did. She, uh, enjoys a good laugh. She mailed it to me.”
“It never occurred to me that you might be engaged,” he said slowly. “You’re not, are you?”
“No.” But according to her friend, she soon would be.
“Who’s Shelly?”
“My best friend,” Jill explained, “or at least she used to be.” Then, impulsively, her heart racing, she added, “Listen, Jordan, I think you have a lot of potential in the husband category, but I can’t fall in love with you. I just can’t.”
A stunned silence followed her announcement.
He cocked his eyebrows. “Aren’t you taking a bit too much for granted here? I asked you to explore the island with me, not bear my children.”
She’d done it again, blurted out something totally illogical. Worse, she couldn’t make herself stop. Children were a subject near and dear to her heart.
“That’s another thing,” she wailed. “I bet you don’t even like children. No, I can’t go with you tomorrow. Please don’t ask me to … because it’s so hard to say no.” It must be the wine, Jill decided; she was saying far more than she should.
Jordan relaxed against the leather upholstery and crossed his long legs. “All right, if you’d rather not go, I’m certainly not going to force you.”
His easy acceptance astonished her. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, feeling almost disappointed that he wasn’t trying to persuade her.
Something was drastically, dangerously wrong with her. She was beginning to like Jordan, really like him. Yet she couldn’t allow this attraction to continue. She couldn’t allow herself to fall in love with a man so much like her father. Because she knew what that meant, what kind of life it led to, what kind of unhappiness it caused.
When the limousine stopped in front of the hotel, it was all Jill could do to wait for the chauffeur to climb out of the driver’s seat, walk around the car and open the door for her.
She hurried inside the lobby, needing to breathe in the fresh air of reason. Wait for sanity to catch up with her heart.
She reached the elevators and pushed the button, holding her thumb in place, hoping that would hurry it along.
“Next time, keep your little anecdotes to yourself,” Jordan said sharply from behind her. Then he walked leisurely across the lobby.
Keep her little anecdotes to herself? The temptation to rush after him and demand an explanation was strong, but Jill made herself resist it.
Not until she was in the elevator did she understand. This entire discussion had arisen because she’d told him her story about the caesura and her lack of musical talent. And now he was turning her own disclosure against her! Righteous anger began to build in her heart.
But by the time Jill was in her room and ready for bed, she felt wretched. Jordan had asked her to spend a day with him, and she’d reacted as if he’d insulted her.
The way she’d gone on and on about his potential as a husband was bad enough, but then she’d dragged the subject of children into their conversation. That mortified her even more. The wine could be blamed for only so much.
She cringed, too, as she recalled what Andrew Howard had said, the faith he’d placed in her. Jordan needed her, he’d said, apparently convinced that Jordan would never experience love if she didn’t teach him. She hated disappointing Andrew, and yet … and yet …
It didn’t surprise Jill that she slept poorly. By morning she wasn’t feeling any enthusiasm at all about picking up her rental car or sightseeing on the north shore.
She reviewed the room-service menu, ordered coffee and toast, then stared at the phone for several minutes before conceding there was one thing she still had to do. Anxious to get it over with, Jill rang through to Jordan’s room.
“Hello,” he answered gruffly on the first ring. He was definitely a man who never ventured far from his phone.
“Hello,” she said with uncharacteristic meekness. “I’m … calling to apologize.”
“Are you sorry enough to change your mind and spend the day with me?”
Jill hesitated. “I’ve already paid for a rental car.”
“Great, then I won’t need to get one.”
Jill closed her eyes. She knew what she was going to say, had known it the night before. In the same heartbeat, she realized she’d regret it later. “Yes,” she whispered. “If you still want me to join you, I’ll meet you in the lobby in half an hour.”
“Twenty minutes.”
She groaned. “Fine, twenty minutes, then.”
Despite her misgivings, Jill’s spirits lifted immediately. “One day won’t hurt anything,” she said out loud. What could possibly happen in so short a time? Certainly nothing earth-shattering. Nothing of consequence.
Who was she kidding? Not herself, Jill admitted.
She thought she understood why moths ventured close to the fire, enticed by the light and the warmth. Against her will, Jordan was drawing her dangerously close. She knew even as she came nearer that she was going to get burned. And yet she didn’t walk away.
He was waiting for her when she stepped out of the elevator and into the lobby. He stood there grinning, his look almost boyish. This was the first time she’d seen him without a business suit. Instead, he wore white slacks and a pale blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
“You ready?” he asked, taking her beach bag from her.
“One question.” Her heart was pounding because she had no right to ask.
“Sure.” His eyes held hers.
“Your cell phone—do you have it?”
Jordan nodded and pulled a tiny phone from his shirt pocket.
Jill stared at it for a moment, feeling the tension work its way down her back. Jordan’s cell phone reminded her of the pager her father had always carried. Always. All family outings, which were few and far between, had been subject to outside interference. Early in life, Jill had received a clear message: business was more important to her father than she was. In fact, almost everything had seemed more significant than spending time with the people who loved him.
Jordan must have read the look in her eyes because he said, “I’ll leave it in my room,” and then promptly strolled to the elevator. Stunned, Jill watched as he stepped inside. Bit by bit, her muscles began to relax.
While he was gone, Jill filled out the paperwork for the rental car. She was waiting outside by the economy model when Jordan appeared. He paused, staring at it with narrowed eyes as if he wasn’t sure the car would make it to the end of the street, let alone around the island.
“I’m on a limited budget,” Jill explained, hiding a smile. The car suited her petite frame perfectly, but for a man of Jordan’s stature it was like …
