Natural Born Daddy (12 page)

Dani beamed. “
Black Beauty.
It's my favorite.”

“Ah, yes, I think I remember that one. It was your mom's favorite, too.”

Kelly stared at him. “How on earth do you remember that?”

“There's a lot I remember about you,” he taunted. “For a very long time you told me all your deepest, darkest secrets. For instance—”

The devilish twinkle in his eyes caused Kelly to cut him off. There was no telling what story he'd share with her daughter, if she didn't watch her step. “Never mind,” she said in a rush. “If you don't mind staying around to read, the bath shouldn't take more than fifteen minutes or so.”

“I'll clean up the ice-cream maker.” He caught her gaze. “Maybe I'll bunk out on your sofa tonight, so we can get an early start on those fences in the morning.”

“You're thinking of staying here?” she repeated weakly.

“Do you have a problem with that?”

She had a problem with it, all right, but it wasn't one she intended to share with him. She simply shook her head and fled inside with her daughter.

As she was bathing Dani, she couldn't help hearing Jordan moving around downstairs. Just knowing he was in the house made her feel different somehow, protected, warmed. Heck, who was she kidding? She felt a shivery stirring of anticipation knowing that he intended to stay the night. He'd suggested the sofa, but there was a perfectly good guest room right next to her own and he well knew it. She would be able to imagine him in that bed, perhaps even hear the steady rhythm of his breathing. The very thought tantalized her.

Sure, they'd all camped out together as kids, with his father or hers along as a chaperon for the whole rowdy bunch of them, but this was different. This meant spending the night under the same roof with a man who claimed to want her as his wife, a man she'd wanted in her bed since she'd first discovered the chemistry at work between a man and a woman.

The thought of testing that chemistry intrigued her, until she realized that would make her no better than Jordan. She had accused him of wanting a practice wife. Surely she shouldn't be considering testing their relationship to see if the chemistry was right between them.

Besides, for her part, she knew it was. She'd been going weak in the knees around Jordan too many years not to know it. As for him, he was too much a sexual being to want to marry her if he didn't intend to sleep with her. That must mean that he found her attractive. In fact, she thought she'd even detected a
smoldering look of desire in his eyes on more than one occasion lately, especially when he'd watched her face as he'd displayed all that sexy lingerie he'd bought her.

A timely splash of cool water hit her square in the face.

“Mommy, you're not paying attention to me,” Dani accused. “I could drown.”

“Who are you kidding? You can swim like a fish.”

“Not in the tub,” Dani declared. “Am I clean yet? I want to go hear
Black Beauty.
”

“I suppose you're clean enough,” Kelly agreed, holding open a towel and folding her daughter into it and rubbing her briskly. She picked up a blue-and-white cotton Dallas Cowboys T-shirt that was Dani's favorite sleepwear. “Put this on and then hop into bed. I'll get Jordan.”

She opened the bathroom door and practically tripped over his booted feet. “Jordan!”

“Thought I'd save you the trip down to get me.”

“How thoughtful!”

He grinned unrepentantly as he followed her to Dani's room. “By the way, I like the decor.”

Kelly glanced around at the Winnie the Pooh wallpaper and stuffed animal collection that filled half a dozen shelves. “Somehow this doesn't strike me as you.”

“I was referring to your room.”

Her gaze shot up. Her pulse skittered crazily. “You were in my room?”

“The door was open. I peeked.” He rocked back on his heels. “Expecting company?”

Hands on her hips, Kelly glared at him. “What is that supposed to mean? Any company I have stays in
the guest room. And,” she added pointedly, “that includes you.”

“But that king-size bed is really something. Doesn't it get lonely?”

She continued to scowl and said pointedly, “It hasn't yet.”

“Liar,” he whispered in her ear just as Dani came bounding in and plucked her book from the shelves. She thrust it into Jordan's hands.

“Read,” she ordered imperiously.

