Page 58 of Texas Temptation

Amelia was delighted to see Jordan, and wanted to hear all about the rings they’d chosen. She was disappointed Jordan wasn’t wearing the engagement ring yet.

Since Caleb was still napping, she fixed them both lemonade and brought cookies into the front room, as she called it.

Jordan crossed the room to help with the tray. She had been looking at the photographs.

“These are wonderful, all relatives? Some pictures look a hundred years old.”

“They are. My great-great-grandparents are in that stilted one there,” Amelia said, pointing to one with two unsmiling individuals dressed in somber black.

“I have albums full of old pictures. I’m the only one in the family who wants them all. When everyone gets together, we spend hours going over the old albums and talking about our ancestors. But then they leave them with me. I have sorted most of them and put them in albums.”

“You have pictures of Vicki, Cade said. Could I see?”

“Oh, yes. She was such a darling child. I don’t guess any of us will ever entirely get over her untimely death.”

Jordan took a sip of her lemonade while Amelia pulled a thick album from the lower shelf. She flipped it toward the end and pointed at the sweet little girl who smiled so sweetly into the camera.

Cade’s daughter. Jordan felt a pang of sadness at the loss. How did he bear it? She didn’t think she could ever endure Caleb’s death.

Idly flipping through the photos, she came across one with Cade and a tall brunette, both smiling. She paused. He looked younger, different—so happy. That must be Marissa.

Jordan studied the photo. She and Marissa were nothing alike. At least he wasn’t marrying her because she resembled his first wife. Marissa had been closer to Cade in age. Her healthy outdoor glow attested to her love of ranch work. Hadn’t he known her all his life?

“I believe I hear Caleb. I’ll go check,” Amelia said.

She hurried down the hall. Jordan turned the pages again, not wanting to dwell on a woman long gone. Not wanting to think about comparing herself with Cade’s first love.

Cade’s only love? The insidious thought wouldn’t be squelched.

She turned the page when she heard Amelia returning, her eyes instantly focused on the familiar face. Her heart almost stopped.

“It’s Caleb’s father,” she said in stunned amazement.

Chapter Ten

“Oh, no, dear, that can’t be,” Amelia said, looking over Jordan’s shoulder at the eight by ten wedding photograph filling the page.

“That’s Cade’s cousin Sam. Samuel Houston Everett. He just got married a year ago to the sweetest girl, Sara Anne Pembroke. They live in Austin. They haven’t even started a family yet. And his hair is brown, not blond. Didn’t you say Caleb’s father was blond?”

“His hair’s darker and he has a mustache now, but it’s him. He told me he was Cade Cullen Everett.”

Jordan was sure of it. The same sexy arrogance shone in the picture. The way he held his head, the eyes that were exactly like Caleb’s. It was the man she’d known as Cade Cullen Everett five years ago on the sand at South Beach.

A cousin of Cade’s. Of course, who better to know about Cade Cullen Everett and the ranch than a family member who had known him all his life? But why had he used Cade’s name instead of his own?

“Oh dear. I don’t know what Cade’ll say,” Amelia said.

Jordan studied the picture, expecting to feel something. But there was nothing. No hurt, no pain, no regrets. Any feelings she’d once held for this man had faded over the years.

She loved Cade totally and completely. Staring at this face, she felt as if she only knew him slightly, from another world. He had no place in her life, in Caleb’s life. She was free of any spell he’d once held.

She looked up at Amelia.

“Don’t tell him anything. He doesn’t need to know.”

“Oh, but he does, dear. Otherwise we’d invite Sam to the wedding and imagine how awkward that would be,” Amelia said, definitely worried.

Grimly, Jordan nodded. Awkward didn’t begin to describe it. How could she marry into the family unless Cade knew the truth? Would it wreck his relationship with his cousin?

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