JORDAN

by Lori Foster

  "But she did manage to raise the lot of you." Georgia shook her head. "I suppose that takes great fortitude."

  They all laughed. "Exactly."

  "Let me check on Mom and talk to her privately for a moment, to make sure she doesn't object to you coming in. I'll be right back."

  Georgia slipped silently into the room and the second she was gone, Jordan began to pace. He could feel Sawyer and Gabe watching him.

  "Any reason why you look so tormented?" Sawyer asked.

  Jordan glared at him. "She's only twenty-three!"

  "You thought she looked older?"

  "No, Gabe, it's not that. It's just...damn she's young to do what she's doing."

  Gabe asked, "What is it she's doing?"

  Sawyer, having been apprised by Morgan, as well as Howard and Jesse who'd gotten a firsthand show, said, "I think he's talking about the dancing."

  "Ah." Gabe caught Jordan's eye and gave him a wide, masculine smile. "You know, I was thinking of going to watch her act, myself. I haven't seen a live show in ages. Whadya think, Sawyer? You want to come, too?"

  ~ 7 ~

  JORDAN TURNED so fast Gabe jumped in surprise. With his eyes blazing and his jaw locked, he growled, "Don't even think about it, little brother."

  After biting his lips to keep from laughing, Gabe soothed, "All right. Don't get in a lather over it."

  It took him a second, and then Jordan's eyes narrowed. He realized Gabe had just gotten him but good. And Jordan had made it disgustingly easy for him to do. Choking Gabe sounded better by the minute.

  Georgia opened the door. She looked at Jordan's severe frown, then at Sawyer's exasperation and Gabe's innocent expression. Her own turned suspicious. "Am I interrupting anything?"

  "Not at all." Sawyer stepped forward. "Am I allowed in?"

  She didn't look convinced, but she let it go. "Yes. Mom said she'd like to meet you." Georgia glanced once more at Jordan, then turned away. She and Sawyer walked into her mother's room, Sawyer's hand at her waist.

  Jordan was still looking at the closed door when Gabe murmured, "I see Morgan was right."

  Jordan rounded on his younger brother again. He felt dangerously close to losing his edge. "You wanna tell me exactly what the hell that means?"

  "Ho!" Gabe backed up, pretending fear. And this time there was no way for him to hide his amusement. "Don't bite my face off over a simple observation. If you're still worried that I might go to the bar, I promise I was just yanking your chain. You can quit snarling at me now. Besides, Lizzy would have my head if I looked at another woman and you know it. She's got a mean jealous streak." Gabe sounded immensely pleased over that observation.

  "If you don't stop pricking my temper," Jordan rumbled, "you won't have to worry about Elizabeth. I'll have your damn head."

  Gabe laughed. "Honest to God, Jordan, I've never seen you in such a fury. It's kind of interesting."

  "You're on thin ice, Gabe."

  In his defense, Gabe said, "Hey, I'm justified. Don't think I've forgotten that you stole my wife from me!" Georgia gasped behind them. When they both turned to her, she stammered, "Mom wanted a moment alone with Sawyer." She looked from one to the other of them. She appeared stricken, and embarrassed.

  Gabe smiled as he explained. "My wife chose to work for Jordan in his clinic. Jordan knew that I wanted her with me, but he made up all these lame excuses and just swept her away."

  "That," Jordan said, watching Georgia closely, "is only Gabe's side of the story. Elizabeth has a knack with animals, a special rapport. She's much better suited to being my assistant than she is playing receptionist for Gabe. That's all he was referring to."

  Gabe shrugged. "Well, you did kiss her, too. Right in front of me."

  He snorted over that. "A brotherly kiss and you damn well know it."

  "Brotherly, huh? Well, in that case—" Gabe reached for Georgia, who quickly took two startled steps away from him. But he'd barely moved more than a foot before Jordan caught him by his collar and hauled him back.

  "Not in this lifetime, Gabe." The statement was low and mean, and made Gabe chuckle.

