‘The operation was a success,’ Stephanie realised happily.
Jordan’s smile widened. ‘Yes, it was. Thanks to you,’ he added huskily.
She frowned. ‘I didn’t do anything.’
‘You repeatedly told me what a self-pitying idiot I was, and told me to go and get my leg looked at again,’ he reminded her dryly. ‘Are you going to invite me inside, Stephanie? Or have I made myself so unwelcome you would rather keep me standing out here in the hallway?’
‘I—no, of course not.’ Stephanie stepped back to allow him to walk into her apartment, her heart lifting as she saw the way Jordan walked only with a slight emphasis on his right leg now—and that was sure to disappear completely, too, after a few more weeks of full mobility.
Except she still had no idea what he was doing here!
She followed him through to the sitting room, the palms of her hands feeling damp as she faced him. ‘You told me that Gideon called you a self-pitying idiot too,’ she pointed out.
Jordan chuckled softly. ‘It somehow had more impact coming from you.’
Stephanie eyed him quizzically. ‘I can’t imagine why.’
His expression became enigmatic. ‘Can’t you?’
‘No.’ God, he looked good, Stephanie acknowledged weakly. Every gorgeous, mesmerising inch of him.
‘We’ll get to that in a minute,’ Jordan said briskly. ‘I meant to arrive before Gideon had his meeting with your sister—wanted to explain exactly what was going on before he talked to Joey—but unfortunately my plane was delayed.’
‘Yes, what was that all about?’ Stephanie frowned. ‘Don’t get me wrong—it was very kind of you to ask Gideon to help extricate me from any involvement in the Newmans’ divorce. I just don’t understand why you did it.’
Jordan thrust his hands into his trouser pockets—he still found it a novelty to be able to do even such a simple action without falling flat on his face!—and he looked across at Stephanie through narrowed lids. ‘You helped me. I wanted to help you.’
Any hopes that Stephanie might have had concerning Jordan’s motives were instantly dashed. Rightly so. What had she expected? That Jordan had helped her because he actually liked her? Loved her? You’re living in cloud cuckoo land, Stephanie, she admonished herself derisively.
‘I do appreciate it, but you really had no need to put yourself to that trouble on my behalf.’
‘I had every need, damn it,’ Jordan rasped impatiently. ‘Rosalind Newman was becoming dangerous. To other people as well as herself. Gideon has talked to her lawyer and advised that she seek medical help before she really does hurt someone.’
‘Advised?’ Stephanie repeated; she couldn’t imagine the coldly arrogant Gideon St Claire doing anything so meek as offering advice.
Jordan gave a rueful grimace. ‘Okay, so he made it part of the deal—you won’t bring any charges against her if she seeks medical help.’
Stephanie gasped. ‘But I had no intention of—’
‘Could you offer me a coffee or something, Stephanie?’ he cut in swiftly. ‘It was a long flight, and I came straight here from the airport.’
‘I—of course.’ What was she thinking of, quizzing Jordan in this way over what had been a very kind act on his part? What did it matter why or how it had been achieved, so long as Stephanie no longer had the cloud of the Newmans’ divorce hanging over her head? ‘I have coffee already made, but Joey hasn’t drunk all the wine if you would prefer that,’ she added, as she looked at the half-full bottle on the table. ‘I’m afraid Gideon’s visit to my sister’s office earlier had rather a disturbing effect on her.’
‘Gideon has that effect on most people.’ Jordan chuckled understandingly. ‘And coffee would be great,’ he added as he followed Stephanie through to the kitchen, watching her from behind guarded lids as she poured coffee into two mugs.
She looked somewhat thinner than Jordan remembered. There were slight hollows in her cheeks, shadows under those beautiful green eyes, and the stubborn set of her chin seemed more defined. That glorious red-gold hair was drawn back in its usual plait down her spine; a black T-shirt and low-slung fitted jeans outlined her slender curves.
‘How have you been, Stephanie?’ he asked gruffly as the two of them moved to sit at the breakfast bar.
‘Good.’ She nodded, her gaze on her coffee mug rather than on him. ‘I have lots of work on at the moment, so I’m keeping busy. I hear you’re thinking of going back to work again soon, too?’ she said lightly.
Jordan wished she would look at him. Allow him to look into the ‘windows of her soul’ just once, so that he might have at least some idea of how she felt about him being here. ‘In a couple of months, yes,’ he said. ‘Stephanie, I didn’t come here to talk about your work or mine.’
