Another Chance (24 page)

Jordan looked
at him, hoping to see a flash of humor in his eyes, but instead she saw only
endless, solemn blue.  “Well,” she finally managed to say, “I hope you
don’t plan to stop with that revelation.”

Reluctantly he
filled her in on his life in the northwest, and ended with him and Feather
deciding to bring Pride to her.

Jordan was
stunned.  “How long were you in the hospital?”

He
shrugged.  “Several weeks.  I’m not sure exactly.”

“So do you
think the gang would follow you all the way down here?”  She asked.

He shook his
head negatively.  “No.  They were mostly low profile pushers and
such, but I knew who one of the big shots was, and before I …uh…before I died,
I gave a deposition about his involvement.  Last I heard he was goin’ away
for a long time.”

Jordan
shrugged and leaned back to rest her head in the curve of his neck, against his
shoulder.  “So what’s the problem?”

Wolf tightened
his arms around her.  “The problem is he has a couple of brothers who have
put out a contract on me.  It seems they’re a pretty close knit family.”

Jordan
frowned.  “A close knit family of drug pushers?”

Wolf
shrugged.  “More like a family that’s really a drug cartel, from Mexico.”

“They put out
a contract on Hank Silver Wolf, right?  And now they think you’re
dead.”  She stroked his cheek with one hand.  “They don’t know where
or who you are now, do they?”

He shook his
head.  “That’s why Flower and I moved all the way across the
country.  That’s why we have new identities, but I just felt that you
needed to know the truth.”  He shifted in the chair and turned her to face
him better, one of his hands drawing her face to his.  He didn’t think
he’d ever get close enough to her.  “I’ve never known a woman who had such
interestin’ lips.  They were made to be kissed.”

Jordan
chuckled from deep in her throat.  “Then why aren’t you kissing them?”

“Because,” his
drawl came out deep and rough sending shivers up and down her spine. 
“With you sittin’ on my lap like this, and us all alone here, just a couple of
your kisses might make me want to change my mind about waitin’ until we’re
married.  Are you ready to make that move?”

She sighed
deeply and reluctantly slipped off his lap.  “You know, we really don’t
need to
plan
a wedding.  We could just go down to the court-house
and have a civil ceremony.”

Wolf unfolded
his big frame and stood up.  “And have Feather, the Sheriff’s Department,
your church people, Mac and Mary and Clay and Sue all mad at us?  I don’t
think we’re ready for that.”  He swatted her fanny playfully as she walked
toward the door.

She caught his
hand and lifted it to her lips.  “We need to get everything set so the
wedding can happen as soon as Clay and Sue can get here.  I love you Wolf
and I’ve never been very good at waiting for what I want.”

A lopsided
grin tilted his lips.  “That certainly sounds good to me.  Especially
the; I love you part.”  He pulled her around into his arms and held her
close.  “And I never dreamed I could love anyone as much as I love you,
Jordan.  When we get married, I can’t imagine anythin’ makin’ my life more
complete.”

“Really?” she
laughed softly.  “How about a couple of kids?”

He held her
back and looked at her.  “Kids?  You want us to have kids?”

She
nodded.  “At least two.  I was an only child and I always wanted a
sister or a brother, so I don’t want to raise an only child.”

Wolf lifted
her and swung her around, causing her to burst into happy giggles.  “Well,
I’m certainly lookin’ forward to gettin’ to work on startin’ that family. 
Maybe we should send Clay and Sue plane tickets and get them here tomorrow.”

Jordan leaned
into his chest as he lowered her feet back to the floor.  “I wouldn’t
argue with that.  Do you think they would come that fast?”

He chuckled
and led her to the door and out onto the porch.  “I actually talked to
Clay earlier this afternoon, on the phone, and they will be here the first of
next week.  Do you think we can bring a weddin’ together that fast?”

Her face burst
into a huge smile.  “What can’t be planned, we can do without.  I’ll
talk to Brother Tommy first thing in the morning and make sure He’ll be
available.  Anyone else who wants to fit our wedding into their schedule
are welcome, those who can’t will just miss it.  That’s the way I feel
about it.  Is that alright with you?”