“My pleasure,” he told her, but his gaze was still fixed firmly on Kelly's blushing face. Apparently satisfied that he'd completely disconcerted her, he settled down onto a chair beside the bed and dutifully began to read.

Kelly stared at him and at her daughter. Dani was obviously enraptured by the dramatic telling of her favorite story. She sighed. She wished a bedtime story were all she wanted from Jordan. She wanted more than that, though, much more. And very little of what she hungered for was nearly so innocent as a bedtime story.

And every time he snuck beneath or over or around her defenses, she wanted it all with a desperation that stunned her. Not sure she could bear it another minute, she slipped from Dani's bedroom and retreated downstairs.

Away from him, away from the two of them, she struggled to get her bearings. Unfortunately, she suspected that there weren't enough hours in the day or weeks in the year for her to ever build up adequate resistance to the man upstairs.

* * *

Jordan found Kelly in the kitchen an hour later, stirring her cup of tea distractedly, even though he knew perfectly well she had put neither sugar nor cream nor lemon in it. Nervous habit, he guessed, and hid a smile.

He noticed she'd swept her hair up off her neck into a loose ponytail. Escaping tendrils curled softly against her skin. Suddenly he wanted very badly to press a kiss to that tender spot on the back of her neck. He weighed his desire against the temperature of that steaming cup of tea she was likely to heave at him and decided against it. He still had to go slowly here or lose what little ground he had gained with her.

He poured himself a cup of tea from the pot on the table and took a seat next to her. Beneath the table, their thighs brushed. Alarm sparked in her eyes, but he knew she had too much pride to let him know he was getting to her. Aside from the sudden rigidity of her posture, she gave no other hint of how desperately she wanted to flee. Those delectable, stiff little shoulders told him he was on the right track, though. From now on he intended to crowd her a bit, literally and figuratively.

“Is Dani asleep?” she asked.

He noticed the thready huskiness in her voice. It confirmed that the tactic was working. She was not nearly as immune to him as she wanted to pretend. Of course, being this close to her without sweeping her into his arms was also killing him, but it was a torture he was willing to endure if it accomplished his goal.

“She's out like a light,” he confirmed. “I was so caught up in the story, I read all the way to the end of the chapter before I noticed.”

“I could loan you the book,” Kelly offered, amusement dancing in her eyes.

“I think I'll just stick around for a while and finish it here.”

“Jordan…” She sighed and fell silent, the protest left incomplete.

“Go on, say it,” he urged. “We can't settle this, if we aren't open and honest.”

He saw the familiar quick temper flare in her eyes again.

“This is not a damned business negotiation,” she reminded him for the umpteenth time. She held up her hands. “Never mind. I don't want to talk about this again anyway.”

Jordan caught one of her hands in midair and lifted it to his lips. The kiss clearly caught her off guard. Her gaze shot to his and she struggled to yank her hand away. He held on for one more soft brush of his lips over her knuckles. Despite the gloves she wore for work, there were tiny nicks scattered across that pale skin. He touched his mouth to every one. He could feel her pulse scamper wildly. Her hand in his trembled. He finally took pity on her and released the hand.

“What are you doing?” she demanded indignantly. She shoved both hands under the table out of view, but, as they both knew, hardly out of reach.

He chuckled. “You're not that naive.”

“No, I'm not,” she snapped. “Which is why I want to know what you're up to.”

“No secret there. I'm trying to get you to marry me. I'll use most any means I have to, fair or foul, to persuade you. I am willing to compromise, though, on certain points,” he said, deliberately using the
business terminology he knew she hated. Predictable fire danced in her eyes.

“Compromise?” she repeated, her tone ominous.

“Of course. I'm a reasonable man.” He was pleased with himself for having thought of this, to say nothing of feeling downright noble.

“And what exactly are you willing to compromise about?”

“For starters, you hate Houston. I hate ranch life.” The last was an understatement, which made his willingness to reach a middle ground all the more indicative of how serious he was about this. Kelly had listened to him ranting and raving about getting away from west Texas for years before he'd finally gone. She had to know how significant this particular compromise was for him.

