JORDAN

by Lori Foster

  Georgia laughed in surprise while clinging to his shoulders. "What are you doing?"

  "Dancing with you." She started to say something more, but he stopped and asked, "You won't forget about this weekend, right? The cookout? Honey has been planning it all month and the kids are looking forward to it. Sawyer has promised to make them his famous fruit salad with melon balls – kids love melon balls – and Casey intends to take them boating."

  She ducked her head and said, "We'll be there."

  Tipping her chin once again, Jordan asked, "You don't sound very happy about it. What's wrong?"

  She shook her head, refusing to answer. But then, he didn't really need her to. He knew she resisted their growing closeness and the need that got harder and harder to ignore. She was afraid if she relied on him, he might let her down. Jordan smiled, remembering that she wanted options.

  He'd start working on that first thing in the morning.

  ~ 9 ~

  THE KITCHEN was filled to overflowing with meddling relatives when Jordan walked in for breakfast. Even though Morgan and Misty now lived up on the hill, they often came down for breakfast. Honey insisted on it. And since Gabe and Elizabeth were still living downstairs in the renovated basement of the big house, they were always there in the mornings, too. The women generally helped each other out, cooking, watching babies, laughing and providing a nice feminine touch to what used to be a totally masculine gathering.

  Casey, he noted, wallowed in all the attention. The women doted on him shamefully.

  Jordan saw everyone look up when he closed the kitchen door. His own apartments were over the garage, converted years ago when he realized he was a little different than the others, that he wanted and needed more privacy than they did. "Morning."

  Morgan, with his daughter Amber perched on his lap, leaned back and grinned. "I hear you're checking into property around town. You thinking of moving?"

  "No!" Honey put down the spatula she'd been using to turn eggs and turned to Jordan with a horrified expression. "It's bad enough that Gabe and Elizabeth are planning to move. I like having you all here!"

  Misty picked up the spatula and took over for her sister. "He's been looking at warehouses, not homes."

  "Oh." Honey seemed so relieved that Sawyer walked up to her, put his arms around her from behind and began kissing her nape.

  "You can't keep them all underfoot forever, sweetie."

  She looked dreamy for a moment – a common occurrence when Sawyer kissed her or touched her – then scowled at him over her shoulder. "Don't say that. You'll have them thinking we want them to leave."

  "My brothers know they're always welcome."

  "And their wives."

  Sawyer nodded. "I think I hear Shohn."

  He left the room, oblivious to Casey's chuckles. "How the heck does he hear Shohn," Casey asked, "when no one else does? What'd the baby do? Burp?"

  Everyone laughed except Honey. She, being as attuned to the baby as her husband, said matter-of-factly, "No, he yawned."

  Morgan brought the conversation back around just as Jordan sprawled into his seat. "So why are you checking out warehouses?"

  Jordan tried to stare him down before everyone started questioning him, but it didn't work. Amber reached up and pulled on her daddy's nose, and Jordan had to smile. He adored kids and Amber was a real cutie. Luckily, she looked just like her mother.

  He wondered how they'd found out about his property inquiries so soon. Granted, he'd started checking into it yesterday morning, right after the idea had come to him the night before. But he'd barely called five places. Half the time he thought his family had radar.

  Misty, long since recovered from her bout with the flu, jumped in, saying, "According to what Honey and Elizabeth told me about Georgia's talent, I bet he's thinking of putting together a dance studio. Buckhorn doesn't have anything like that, you know. A little culture wouldn't hurt anyone."

  If he'd been prepared, if he'd had any forewarning at all that Misty might guess so close to the truth, Jordan could have blustered his way out of it. But he didn't. He simply stared, in awe of Misty's ability.

  She felt him looking at her and glanced back. "What? Am I right?"

  Morgan laughed. "Damn, you're good, sweetheart! And Jordan, I personally think it's a helluva idea."

  "Helluva idea," Amber said, and Morgan quickly tried to hush her, but not quick enough. Misty glared at him with one of her you're-in-trouble looks.

  "Amber, sweetie," Misty said, "Daddy's got a nasty mouth and says things he shouldn't. You can't always copy him or people will say you have a nasty mouth, too."

