Now she wished she’d listened to her inner voice of caution. The one she’d spent her entire life listening to. But she was going for a touch of impulsiveness. A rare display of courage under fire.
Jordan thought she was a scaredy-cat, so she’d done what any other temporarily insane woman would have done. She’d gone shopping. After an hour of finding nothing, she’d stumbled into Emily’s boutique, found the most gorgeous dress she’d ever laid eyes on, and bought it.
Now she thought that maybe the black lace bodice hadn’t been such a good idea. Not with Jordan’s eyes devouring her whole. And the fuchsia pink satin skirt was almost demure. With wide box pleats and a simple tie waist, it wasn’t the kind of dress someone wore if they were looking to get lucky.
But then she’d never been the type of person to want to get lucky. Even now, with Jordan staring at her as if she was the only woman in the room, she would sooner have run for cover. The thought of doing anything about the message in his eyes terrified her.
“You look great, Sarah.”
Jordan stood so close that she could have touched his pin-stripe suit if she’d been brave enough. “You look good, too. I like your suit.”
Jordan looked down at what he was wearing. “Thanks.”
Above the conversation and laughter going on around them, Sarah heard someone tapping the side of a glass. Another person whistled at the top of their lungs as if they were directing sheepdogs. That hushed everyone quicker than the tinkling glass, and Sarah smiled.
Jordan leaned forward “Has anyone ever told you what a pretty smile you’ve got.”
Jacob leaned in close over Jordan’s shoulder. “You say the sweetest things.” He moved fast when Jordan’s elbow connected with his chest.
“Buzz off, Jacob,” Jordan growled.
Alex cleared his throat. “Are you two done?”
Everyone was staring at Jordan, Jacob, and Sarah as if they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Except there was nothing to see. Sarah had been enjoying her drink, having not so sweet thoughts about Jordan and trying to ignore Jacob.
Jacob rubbed his chest and grinned at Jordan. “We’re done. For now.”
Alex picked up a glass of wine and smiled at Emily, “My soon to be wife and I would like to thank you for coming here tonight. Apart from when Emily agreed to marry me, it’s the best-kept surprise I’ve ever had.” He glanced across at Doris Stanley and she snapped his photo. Probably for her Facebook page. “I hope you enjoy the evening.”
Alex stepped back and Ben hot-footed it across to his side. “Before everyone gets too comfortable I want to remind you that your karaoke teams are posted on the board beside the DJ. The first team needs to have their song selected and be ready to perform in fifteen minutes. And just because you didn’t put your name in the box, doesn’t mean it’s not there.”
Sarah felt heat scorch her cheeks. She hated karaoke. Standing in front of people, singing off key, and generally making a fool of herself felt like torture instead of fun. She’d ducked past Adam and Ben as they’d stopped everyone on the way into the room.
She’d come to the party with Emily. The bride-to-be had things to do, things Sarah needed to help with. She thought she’d dodged a bullet by not putting her name in the box. She’d been wrong.
“Smile for the camera.” Molly snapped Sarah’s photo, then glanced at the screen on the back of her camera. “A shot worthy of a karaoke star. Guess who you’re singing with?”
Sarah was still living in the land of delusion, hoping Ben’s threat had been idle banter and not the real deal.
“No one?” Sarah muttered.
Molly didn’t take offense at her less than enthusiastic reply. Sarah guessed that came in handy when you were a professional photographer. Molly’s images had appeared in fashion magazines around the world. Her home was in Ireland, but she’d roamed through Europe for most of her life. And somehow, without Sarah knowing why, Molly had ended up in Bozeman.
“We’ll be singing together. You, me, and Emily.”
Sarah felt like a noose had just tightened around her neck. If her singing partners had been different, she could have slipped into the background. Singing with a great-aunt or two wouldn’t have attracted any attention. She could even have mumbled her way through a song with a couple of cousins. But the bride would create a stir, draw people’s attention to the trio of karaoke wannabes standing at the front of the room.
