Nancy Thompson - Fortune's Unexpected Groom

She’d been so shocked to see him this morning—and a bit humiliated to face him—that she’d been immune to his charms. But now, it was all coming back.

“We had a nice talk.” Tanner nodded. “Man-to-man. Spent some time getting to know each other.”

Her father was being eerily quiet. Something she couldn’t remember seeing ever in her entire life. He was letting Tanner take the upper hand, which was just downright weird.

“Yes, we did,” her father said. “I’m so grateful that Tanner was there to take care of you the night of the storm, Jordana.” He turned back to Tanner. “My other daughter Wendy might be a little scattered, but sometimes Jordana is a little too introspective for her own good. If she’d listened to us and just come with us to the airport like we’d planned, she wouldn’t have found herself in a mess and dragged you into it, too. But I guess it all worked out in the end.”

A mess? Jordana was paralyzed for a heartbeat. Did her father know about the baby? Of course he didn’t. The only way he could know was if Victoria told him. She may have blabbed to Tanner, but she wouldn’t dare tell her father. Would she?

Jordana took a deep breath and reframed the situation. If her father knew that Tanner Redmond had gotten her pregnant, he would not be standing here being so uncharacteristically personable. Cautiously, she gazed up at her father. He was a good head taller than she was—and so was Tanner, for that matter. Facing off, the two men seemed at once imposing yet somehow equally matched. At least right now. It would be a different story once her father found out. If Tanner knew what was good for him, he’d get as far away from here as possible before that happened. She was keeping this baby. She was raising her or him on her own. She wouldn’t sell out to a loveless sham of a marriage.

That was her final answer.

In an uncharacteristic burst of defiance, Jordana blurted, “If you’d listened to me in the first place, Daddy, none of us would’ve been in danger. I told you I didn’t think we should fly that day, that we should wait. But no. No one would listen to me.”

The words were spewing like the morning sickness that had seized her body the past few months. She couldn’t stop it; she knew if she tried she’d choke on the resentment. “If you listened to me every once in a while maybe a lot of things would be different.”

Whoa! She clamped her mouth shut before she said any more. Neither Victoria nor Tanner had told on her, but if she didn’t exercise a little self-control, she was going to tell on herself. Suddenly regretting her outburst, she braced for the inevitable backlash from her father. No one but no one talked back to John Michael Fortune without suffering the consequences.

Oddly, he stood squinting down at her with a neutral, if slightly bemused, look on his face. He shook his head and turned to Tanner. “Take her out to a nice, long lunch. In fact, Jordana, take the rest of the afternoon off. You obviously need a break.”

“I don’t want—”

“Jordana.” Her father silenced her with a single booming word. All traces of his earlier bemuse-ment gone, replaced by the stern glare that was famous for making grown men cry. “Leave. Now. I don’t want to see you back in this office until Monday morning.”

John Michael shook Tanner’s hand. “It was a pleasure, but I need to get back to work. I’m sure we will be talking again soon.” He glanced at Jordana, but directed his words at Tanner. “Good luck, son. She’s been in a very strange mood lately.”

Jordana snorted, but before she could say anything, her father did something so uncharacteristic it nearly rendered Jordana speechless, anyway. He hugged her and planted a fatherly kiss on her cheek. Something else Jordana couldn’t recall him doing in recent memory.

Her heart sank low in her chest. What in the world had Tanner told him?

Tanner and Jordana didn’t speak as they walked out of the office and into the mahogany-paneled elevator bank. She didn’t have to say a word for him to recognize she was furious. He could feel her anger radiating off her in waves as they waited for an elevator to arrive to carry them down twenty-two stories to the ground floor.

Tanner decided if he didn’t break the tension, Jordana might burst.

“Your father is a great guy.”

Jordana shot him a look.

“Really? Nice?” Jordana asked. “I’ve heard him described a lot of ways, but nice isn’t an adjective people usually use when they talk about John Michael Fortune.”

“I enjoyed talking to him.”

Jordana turned and faced him, eyes narrowed. “Yeah, about that—” The elevator interrupted her by announcing its arrival with a loud ding .

They entered the empty car, and as it started its descent, Jordana tore into him.

“What the heck are you doing, Tanner? Why did you come here and what did you tell my father?”

Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes glistened with fury. He couldn’t remember seeing her look more beautiful. Healthy and vital … and pregnant with his child.

“You know why I came. Do you really want to talk about it here?” he asked.

“Well, yes, because I don’t know where else we would talk about it. When we get off this elevator, I’m getting in my car and going home. You are getting back on your plane—or however you got here—and going back to Red Rock.”

“Actually, I was thinking we could go grab some lunch.”

Her lips puckered with annoyance. “Are you listening to me?”

The elevator stopped on the first floor and the doors slid open, revealing the marble-and-brass lobby. A fountain in the center cascaded soft ambient noise. They stepped out of the car and Jordana stopped right outside the elevator doors. “I’m going home, Tanner. Alone. If you’d like to tell me what you and my father talked about, this is your chance. If not, frankly, I guess it doesn’t matter. I don’t have the energy to play guessing games with you.”

Tanner glanced around the professional building’s lobby. A handful of people walked with a purpose toward the exit. Others, talking on cell phones and carrying briefcases, entered the building, branching off in various directions. About three yards to the left of where they stood, two men lingered by the elevator banks, deep in conversation.

“You really want to do this here?” he asked.

“It’s up to you,” she said, an edge to her voice. “Speak now or forever hold your peace.”

“Funny you should say that.” He chuckled, hoping some levity would lighten her mood. “Because I just asked your father for your hand in marriage. I told him I was here in Atlanta to propose to you. He told me he thought it was the best idea he’d heard in ages.”

For the first time in her life, Jordana knew what it was like to see stars after being verbally sucker punched. It was the strangest sensation, and once she got her bearings, she wanted to kick Tanner Redmond. She wanted to scream at him until he admitted that everything he’d just told her was a cruel joke, that he’d never play so dirty he would force her into marriage by going over her head to her father.

But when she opened her mouth to tell him this, all that came out was a giant sob. Because despite the fact that she was twenty-nine years old, financially secure and fiercely independent, her father’s word was still law. It was that way for all her brothers and sisters, too. No matter how old the Fortune siblings got, John Michael Fortune still ruled the clan with an iron fist.

“Aww, no, Jordana. No, please don’t cry,” Tanner pleaded.

His words made everything worse.

“How dare you—” She choked on another sob and turned toward the exit, walking as fast as she could to get away from him. Breathe , she reminded herself. She drew in a few gulps of air, trying to stop the deluge of tears.