Lone Star Winter (29 page)

She blinked. “Get…married?”

“That's what the ring's for, Libby,” he said against her warm mouth. “Advance notice.”

“But…you've always said you never wanted to get married.”

“I always said there's the one woman a man can't walk away from,” he added. He lifted his head and looked down at her, all the teasing gone. “I can't walk away from you. The past few weeks have been pure hell.”

Her eyes widened with unexpected delight.

He traced her eyebrows with his forefinger. “I missed you,” he whispered. “It was like being cut apart.”

“You wanted Julie,” she accused.

He grimaced. “I wanted you to think about what was happening. You've been sheltered your whole life. Duke Wright's wife was just like you. Then she married and had a child and got career-minded. That poor
devil lives in hell because she didn't know what she wanted until it was too late!”

She searched his face quietly. “You think I'd want a career.”

“I don't know, Libby,” he bit off. He looked anguished. “I'm an all-or-nothing kind of man. I can't just stick my toe in to test the water. I jump in headfirst.”

He…loved her. She was stunned. She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed, in all this time. Curt had seen it long before this. He'd tried to tell her. But she hadn't believed that a man like Jordan could be serious about someone like her.

Her lips fell apart with a husky sigh. She was on fire. She'd never dreamed that life could be so sweet. “I don't want a career,” she said slowly.

“What if you do, someday?” he persisted.

She reached up and traced his firm, jutting chin with her fingertips. “I'm twenty-four years old, Jordan,” she said. “If I don't know my own mind by now, I never will.”

He still looked undecided.

She put both hands flat on his shirt. Under it, she could feel the muted thunder of his heartbeat. “Why don't we go to a movie?” she asked.

He seemed to relax. He smiled. “We could grab a hamburger for lunch and talk about it,” he prompted.

“Okay.”

“Then we'll go by the sheriff's department and you can write out a statement,” he added.

She grimaced. “I guess I'll have to.”

He nodded. “So will I.” His eyes narrowed. “I wish I could see the look on Julie's face when the deputy sheriff pulls up in her driveway.”

“I imagine she'll be surprised,” Libby replied.

 

Surprised was an understatement. Julie Merrill gaped at the young man in the deputy sheriff's uniform.

“You're joking,” she said haughtily. “I…I had nothing to do with any attempted arson!”

“We have a man in custody who'll swear to it,” he replied. “You can come peacefully or you can go out the door in handcuffs,” he added, still pleasant and respectful. “Your choice, Miss Merrill.”

She let out a harsh breath. “This is outrageous!”

“What's going on out here?” Her father, the state senator, came into the hall, weaving a little, and blinked when he saw the deputy. “What's he doing here?” he murmured.

“Your daughter is under arrest, senator,” he was told as the deputy suddenly turned Julie around and cuffed her with professional dexterity. “For conspiracy to commit arson.”

“Arson?” The senator blinked. “Julie?”

“She sent a man to burn down the Collins place,” he was told. “We have two eyewitnesses, as well.”

The senator gaped at his daughter. “I told you to leave that woman alone,” he said, shaking his finger at her. “I told you Jordan would get involved if you didn't! You've cost me the election! Everybody around here will go to the polls Tuesday and vote for Calhoun Ballenger! You've ruined me!”

“Oh, no, sir, she hasn't,” the deputy assured him with a grin. “Your nephew, the mayor, did that, by persecuting two police officers who were just doing their jobs.” The smile faded. “You're going to see Monday night just how much hot water you've jumped into. That disciplinary hearing is going to be remembered for the next century in Jacobsville.”

“Where are you taking my daughter?” the senator snorted.

“To jail, to be booked. You can call your attorney and arrange for a bail hearing whenever you like,” the deputy added, with a speaking glance at the older man's condition. “If you're able.”

“I'll call my own attorney,” Julie said hotly. “Then I'll sue you for false arrest!”

“You're welcome to try,” the deputy said. “Come along, Miss Merrill.”

“Daddy, do try to sober up!” Julie said scathingly.

“What would be the point?” the senator replied. “Life was so good when I didn't know all about you, Julie. When I thought you were a sweet, kind, innocent woman like your mother…” He closed his eyes. “You killed that girl!”