“True. What do you suggest?” Kelly asked, regarding him doubtfully. “That we move to Boston?”

She sounded testy. He figured that was because she knew she couldn't argue with his logic. “Don't be absurd,” he chided. “We'll commute. Weekdays in Houston. Weekends, holidays and vacations on the ranch.”

She didn't look nearly as bowled over by the proposed arrangement as he'd hoped.

“Uh-huh. And who is supposed to work the ranch while I'm in Houston?”

He hadn't considered all the details, but he'd learned long ago to be quick on his feet in a discussion of this importance. “You have a hand working for you already. We'll hire an experienced foreman.”

“I can't afford to hire someone.”

Jordan was getting a headache. Clearly Kelly didn't know the meaning of the word compromise. She wasn't shifting her position by so much as an inch as near as he could tell. “But I can.”

She was already shaking her head. “I promised myself that I would make a go of the ranch on my own,” she insisted.

“Why does it have to be totally on your own? Why can't you accept a little help?”

“Because it's my fault it's in the state it's in,” she snapped, then looked shocked by what she'd revealed.

“Why on earth would you think you're to blame?”

“Because if I'd stayed here and helped out instead of running off to Houston, things would never have gotten this bad.”

“That's ridiculous,” he declared. “Besides, that's all in the past. Let's deal with the here and now.”

“Okay,” she said agreeably. “Maybe by next year I could afford help, but not now. That's the reality of the here and now.”

The woman was stubborn as a mule. He wondered if she'd been born that way or if she'd picked it up from hanging around with him and his brothers. Goodness knew, they all had stubbornness to spare.

“Oh, for pity's sake,” he snapped impatiently. “I'll loan you the money.”

“No bank would take a risk on me,” she countered coolly. “Why should you?”

“Because it's the only way I know to get you to budge from this place,” he said, thoroughly exasperated.

There were moments—and now was definitely one of them—when he thought he might have been
deranged to suggest this whole marriage idea. He and Kelly hadn't had a quiet, serene exchange in weeks. He hadn't had a decent night's sleep.

And too damned many of his waking moments he'd been rock-hard just thinking about her. He supposed that feeling passion for the woman he'd decided to marry was a good thing. It was just that it had come about so unexpectedly. One minute he'd been planning to lead a nice, tame existence with a safe, uncomplicated pal, a woman who shared his values and his history. The next he hadn't been able to stop thinking about seducing her, about running his hands over her body, about the taste of her lips, the shape of her breasts, the texture of her skin.

He groaned. Talk about complications! If he so much as looked at her tonight, he was liable to make love to her here and now, on top of the kitchen table. His decision to crowd her had clearly backfired. He was the one in turmoil, while she looked calm as could be.

He shoved his chair back from the table and abruptly stood. “I have to go,” he said, his voice choked, his gaze very carefully averted.

“I thought you were going to spend the night here.”

On the sofa? Or, as she had suggested, in the guest room? Less than thirty feet from that king-size bed of hers? Not if there was an armed posse surrounding the place and he was the target. He bolted for the door, not certain exactly where he was headed. He wasn't sure he was up to one of his father's inquisitions about Cody.

“I'm going to stay with Luke and Jessie,” he announced. The drive to their place ought to be just about long enough to cool him off and it would keep
him out of range of his father's anger for another night.

Kelly didn't offer another protest. Oddly enough, he thought he caught the faintest hint of a smile right before she closed the door behind him. He had the feeling he didn't want to know what
that
had been about.

“G
inger, I want you to cancel all my meetings for the rest of the week,” Jordan told his secretary when he called Houston first thing on Monday morning. It was only 8:00 a.m., but he knew she'd already been at her desk for at least half an hour. Most of the time she even beat him to the office and he was an early starter.

“You're going on your honeymoon,” she guessed, sounding far more pleased than she had when he'd told her about his engagement to Rexanne. “You must have finally talked Kelly into getting married. Congratulations, boss!”