The Family Feud: The Family Feud / Stop The Wedding?!. Carol Finch
whistled loudly, and then scattered cubes across the grass. In the distance, the cattle raised their heads, then trotted eagerly toward him. Jan smiled in spite of herself while Morgan gabbed conversationally with two dozen cows and their young calves. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected him to do with his leisure time, but it certainly wasn’t this. Having been raised in town, Jan hadn’t had the chance to appreciate the wide-open spaces. Communing with nature, she decided, was good for the troubled soul.
Jan forgot to protest when Morgan swung her up in his arms and settled her on the tailgate. Being pampered had its advantages, especially when she was one shoe short of a pair. “I see what you mean about easing the tension,” she murmured as she surveyed the herd then breathed in a deep gulp of country air.
Morgan leaned over to gently massage the taut muscles of her neck and shoulders. Ah, the man had wonderful hands. She could only imagine how she’d feel if those magical hands were skimming over her naked body…What was she thinking? Damn it, the soft spot she’d developed years ago seemed to be spreading rapidly. That was not a good thing.
“So tell me what else went wrong today that has you knotted up like a rope,” he murmured as he kneaded her stiff shoulders.
Jan hesitated, unsure she wanted to confide Kendra’s fiasco. Then she decided Morgan would hear it through the grapevine because, no way, could Lorna Mason keep her trap shut. Likable and competent though Lorna was, her favorite hobby was gossiping and she was quite proficient at it.
“I came to tell Dad that Kendra’s wedding has been called off.”
“Yeah? How come?” he asked, continuing his marvelous massage.
“Because she found her fiancé in bed with another woman and now she and Mother are at home, drowning their troubles in wine. I told them that troubles have gills and fins and know how to swim, but their wounded pride wasn’t listening.”
“I’m sorry to hear it,” Morgan commiserated. “Surprised? No. But sorry just the same.”
“Richard Samson called the house twice while I was there, demanding to speak to Kendra,” Jan confided. “She told me to tell him to go straight to hell and never come back because she wasn’t speaking to him as long as she lived—or he lived, whichever came first. In addition, she told me to inform him that she hoped he was the first to go so she could trample on his grave.”
Morgan chuckled. “So, your sister is in phase one of the Woman Scorned Syndrome. She’s put a death wish on the man she proclaimed to love and respect above all others till death do part. Quite the contradiction.”
“Yes, well, Mother and Kendra have a tendency toward melodrama,” she said as she absently worked the stiffness from her tender wrist. “But I wouldn’t be the least bit forgiving or charitable to a man who supposedly loved me enough to marry me and then had a prewedding fling a month prior to publicly pledging undying love and devotion to me.” She stared inquisitively at Morgan. “Why do men do stuff like that?”
Morgan shrugged, then leaned back to brace his weight on his forearms. “I’m not sure it’s fair to condemn the entire male gender because of one idiot. Richard always had a roving eye to rival my mother’s. He’s handsome and successful, but he sees himself as a ladies’ man.”
“But you wouldn’t pull a stunt like that, right?” she challenged him.
Morgan stared her squarely in the eye and Jan struggled valiantly not to get lost in those mesmerizing silver-blue pools that were surrounded with the kind of long curly lashes that women would kill for.
“If I was crazy in love with one woman? No,” he declared. “Or at least I don’t think I’d be that stupid. But what the hell do I know? I was raised by a mother who was too busy chasing men to notice me.
“And the truth is,” he was quick to add, “I’m not encouraging your dad to consort with my mother. She likes John because she needs a steady stream of male companions. She doesn’t think she can function without a man in her life. I advised Mom to back off because John is vulnerable, but she doesn’t listen to me. Never did.”
“Parents,” she grumbled. “You go off to have a life of your own, but you can’t trust them to behave properly in your absence.”
“Yeah well, Mom never behaved properly,” Morgan replied. “I don’t know a damn thing about family dynamics because my string of stepfathers weren’t around long enough for me to figure out how a family is supposed to function. For me, turmoil and upheaval were a way of life.”
One corner of Jan’s heart melted. She never realized how good she’d had it, growing up in a loving household—even if that household had shattered recently and she was left to pick up the pieces. Life for Morgan couldn’t have been easy, despite his popularity and athletic prowess.
Jan sighed audibly. “I want to apologize for coming down on you like a ton of bricks this afternoon. You just sort of got caught in the crossfire of my frustration with my parents. I’m sorry I took it out on you.”
“And you never forgave me for the Homecoming incident,” he put in perceptively. “I hurt and embarrassed you and I’m sorry as hell.” Morgan reached over to curl his finger beneath her chin, raising her gaze to his. “For what it’s worth, I took that stupid dare because I was curious about how it would feel to kiss that shy, unbelievably sweet sophomore who was infatuated with me, even if she was caught up in the fact that I was supposedly the superstar athlete of Oz.”
“That wasn’t the reason I had a crush on you,” she blurted out, then withdrew into her own space. His touch was seriously affecting her vital signs and her thought processes. Plus, her emotions were already spinning like a Tilt-A-Whirl carousel because of today’s fiasco.
“No?” he asked skeptically. “In those days all the girls I dated were caught up in my celebrity status. The image is what attracted them.”
“Well, I wasn’t looking to attach myself to the image,” she insisted. “I envied your outgoing personality and your ability to make friends easily.” She felt the heat rush to her cheeks as she added, “And okay, you did have the dashing good looks of a heartthrob, still do, but you were everything I wanted to be. Just working up the nerve to strike up a conversation with you at school made my palms sweat and my pulse pound in my ears. I was the little computer nerd with a mouthful of metal and the physique of Olive Oyl. You were the high school stud muffin who inspired feminine dreams.”
Morgan chuckled in amusement when Jan’s face turned a deeper shade of pink. Despite their initial argument at his store, being with Janna had a soothing and yet arousing effect on him. He found himself wanting to touch her for whatever excuse he could dream up. Staring into those lustrous hazel eyes, splattered with shards of gold nuggets, left him wishing she’d be in town long enough to make amends for his past mistakes.
Knowing she’d dropped whatever she was doing in Tulsa to ride to her family’s rescue impressed him. He couldn’t begin to imagine what it would feel like to have that kind of loyalty and devotion directed toward him. But Janna was here to resolve the Mitchell feud because she was fiercely loyal to those she loved most—and he wasn’t included on that list.
According to John, Janna had always been the family peacemaker, the solid rock in a household of emotional and melodramatic women. Unlike Georgina Price, Janna had stability and stick-to-itness. Morgan admired that.
He hopped off the tailgate, then hooked his arm around Janna’s waist to playfully tote her to the truck. She was a featherweight in his arms and he looked for any excuse to touch her. Plus, he didn’t want her tramping around with one shoe off and one on and stepping in something gooey.
“Have you had supper yet?” he asked impulsively.
“No, I was too busy playing nursemaid and therapist to Mother and Kendra. But I’ve imposed enough on you already.”
“It’s not an imposition. I’d enjoy the company. I could throw together sandwiches and chips so neither of us would have to eat alone.”