Page 33 of Texas Temptation

Immediately following their evening meal, Cade left for the office, with strict instructions for everyone to get to bed early. They’d leave promptly at 4:30 in the morning.

Since Caleb would don a hospital gown once they arrived, Jordan let him wear his pajamas the next morning for the ride into the city.

The air was crisp and cool, the stars still brilliant in the sky, dawn more than an hour away as they pulled away from the house.

Jordan felt keyed up, apprehensive, and still amazed the operation was actually going to take place. Even when she paid Cade back the money, she’d never be able to repay his kindness to a stranger.

Cade drove swiftly through the dark, saying little, listening to his aunt. Amelia sat in the front with him, sipping coffee Rosita had prepared and chatting almost nonstop. Jordan tried to relax, but she was edgy and nervous. Her precious little boy was having surgery.

All thanks to the man driving. A complex creature whom she’d never have suspected of warmth from their first encounter. Yet who was single-handedly doing more for her son than anyone else ever had.

Once again, she wished he had been Caleb’s father. Not that Cade would have acted like Caleb’s biological father had, but a woman could dream.

Once they arrived at the hospital, he handled everything efficiently and with no wasted energy. Before Jordan realized it, Caleb had been wheeled away, and she was left in the surgery waiting room with Cade and Amelia—with four hours ahead before Caleb would be in recovery.

Restless, she paced the small waiting room, praying Caleb’s good spirits would hold, that the operation would be a success, that nothing would go wrong.

“Let’s go for breakfast,” Cade suggested, glancing around. “This place makes me edgy.”

“I couldn’t eat anything,” Jordan replied.

“I could. And you need to. He’ll be raring to go when he’s out of here. You’re already too thin. You need to put some pounds on,” Cade said.

“He’s right, dear. We’ll need all our energy when he’s home. I think a nice breakfast will help in more ways than one. We can’t just keep our eye on the clock. Time would pass too slowly,” Amelia said, adding her weight to the argument.

Outnumbered, Jordan nodded.

“But only as far as the hospital cafeteria. I’ll leave word at the nurses’ station.”

While the cafeteria wasn’t crowded—it was too early—there were still several people ahead of them. Jordan had an omelet made to order. Amelia wandered to the cereal display. Cade came up behind Jordan, watching the short-order cook as he scrambled eggs, fried them and kept a steady stream of bacon and sausages cooking.

“Why did you change your mind and decide to come today?” she asked, glancing up at him. “Was it something Gloria said?”

“No, I decided before seeing her. I began thinking yesterday on the ride back to the house what I’d want someone to do for Vicki had the circumstances been different. I don’t know who used my name five years ago, but it tied us together.”

He hesitated a moment, as if gearing up for a hard confession, then continued, “I’ll never get to see my daughter grow up, get married, provide me with grandchildren. But I used to like kids. Still do, I guess. I’ve shut myself away from them lately. Marissa and Vicki both would be disappointed. Maybe helping Caleb can show them I haven’t abdicated life’s responsibilities because they are no longer here with me.”

“You’re a kind man, Cade. Anyone else would have shut the door in my face or cried fraud or something that first afternoon,” Jordan said.

She hated feeling so beholden, but would do almost anything for her son. She just hoped in her life, she could pass on the kindness.

He glanced around, then leaned close, almost whispering in her ear.

“I have a reputation in this town. Don’t you dare repeat you think I’m kind.”

Jordan laughed, as she suspected was his intent. His dark eyes gazed down into hers. For a moment she longed to step into his arms, rest in the safety they offered. She yearned to feel his mouth on hers again, to lean against his strength. She wished she had that right with an intensity that frightened her.

But, as Aunt Maggie always said, that which doesn’t harm us strengthens us. Jordan had been on her own for years. Nothing had changed since meeting Cade. She deliberately stepped away from temptation.

She had to be strong for her son. It was the two of them against the world. This time with Cade was magical, but fleeting. Soon they’d be on their way back to Florida, with memories to last a lifetime. And a debt she could never fully repay.

Less than an hour passed before they returned to the surgery waiting room. Cade hesitated in the doorway, then looked at Jordan.

“Amelia will stay with you. I can’t stay here. I’m going into work. Here’s my cell number. Let me know as soon as you hear something.”

“Okay.” Jordan put the number into her phone, disappointed he wasn’t staying, but trying not to show it. He’d already given her more time than she had a right to expect.

Once he left, she sat beside Amelia.

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