Lone Star Winter (22 page)

 

Libby didn't explain anything to her brother, but she knew he wasn't blind or stupid. He didn't ask questions, either. He just hugged her and smiled.

She went to bed feeling totally at sea. How could an argument lead to something so tempestuous that she'd almost passed out at Jordan's feet? And if he really wanted Julie, then how could he kiss Libby with such frustrated desire? And why had he started another fight before he left?

She was still trying to figure out why she hadn't slapped his arrogant face when she fell asleep.

 

The tension between Jordan and his neighbors was suddenly visible even to onlookers. He never set foot on their place. When he had a barbecue for his ranch hands in April, to celebrate the impressive calf sale he'd held, Curt wasn't invited. When Libby had a small birthday party to mark her twenty-fourth birthday, Jordan wasn't on the guest list. Jacobsville being the small town it was, people noticed.

“Have you and Jordan had some sort of falling out?” Mr. Kemp asked while his new secretary, a sweet little brunette fresh out of high school named Jessie, was out to lunch.

Libby looked up at him with wide-eyed innocence. “Falling out?”

“Julie Merrill has been telling people that she and Jordan have marriage plans,” he said. “I don't believe it. Her father's in financial hot water and Jordan's rich. Old man Merrill is going to need a lot of support in today's political climate. He made some bad calls on the budget and education and the voters are out to get him.”

“So I've heard. They say Calhoun Ballenger's just pulled ahead in the polls.”

“He'll win,” Kemp replied. “It's no contest. Regardless of Jordan's backing.”

“Mr. Kemp, would they really use what happened at Julie's party as a weapon against her father?” she asked carefully.

“Of course they would!” he said shortly. “Even in Jacobs County, dirty laundry has a value. There are other skeletons in that closet, too. Plenty of them. Merrill has already lost the election. His way of doing business, under the table, is obsolete. He's trying to make Cash Grier fire those arresting officers and swear they lied. It won't happen. He and his daughter just don't know it and she refuses to face defeat.”

“She's at Jordan's house every day now,” she said on
a sigh that was more wistful than she knew. “She's very beautiful.”

“She's a tarantula,” Kemp said coldly. “She's got her finger in a pie I can't tell you about, but it's about to hit the tabloids. When it does, her father can kiss his career goodbye.”

“Sir?”

He lifted both eyebrows. “Can you keep a secret?”

“If I can't, why am I working for you?” she asked pertly.

“Those two officers Grier's backing, who caught the senator driving drunk—” he said. “They've also been investigating a house out on the Victoria road where drugs are bought and sold. That's the real reason they're facing dismissal. Merrill's nephew is our mayor.”

“And he's in it up to his neck, I guess?” she fished.

He nodded. “The nephew and Miss Merrill herself. That's where her new Porsche came from.”

Libby whistled. “But if Jordan's connected with her…” she said worriedly.

“That's right,” he replied. “He'll be right in hot water with her, even though he's not doing anything illegal. Mud not only sticks, it rubs off.”

She chewed her lower lip. “You couldn't warn him, I guess?”

He shook his head. “We aren't speaking.”

She stared at him. “But you're friends.”

“Not anymore. You see, he thinks I took your side unjustly against Miss Merrill.”

She frowned. “I'm sorry.”

He chuckled. “It will all blow over in a few weeks. You'll see.”

She wasn't so confident. She didn't think it would and she hated the thought of seeing Jordan connected with such an unsavory business.

 

She walked down to Barbara's Café for lunch and ran right into Julie Merrill and Jordan Powell, who were waiting in line together.

“Oh, look, it's the little secretary,” Julie drawled when she saw Libby in line behind them. “Still telling lies about me, Miss Collins?” she asked with a laugh.

Jordan was looking at Libby with an expression that was hard to classify.

Libby ignored her, turning instead to speak to one of the girls from the county clerk's office, who was in line behind her.