“There’s no need to be nervous. There’s a bit of the blarney in all of us. It’s just a matter of letting loose, not worrying about what anyone else thinks. Isn’t that right, Jordan?”
Sarah looked at Jordan and guessed that he’d never had much of an issue standing in front of crowds. He grinned, which only added to the nerves racing around her body.
“You could always swap with Adam and sing with me?”
Sarah was tempted by Jordan’s offer. Really tempted.
“You’re not allowed to change the groups around,” Molly said. She quickly took a photo of Jordan’s frowning face and pulled Sarah off her bar stool. “We’re on in twenty minutes. We need to rehearse.”
And before Sarah could wiggle her way out of her karaoke team, Molly was dragging her across the room. “Where are we going?”
“To the DJ. We need to choose a song.”
By the time they reached the DJ, Emily had nearly finished going through the song sheets. “Do you know, Mama Mia?”
Sarah liked ABBA, she really did. But singing one of their songs?
Molly gave her a nudge. “Of course we know it. Let’s go and practice.”
As Molly led them into the women’s bathroom to practice, Sarah decided the night could only get better. At least most of their audience would know their song. And if luck was on their side, everyone else’s voices would drown out their rendition.
***
It turned out luck wasn’t on their side. Sarah didn’t know whether it was because they’d come on stage after three aunts had boogied their way through a Dolly Parton song, or if it was because the bride-to-be was involved. But either way, everyone was watching and listening and not doing much of anything else.
Their karaoke team couldn’t have looked more different if they’d tried. In the bathroom, they’d decided that Emily would stand in the middle. At just over five foot, she was a lot smaller than Molly or Sarah. With her short red hair and freckles, she was cute in an understated kind of way.
There was nothing cute about Molly. With spiky black hair and a body that was as lean as it was long, she could have been one of the models she was famous for photographing. And then there was Sarah. The tone deaf blonde who didn’t like speaking in front of crowds of people.
The first few bars of music began and Sarah’s nerves took on a life of their own. She tried hard not to look at their audience, but there was only so much hiding you could do when eighty people were staring at you.
So she did what she’d always done. She broke down the problem, sorted through her options, and chose the best alternative. Walking off the stage was out of the question, so she resorted to plan B. If she could waltz with Jordan to Kermit the Frog, he could be the person she’d focus on as they sung to ABBA.
She didn’t have to look hard to find him. He was sitting at a table not far from the front of the room. He nodded, smiled, gave her a bit more courage than she’d had a few minutes ago. She turned sideways, followed the moves they’d quickly rehearsed.
Emily had more on-stage performance experience than any of them. Her mom had enrolled her in a modeling course when she’d been a teenager. Then there’d been the dance classes, the drama club, glee club. She was almost a professional for cripes’ sake.
They blustered their way through the song. Their choreography earned them claps of encouragement and more than one wolf whistle. Before the third chorus started, they had a mini fan club joining in, diluting everyone’s attention away from the karaoke stars.
As they shimmied their way into the last v
erse, Sarah caught Jordan’s gaze and smiled. She was nearly finished. She was still alive, still breathing. No one had laughed or made fun of them. They’d been less than perfect, but it didn’t matter.
The song ended and they linked hands and bowed, accepted all of the applause like seasoned pros. Sarah could see the next trio lined up to take center stage. The three men had slicked their hair back, hung their ties loose from their necks. With their top shirt buttons popped open they looked like a fifties version of James Dean.
“We did great,” Emily said as they made their way across to the bar. “Alex will have to come up with something incredible to do better than that.”
“Not possible,” Molly said. “We had the right moves and the audience loved us.”
“So did someone else.” Emily picked up the drink the bartender left in front of her and took a sip. “Jordan didn’t take his eyes off you for the entire song, Sarah.”
“He was helping me,” Sarah said.
Molly gave up trying to give the bartender her order. She turned to Sarah instead. “How was he helping?”