  "That's what I figured." To Georgia, he said, "Can you believe he kissed my Lizzy? Not that I blame him. She's about the most beautiful woman in these parts and pretty irresistible. You'll see what I mean when you meet her. And luckily for Jordan here, I let him live because she turned right around after kissing him and agreed to marry me."

  Georgia gave a nervous smile. "I see."

  "No you don't." Jordan released Gabe and propped his hands on his hips. "Elizabeth had just helped me save all the animals in the clinic from a fire. It was a kiss of gratitude, no more."

  "Uh-huh." Gabe pretended to think otherwise. "And what Morgan told me is that your Georgia here has incredibly pretty gray eyes. Now that I've seen her for myself, I agree. Very pretty."

  He and Georgia spoke at the same time.

  "She's not my Georgia."

  "I'm not his Georgia."

  Gabe said, "Oh, look. There's Sawyer."

  They both turned and Sawyer nodded with a smile. "She's doing fine. Incredibly well, in fact. Her doctor is a good man. I've always liked him." Sawyer pulled out a card and handed it to Georgia. "Here's my home number. Once she's released, probably by the middle of the week, feel free to give me a call if you have any questions or if she has any problems, okay?"

  Georgia's eyes softened to pewter. "Thank you. That's very generous of you."

  "You might want to share that number with the children, too, so that if anything like this happens again, they can give me a call if you're at work."

  She nodded as she tucked the card securely into her bag. "They have my number at the bar, but Bill doesn't always answer the phone at night during the show. We've argued over that several times."

  "I understand." Sawyer glanced at Jordan. "Perhaps a pager would be good?"

  Jordan saw the guilt flash across Georgia's face and knew she couldn't afford one. He spoke quickly. "Gabe, don't you have an extra pager you're not using anymore?"

  Gabe looked dumbfounded for only a second, then nodded. "Oh, yeah. Right." And with a grin: "Hey, it's even paid up for the next six months."

  Georgia was already shaking her head, but Gabe slung an arm around her, which caused her to still immediately. "I insist. That's what friends are for."

  She might have protested further, once she regained use of her tongue, but Sawyer chose that auspicious moment to tell Jordan, "Her mother wants to see you."

  "Me?"

  "Yep. She was rather insistent on it."

  Georgia groaned. "Oh, God. She's so overprotective...."

  Jordan peered at the closed door with deep reservation. He hoped like hell this wasn't the familial interrogation. At thirty-three, he was so rusty he had no idea if he'd know how to answer or not. Especially considering he hadn't yet figured out what he felt for Georgia. Lust certainly, and compassion. But if there was more...

  Georgia started to follow him in, but Sawyer gently caught her arm. "She specified that she wanted to see Jordan, and only Jordan."

  Jordan groaned in dread, mustered his manly courage and headed in. He wasn't a damn coward. He could face one disgruntled mother, with or without all his thoughts in order. But when he peeked around the curtain to the bed, he found Ruth Samson half-sitting up, very clear-headed, and more than a little disgruntled.

  Good heavens, the woman looked as ferocious as Morgan on his most intimidating days.

  "MS. SAMSON?"

  Her eyes, the same blue gray as her daughter's, locked onto him and without preamble she stated, "My daughter has whisker burns this morning."

  Jordan gulped, and before he could stop himself he ran a hand over his now smooth-shaven jaw. Deciding to brazen it out, he said, "I only kissed her."

  "Must have been one heck of a kiss." Ruth looked nothing like the frail, ill woman of yesterday. In truth, she appeared ready to get out of bed and whup Jordan's backside. "Georgia couldn't quite look
at me without blushing."

  Against his better judgment, Jordan grinned. "Georgia does seem prone to a pretty blush now and then."

  Ruth sighed, and all the vinegar seemed to leave her from one second to the next. "It's incredible, but regardless of all she's been through, she's still so sweet. Not that I want her to toughen up. She's a wonderful daughter and a wonderful mother to my grandchildren." Once she said it, Ruth glared, daring him to disagree.

  Jordan nodded. "She amazes me, if you want the truth."

  "Yes. She's amazing." Her eyes sharpened and she asked, "Exactly how much do you know about my daughter?"

  "Very little. I only just minutes ago found out she's a mere twenty-three."

