Page 18 of An Unexpected Love

“Cancel them.”

How arrogant of him to assume she should abandon her plans because the almighty businessman was willing to grant her some of his valuable time.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” she answered coolly, her determination reinforced. She’d already paid for the rental car as part of her vacation package, she rationalized, and she wasn’t about to let that money go to waste.

“Why not?” He sounded surprised.

Isn’t being with him what you really want?The questionstole into her mind, and Jill wanted to scream out her response. A resounding NO. Jordan Wilcox frightened her. It was all too easy to envision them together, strolling hand in hand along sun-drenched beaches. He’d kissed her that first time, that only time, on the beach, and the memory stubbornly refused to go away.

“Jill?”

At the softness in his voice, she involuntarily raised her eyes to his. Jill hadn’t expected to see tenderness in Jordan, but she did now, and it was nearly her undoing. Her feelings for him were changing, and she found herself more strongly attracted than ever. She remembered when she’d first seen him, the way she’d been convinced there was nothing gentle in him. He’d seemed so hard, so untouchable. Yet, right now, at this very moment, he’d made himself vulnerable to her.Forher.

“You’re trembling,” he said, running his hands down her arms. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she denied quickly, breathlessly. “I’m…a little tired. It’s been a long day.”

“That’s what you said last night when I kissed you. Remember? You started mumbling some nonsense about a dress, then you went stiff as a board on me.”

“Nothing’s wrong,” she insisted, breaking away from him. She straightened and lowered her hand to her skirt, smoothing away imaginary creases.

“I don’t buy that, Jill. Something’s bothering you.”

She wished he hadn’t mentioned the dress, because it brought to mind, uninvited and unwanted, Aunt Milly’s wedding dress, which was hanging in her hotel-room closet.

“You’d be shaking, too, if you knew the things I did,” she exclaimed, instantly regretting the impulse.

“What are you afraid of?”

She stared out the window, then slowly her lower lip began to quiver with the effort to restrain her laughter. She was actually frightened of a silly dress! She wasn’t afraid to fall in love; she just didn’t want it to be with Jordan.

“For a woman who drags a wedding dress on vacation with her, you’re not doing very much to encourage romance.”

“I did not bring that dress with me!”

“It was in the room when you arrived? Someone left it behind?”

“Not exactly. Shelly did. She, uh, enjoys a good laugh. She mailed it to me.”

“It never occurred to me that you might be engaged,” he said slowly. “You’re not, are you?”

“No.” But according to her friend, she soon would be.

“Who’s Shelly?”

“My best friend,” Jill explained, “or at least she used to be.” Then, impulsively, her heart racing, she added, “Listen, Jordan, I think you have a lot of potential in the husband category, but I can’t fall in love with you. I just can’t.”

A stunned silence followed her announcement.

He cocked his eyebrows. “Aren’t you taking a bit too much for granted here? I asked you to explore the island with me, not bear my children.”

She’d done it again, blurted out something totally illogical. Worse, she couldn’t make herself stop. Children were a subject near and dear to her heart.

“That’s another thing,” she wailed. “I bet you don’t even like children. No, I can’t go with you tomorrow. Please don’t ask me to…because it’s so hard to say no.”It must be the wine, Jill decided; she was saying far more than she should.

Jordan relaxed against the leather upholstery and crossed his long legs. “All right, if you’d rather not go, I’m certainly not going to force you.”

His easy acceptance astonished her. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, feeling almost disappointed that he wasn’t trying to persuade her.

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