“I needed to focus on one person and not everyone. When I felt my confidence slipping, I looked at him and he smiled.”
“Well…” Molly looked at Emily. “It sounds like Jordan has hidden depths. You’ve got to give credit to a man who looks after a woman in her time of need.”
“I wasn’t needy.” Goosebumps prickled along Sarah’s skin. Someone was watching her. She turned around and her eyes connected with Jordan. She was tempted to smile at him, only Emily and Molly were looking at her like she’d lost her marbles.
“I think Jordan’s shell-shocked,” Sarah said. “We were so good. People would have paid to see that performance.”
Emily laughed. “I wouldn’t go that far, but we were pretty darn hot. Go team.” She high-fived Sarah and Molly and looked back at the stage. The trio of James Dean lookalikes were crooning their way through a Frank Sinatra number. “I think I’m marrying into a talented family. They’re good as well.”
“Not as good as my fiancée.” Alex wrapped his arms around Emily’s waist. “If I wasn’t already in love with you, I’d have fallen in love with you all over again.”
Molly looked around the bar and frowned. “I’ve lost my camera.”
“It won’t be far away,” Emily said. “Where did you put it before we started rehearsing?”
“I left it on the corner of the bar.” Molly stepped back and looked along the floor and under a table. “I didn’t have time to download the photos I took this afternoon.” Her voice tipped into panic mode. “I was supposed to be working on them tomorrow. I really need to find my camera.”
Sarah walked across to the bartender and asked him if he’d seen the camera. He didn’t have a clue where it had gone.
“Are you ladies looking for this?” Jacob stood beside Jordan, a large digital camera balanced in his hand. “It was sitting on the bar. I thought it would be safer with me.”
Molly held her hand against her chest. “I thought I’d lost it,” she sighed. “Thank you.” She went to take the camera out of Jacob’s hands, but he held it out of her reach.
“I’ll give it back on one condition.”
Molly’s relief turned to suspicion. “What do you want?”
“Nothing that’s illegal or immoral, not yet anyway.”
Molly took a step toward Jacob. Her green eyes flashed a warning that he was either too stubborn or too blind to see. “You want to wrestle for it?”
A streak of color rushed to Jacob’s face. Sarah had only met him a handful of times on his visits out to Alex’s ranch. He wasn’t a blushing sort of guy. He wasn’t a man that believed in excess emotion. But he had excess emotion at the moment. Bucket loads of the stuff. And it was all directed at Molly.
“I was thinking that your camera was worth an hour of your time over coffee. But if wrestling is your thing, I’m all yours.” The smoldering look he sent Molly left no one in any doubt what option he preferred.
“Oh, look,” Emily said. “Everyone’s started dancing. Let’s go.” She tugged Alex’s hand toward the dance floor and sent a pointed look at Jordan.
He grabbed Sarah’s hand and followed Emily. “I take it you’re happy to dance?”
She looked over her shoulder at Jacob and Molly. “What was all that about?”
“Don’t know. Jacob’s been spending more time in Bozeman over the last few months. Might have something to do with Molly.” Jordan moved into a foxtrot as soon as they stepped on the dance floor.
“Did your mom teach you how to foxtrot as well?”
He smiled. “No, that was my dad. He said if I had to eat everything in sight I’d need to learn more than a waltz. He thought knowing how to dance would make me more appealing to the right woman.”
Sarah looked at his face to make sure he wasn’t kidding. He stared straight back at her. “Your dad was a genius.”
Jordan sighed. “Yeah, and he would have liked you, Legs.”
Sarah took that as a compliment. She was even getting used to being called Legs. Especially when Jordan had said she had a pretty smile.
He pulled her close, slipping between the other couples like someone who’d been dancing for years.
“What am I going to do when you get tired of dancing with me?” she asked.
“Not going to happen.”
Sarah thought about all of the possibilities that could change Jordan’s mind. “What if you find a girlfriend? She’s not going to be impressed if you dance with me.”