  "That bothers you? Well it shouldn't. Georgia is very mature for her years."

  Jordan had no idea how to reply to that. "I also know that she works in a pretty disreputable bar."

  Ruth laughed. "And of course, you don't approve?"

  Jordan matched her stare without hesitation. "No, not at all."

  "Good." She nodded in satisfaction. "Neither do I. But she has few choices."

  "Georgia mentioned that to me."

  Ruth looked surprised. "She did? That's interesting. She usually won't give a man the time of day. And believe me, plenty of them are after her."

  Jordan ground his teeth together. "I believe it."

  "I can tell there's still a lot you don't know. Pull up a chair and I'll fill you in. But we better be quick because if I know my daughter, we maybe have about two minutes more before she barges back in."

  Jordan obediently pulled up a chair. He was anxious to learn more about Georgia, to find out how she'd ended up in these circumstances. She and her mother both felt she had few options, but Jordan intended to give her several, and they all had to do with her staying off that damn stage.

  Ruth's first burst of indignant anger had faded and had left her looking decidedly limp. She was now pale, her hands shaking. Jordan reminded himself that the woman had been extremely ill only the night before, and that he had to make certain she didn't overdo. He had the feeling she'd push herself, given half a chance, to defend her daughter. Against him.

  "Ms. Samson," he said, hoping to reassure her, "you don't have to worry about me being with Georgia. I only want to help."

  She sighed wearily, then started in coughing. Jordan was ready to call for a nurse when she waved him back into his seat.

  She had to use her oxygen for a moment, taking slow shallow breaths, and afterward she took quite a bit of time resettling her blankets around her. Finally she said, "I seriously doubt Georgia wants your help."

  "Well, no, she doesn't."

  "But you're insisting?"

  "Yes, ma'am."

  She nodded, apparently pleased by that. "Georgia got pregnant when she was only sixteen."

  Since he'd already done the math, Jordan didn't show a single sign of surprise.

  "My husband was an old-fashioned man. A sour, undemonstrative man who never really understood Georgia. We had her late in life. I was nearly forty, and my husband was eleven years my senior. We'd thought we were past the stage of having children. So she took us both by surprise."

  "A pleasant surprise?"

  "Oh, surely. But adjusting wasn't easy. Avery was set in his ways, and part of those ways was being miserly to the point of wanting Georgia to wear secondhand clothes, and insisting we drive our old Buick forever, and that we make do with one old black-and-white television. It had never mattered much to me. But I hated seeing Georgia do without. She didn't fit in with the other kids because of how we lived, and it wasn't even necessary. We could have afforded better for her, but I'd always been a housewife, and Avery had always controlled the money."

  Jordan nodded. "I understand." And he did. He knew plenty of older women like Ruth, women who'd been raised to believe that wives were meant to stay at home, to cater to their husbands. He could only imagine how a child thrown into the mix might have complicated things.

  "Well, I don't. I could have done more. And I could have done it sooner." Ruth looked past Jordan's shoulder, her eyes so sad. "We argued endlessly over Georgia, which was probably harder for her than the divorce. I was a coward, and the idea of being on my own was terrifying. But I finally did it. I should have left him years earlier, but I kept thinking that I needed to keep our home intact. I didn't want Georgia to have to start over in a new school system just because I couldn't afford the area anymore. Then, when she started dating Dennis Peach I wished like crazy that I had moved."

  "She got pregnant?"

  "Yes. Dennis was every young girl's dream. He was good-looking, athletic, nice. He took her to all the dances and the parties, places she hadn't been before. Georgia went head over heels in love with him almost overnight.

  "We were still hashing out the divorce when Georgia eloped. I couldn't believe it. But to give her her due, she made things work for awhile there."

  Jordan imagined that Georgia had enough sheer will and determination to make anything work when she put her mind to it. He thought about her at that age, so young, so innocent. At sixteen, he'd been into more mischief than his mother ever guessed, but he'd been careful, with himself and the girls he'd been with.

  He resolved to have another talk with Casey real soon. It wouldn't hurt to drive the point home one more time.