“I did not! Think what you're saying!” Julie yelled at him.

Tears poured down his cheeks. “She died in my arms…”

“Let's go,” the deputy said, tugging Julie Merrill out the door. He closed it on the sobbing politician.

Julie Merrill was lodged in the county jail until her bail hearing the following Monday morning. Meanwhile, Jordan and Libby had given their statements and the would-be arsonist was singing like a canary bird.

The disciplinary hearing for Chief Grier's two police officers was Monday night at the city council meeting.

It didn't take long. Within thirty minutes, the council had finished its usual business, Grier's officers were cleared of any misconduct, and the surprise guests at the hearing had Jacobsville buzzing for weeks afterward.

J
ordan drove Libby to his house in a warm silence. He led her into the big, elegant living room and closed the door behind them.

“Want something to drink?” he asked, moving to a pitcher of iced tea that Amie had apparently left for them, along with a plate of homemade cake, covered with foil. “And a piece of pound cake?”

“I'd love that,” she agreed.

He poured tea into two glasses and handed them to her, along with doilies to protect the coffee table from spots. He put cake onto two plates, with forks, and brought them along. But as he bent over the coffee table, he obscured Libby's plate. When he sat down
beside her, there was a beautiful emerald solitaire, set in gold, lying on her piece of cake.

“Look at that,” he exclaimed with twinkling dark eyes. “Why, it's an engagement ring! I wonder who could have put it there?” he drawled.

She picked it up, breathless. “It's beautiful.”

“Isn't it?” he mused. “Why don't you try it on? If it fits,” he added slyly, “you might turn into a fairy princess and get your own true prince as a prize!”

She smiled through her breathless delight. “Think so?”

“Darlin', I can almost guarantee it,” he replied tenderly. “Want to give it a shot?”

He seemed to hold his breath while he waited for her reply. She had to fight tears. It was the most poignant moment of her entire life.

“Why don't you put it on for me?” she asked finally, watching him lift the ring and slide it onto her ring finger with something like relief.

“How about that?” he murmured dryly. “It's a perfect fit. Almost as if it were made just for you,” he added.

She looked up at him and all the humor went out of his face. He held her small hand in his big one and searched her eyes.

“You love emeralds. I bought this months ago and stuck it in a drawer while I tried to decide whether
or not it would be suicide to propose to you. Duke Wright's situation made me uncertain. I was afraid you hadn't seen enough of the world, or life, to be able to settle down here in Jacobsville. I was afraid to take a chance.”

She moved a step closer. “But you finally did.”

He cupped her face in his big, warm hands. “Yes. When I realized that I was spending time with Julie just to keep you at bay. If she'd been a better sort of person, it would have been a low thing to do. I was flattered at her interest and the company I got to keep. But I felt like a traitor when she started insulting you in public. I was too wrapped up in my own uncertainties to do what I should have done.”

“Which was what?” she asked softly.

He bent to her soft mouth. “I should have realized that if you really love someone, everything works out.” He kissed her tenderly. “I should have told you how I felt and given you a chance to spread your wings if you wanted to. I could have waited while you decided what sort of future you wanted.”

She still couldn't believe that he didn't know how she felt. “I was crazy about you,” she whispered huskily. “Everybody knew it except you.” She reached up and linked her arms around his neck. “Duke's wife wasn't like me, Jordan,” she added, searching his dark eyes.
“She lived with a domineering father and a deeply religious mother. They taught her that a woman's role in life was to marry and obey her husband. She'd always done what they told her to do. But after she married Duke, she ran wild, probably giving vent to all those feelings of suffocated restriction she'd endured all her life. Getting pregnant on her wedding night was a big mistake for both of them, because then she really felt trapped.” She took a deep breath. “If Duke hadn't rushed her into it, she'd have gone off and found her career and come back to him when she knew what she really wanted. It was a tragedy in the making from the very beginning.”

“She didn't love him enough,” he murmured.

“He didn't love her enough,” she countered. “He got her pregnant, thinking it would hold her.”

He sighed. “I want children,” he said softly. “But not right away. We need time to get to know each other before we start a family, don't we?”