He opened the
driver’s side door on her truck and blocked Bhrandii’s attempt to jump
in.  Jordan slipped past him and into the seat.

Bhrandii
looked up at Wolf for a minute, then turned and followed closely by Emma,
trotted back up to the porch.  Emma sat down at the bottom of the steps,
and whined.  After only a second, she looked back over her shoulder at
Wolf, then stood and lifted her front feet one at a time up onto the bottom
step.  Wiggling and scrambling, her little bottom moving back and forth
with the effort, she managed to get her hind feet up as well and then moved on
to the next step.  By the time Wolf had walked around to the passenger
side, opened the door and got in, she was almost up to the porch.

Jordan made no
move to start the truck until the puppy had finished her climb and was settling
down next to Bhrandii.  “I don’t guess I’ll ever get used to that. 
It’s just amazing, but you do need to let her learn some things by herself.”

He
shrugged.  “I guess you’re right.  Maybe I should start by lettin’
you housebreak her the old fashioned way.”
“Oh no you don’t!”  She exclaimed.  “Start with anything but that.”

He chuckled
dryly.  “I’m only tryin’ to make life easier on her.  She’s such a
smart little thang.  It doesn’t take but just the simplest thoughts to
show her what she needs to know.  Can you imagine how smart pups from her
and Bhrandii will be?”

With Feather,
Jordan and Mary planning, the plans for a simple wedding fell into place with
relative ease, and much faster than Jordan could have imagined.  Clay and
Sue were to arrive at Jacksonville International Airport on Tuesday , so the
wedding was scheduled for Wednesday evening.

Jordan and
Feather had planned to spend Friday in Gainesville looking for a dress for
Jordan to wear.  She was adamant that she didn’t want a formal wedding
gown, just something simple and maybe an ivory or even some pastel color.

Jordan and
Feather had just finished morning chores and returned to the house when the
phone rang.  To Jordan’s dismay, it was the local vet, calling Feather in
for a quick interview concerning a job she had applied for.  Dr. Jim told
her it was just a formality, that he’d already made up his mind and wanted
Feather to start work that day.

Somewhat
disappointed, Jordan couldn’t stand in the way of her getting the job, but
didn’t hesitate to tell him that Feather was committed to helping her get ready
for the wedding the next Wednesday and could only work part of the day. 
He laughed and assured her that he would see that Feather had that time off,
especially since his he and his wife were both planning to attend the wedding.

Reluctantly
Feather dressed and left the house only after being convinced by Jordan that
she would go on shopping alone.  “If I can’t find something I like, we’ll
go to Valdosta or Jacksonville tomorrow.”  Jordan assured her as Feather
left the house, bubbling with excitement.

Feather was
looking forward to having this job.  She’d heard good things about Dr. Jim
and would be glad to have her own source of income.

The trip into
the bigger town only took about forty-five minutes, but after looking at all the
bigger stores before lunchtime, Jordan was tired and disappointed that she
hadn’t found a dress she would be willing to wear.  Deciding to check the
stores in the mall, she headed first to the food court and grabbed a
salad.  Looking around for a place to sit, she was surprised to see Mel
Jenkins, her banking officer walking across the food court, a huge smile
lighting his handsome face.

“Jordan,” he
greeted her enthusiastically.  “What a pleasant surprise!  What are
you doing down here?”

She returned
his smile.  “I’m shopping, Mel, what are you doing down here.  Did
the bank burn down?”  She saw a spark of delight in his eyes at her
teasing.

“Nothing as
permanent as that,” he replied.  “I just left a meeting at our bank
headquarters down the street.  I’m so glad to run into you.  Where
are you sitting?”

She shrugged,
glancing around at the tables.  Spotting an empty one she nodded her head
toward it.  “There if I’m fast enough.”

He
nodded.  “Go grab it.  Is it alright if I join you?” he called to her
as she rushed to claim the table.  She nodded as she sat her salad on the
table just in time to claim it from a pair of men who had intended to take it
for themselves.

