point. Please tell him I’ll be out to see him in a few minutes.”
“Certainly, Miss Fortune.”
Jordana sat in silence, rubbing her right temple. The last thing she needed was to argue with Tanner about their situation, right here in the office. The more she thought about the way he’d just barged in here, the more it irritated her. Really, it was pretty darn presumptuous of him to just show up. But maybe that was his way. After all, hadn’t he appeared unannounced on her doorstep at daybreak, expecting her to receive him in a moment’s notice?
Then again, she had set the tone for those instant expectations. One-night stands tended to give a guy the green light to bypass the basics of common courting courtesies and slide directly into home plate.
A pang of guilt squeezed her heart. It just figured, didn’t it? The first time she had sex—the one time—she’d gotten pregnant. The thought made her feel sick, but this time it had nothing to do with morning sickness. The reason she couldn’t bear to face him went much deeper than one-night-stand regret. Yes, every time she looked at him she remembered how out of her mind she’d been that night of the hurricane … out of her mind because she was afraid she was going to die in the midst of a tornado, never having made love to a man.
Until that night with Tanner, Jordana had been a virgin.
And Tanner didn’t even know that she had given him the most precious gift she had to give a man. A part of herself she’d guarded jealously, because it was reserved for the man who would be the love of her life. That’s why she’d been a twenty-nine-year-old virgin when she’d met Tanner.
She closed her eyes against the memory, as if squeezing them tight enough might obliterate the mental images of the way she’d thrown herself at him. She hadn’t even been aware that she had the power to seduce a man.
She placed her hand on her stomach. Giving him that part of herself had led to another gift … a baby that would tie them together. Forever. Whether they got married or not.
She pressed her fingertips over her closed eyelids and tried to obliterate the image of herself in Tanner’s arms. When that didn’t work, she opened her eyes and forced her mind onto a different train of thought.
Maybe Tanner had come to the office to tell her he’d changed his mind. Jordana sat up straighter in her chair. Yes, that was better. Maybe he had to go back to Red Rock earlier than expected, and had come to say goodbye …?
As much as she wanted to believe it, she knew inherently it wasn’t so. He’d been too persistent that morning. So persistent, in fact, he’d almost been convincing … that they could get married and be a family … the three of them. That somehow love could bloom in the shadow of a marriage in name only.
A life built on a foundation of resentment held together by a mortar of obligation and duty.
She drummed her manicured fingers on the desk. Why was Tanner so eager, when he hadn’t even cared enough to call her since they’d said goodbye in late December? Was she selling her child short by not even considering the possibility of a life with Tanner?
The thought turned the skin on her arms to gooseflesh.
Could it work? She’d been so embarrassed seeing Tanner again for the first time since that night, she hadn’t even allowed herself to think about possibility and hope. That she and Tanner might be able to get married first and learn to love each other later.
Her pulse beat in her ears like a ticking bomb, and for a moment, she let herself go there. She imagined living together as a family, spending holidays together, rather than alternating time with their child as dictated by a custody agreement, celebrating all those milestones in their child’s life that Tanner had insisted he would be there for, whether she liked it or not. She imagined waking up in his bed—their bed—every morning. And then the reality bomb exploded when Tanner was absent from her vision. Instead, she saw herself waking up alone; he was nowhere to be found because he didn’t love her … or maybe it was because she didn’t love him.
Tanner wanted to marry her. Yet, he didn’t even know her. Not in the the-man-I-marry-will-know-all-about-me-and-still-love-me-despite-myself sort of way.
The way she’d always dreamed her marriage would be.
Jordana wanted to do right by her child and give the baby the best possible life. But agreeing to a loveless marriage simply wouldn’t be what was best for the child. The realization brought with it the kind of sadness that made her heart ache down to its very center.
She’d been so careful her entire life, saving herself for just the right man, and one careless move had changed everything. All her life she’d dreamed of falling in love and having a family of her own. In those dreams the man she loved had loved her back with a ferocity that could move mountains. If she agreed to Tanner’s impulsive, loveless plan, they would end up hating each other, and the one who would suffer the most would be their child.
Suddenly, what she needed to do was perfectly clear. She needed to have a frank conversation with Tanner—right now, outside of the office—and set things straight once and for all. The sooner he was on a plane back to Red Rock, the better off everyone would be.
John Michael Fortune had a bad reputation of being a hard-ass. But Tanner knew from personal experience a person didn’t get to Mr. Fortune’s station in life without being strong willed and having a clear-focused vision of what he wanted.
That’s why when John Michael entered the lobby as Tanner waited for Jordana, he greeted her father like an old family friend. Tanner had spoken with the Atlanta Fortune patriarch only on a handful of occasions, and was much closer to the Fortunes of his own generation, such as Scott Fortune, Jordana’s brother. But to his pleasant surprise, John Michael rewarded Tanner’s fortitude with a hardy clap on the back and a firm handshake.
“Tanner Redmond, good to see you,” he said.
“Mr. Fortune,” Tanner returned.
He hoped John Michael’s greeting was the beginning of a long and amiable relationship. Because it would make life much easier for everyone involved if he and the grandfather of his child were on solid terms.
“How’s business?” John Michael asked. “I heard Redmond Flight School took a beating in that tornado.”
“Business has never been better.” Tanner stood a little taller reporting this news, because it was true. “It was rough in the days following the storm, especially after one of my flight instructors, Gary Tompkins, died. But we worked hard and pulled everything together. Business had to carry on. I’m sure you know how that is.”
John Michael nodded. “I was sorry to hear Gary died. Scott told me he was a real asset to Redmond Flight School. But you have a good attitude. So is everything rebuilt and repaired?”
“Sure is. In fact, I’m looking into expanding. I want to begin offering charter services before the end of the year. I have a line on a Cessna Citation that’s on the market for a reasonable price. If I get it, I’m going to hire a crew and a pilot.”
John Michael’s right brow arched. “Sounds ambitious, but it also sounds like you know your stuff. I’m sure you have everything under control. What brings you to Atlanta? Are you here on business?”
Mustering his most sincere smile, Tanner responded, “I’m here to see Jordana. I’m taking her to lunch.”
John Michael did a double take and furrowed his brow.
“I didn’t realize you and my daughter were seeing each other.” The look on the older man’s face did not suggest objection; surprise and puzzlement, maybe, but not dissent. “Red Rock to Atlanta is quite a commute for a lunch date. Is this relationship serious? That daughter of mine never tells her mother and me anything.”
Tanner worried the button at the cuff of his blue oxford shirt as he considered how to answer the question. That’s when it hit him: his best chance at getting Jordana to marry him was standing