She felt Jordan’s laugh stir her hair. “I don’t expect she would be. But I’m not planning on finding a girlfriend. I’m happy right here.”
Sarah’s pulse leaped in her throat.
“You’re thinking too much.” Jordan’s hand caressed her back, sending little shock waves skittering along her spine.
She knew that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that she wasn’t thinking enough. “It’s just that I…”
“No.”
“What do you mean, no? You haven’t heard what I was going to say.” Sarah started paying attention to where Jordan was leading her. He’d side-stepped his way around the people on the dance floor, angled their bodies so they were heading to the right of the DJ. “Where are we going?”
“Here…”
They were standing in a corridor. “I don’t know why…”
He led her into a small room, pulled her against his body and started doing wicked things with his mouth. She forgot what she was going to say. Forgot there were people, lots of people, standing on the other side of the wall.
She grabbed hold of his jacket, held his shoulders. A rush of adrenaline spiked through her body, left her floating somewhere between heaven and hell.
Jordan groaned as her hands wandered, ran across his chest and found a home beneath his shirt. “Legs, I want…”
He was breathless and hot and so damn sexy. She could hardly breathe, hardly stand. She started imagining wonderful things her mouth could be doing when she heard the next karaoke song.
It was her song. Their song. No, not Jordan’s song. James’ song. The low life weasel who’d stolen her heart and her program. It was the song they would have danced to on their wedding night. The song that would have stayed in her memory for the rest of her life.
Sarah ripped her mouth off Jordan, gasped as his lips started devouring her throat. He was licking her, making crazy noises that would have led to other things. Except for the song.
“I can’t…”
“We can.”
“No. I can’t.” Sarah stepped back, tripped on a cord and fell on her bottom.
Then there was nothing. No song. No sound. No karaoke.
Jordan looked down at the power cord. “Shit.”
Sarah couldn’t have agreed more. She scrambled to her feet, straightened her dress, wiped her lips. She glanced at Jordan and felt hot and steamy all over again. He was tucking in his shirt, yanking his tie, buttoning
his jacket.
Footsteps were moving along the short corridor. Voices echoed on the tiled floor.
Jordan picked up the power cord, followed it to another cord and held the two ends together just as someone walked through the door. But it wasn’t someone. It was three someones.
The DJ, Alex, and Jacob stared at them with expressions that ranged from annoyance to horror.
Jordan held the two cords in the air. “Were you looking for these?” He plugged the cords together and grabbed Sarah’s hand. “It should work fine, now.”
They disappeared out a back door into the parking lot, not stopping until they’d found Jordan’s truck.
Sarah dropped her head into her hands. “I can’t believe that just happened.”
“Do you mean the kiss or getting caught?”
“Both.” Sarah started laughing. Great, big, hiccupy laughs that hurt her ribs and made her cry.
Jordan didn’t say anything. He unlocked the passenger door and held it open.
Sarah clambered inside. She didn’t know what would happen next, but she knew she had some decisions to make.
***
Ten minutes later, Sarah wiped her eyes with the tissues Jordan had given her. He’d sat through her crying fit, not said anything as she’d slowly pulled herself together. Except for the pounding of her heart, the cab was quiet. And dark. Dark enough that she felt braver, more able to answer the questions she knew were coming.
“What happened?” Jordan asked.
She couldn’t look at him, not yet, so she stared outside. The stars were so bright, so clear, that she felt as though she could have reached up and plucked them from the sky. She wrapped her arms around her waist, rubbing at the goose bumps on her arms.
“Here. Use this.”
She heard Jordan move beside her, felt the weight of his jacket when he left it on her lap. She wrapped it around her shoulders and melted against the warmth.
Sarah took a deep breath. “The song the last group were singing. It was the song I chose for my wedding dance. I really haven’t been dwelling on my ex-fiancé, but I heard from my lawyer today. His phone call stirred up memories, things I’d sooner forget.”
Forever And A Day (Montana Brides, Book #7) Page 10