“Sorry,” she
spoke softly.

They returned her
smile and hurried toward another table that was being vacated.

Mel couldn’t
believe his luck.  He’d heard the news of Jordan’s impending wedding and
it had settled in his mind like a dark stain, slowly spreading and eating away
at his insides.  He’d always believed with everything in him that she
would eventually see how much he cared for her and they would finally get
together.  It was that hope that had kept him in the small bank in little
po-dunk Lake City when he knew he could have easily gone on to bigger and
better things if he’d only moved to a larger, more progressive city.  When
he learned that she was going to marry a deputy sheriff, he’d been in a major
rage for a while.  It wasn’t until the president of the bank called him to
warn him that he needed to treat his fellow employees with more respect, or he
might need to look for work elsewhere that Mel managed to pull himself
together, at least, to some degree.

All of a
sudden, he thought he had a chance to let Jordan see how much he had come to care
for her.  Just the two of them!  Well, okay, it’s really not just the
two of them.  The mall was crowded with shoppers, but at that table, it
would be just Jordan and him.  It doesn’t take him but a few seconds to
get his lunch and then he hurried over to the table where she was sitting,
already beginning to eat her salad.

As Mel placed
his lunch on the table, Jordan looked up and caught the smile on his
face.  She felt a tingle of warning race along her nerves and it surprised
her.  She glanced around the food court but didn’t see anyone she
knew.  She swallowed the bite she’d been chewing as Mel took his seat.

The
proprietary look she saw in his eyes as he looked at her was new.
 
She didn’t like it.

“I can’t tell
you how glad I am to have run into you today,” he said, one of his hands
reaching out to cover one of hers.

Jordan all but
snatched her hand away.
 
Her heartbeat
accelerated.

Mel continued
to smile.  “Sorry,” he managed to apologize.

She shook her
head, causing the long braid on the back of her shoulders to dance.

“I don’t like
being touched, Mel,” she stated firmly.
 
“Not by people I’m not really close to.”

He
chuckled.
 
“I’ve always thought we were
pretty close, Jordan.
 
You’ve trusted me
with your investments and the rest of your financial concerns for years now.”

She felt like
a hand was closing around her throat, but managed to push the panic away. 
“That’s business.  It doesn’t require touching.”

He
shrugged.
 
“Fine.
 
I guess I just assumed there might be room
for something personal between us.”

Jordan’s
appetite vanished.
 
She pushed her chair
back and stood up.
 
“You assumed
wrong.”
 
She was surprised and extremely
relieved that her voice sounded so strong and carried such a note of
conviction.
 
None of the panic she’d
struggled to throw off remained.
 
“I’ve
just come through a very difficult situation that involved a man who assumed I
was interested in him.
 
I’m interested in
one man…….”
 
She would have continued
speaking but a strong arm slipped around her waist and a familiar chest pressed
gently against her shoulders.

“And that one
man intends to keep it that way.”
 
Wolf’s
voice gave her such comfort she almost slumped in relief.

Mel looked up
at the tall, dark man with his arm so possessively around Jordan’s waist.
 
This must be the man she was planning to
marry.

“I’m Daniel
Chetan, Jordan’s future husband,” Wolf said, extending his hand across the
table toward the seated banker.

Mel pushed his
chair back and stood up.
 
Grudgingly he
shook hands with the dark man.
 
“Mel
Jenkins.  I’ve been Jordan’s financial adviser for several years.”
 
Then he resumed his seat, not willing to
relinquish either his lunch or his lunch companion.

Jordan
swallowed.
 
Maybe she had over reacted to
Mel having touched her.
 
It could have
just been a friendly gesture.  She certainly didn’t want to hurt his
feelings.  He’d always treated her with respect and he’d been a helpful
banker.

She turned her
head to look at Wolf and her heart melted.  She was surprised to see him
here.  He was grinning down into her eyes.  “Feather called me this
mornin’ and told me about her job interview.  I’ve chased you all over
Gainesville, tryin’ to catch up with you.  Did you leave your cell phone
at home?”