  Amber pursed her cute little rosebud mouth and nodded. "Daddy's nasty."

  "That's right." Misty kissed her daughter, who kissed her nasty daddy, just to make him stop looking so guilty.

  Sawyer walked back in with Shohn on his shoulder. The baby still looked sleepy and had a soft printed blanket clutched in his chubby fist.

  Honey said immediately, "Jordan is going to buy Georgia a dance studio."

  Sawyer drew up short. "He's going to what?" Jordan leaned forward, put his head on the table, and covered it with his arms. Amber patted his ear. "A dance studio?"

  "Yes." Honey took the baby and snuggled him close. "Georgia would be a wonderful dance instructor."

  "How do you know?" Jordan asked, his voice muffled because he hadn't sat up yet.

  A heavy pause filled the air. Everyone looked at Jordan. He sighed and propped his head up on his fist.

  "What makes you think she'd be a good instructor?"

  Knowing his ploy, Honey lifted her chin and said, "Because I watched her dance two nights ago, as you very well know."

  Jordan couldn't have been more amazed by her admission than if she'd thrown an egg at him. "You told him?"

  She nodded. He glanced at Elizabeth who sat in Gabe's lap. "Of course we told."

  Jordan stared at his brothers' red faces. "And neither of you are angry?"

  "Damn right I'm angry," Sawyer admitted. "I told her she should have told me if she'd wanted to go and I would have taken her."

  "Damn right," Amber said. When Sawyer groaned, she asked, "Unca Sawyer nasty, too?"

  "Yeah," Morgan answered. "Nastier than me." He kissed Amber's belly and made her laugh.

  Gabe made a face. "I had fully intended to impress upon Elizabeth the error of her ways, but it didn't work out quite as I had intended."

  Morgan covered Amber's ears and said with remorse, "I know what you mean. You plan on giving a woman a good swat, but once you've got her pants off, you forget what you're doing."

  Misty pinched Morgan for that bit of impertinence. Elizabeth just laughed, knowing it was all bluster. It was the truth not a one of them would ever lay a harsh hand on a female and their wives more than understood that.

  Jordan laughed. God, he loved the lot of them. They were all nuts and overbearing and intrusive, and he had no idea what he'd do without them. The phone rang so he decided to excuse himself from the chaos.

  He went into the family room and when he picked up the receiver and said, "Hello," he heard a long pause before his mother asked, "What's wrong?"

  Jordan stared at the phone. "Mother?"

  "Of course it's your mother. Now tell me what's wrong."

  Of course it's your mother? Jordan held the receiver away from his ear to stare at it. His mother and Brett now lived in Florida. She'd called last week, but he'd been at Georgia's and missed her.

  Because he wasn't sure how much she knew, Jordan hedged. "What makes you think anything's wrong?" Though he'd just been entertaining softer thoughts about his family, he now considered knocking all their heads together. If one of his damn brothers had been tattling, upsetting their mother, he wouldn't be pleased.

  "I can hear it in your voice," she explained. "You've always had the most betraying voice. Even when you were a baby, I could tell by your gurgles what you were thinking and feeling."

  Jordan dropped onto the edge o
f the couch and without giving himself time to plan out his reply, he said, "I think I'm in love."

  Another pause, then softly: "Will you tell me about her?"

  Even as he considered his words, Jordan smiled. "She's beautiful."

  "Of course."

  "But that's not what got to me." He frowned. "She has two kids. Lisa, six and Adam, four. They're incredible."

  There was a smug note in his mother's voice when she said, "Then obviously she's incredible."

  "She is. And gutsy. She's made a few mistakes, I guess. And..." Jordan hesitated. "In a lot of ways, she's like you."

  Another pause. "How's that?"

  Jordan looked toward the doorway, saw no one was lurking, and said, "She'll do anything necessary to see that her kids are taken care of."

  His mother laughed. "What in the world did I ever do to warrant that comment? You make it sound like I worked in the coal mines to feed you or something." Jordan considered all the things she had done, the sacrifices she'd made, how hard she'd always worked to make them happy. But the one thing that really stood out in his mind, the one thing he'd always hated, slipped out without his permission. "You married my father," he said, "hoping to make a complete home for Sawyer and Morgan."

