‘Darling?’ Jordan prompted as she continued the nervous movements on her skirt.
She looked startled, colour flooding her cheeks at how easy he found it to use that endearment. ‘Sorry?’ she blinked her puzzlement.
His mouth twisted wryly. ‘Your father was expressing concern about your paleness.’
She bit her lip. ‘Excitement,’ she excused jerkily. ‘It’s so nice to have you home, Daddy.’
‘It’s nice to be here. I was just wondering if your paleness could be due to—anything?’ He quirked an eyebrow questioningly.
‘Due to any—? No!’ Kelly went white. ‘No…’ she repeated faintly.
‘Give us a chance, David,’ Jordan took over. ‘We’ve only been married a few weeks.’
‘It was just an idea—’
‘Excuse me.’ Kelly jumped to her feet. ‘I—I feel ill!’ She ran from the room.
Her father had unwittingly touched on the one subject she couldn’t act over. She was shaking by the time she reached the bedroom she had once shared with Jordan, sinking down on to the bed before her legs gave out on her. A baby was the one thing she couldn’t pretend about.
The bedroom door opened and Jordan came into the room. ‘That wasn’t very wise.’
‘Wise!’ she repeated shrilly. ‘I know it wasn’t,’ the fight went out of her. ‘But I couldn’t—I couldn’t take that, Jordan. Not about the baby. Try to understand, Jordan—’
‘I do understand,’ he cut in gently, coming over to sit beside her on the double bed. ‘I do understand, Kelly,’ he took her hand into his.
Her breath caught in her throat. So far she had avoided letting him touch her as much as possible. Here in this bedroom, where so many intimacies had taken place between them, it was all the more dangerous.
‘You’ve never understood, Jordan,’ she dismissed scathingly, snatching her hand away. ‘Now isn’t the time to start trying.’
‘I’m not going to argue with you.’ He stood up to pace the room. ‘Not with your father waiting for us downstairs.’
‘No,’ she accepted quietly. ‘I’m sorry.’
His eyes widened fractionally. ‘Come down and talk to your father. He’s going to have a rest after lunch, so you can relax for a while. I never realised you found it such a strain being in love with me.’
‘Pretending to be in love with you. There’s a subtle difference.’
‘It isn’t subtle, Kelly,’ his mouth twisted. ‘It’s like a blow on the head.’
‘Maybe.’
Anger blazed in his steely grey eyes at her indifference. ‘I shall be working this afternoon while your father is sleeping. What will you be doing?’
Kelly shrugged uninterestedly. ‘I’ll stay here, I suppose. One of us should be here, don’t you think?’ Her voice was sugary sweet in her sa
rcasm.
‘Are you spoiling for that argument after all, Kelly?’ Jordan’s voice was soft, threateningly so.
‘I was just pointing out—’
‘I shall be here all afternoon,’ he interrupted icily. ‘Janet and I will be working in my study.’
Jealousy flared and was quickly dampened down. ‘In that case I’ll go out.’ She had watched Jordan with his secretary these last few days, had watched the lazy way he flirted with her, had seen the way the other girl blushed at his light bantering. It wasn’t the reaction of a girl who was completely uninterested in him, although she and Richard Burrows seemed happy enough.
Kelly had met Richard Burrows several times at the hotel, had found him pleasant enough, although he didn’t have Ian Smythe’s ability to make decisions for himself. Jordan was still very much in charge of his business empire, Richard more in the nature of another secretary rather than the assistant he was supposed to be. Ian had always taken on more responsibility, in fact during the first months of their marriage Jordan had left a lot of work to the other man, spending most of his time with Kelly—until she had told him about the baby. Then he had gone back to the office, had taken to working long into the evening too, had often not even arrived home before Kelly had gone to bed.
‘Kelly,’ Jordan stopped her as she moved to the door. ‘Kelly, as far as your father is concerned our marriage is just starting, couldn’t we do the same?’