  "Dennis wasn't too bad," Ruth said. "They lived like paupers, but then Georgia was used to that. And she seemed so happy, especially after Lisa was born. My gosh, she adored that baby. She took to mothering as natural as could be."

  Jordan didn't want to hear about how happy she'd been with her husband. He was glad the man was long gone from the picture. "So what happened?"

  "Her in-laws happened. They made life as tough for Georgia as they could. While she was willing to make sacrifices for the marriage, Dennis wasn't used to living without. They coddled him something awful, and ignored Lisa – even to the point of questioning whether or not she was his. I tried to help out as much as I could, but I was dealing with the issue of my divorce and somehow Georgia ended up helping me."

  Ruth looked so wretched over that admission, Jordan reached out patted her hand. "Your daughter loves you very much."

  "I know." She spoke barely above a whisper. "My husband had always smoked and right after the divorce I started getting sick. I tried to find a job, but I had no experience and I'd get winded so easy. More so than most people, I'm prone to getting bronchitis and even pneumonia. That's when they found out how bad my lungs are. Only by then, I didn't have any health insurance because I'd been covered under my husband's policy. I was so, so stupid not to think of that."

  Jordan wondered if Georgia was paying for insurance for her mother. He frowned with the thought, mentally adding up all her responsibilities.

  "I was a burden to my daughter at a time when she needed me most."

  "No." Jordan shook his head, knowing exactly what Georgia would have to say about that. "That's not true. Family helps family. Period. She was there for you, just as you're here for her now. She's told me several times how much you contribute."

  Ruth tilted her head. "You sound like a man with a close family."

  "Yes. Like you, my mother is divorced." His mother, however, had always been one of the strongest, most independent women he knew. Of course, she'd had a fabulous first husband who'd shown her exactly what marriage should be. And that had thankfully gotten her through her marriage to Jordan's father.

  Jordan forced a smile for Ruth's benefit. "She's also happily remarried. Through it all, we've stayed a very close family."

  "I like you, Jordan."

  She said that as if he'd passed a test. "I like you, too."

  "And you like my daughter?"

  When he hesitated, not quite sure how she meant it and afraid of committing himself to her, she laughed. "That's all right. I didn't mean to pressure you. But I will tell you that it's not going to be easy."

  "I already figured that out."
<
br />   She laughed again. "The end of this long tale is that shortly after Georgia got pregnant with Adam – an accident, and a blessing from God – Dennis's parents convinced him that he was overburdened, that Georgia had gotten pregnant on purpose just to chain him down." Under her breath she muttered, "As if a broken condom was her fault."

  That was definitely not an image Jordan wanted haunting his brain. He frowned.

  "Dennis had always been pampered, and as their bills started to pile up and things got tougher and tougher, he got more and more distant, more willing to run home to his parents. And unfortunately, more willing to run up additional bills. Their combined incomes just weren't enough, and one day he went home to his folks and never came back."

  Jordan nodded in satisfaction. "So she divorced him?"

  "Yes. Georgia was really hurt. She loved him and yet he just walked away. She agreed to a peaceful divorce, and allowed the courts to divide the bills down the middle even though many of them had been his recent purchases. She wanted to make the transition as easy on the children as she could. But the really sad part is that Dennis agreed to it all, wished Georgia well, then stole several thousand dollars from his parents and took off. Not only did he not pay his half of the bills, he's never paid a dime of child support."

  "He doesn't see the kids?"

  "No. No one's heard from him since he left. His parents blamed Georgia, and added to her burden – until I told them I'd have the police after their precious son for skipping out on his responsibilities."

  She looked downright feral again, and Jordan nodded. "Good for you."

  "No, it was an error in judgment. His parents apologized and promised to pay Dennis's share of things. Georgia argued with them. They were Dennis's bills, not his parents. But they insisted, and she believed them. She ... trusted them. In the end, they were only biding their time until they could petition the court for custody of Adam and Lisa. They even tried to accuse Georgia of being an unfit mother."

  Rage churned forth in Jordan, taking him by surprise. In a voice of icy rage, he said, "They obviously failed in their efforts."