—in fine Southern tradition they never aired their dirty laundry—didn’t she ever get lonely?
The notion made Jordana panic at the thought of roping herself into a situation where she might find herself divorced after their child was grown and independent. Or worse yet…stuck in an empty shell of a relationship.
She shuddered.
“Are you okay?” Virginia asked. “You seem a million miles away.”
Jordana gently set down the plate.
“You and Daddy have been married for thirty-seven years. I know it hasn’t been easy.” She turned and faced her mother head-on. “How have you made it work? Weren’t there ever times you wanted to give up and leave?”
Virginia turned off the water she’d been running to rinse the stemware. She dried her hands on a dish towel and took off her apron. “Honey, let’s sit down.”
She motioned toward the kitchen table and Jordana followed.
“Marriage is an interesting arrangement. It’s part thrill ride, but mostly cross-country marathon. The butterflies and fireworks wear off far too soon and what you’re left with is the quality of the person you married and how you connect. Each couple is different. So, what works for your daddy and me may not necessarily work for you and Tanner. But if you both honor your vows to put your family and your marriage first, someday your daughter will be looking in awe at your long-lasting marriage. You’ll be soothing her fears about how to make marriage last.”
One thing Jordana could say was that she and Tanner had no problem connecting. She thought about his kiss earlier and how she’d pulled away. She wished she could go back and do it over. Easy to say now that Tanner had been heartily welcomed into the family. At least they’d cleared that hurdle. Now she needed to realign her expectations. She’d always been the good girl, the rule follower. Wendy was the wild daughter—so really the news of her pregnancy was not so surprising. Emily was the beauty, and Jordana was the smart one—the sister who should’ve been too smart to find herself in this situation.
Now, the challenge was to use her head to ensure this marriage lasted.
* * *
Tanner would’ve been lying if he hadn’t admitted that he’d been a little nervous joining the Fortunes for dinner tonight. However, he knew everything would work out fine in the end, because the only thing he wanted from John Michael Fortune was his blessing to marry his daughter, which he had granted yesterday afternoon.
Tonight had been strictly for Jordana’s benefit because full disclosure was so important to her. Not that Tanner wanted to keep secrets from his future family members, but frankly, his life with Jordana after they were married was private business.
Besides, he sensed John Michael Fortune was a man who respected strength. Strength meant not asking for approval o
n how to run his life. Tanner knew the type of man he would want his own daughter to marry would be one with a confident plan.
He was thirty-three years old. Business was good at Redmond Flight School. He had a solid future, and while getting married and having a baby hadn’t been part of his immediate plan, it was now. That was another area where he sensed that he and Mr. Fortune were alike. They both were successful in their respective businesses because they were able to proactively adapt to change.
Jordana was quiet in the seat next to him on the way home from her parents’ house. “It was a nice night,” he said, trying to gauge her mood.
“It was,” she agreed. “I didn’t quite know how my father would take the news. He must like you. That’s a good thing.”
“What’s not to love?” Tanner teased, slanting her a sidelong glance and a wide grin to show he was kidding. She looked tired, but there was a lighter air about her now than when they’d first arrived.
“What’s not to love?” she repeated. “According to my father you’re golden. He’s obviously a fan. Isn’t that all that matters?”
He liked this feisty side of her.
“No, other things matter, too.”
“Oh, yeah?” she asked. “Like what?”
“You, obviously. Your happiness. The baby. Shall I continue?”
He glanced at her, and for a moment his gaze dropped to her full bottom lip. He’d been stupid to kiss her earlier, despite how badly he’d wanted her. Something had come over him. Well, yeah, she obviously had that effect on him.
But tonight made him realize that no matter how attracted he was to her, she might need some time to warm up to their new life together. He would not push himself on her physically. He would wait until she was absolutely ready.
And he knew she would be worth the wait.
“That’s very sweet,” she said. “But, I was thinking about something tonight. Are you sure you want this marriage?”
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