Her lashes flickered up and she looked across at him before quickly looking away again. ‘I appreciate you taking time from what is no doubt a busy family visit—’
‘I came to England specifically to see you, Stephanie,’ he interrupted. ‘I—’ He broke off to give an irritated shake of his head as she gave him a startled glance.
Damn it, this had seemed easier when he was sitting in his house in Malibu, just imagining seeing Stephanie again, talking to her. Now that he was actually here with her, within touching distance, Jordan didn’t even know where to start!
He stood up to pace the kitchen restlessly as he tried to put into words what he wanted to say. ‘Stephanie, if all you have to offer is an infatuation for me as Jordan Simpson, then for as long as it lasts I’ll take it.’
Stephanie turned to stare at him in complete confusion. ‘I beg your pardon?’
His mouth tightened. ‘You were honest enough to tell me that your only reason for being with me, for making love with me at St Claire House, was because you’ve always had a thing for Jordan Simpson,’ he reminded her, a nerve pulsing in his tightly clenched jaw. ‘I’m here to tell you that I’m willing to continue a relationship with you on those terms.’
Stephanie’s face had gone very pale. ‘You want me to have an affair with you?’
He frowned fiercely. ‘No, damn it. The last thing I want is for you to have an affair with me!’
She blinked at his vehemence. ‘But you just said—’
‘I just said that I would take that if it’s all you have to offer,’ Jordan corrected.
Stephanie tried to make sense of what Jordan was saying. He did want to have an affair with her, but he didn’t. What did that mean?’ I don’t understand,’ she said finally, giving a confused shake of her head.
Jordan glared his frustration. ‘It’s really quite simple, Stephanie. If I can’t have you in my life, then I don’t want anyone.’
She looked taken aback. ‘I—But you said—’
‘I said a lot of things. As did you.’ He sighed. ‘One of which was a complete misunderstanding on your part. Stephanie, you didn’t restore my sexual interest—you are the only woman that I want to make love with. Ever.’
Her eyes were wide. ‘What about Crista Moore? All those beautiful leggy blondes you usually date?’
His mouth twisted. ‘Just two weeks in LA, surrounded by “all those beautiful leggy blondes”, was more than long enough for me to know I’m no longer attracted to any of them. The only woman who holds any attraction for me is a certain stubborn redhead who tends to argue with me most of the time.’
She looked shocked. ‘You mean me?’
‘Of course you, Stephanie.’ He took a deep breath. ‘I’m in love with you, damn it!’
‘What! ‘ She stared at him disbelievingly.
‘You know, I’ve never said that to a woman in my life before.’ Jordan gave a rueful grin. ‘I somehow expected that when I did it would be received with a little more enthusiasm! I. Love. You. Stephanie McKinley,’ he repeated slowly, so that there should be no further misunderstanding. ‘I love you. Jordan St Claire loves you. Jordan Simpson loves you. We all love you. Is that clear enough for you?’
> Stephanie was starting to feel light-headed. ‘I—But you can’t love me!’
It was so not the reaction that Jordan wanted. ‘Why can’t I?’
‘Well, because—because I’m just plain ordinary me. And you—well, you’re—’
‘Jordan Simpson. I know,’ he accepted wearily. ‘And I’m afraid it’s much worse than that, actually. But that’s something we can discuss in a few minutes,’ he said hollowly. ‘Stephanie, I love you, and I very much need to know how you would feel about having a long-term relationship with me. Very long-term,’ he added firmly.
Stephanie swallowed hard, wondering what could be ‘much worse’ than him being Jordan Simpson, but too dazed at that moment to care. ‘You had your operation because of the things I said about Jordan Simpson, didn’t you?’ she gasped as the idea suddenly occurred to her. ‘Because you didn’t think I wanted you as you were?’
‘That wasn’t the whole reason, no.’ He grimaced. ‘I obviously couldn’t carry on in the way I was. But wanting to be fit and completely well for your sake did come into it, yes.’
Stephanie shook her head. ‘Jordan, when I left St Claire House—when you came here—I tried to … I felt stupid because of what had happened between us.’ She looked up at him emotionally. ‘I said those things to you because I thought you had just used me—I was trying to salvage at least some of my pride.’
He looked at her with sudden hope. ‘You mean you aren’t infatuated with Jordan Simpson?’
‘Isn’t every woman?’ Stephanie said as she stood up with a smile.
