Page 24 of Texas Temptation

Cade flicked her a quick glance.

“It must be tough, raising a child on your own.”

“It has its rewards,” she murmured.

It had it drawbacks as well, which is why she’d been trying to find Caleb’s father since she’d first found out she was pregnant. All children should have both parents—even if they didn’t live together. But she’d never found the man she’d searched for over the years.

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-three.”

Cade looked startled. “That young?”

“How old did you think I was?”

“Older, though you don’t look it. You were eighteen when you got pregnant?”

“Seventeen, almost eighteen.”

He uttered an expletive. “What was the guy thinking?”

She sighed.

“In retrospect, I suspect he wasn’t thinking at all, just out to have fun. Spring break is wild in South Beach.”

“How did you meet him?”

Jordan wondered why all the questions. Had the quietness of the drive bothered him as well? She doubted it—nothing seemed to bother Cade Everett.

“I was waiting tables for some extra money. I was a senior in high school and wanted a particular dress for the prom. I had to earn the money myself.”

“Parents couldn’t help? Or at least warn you about randy college guys?”

“My parents died when I was eight. I lived with my Aunt Maggie, who warned me, time and time again. But I thought I was in love. I’d never felt like that before. And he was very—attentive, I guess. It wasn’t until he left I realized it had been only a fling on his part.”

“After you knew you were pregnant?”

“I tried to find him. But never could.”

“Until you saw the article.”

“Yes, though I still haven’t found my Cade Cullen Everett. You’re nothing like him. Older for one thing.”

And eons more mature. He had a presence that other men would envy. And probably had women yearning after him like love struck teenagers.

It was a good thing she was immune to his attraction. She wouldn’t be caught fantasizing a second time about romance and happily ever after. Reality was hard, and Jordan had learned that lesson well.

“Did you try private investigators?”

She laughed softly.

“I don’t have that kind of money. I considered giving him up,” she whispered, so her son wouldn’t hear her. “But I just couldn’t. Aunt Maggie wasn’t keen on my keeping the baby, but she ended up being a terrific help. She loved him to bits.”

“Past tense?”

“She died two years ago in a freak accident. A bus jumped the curb, slamming into several people waiting. She and another were killed, three more were badly injured. I miss her a lot.”

What an understatement. Jordan had lost her mainstay when her aunt had died. But she had no choice but to move on. She had her son to care for.

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