exhaustion. “Maybe a little. Wine makes me sleepy.”
Jordan pressed her head against his shoulder and held her there. His hand gently stroked her hair. “Do you mind telling me what went on between you and Howard while I was on the phone?”
Jill went stock-still. “Uh, nothing. What makes you ask?” She decided it was best to pretend she didn’t know what he was talking about.
“Then why was Howard wearing a silly grin every time he looked at me?” Jordan demanded.
“I—I don’t know. You’ll have to ask him.” She tried to straighten, but Jordan wouldn’t allow it. After a moment she gave up, too relaxed to put up much of a struggle.
“I swear there was a twinkle in his eye from the moment I returned after my phone call. It was like I’d been left out of a joke.”
“I’m sure you’re wrong.”
Jordan seemed to ponder that. “I doubt it,” he said.
“Hmm.” She felt sleepy, and leaning against Jordan was strangely comforting.
“I’ve been thinking about what you said this afternoon,” he told her a few minutes later. His mouth was against her ear, and although she might have been mistaken, she thought his lips lightly brushed her cheek.
“My sad but true tale,” she whispered on the end of another yawn.
“About your trouble with the musical rest.”
“Ah, yes, the rest.”
“I’m flying back to Seattle tomorrow,” Jordan said abruptly.
Jill nodded, feeling inexplicably sad, then surprised by the intensity of her reaction. With Jordan in Seattle, they wouldn’t be bumping into each other at every turn. Wouldn’t be arguing, bantering—or kissing. With Jordan in Seattle, she wouldn’t confuse him with the legacy behind Aunt Milly’s dress. “Well … I hope you have a good flight.”
“I have a meeting Tuesday morning. It would be impossible to cancel at this late date, but I was able to change my flight.”
“You changed your flight?” Jill prayed he wouldn’t hear the breathless catch in her voice.
“I don’t have to be at the airport until evening.”
“When?” It shouldn’t make any difference to her, yet she found herself wanting to know. Needing to know.
“Eight.”
Jill was much too dazed to calculate the time difference, but she knew it meant he’d arrive in Seattle in the early morning. He’d be exhausted. Not exactly the best way to show up at a high-powered meeting.
“I was thinking,” Jordan continued. “I’ve been to Hawaii a number of times but other than meetings or dinner engagements, I haven’t seen much of the islands. I’ve never explored them.”
“That’s a pity,” she said, meaning it.
“And,” he went on, “it seemed to me that sightseeing wouldn’t be nearly as much fun alone.”
“I enjoyed myself this morning.” Her effort to refute him was feeble at best.
His fingers were entwined in her hair. “Will you come with me, Jill?” he asked, his voice a husky whisper. “Share the day with me. Let’s discover Hawaii together.”
“I can’t” was Jill’s immediate response. She’d already lowered her guard—enough to be snuggling in his arms. So much for her resolve not to get involved with Jordan Wilcox, she thought with dismay. So much for steering a wide course around the man.
“Why not?” Jordan asked with the directness she’d come to expect from him.
“I’ve … m-made plans,” she stammered. Even now, she could feel herself weakening. With his arm around her and her head nestled against his shoulder it was difficult to refuse him.
“Cancel them.”
How arrogant of him to assume she should abandon her plans because the almighty businessman was willing to grant her some of his valuable time.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” she answered coolly, her determination reinforced. She’d already paid for the rental car as part of her vacation package, she rationalized, and she wasn’t about to let that money go to waste.
“Why not?” He sounded surprised.
Isn’t being with him what you really want? The question stole into her mind, and Jill wanted to scream out her response. A resounding NO. Jordan Wilcox frightened her. It was all too easy to envision them together, strolling hand in hand along sun-drenched beaches. He’d kissed her that first time, that only time, on the beach, and the memory stubbornly refused to go away.
“Jill?”
At the softness in his voice, she involuntarily raised her eyes to his. Jill hadn’t expected to see tenderness in Jordan, but she did now, and it was nearly her undoing. Her feelings for him were changing, and she found herself more strongly attracted than ever. She remembered when she’d first seen him, the way she’d been convinced there was nothing gentle in him. He’d seemed so hard, so untouchable. Yet, right now, at this very moment, he’d made himself vulnerable to her. For her.
“You’re trembling,” he said, running his hands down her arms. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she denied quickly, breathlessly. “I’m … a little tired. It’s been a long day.”
“That’s what you said last night when I kissed you. Remember? You started mumbling some nonsense about a dress, then you went stiff as a board on me.”
“Nothing’s wrong,” she insisted, breaking away from him. She straightened and lowered her hand to her skirt, smoothing away imaginary creases.
“I don’t buy that, Jill. Something’s bothering you.”
She wished he hadn’t mentioned the dress, because it brought to mind, uninvited and unwanted, Aunt Milly’s wedding dress, which was hanging in her hotel-room closet.
“You’d be shaking, too, if you knew the things I did,” she exclaimed, instantly regretting the impulse.
“What are you afraid of?”
She stared out the window, then slowly her lower lip began to quiver with the effort to restrain her laughter. She was actually frightened of a silly dress! She wasn’t afraid to fall in love; she just didn’t want it to be with Jordan.
“For a woman who drags a wedding dress on vacation with her, you’re not doing very much to encourage romance.”
“I did not bring that dress with me!”
