Her twin opened the monogrammed portfolio bag and pulled out a newspaper—the South Beach Journal.
Brittany flipped the paper open. “You’re the lead feature in the social section.
Or rather, I should say, that you and Jordan are big news.”
Brooke’s stomach settled with a dull thud, followed by a roaring denial in her head.
Blinking fast, she wiggled her fingers for the paper and sure enough, the lead story plastered a photo of her beside a photo of Jordan .
The paper shook in her hand. “How many more?”
“Three that I’ve seen, and, of course, it’s on the Internet.” Brittany twisted her princess-cut yellow diamond engagement ring around and around her finger. “I hear big cash offers are already starting to roll in for the first photo of the two of you together.”
“Great.” Brooke slammed the paper closed. “That makes me feel much better.”
“You could pose and donate the proceeds to charity.”
“Don’t make light of this, please. This is my life. My baby’s life.” She blinked back tears of frustration. “This explains why Parker has been trying to reach me all morning. I thought he wanted to badger me about Jordan , so I ignored the messages from his receptionist, Sheila, uh…” Brooke pressed her fingers to her aching temple, the woman’s full name escaping her.
“McKay.” Brittany finished her twin’s sentence. “Sheila McKay.”
“Yeah, right. Although learning the reason for the calls from his receptionist doesn’t make me any more inclined to answer.” She glanced down at the paper again.
“I wonder if Jordan knows yet. Damn. What am I saying? Of course he knows. Mr.
Perfect would never oversleep and miss checking the news.”
“Emilio has already gone to see Jordan and make sure his head doesn’t explode over this.”
Brooke swiped away a lone tear. She hated feeling so out of control of her life, a by-product of growing up with an alcoholic mother, no doubt. She could only imagine how someone as strong-willed as Jordan would react to having his life scooped this way. “I wonder which of Mother’s staff sold the story.”
“It could be anyone. We have so many people in and out of there making deliveries with my wedding less than three weeks away.”
“I’m sorry to add stress during what should be a happy time.”
“Shush. It doesn’t have to be all about me. As a matter of fact, it feels good to be able to offer support for a change instead of always being the one needing it.”
“Thank you for being here. It’s going to be tough winning over the brothers. And I don’t even want to think about Mother.” Brooke shuddered.
“Of course, I’m here. I owe you, anyway. Remember when the news rag got the pictures of me making out with the chauffeur and you told Mother and Dad it was you? Since you never got in trouble, they let you off with a slap on the wrist.
Me, I would have lost my car.”
Brooke welcomed the laughter to replace welling tears. “The shock on the chauffeur’s face was priceless.”
“No kidding. If he couldn’t tell us apart, then he didn’t deserve to have me.”
“Damn straight.” Brooke’s mind skipped back five months to the night she and Jordan made the baby, when he’d most definitely known one twin from the other.
Still…”Everything is just changing too fast for me.”
Brittany squeezed Brooke’s hand. “Once Emilio and I are married, they’ll be that much closer to realizing they have to accept all the Jefferies into the Garrison family. Maybe there will even come a time when Garrison, Incorporated can merge with Jefferies Brothers.”
“Perhaps.” Brooke forced a tight smile although she really wanted to scream.
Even her own sister saw this relationship in terms of a business negotiation.
Still, Brooke wasn’t so certain things would be settled with her family that easily.
By the end of the week, Jordan wondered why he hadn’t managed to settle this wedding issue yet. He tried to take comfort in the relationship being public now. A Friday night dinner at a back table in his brother’s restaurant counted as progress.
She hadn’t been happy about the newspaper articles, but as he’d hoped when he’d had his secretary leak the story, Brooke had quit worrying about secrecy. They’d begun dating openly in earnest.
He had to admit, he’d enjoyed the hell out of the past week although he should be focusing on the upcoming opening of his Hotel Victoria. He had a stack of work and telephone messages sitting by his computer right now—although at least he could ignore the five messages from his ex. Damn, she was persistent. When she’d called out of the blue yesterday, he’d told her he was seeing someone else now. If she wouldn’t listen to words, distance seemed the best option. His secretary would have to tell her he wasn’t available.
Jordan put his ex-lover out of his mind, into his past, and realized he didn’t feel the least regret. He had his mind and intentions firmly set elsewhere, something others began noticing, as well. Emilio had even caught him watching the clock during a late-day board meeting.
Of course, he didn’t bother masking his attraction to her. While romancing Brooke every night this week, he’d also worked to win her over by easing tension with her family.
An unhappy family made for an unhappy Brooke.
So he’d taken Brooke to Brittany’s restaurant/ lounge for supper one night. To her brother Adam’s club another. He’d made a point of being where her family congregated, and sure enough, the press hadn’t gotten over their fascination with snapping photos yet. He couldn’t blame them. Candlelight played well across her beautiful face—and wreaked havoc with his self-control.
Still, in spite of his best efforts, aside from Brittany, the reception from the Garrison clan stayed at subarctic temperatures. The disapproval was starting to chafe.
He wanted to enjoy this Friday night away from her family, without thinking about another Sunday dinner with the Garrisons. His jaw still hurt from the last gathering. Not that he would ever let that arrogant ass Parker know.
Maybe he and Brooke could skip the family dinner if he came up with a better plan for the weekend, a different tactic for winning Brooke over. He’d been thinking how important it was for his child to know he or she had a father who cared, a father who was there. How he wouldn’t be like Emilio’s old man and run out on responsibilities.