into the room, a wild-eyed expression on her face. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she rushed to Jordan. She wrung her hands together, all the while gulping for air.
Jordan grabbed Tammy’s trembling hands. “What’s wrong?”
“Help, please help,” Tammy blurted out, her voice shaky.
Jordan squeezed Tammy’s hands. “Calm down. Everything will be all right. Just tell me what’s wrong.”
A loud thump followed by another and then another gained their attention. Tammy glared through the open doorway, sheer terror in her eyes.
“You have to stop them before they kill each other,” Tammy finally managed to say on one long, hurried breath.
“Who?” Jordan asked.
“J.C. and Wes,” Tammy told her. “They’re fighting.”
“What happened? Why are they fighting?”
“Stop them, please.” Tammy jerked her hands free of Jordan’s tenacious hold. “I can’t stand it. I can’t. You have to stop them before they kill each other.”
“Okay, okay. Just calm down.”
Kendra Brannon’s appearance halted Jordan outside her study.
“Jordan, you have to do something,” Kendra said. “Wes and J.C. are fighting and it’s all my fault. J.C. was sort of flirting with me and Wes went berserk. You know how protective he is. He thinks J.C. is too old to be flirting with me.”
“Damn!” Jordan huffed loudly. “J.C. is too old to be flirting with you. But Wes shouldn’t have started a fight over it. Come with me. Now.” Jordan glanced from Kendra to Tammy. “We’ll put a stop to things before someone gets hurt.”
Kendra eyed Rick, who stood inside the study. “Shouldn’t he come, too? He looks like he could handle J.C. and Wes.”
“Want me to take care of this for you, Mrs. Price?” Rick asked, dreading the thought of breaking up a fist-fight.
“Please, come with us,” Jordan told him. “But let me handle things. I’m used to playing referee and peacemaker in this family.”
By the time they made their way to the scene of the brawl, the fight that apparently had begun inside the house had moved out onto the veranda. Just as Jordan opened the front door, Wes knocked J.C. down the steps and onto the lawn.
“I want you two to stop this stupid fighting right this minute!” Jordan shouted in an I-mean-business, authoritarian voice.
J.C. came up from the ground swinging, his face bloody and sweat dampening his silk shirt. Taking a stand, Wes prepared to defend himself, a look of pure hatred on his face.
“Enough!” Jordan ran across the veranda and down the steps.
Shit! She was heading straight toward the two battered fighters and neither one seemed aware of her presence.
Don’t do it, honey. Don’t step between them.
But that’s exactly what Jordan did, walked right between J.C. and Wes, with both men ready to continue clobbering each other. Rick went after her, but didn’t reach her in time to prevent her from putting herself in harm’s way.
“Don’t interfere, Jordan,” Wes said. “I’m going to beat the crap out of him, so help me God. After I finish with him, he’ll think twice before he touches Kendra or any other girl young enough to be his daughter.”
“Oh, for goodness sake, Wes, all he did was kiss me,” Kendra shouted. “And I didn’t try to stop him!”
Jordan glowered at J.C. “Leave. Now. Go home and stay there. We’ll talk later.”
J.C. wiped the blood from his mouth. He smirked at Jordan. “Just keep the kid away from me.” He glanced at Kendra. “Hell, keep both of those brats away from me.”
When he started to walk off, Wes lurched for him, but Jordan grabbed Wes by the shoulders and shook him. J.C. meandered away, around the house, whistling to himself. Wes threw off Jordan’s hold, obviously intending to go after J.C.
In his peripheral vision, Rick noted that the entire house-hold had come out on the veranda—Roselynne, Darlene, Rene, Devon and both servants—just as Wes shoved Jordan’s hands off his shoulders. Rick realized that Wes had pushed Jordan harder than he’d intended and she was falling backward. Only when Rick dashed straight to her and caught her just before she hit the ground did Wes realize what he’d done. That realization stopped him cold.
“Oh, God, Jordan, I’m sorry,” Wes said.
Rick swooped a dazed Jordan up in his arms, something primeval inside him wanting to protect her, needing to keep her safe from this swarm of vultures hovering around her.
Jordan grabbed hold of Rick by instinctively throwing her arm around his neck. Momentarily stunned by what had happened, she stared into his eyes. Their gazes connected and instantly locked. Knowing she had to remove herself from such intimate contact with this man, she inhaled and exhaled a deep, steadying breath before saying, “Please, put me down.”
Rick hesitated for a split second, then eased her onto her feet.
“Thank you,” she mouthed the words quietly.
He didn’t get a chance to say anything before the adoring Jordan Price tribe swarmed around her, each person professing their concern. But Devon Markham cut through the other groupies and all but pushed Rick aside.
“Are you okay?” Devon asked, genuine worry marring his handsome features.
“I’m fine.” She patted him on the arm and then turned to the others. “The show’s over. Everything is going to be fine. Please, all of you, go back inside.”
Tobias and Vadonna returned to the house immediately, while no one else hurried back inside; instead they began mumbling among themselves.
“Wait up, Wes,” Jordan called to her stepson. “We need to talk.” She looked from Wes to his sister. “You, too, Kendra. Both of you go sit down. I’ll be there in a minute.” She turned to Rick. “Please, go eat breakfast and get your day started. I have to do my job as their stepmother and sort things out with them before I send them both back to school.”
“I don’t mean to interfere, but shouldn’t you confront your stepbrother about making advances to a teenager first?”
Jordan grimaced. “No, the children first. I’ll deal with J.C. later.”
Rick nodded, then left her to handle the family situation on her own. She squared her shoulders and walked across the lawn, up the steps and onto the veranda. Wes sat in one of the big wicker chairs, his legs spread, his shoulders and head drooped, and his hands clutched together between his knees. Kendra paced back and forth. Pausing when Jordan approached, she looked at her in a wide-eyed, pleading manner.