She smiled. “See? You ask me about things. You don't order me around. Duke was exactly the opposite.” She traced his mouth with her fingertips. “That's why I stopped going out with him. He never asked me what I wanted to do, even what I wanted to eat when we went out together. He actually ordered meals for me before I could say what I liked.” She glowered. “He ordered
me liver and onions and I never went out with him again.”

He lifted an eyebrow and grinned. “Darlin', I swear on my horse that I will never order you liver and onions.” He crossed his heart.

He was so handsome when he grinned like that. Her heart expanded like a balloon with pure happiness. “Actually,” she whispered, lifting up to him. “I'd even eat liver and onions for you.”

“The real test of love,” he agreed, gathering her up hungrily. “And I'd eat squash for you,” he offered.

She smiled under the slow, sweet pressure of his mouth. Amie said he'd actually dumped a squash casserole in the middle of the living room carpet to make the point that he never wanted it again.

“This is nice,” he murmured, lifting her completely off the floor. “But I can do better.”

“Can you really?” she whispered, biting softly at his full lower lip. “Show me!”

He laughed, even though his body was making emphatic statements about how little time there was left for teasing. He was burning.

He put her down on the sofa and crushed her into it with the warm, hard length of his body.

“Jordan,” she whispered breathlessly when he eased between her long legs.

“Don't panic,” he said against her lips. “Amie's a scream away. Lift up.”

She did, and he unfastened the bra and pushed it out of the way under her blouse. He deepened the kiss slowly, seductively, while his lean hands discovered the soft warmth of her bare breasts in a heated silence.

Her head began to spin. He was going to be her husband. She could lie in his arms all night long. They could have children together. After the tragedy of the past few months, it was like a trip to paradise.

She moaned and wrapped her long legs around his hips, urging him even closer. She felt the power and heat of him intimately. Her mouth opened, inviting the quick, hard thrust of his tongue.

“Oh, yes,” she groaned into his hard mouth. Her hips lifted into his rhythmically, her breath gasping out at his ear as she clung to him. “Yes. That feels…good!”

A tortured sound worked out of his throat as he pressed her down hard into the soft cushions of the sofa, his hands already reaching for the zipper in the front of her slacks, so far gone that he was mindless.

The sound of footsteps outside the door finally penetrated the fog of passion that lay between them. Jordan lifted his head. Libby looked up at him, dazed and only half-aware of the sound.

“Amie,” Jordan groaned, taking a steadying breath. “We have to stop.”

“Tell her to go away,” she whispered, laughing breathlessly.

“You tell her,” he teased as he got to his feet. “She gets even in the kitchen. She can make squash look just like a corn casserole.”

“Amie's Revenge?”

He nodded. “Amie's Revenge.” Jordan paused. “I want to marry you,” he said quietly. “I want it with all my heart.”

She had to fight down tears to answer him. “I want it, too.”

He drew her close, over his lap, and when he kissed her, it was with such breathless tenderness that she felt tears threatening again.

She slid her arms around his neck and kissed him back with fervent ardor. But he put her gently away.

“You don't want to ravish me?” she exclaimed. “You said once that you could do me justice in thirty minutes!”

“I lied,” he said, chuckling. “I'd need two hours. And Amie's skulking out in the hall, waiting for an opportunity to congratulate us,” he added in a whisper. “We can't possibly shock her so soon before the wedding.”

She hesitated. “So soon…?”

“I want to get married as quickly as possible,” he informed her. “All we need is the blood tests, a license, and I've already got us a minister. Unless you want a formal wedding in a big church with hundreds of guests,” he added worriedly.

“No need, since you've already got us a minister,” she teased.

He relaxed. “Thank God! The idea of a morning coat and hundreds of people…”

She was kissing him, so he stopped talking.

Just as things were getting interesting, there was an impatient knock at the door. “Well?” Amie called through it.

“She said yes!” Jordan called back.

The door opened and Amie rushed in, grinning from ear to ear.

“She hates squash,” he said in a mock whisper.

“I won't ever make it again,” Amie promised.

He hugged her. After a minute, Libby joined them. She hugged the housekeeper, too.

“Welcome to the family!” Amie laughed.

And that was the end of any heated interludes for the rest of the evening.