“Don't you turn your back on me, you little creep!” Julie raged, attracting attention as she walked right up to Libby. Her eyes were glazed, furious. “You told Jordan that I tried to throw my weight around in Kemp's
office and it was a lie! You were just trying to make yourself look good, weren't you?”

Libby felt sick at her stomach. She was no good at dealing with angry people, despite the fact that she had to watch Kemp's secretaries do it every day. She wasn't really afraid of the other girl, but she was keenly aware of their differences on the social ladder. Julie was rich and well-known and sophisticated. Libby was little more than a rancher's daughter turned legal apprentice.

“Jordan can't stand you, in case you wondered, so it's no use calling him up all the time for help, and standing at his door trying to make him notice you!” Julie continued haughtily. “He wouldn't demean himself by going out with a dirty little nobody like you!”

Libby pulled herself up and stared at the older girl, keenly aware of curious eyes watching and people listening in the crowded lunch traffic. “Jordan is our neighbor, Miss Merrill,” she said in a strained tone. Her legs were shaking, but she didn't let it show. “Nothing more. I don't want Jordan.”

“Good. I'm glad you realize that Jordan's nothing more than a neighbor, because you're a nuisance! No man in his right mind would look at you twice!”

“Oh, I don't know about that,” Harley Fowler said suddenly, moving up the line to look down at Julie Merrill
with cold eyes. “I'd say her manners are a damned sight better than yours and your mouth wouldn't get you into any decent man's house in Jacobsville!”

Julie's mouth fell open.

“I wouldn't have her on toast!” one of the Tremaynes' cowboys ventured from his table.

“Hey, Julie, how about a dime bag?” some anonymous voice called. “I need a fix!”

Julie went pale. “Who said that?” she demanded shakily.

“Julie, let's go,” Jordan said curtly, taking her by the arm.

“I'm hungry!” she protested, fighting his hold.

Libby didn't look up as he passed her with Julie firmly at his side. He didn't look at her, either, and his face was white with rage.

As she went out the door, there was a skirl of belligerent applause from the patrons of the café. Julie made a rude gesture toward them, which was followed by equally rude laughter.

“Isn't she a pain?” The girl from the clerk's office laughed. “Honestly, Libby, you were such a lady! I'd have laid a chair across her thick skull!”

“Me, too,” said another girl. “Nobody can stand her. She thinks she's such a debutante.”

Libby listened to the talk with a raging heartbeat.
She was sick to her stomach from the unexpected confrontation and glad that Jordan had gotten the girl out of the room before things got ugly. But it ruined her lunch. It ruined her whole day.

 

It didn't occur to Libby that Jordan would be upset about the things that Julie had said in the café, especially since he hadn't said a word to Libby at the time. But he actually came by Kemp's office the next day, hat in hand, to apologize for Julie's behavior.

He looked disappointed when Kemp was sitting perched on the edge of Libby's desk, as if he'd hoped to find her alone. But he recovered quickly.

He gave Kemp a quick glare, his gaze returning at once to Libby. “I wanted to apologize for Julie,” he said curtly. “She's sorry she caused a scene yesterday. She's been upset about her father facing drunk-driving charges.”

“I don't receive absentee apologies,” Libby said coldly. “And you'll never convince me that she would apologize.”

Kemp's eyebrows collided. “What's that?”

“Julie made some harsh remarks about me in Barbara's Café yesterday,” Libby told him, “in front of half the town.”

“Why didn't you come and get me?” Kemp asked.
“I'd have settled her hash for her,” he added, with a dangerous look at Jordan.

“Harley Fowler defended me,” Libby said with a quiet smile. “So did several other gentlemen in the crowd,” she added deliberately.

“She's not as bad as you think she is,” Jordan said grimly.

“The hell she's not,” Kemp replied softly. He got up. “I know things about her that you're going to wish you did and very soon. Libby, don't be long. We've got a case first thing tomorrow. I'll need those notes,” he added, nodding toward the computer screen. He went to his office and closed the door.

“What was Kemp talking about?” Jordan asked Libby curiously.

