“Among others. He got Dani on his side, too, and that pretty much sealed the deal.”
“How’s he taking to being a daddy?”
“Oddly enough, that seems to be the part of all this he has nailed. He’s a natural. He and Dani are like co-conspirators, always making plans and whispering secrets.”
“Sounds as if you feel left out,” Ginger observed.
“Not at all. I’m thrilled they get along so well. I just wish he and I could communicate as easily.”
Ginger’s face fell. “But you two were always able to talk. I envied you. DeVonne’s not big on communication.” She grinned. “Not verbal communication, anyway. You and Jordan, though, could always talk about anything. He used to say that all the time.”
“I guess that must have been before the stakes got to be so high.”
“Meaning that marriage changes things,” Ginger concluded. “Maybe that’s because it’s almost impossible to lose a best friend, but people are getting divorced all the time. You’ve already been through that, so you know it’s a real possibility. That makes you start pulling your punches, being less honest than you ought to be, am I right?”
Kelly gave her a rueful grin. “I’m not sure Jordan would agree that I’ve been pulling any punches, but actually you’re exactly right.”
“Seems to me like that’s the perfect way to ruin the best thing you two had going for you.”
“It is, isn’t it?” Kelly murmured thoughtfully. “Ginger, you’re a genius.”
The young woman grinned back at her. “Well, of course I am.” She sighed. “Now if you could just convince Jordan to move our offices to west Texas.”
Kelly laughed. “You’re reading my mind. That was the other thing I wanted to talk to you about today. Is that feasible?”
“Why, sure it is. He might have to fly here for meetings every so often, but half of what he does can be done by phone and fax. I’ve been telling him that for ages now, but he’s too bullheaded to listen. If you ask me, he was just afraid if he moved back, he’d be under his daddy’s thumb again.”
“Harlan’s not even in the oil business,” Kelly protested, though she didn’t doubt for a second that Ginger was exactly right.
“You know, I love that man, but Harlan does have his opinions. It doesn’t seem to matter that he’s not in oil. He still manages to offer Jordan unsolicited advice about a dozen times a week.”
“And what does Jordan do?”
“Sometimes he puts him on the speaker phone, mumbles an appropriate response when the occasion arises and gets on with his paperwork. Those are the good times. Then there are the times when he slams the phone down so hard it breaks. I’ve taken to keeping a new stock of telephones in the supply closet. The phone company loves those calls. It’s probably paying Harlan to make them.”
Kelly couldn’t help chuckling at the image. It was vintage Jordan and Harlan. They’d always scrapped like willful, territorial puppies. She was still laughing when she heard a polite, masculine cough and looked up to find her husband’s watchful, suspicious gaze focused straight on her.
“Something amusing?” he inquired.
Kelly swallowed hard. “Actually, yes.”
Ginger, the little traitor, bounced out of the booth as if she’d heard a fire alarm. “Thanks for lunch, Kelly. Congratulations, again!”
Kelly nodded distractedly, her gaze locked with her husband’s as she tried to gauge his mood. “Thanks for…everything.”
Ginger scooted past Jordan. “‘Bye, boss.”
“Ginger,” he acknowledged coolly. He slid into the space his secretary had vacated. “You two catching up?”
“Yes.” Suddenly the booth felt very crowded. It wasn’t just Jordan’s size, but all those suspicions he clearly had.
“Or conspiring?” he asked.
“Now what on earth would we have to conspire about?”
He shrugged. “Beats me. Maybe moving the office to west Texas?”
Kelly groaned. “You heard.”
“Every word,” he confirmed. “And I do not break phones when I talk to Daddy.”
“Oh?”
“I break them after, when I throw them across the room.”
She chuckled. “You’re not really furious at me for talking to Ginger, are you?”
He sighed. “Why would I be furious? You were asking a question, one that unfortunately plays right into Ginger’s hands. She’s been bugging me to make the same move for ages, so she can keep her job and her marriage.”
Kelly figured he hadn’t exploded yet, so she might as well pursue the point. “So why haven’t you considered it?”
“It never made sense. My life was here.”
“Your business life or just Rexanne and all of her predecessors?”
His mouth twisted into a wry smile. “Probably the latter more than anything.”
“But that’s no longer true. Now your social life—your family life—is clear across the state.” She reached over and put her hand on top of his. “Please, won’t you just think about it?”
He studied her intently. “Does it mean that much to you?”
“Yes,” she said firmly. “It does.”
“Do you hate Houston so much? Is it because of Paul?”
She shook her head, not entirely willing to explain the whole truth of it. Her disastrous marriage was one element, but actually a very small one. Then she recalled what Ginger had said about pulling punches.
“I never wanted to live in Houston,” she admitted finally. “I love the ranch, always have.”
“But you moved here years ago, right after I did.”
“Exactly,” she said softly. “Right after you did.”
She saw the precise moment when the explanation registered.
“You moved here because of me?” he asked, clearly astonished. In fact he couldn’t have looked any more shocked if she’d announced she wanted to take up stripping.
“Yep. Pretty crazy, huh? Half the time you didn’t even notice I was around.” She had abandoned her father to struggle along alone for a man who hadn’t even paid attention to her presence. The knowledge of that betrayal of her dad had eaten at her for years.
“But I always thought…” He shook his head, as if to clear it. “I guess I don’t know what I thought.”
“You just took my presence for granted,” she said, unable to hide the note of resentment, even after all this time.
He nodded slowly. “I suppose I
