The Naughty List Bundle - Kylie Adams [249]
Most definitely not for a one-night stand, which from what she could deduce, was what Jordan Sommerville was after. He’d made no pretense of liking her or approving of her in any way. The arrogant jerk.
She forced herself to meet the sheriff’s gaze. “Actually, you’re not. Scaring me, that is.” The lie sounded credible even to her own ears, though neither man seemed to believe her. “So if it’s all the same to you I’d just as soon get out of this rain and get going.”
Morgan snorted, eyeing her with a mix of clear annoyance, and perhaps a touch of approval. “So anxious to spend a night in jail, are you?”
She nearly staggered. “Jail? But…” Her stomach suddenly felt queasy, her knees weak. She couldn’t, absolutely couldn’t stay away all night. Swallowing hard, and hating what she had to say even before the words left her mouth, she forced herself to meet the sheriff’s gaze. “I have to go home. Tonight.”
Morgan’s eyes narrowed. “Got a husband waiting for you?”
She shook her head and felt a raindrop slither down her nose. “Two children.”
Jordan’s hands bit reflexively into her shoulders. ” What?”
Georgia felt hemmed in by testosterone. The sheriff looked too grim by half, and she could feel the tension radiating off Jordan. She shifted her shoulders slightly at the pressure of his fingers and he loosened his hold, then turned her around to face him.
“You have kids?” His eyes were like green fire.
She lifted her chin. “Yes.”
The shock on his face was replaced with disgust. “Where the hell is your husband?”
She owed him nothing, certainly no explanations. “Ex-husband. And I have no idea.” Jordan’s brows smoothed out, and she added, “But wherever he is, I hope he stays there. Now, are you done with your interrogation?”
The sheriff snorted. “Maybe you should ask me that.”
Jordan, no longer looking like a thundercloud, pulled her behind his back. Georgia couldn’t see around him, but she heard him plain enough as he addressed his brother.
“You’re not going to arrest her, Morgan, and you know it, so quit taking your bad temper out on her.”
The sheriff seemed to be spoiling for a fight. “Or what?”
“Or I’ll tell Misty.”
Georgia had no idea who Misty was or why her name would make the sheriff relent, but that’s exactly what happened. Sheriff Hudson still sounded annoyed, but no longer so angry. “It’s a lousy night for you to do this to me, Jordan.”
“Yeah, well, it wasn’t my idea for you to be called, you know.”
“No? What was your idea? To start an all out brawl? I thought you came along to see that there was no trouble, not to insure that there was.”
“I didn’t cause the trouble. I was only…”
His words trailed off as Georgia stepped around him and headed for the bar. If the fool men wanted to stand around in the rain and discuss the situation to death, that was fine with her. But now that she felt certain she wouldn’t be locked up, she had a better way to spend her time.
Before she’d gone five feet, Jordan’s hand closed around her elbow. “Where do you think you’re going?”
With a sigh, she drew up short and turned to face him. She shook back one of the long sleeves of his jacket to free a hand, and then shoved her hair out of her face. Her makeup, she knew, was a disaster.
Not that she cared.
Jordan’s hold on her arm was gentle. His light brown hair hung over his brow, now more wet than otherwise, and his eyes reflected the bar lights, appearing almost…hungry. She looked quickly away. “I’ve got money on the stage. If I don’t get it now, Bill will abscond with it and I’ll have wasted the night for nothing. Since you two don’t seem in a big hurry to rush off, and the other sheriff is apparently done inside—”
“Bill?”
He did seem to get hung up on every male name she mentioned. “The owner of the bar. The man you came to see before you got…sidetracked.” She tried to pull away but Jordan wasn’t letting go.
He turned to Morgan. “Can you give us just a moment?”
“Just.” Morgan didn’t look happy over the concession, but then, she doubted that this one ever looked happy. “Malone will only stay in