“I could tell you, but you wouldn't believe me,” she said sadly, remembering how warm their relationship had been before Julie Merrill clouded the horizon.

He drew in a long breath and moved a little closer, pushing his hat back over his dark hair. He looked down at her with barely contained hunger. Mabel was busy in the back with the photocopier and the girl who was filling in for Violet had gone to a dental appointment. Mr. Kemp was shut up in his office. Libby kept hoping the phone would ring, or someone would come in the front door and save her from Jordan. It was all
she could do not to throw herself into his arms, even after the fights they'd had. She couldn't stop being attracted to him.

“Look,” he said quietly, “I'm not trying to make an enemy of you. I like Julie. Her father is a good man and he's had some hard knocks lately. They really need my help, Libby. They haven't got anybody else.”

She could just imagine Julie crying prettily, lavishing praise on Jordan for being so useful, dressing up in her best—which was considerably better than Libby's best—and making a play for him. She might be snippy and aggressive toward other women, but Julie Merrill was a practiced seducer. She knew how to wind men around her finger. She was young and beautiful and cultured and rich. She knew tricks that most men—even Jordan—wouldn't be able to resist.

“Why are you so attracted to her?” Libby wondered aloud.

Jordan gave her an enigmatic look. “She's mature,” he said without thinking. “She knows exactly what she wants and she goes after it wholeheartedly. Besides that, she's a woman who could have anybody.”

“And she wants you,” she said for him.

He shrugged. “Yes. She does.”

She studied his lean, hard face, surprising a curious
rigidity there before he concealed it. “I suppose you're flattered,” she murmured.

“She draws every man's eye when she walks into a room,” he said slowly. “She can play the piano like a professional. She speaks three languages. She's been around the world several times. She's dated some of the most famous actors in Hollywood. She's even been presented to the queen in England.” He sighed. “Most men would have a hard time turning up their noses at a woman like that.”

“In other words, she's like a trophy.”

He studied her arrogantly. “You could say that. But there's something more, too. She needs me. She said everyone in town had turned their backs on her father. Calhoun Ballenger is drawing financial support from some of the richest families in town, the same people who promised Senator Merrill their support and then withdrew it. Julie was in tears when she told me how he'd been sold out by his best friends. Until I came along, he actually considered dropping out of the race.”

And pigs fly, Libby thought privately, but she didn't say it. The Merrills were dangling their celebrity in front of Jordan, a man who'd been shut out of high society even though he was now filthy rich. They were
offering him entry into a closed community. All that and beautiful Julie, as well.

“Did you hear what she said to me in Barbara's Café?” she wondered aloud.

“What do you mean?” he asked curiously.

“You stood there and let her attack me, without saying a word.”

He scowled. “I was talking to Brad Henry while we stood in line, about a bull he wanted to sell. I didn't realize what was going on until Julie raised her voice. By then, Harley Fowler and several other men were making catcalls at her. I thought the best thing to do would be to get her outside before things escalated.”

“Did you hear her accuse me of chasing you? Did you hear her warn me off you?”

He cocked his head. “I heard that part,” he admitted. “She's very possessive and more jealous of me than I realized. But I didn't like having her insult you, if that's what you mean,” he said quietly. “I told her so later. She said she'd apologize, but I thought it might come easier from me. She's insecure, Libby. You wouldn't think so, but she really takes things to heart.”

A revelation a minute, Libby was thinking. Jordan actually believed what he was saying. Julie had really done a job on him.

“She said that you wouldn't waste your time on a nobody like me,” she persisted.

“Women say things they don't mean all the time.” He shrugged it off. “You take things to heart, too, Libby,” he added gently. “You're still very young.”

“You keep saying that,” she replied, exasperated. “How old do I have to be for you to think of me as an adult?”

He moved closer, one lean hand going to her slender throat, slowly caressing it. “I've thought of you like that for a long time,” he said deeply. “But you're an addiction I can't afford. You said it yourself—you're ambitious. You won't be satisfied in a small town. Like the old-timers used to say, you want to go and see the elephant.”