  "Jordan!" She sounded incredulous that he'd come to such a conclusion. "I married your father because I loved him!" Jordan heard a muffled shout in the background and his mother said, "No Brett, it's not Gabe. It's Jordan." And then: "Yes, I can see how you made that assumption."

  Jordan chuckled. He could just imagine what Brett, Gabe's father, was thinking right now. "Tell Brett I said 'hi.'"

  "Later. Right now I have something that I want you to understand. Do you have your listening ears on, Jordan?"

  "My listening ears?" She hadn't used that term on him since before he'd become a teen.

  "Don't get smart, son. Just pay attention."

  He grinned even as he said, "Yes, ma'am."

  "I have never regretted marrying your father. How could I when I have you?"

  "He was a damn drunk."

  "He was human. He made mistakes and in my mind, he's paid dearly for them. He lost me, and he lost all of you. Surely there couldn't have been a worse penalty."

  Jordan gripped the receiver hard. "He was irresponsible, selfish—"

  "No, sweetheart, he was just an alcoholic." She sighed, then continued. "We humans are prone to screwing up our lives on occasion. Most of the time we're given the chance to make amends. Your father was a wonderful man when I met him. Things happened that he couldn't deal with, and he ... well, he wasn't strong enough to cope. If you ever get to meet him, I hope you keep that in mind."

  Jordan didn't want to meet him, ever. But to appease his mother, he said, "I'll think on it."

  "Now tell me about this young lady you're going to marry."

  He choked on his own indrawn breath. "I didn't say anything about marrying her! I haven't even known her that long. It's just..."

  "It's just that you love her. So why wait?"

  "Well, one good reason might be that she doesn't want to marry me. In fact, she doesn't even want to see me."

  "That's ridiculous! Why wouldn't she? There's no finer man than you."

  Jordan got an evil grin when he said, "I'll tell the others you said so."

  Laughing, his mother replied, "You're all equally fine men. And I can tell them myself this evening."

  "There's no need to call back. Everyone's here for breakfast."

  "That's not what I meant. Brett and I are flying in tonight. We should make it to the house by about five."

  Jordan froze. "You're coming here? Tonight?"

  "Now, Jordan, if I didn't know better, I'd say you didn't want to see me."

  Jordan quickly reassured her otherwise. But in his mind, he was thinking of the cookout, the fact that Georgia would be there with her kids. He'd hoped to tell her about the studio, but until he knew for certain that there was a building that'd work, he didn't want to mention it.

  His mother again told him that she loved him, and Jordan reciprocated. It'd be good to see her, and the babies would love it, not to mention how Casey would feel. But with his mother there, he didn't know if he'd be able to get a single moment alone with Georgia.

  And that's what he wanted, because he was through with waiting. He'd planned to cement their relationship in the oldest way known to mankind.

  Now that he'd seen firsthand how she responded to him, he knew it would be so damn good, so explosive, she'd never be able to deny him again.

  RUTH WAS in the kitchen baking when Georgia walked in. She paused, watching her mother for a moment before announcing herself. Ruth looked pretty in a matching nightgown and robe decorated with small sprigs of yellow flowers. Her light brown hair, now slightly streaked with gray, was twisted at the back of her head in a loose knot. She was humming as she put a new sheet of cookies in the oven.

  "Morning, Mom."

  Ruth turned with a smile and then went to Georgia to kiss her cheek. "You're up early!"

  Georgia grinned. "So are you. And baking already?" She made a beeline for the coffeepot, as usual. Now, whenever she drank a cup, she thought of Jordan – and remembered everything he'd made her feel.

  "I wanted to bring something to the cookout today. I'm looking forward to it."

  Georgia's heart swelled. The kids had talked about little else for the past few days and her mother's eyes glowed with just the mention of the gathering. Georgia hadn't realized how isolated, how withdrawn from society she'd kept them all. Between working so much, both at the bar and on the house, there'd been little time for playing. It seemed every day she found another way that she'd failed the ones she loved most.