‘Not every one, no,’ Jordan retorted. ‘Neither do I have any interest in what any other women might think of me.’ He reached out to grasp both her hands in his. ‘And “just” you isn’t plain and ordinary, Stephanie. You’re an exceptional woman. Beautiful. Clever. Intelligent. As well as too outspoken for your own good, of course.’ He grinned affectionately at her before suddenly sobering. His expression became intense as he looked down at her. ‘That time with you in Gloucestershire, and at St Claire House, was more than enough to tell me that you’re everything I could ever want in a woman. Everything that I will ever want and always love,’ he added fiercely as his hands tightened about hers. ‘Stephanie, I don’t care if it’s Jordan Simpson you’re infatuated with. I’ll be anyone and anything you want me to be, if only you’ll say—Oh, God, you’re crying again!’ he groaned as the tears began to fall down her cheeks.
‘This time I’m crying because I’m happy!’ Stephanie assured him emotionally as she looked up at him with glowing eyes. ‘I’m not infatuated with Jordan Simpson any more, Jordan. He’s been a wonderful object for all my secret fantasies. But it’s Jordan St Claire who has occupied my fantasies these past few weeks. Jordan St Claire I fell in love with. Jordan St Claire I made love with at St Claire House.’
‘You love me?’ He looked stunned. ‘But I was rude, and bad-tempered, and downright nasty to you a lot of the time. Especially after you told me it was Jordan Simpson you had “a thing” for,’ he added darkly.
‘I love you, Jordan. Whoever you are,’ she assured him fervently. ‘Rude and bad-tempered. Or magnetic and sexy. It’s you I love. All of you!’ She launched herself into his arms.
Jordan didn’t care which of his personas Stephanie loved so long as she continued to kiss him as if she never wanted to stop. These past two weeks in LA without her had told him that he had no desire to live without Stephanie as a permanent part of his life. As the focus of his life!
‘Will you marry me, Stephanie?’ he asked gruffly, a long, long time later, as the two of them lay naked and replete in each other’s arms.
Stephanie glowed up at the man she loved. ‘With all my heart, Jordan.’
He chuckled softly. ‘Our life together is never going to be dull, is it?’
Their long life together, Stephanie hoped, with lots of love and children. ‘Are you going to tell me now what the “even worse” is you were referring to earlier?’ she asked teasingly.
EPILOGUE
‘DOES this mean I have to address you as Lady St Claire from now on?’ Joey teased, once Jordan and Stephanie had posed in front of the cameras for the cutting of their wedding cake.
‘Stephanie has always been a lady,’ Jordan drawled, keeping his arm possessively about his wife’s waist.
Stephanie was a very happily dazed lady at the moment!
The last six weeks had been hectic as they’d arranged the wedding in between flying backwards and forwards to LA, as Stephanie had closed down her physiotherapy practice in London and prepared to open it up again in LA when they returned from their honeymoon in a couple of weeks’ time.
It had only added to the unreality of it all to learn that Jordan’s ‘even worse’ was that he and Gideon were actually lords, and that Lucan was the Duke of Stourbridge, with Mulberry Hall being his ducal estate.
After their wedding earlier today, she was now officially Lady Stephanie St Claire.
Inwardly, she was still just Stephanie. As Jordan was Jordan. All the Jordans. Jordan Simpson. Jordan St Claire. Lord Jordan St Claire. And Stephanie loved every one of them to distraction!
‘No, I’m still just Stephs to you,’ she assured Joey ruefully, before her sister wandered off with the obvious intention of annoying Gideon as he stood talking with their parents and Molly St Claire.
Stephanie smiled as she looked around the crowded ballroom at St Claire House, where members of her own family and Jordan’s mingled happily together.
She turned back to her husband. ‘I love you so much, Jordan,’ she said quietly to him.
His arms tightened about her. ‘I’ll love you for ever, Stephanie,’ he vowed fiercely.
She moved up on tiptoe to whisper teasingly in his ear. ‘Would you like to escape for a personal viewing of my white silk and lace underwear, Lord St Claire?’
Jordan grinned down at her. ‘I thought you would never ask, Lady St Claire!’
Yes, for ever with Jordan sounded perfect, as far as Stephanie was concerned.
All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.
All Rights Reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises II B.V./S.à.r.l. The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the prior consent of the publisher in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.
First published in Great Britain 2011
Harlequin Mills & Boon Limited,
Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
© Carole Mortimer 2011
ISBN: 978-1-408-92522-5
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Jordan St Claire: Dark and Dangerous Page 15