The Naughty List Bundle - Kylie Adams [284]
Good heavens, the woman looked as ferocious as Morgan on his most intimidating days.
“MS. SAMSON?”
Her eyes, the same blue gray as her daughter’s, locked onto him and without preamble she stated, “My daughter has whisker burns this morning.”
Jordan gulped, and before he could stop himself he ran a hand over his now smooth-shaven jaw. Deciding to brazen it out, he said, “I only kissed her.”
“Must have been one heck of a kiss.” Ruth looked nothing like the frail, ill woman of yesterday. In truth, she appeared ready to get out of bed and whup Jordan’s backside. “Georgia couldn’t quite look at me without blushing.”
Against his better judgment, Jordan grinned. “Georgia does seem prone to a pretty blush now and then.”
Ruth sighed, and all the vinegar seemed to leave her from one second to the next. “It’s incredible, but regardless of all she’s been through, she’s still so sweet. Not that I want her to toughen up. She’s a wonderful daughter and a wonderful mother to my grandchildren.” Once she said it, Ruth glared, daring him to disagree.
Jordan nodded. “She amazes me, if you want the truth.”
“Yes. She’s amazing.” Her eyes sharpened and she asked, “Exactly how much do you know about my daughter?”
“Very little. I only just minutes ago found out she’s a mere twenty-three.”
“That bothers you? Well it shouldn’t. Georgia is very mature for her years.”
Jordan had no idea how to reply to that. “I also know that she works in a pretty disreputable bar.”
Ruth laughed. “And of course, you don’t approve?”
Jordan matched her stare without hesitation. “No, not at all.”
“Good.” She nodded in satisfaction. “Neither do I. But she has few choices.”
“Georgia mentioned that to me.”
Ruth looked surprised. “She did? That’s interesting. She usually won’t give a man the time of day. And believe me, plenty of them are after her.”
Jordan ground his teeth together. “I believe it.”
“I can tell there’s still a lot you don’t know. Pull up a chair and I’ll fill you in. But we better be quick because if I know my daughter, we maybe have about two minutes more before she barges back in.”
Jordan obediently pulled up a chair. He was anxious to learn more about Georgia, to find out how she’d ended up in these circumstances. She and her mother both felt she had few options, but Jordan intended to give her several, and they all had to do with her staying off that damn stage.
Ruth’s first burst of indignant anger had faded and had left her looking decidedly limp. She was now pale, her hands shaking. Jordan reminded himself that the woman had been extremely ill only the night before, and that he had to make certain she didn’t overdo. He had the feeling she’d push herself, given half a chance, to defend her daughter. Against him.
“Ms. Samson,” he said, hoping to reassure her, “you don’t have to worry about me being with Georgia. I only want to help.”
She sighed wearily, then started in coughing. Jordan was ready to call for a nurse when she waved him back into his seat.
She had to use her oxygen for a moment, taking slow shallow breaths, and afterward she took quite a bit of time resettling her blankets around her. Finally she said, “I seriously doubt Georgia wants your help.”
“Well, no, she doesn’t.”
“But you’re insisting?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She nodded, apparently pleased by that. “Georgia got pregnant when she was only sixteen.”
Since he’d already done the math, Jordan didn’t show a single sign of surprise.
“My husband was an old-fashioned man. A sour, un-demonstrative man who never really understood Georgia. We had her late in life. I was nearly forty, and my husband was eleven years my senior. We’d thought we were past the stage of having children. So she took us both by surprise.”
“A pleasant surprise?”
“Oh, surely. But adjusting wasn’t easy. Avery was set in his ways, and part of those ways was being miserly to the point of wanting Georgia to wear secondhand clothes, and insisting we drive our old