  "I'm sorry. I hadn't thought about how lonely you might have been."

  Ruth shook her head. "Or how lonely you've been?"

  She started to deny that, but Ruth took her coffee cup and set it aside, then clasped both of Georgia's hands and squeezed them. "Georgia, it's okay to admit it, you know." Her mother met her gaze squarely and stated, "It's also okay to want a man."

  "Mother!" Georgia felt a hot blush begin creeping up her neck.

  "Oh, don't give me that tone." Ruth paid no heed to her daughter's embarrassment. "I'm older, not dead. I know how it is. And Jordan is ... well, he's a potent male. Personally I think you're downright foolish to keep putting him off."

  Georgia thought she might fall through the floor with her mother's words. "He is potent, and that's what scares me." In a softer voice, she admitted, "It'd be so easy to love him."

  "So?" Ruth sounded totally unconcerned with her plight. "The kids and I love him, so you might as well, too."

  Georgia shook her head. "It isn't that easy, Mom. I thought I loved Dennis—"

  "You did love Dennis. And I think he honestly loved you. He was just young, Georgia. Young and foolish." Ruth hesitated, then said, "Let's sit down. I want to tell you something."

  Georgia agreed, but she also snatched back her coffee cup. No way could she handle all this without some caffeine. Luckily the kids were still sleeping soundly, giving them some quiet time alone.

  As Georgia refilled her cup, she looked around her home. Everything was in order now. Oh, there were still plenty of repairs to be made, but nothing crucial. She could finally see the end of the tunnel. And beyond the material things, her children were more lively than they'd ever been. They'd flourished under all the added attention from Jordan and his family.

  Morgan had dubbed them "official deputies" and given them both badges to wear. Casey took them swimming and boating and taught them both how to fish. Sawyer had let them listen to their own heartbeats with his stethoscope. The women had praised Lisa for helping with the babies and had convinced Adam that he was the handsomest guy in Buckhorn, even more so than Gabe – which made her shy son start strutting.

  And Jordan...Georgia sighed just thinking about him. It amazed her that one man could truly be so wonderful. He'd gone with them to find salam
anders in the woods behind the house. One day he had even paid them to help him at his office, though Georgia knew they'd been in the way more than not. Still, he never seemed to mind. They started the day talking about him, and often wanted to call him in the evening to tell him good-night.

  "Georgia?"

  She hadn't realized that she'd stopped in the middle of the floor and was just standing there. She looked at her mother, saw her caring and love and acceptance, and she burst into tears.

  Ruth didn't cry with her. As she got out of her seat to embrace her daughter, she gave a sympathetic chuckle. "Love is the damndest thing, isn't it?"

  Georgia tried to mop her eyes and hold on to her coffee at the same time. "I don't know what I'm going to do."

  "You're going to tell him." Ruth held her away so she could see her face, and nodded when Georgia shook her head. "Sweetheart, don't make the same mistakes I made. Don't waste your time being afraid. Sometimes you just have to take a few chances, and I think Jordan's worth the risk, don't you?"

  With a shuddering breath, Georgia reached for a napkin off the counter and blew her nose. She whispered, "He's never said anything about loving me."

  "So? Your father dutifully told me every night that he loved me. But it would have meant so much more if he'd shown me instead. If he'd cared when I was tired or sick. If he'd held me when I was upset."

  Georgia stared at her mother. If he'd given her foot rubs and held her when she was afraid and loved her children.... Her father had never really loved her, not the way she loved Adam and Lisa.

  As if she'd read her thoughts, Ruth nodded. "Jordan has shown you that he cares in more ways than I can count."

  "Oh, God." Her mother was right. From the moment she'd met Jordan, she'd known he was different. True, he was pushy and arrogant and determined – but according to his family, he only behaved that way when he really cared about something. Or someone. She didn't want to rely on him, but...maybe it would be okay. Maybe depending on him to share with her, to give and let her give, too, wouldn't be so bad. If she could only balance her independence against what he made her feel....

  But she knew she'd always hate herself if she didn't at least give him a chance. "I'll tell him today."