 

The next few days went by in a blur of activity. When the votes were counted on Tuesday at the primary
election, Senator Merrill lost the Democratic candidacy by a ten-to-one margin. A recall of the city fathers was announced, along with news of a special election to follow. Councilman Culver and the mayor were both implicated in drug trafficking, along with Julie Merrill. Julie had managed to get bail the day before the primary, but she hadn't been seen since. She was also still in trouble for the arson conspiracy. Her father had given an impressive concession speech, in front of the news media, and congratulated Calhoun Ballenger with sincerity. It began to be noticed that he improved when his daughter's sins came to light. Apparently he'd been duty-bound to try and protect her, and it had almost killed his conscience. He'd started drinking heavily, and then realized that he was likely to lose his state senate seat for it. He'd panicked, gone to the mayor, and tried to get the charges dropped.

One irresponsible act had cost Senator Merrill everything. But, he told Calhoun, he still had his house and his health. He'd stand by his daughter, of course, and do what he could for her. Perhaps retirement wouldn't be such a bad thing. His daughter could not be reached for comment. She was now being hunted by every law enforcement officer in Texas and government agents on the drug charges, which were formidable. Other
unsavory facts were still coming to light about her doings.

Jordan finally understood why Libby had tried so hard to keep him out of Julie's company and he apologized profusely for refusing to listen to her. Duke Wright's plight had made him somber and afraid, especially when he realized how much he loved Libby. He was afraid to take a chance on her. He had plenty of regrets.

Libby accepted his apology and threw herself into politics as one of Calhoun's speechwriters, a job she loved. But, she told Jordan, she had no desire to do it for a profession. She was quite happy to work for Mr. Kemp and raise a family in Jacobsville.

On the morning of Libby's marriage to Jordan, she was almost floating with delight. “I can't believe the things that have happened in two weeks,” Libby told her brother at the church door as they waited for the music to go down the aisle together. “It's just amazing!”

“For a small town, it certainly is,” he agreed. He grinned. “Happy?”

“Too happy,” she confessed, blushing. “I never dreamed I'd be marrying Jordan.”

“I did. He's been crazy about you for years, but Duke
Wright's bad luck really got to him. Fortunately, he did see the light in time.”

She took a deep breath as the first strains of the wedding march were heard. “I'm glad it's just us and not a crowd,” she murmured.

He didn't speak. His eyes twinkled as he opened the door.

Inside, all the prominent citizens of Jacobsville were sitting in their pews, waiting for the bride to be given away by her brother. Cash Grier was there with Tippy. So were Calhoun Ballenger and Abby, Justin Ballenger and Shelby Jacobs Ballenger. And the Hart brothers, all five of them including the attorney general, with their wives. The Tremaynes. Mr. Kemp, with Violet! The Drs. Coltrain and Dr. Morris and Dr. Steele and their wives. Eb Scott and his wife. Cy Parks and his wife. It was a veritable who's who of the city.

“Surprise,” Curt whispered in her ear, and tugged her along down the aisle. She was adorned in a simple white satin gown with colorful embroidery on the bodice and puffy sleeves, a delicate veil covering her face and shoulders. She carried a bouquet of lily of the valley and pink roses.

Jordan Powell, in a soft gray morning coat and all the trappings, was waiting for her at the altar with the
minister. He looked handsome and welcoming and he was smiling from ear to ear.

Libby thought back over the past few agonizing weeks and realized all the hardships and heartache she'd endured made her truly appreciate all the sweet blessings that had come into her life. She smiled through her tears and stopped at Jordan's side, her small hand searching blindly for his as she waited to speak her vows. She'd never felt more loved or happier than she was at that moment. She only wished her parents had lived to see her married.

 

Just after the wedding, there was a reception at the church fellowship hall, catered by Barbara's Café. The wedding cake was beautiful, with a colorful motif that exactly matched the embroidery on Libby's wedding gown.

She and Jordan were photographed together cutting the cake and then interacting with all their unexpected guests. The only sticky moment was when handsome Hayes Carson bent to kiss Libby.

“Careful, Hayes,” Jordan said from right beside him. “I'm watching you!”

“Great idea,” Hayes replied imperturbably and grinned. “You could use a few lessons.”