Love's Paradise Read online

  Jordan smiled. He knew a setup when he heard one and he knew exactly what she was doing. She was setting him up again. It was obvious. He had no idea how his brother Julian had fallen for her matchmaking so easily. She was so obvious. It was the same thing she’d been up to since they’d met at his nephew’s birthday party almost a year ago. Thanks to his brother and sister-in-law, Julian and Dena, he knew all about Louise Gates. She was apparently well-known for her matchmaking. He had no intention of walking into one of her matchmaking traps.

  “Thank you for the invitation, Mamma Lou, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to pass. My weekends are usually very busy and as you know, I’m very seldom here on the weekends, perhaps another time.”

  “Of course dear,” she said happily. Jordan sighed, certain that he had successfully dodged another of her invitations. “After all, you are a very busy man,” she continued, “but then again, so are the others taking the time to attend. That’s why there’s no set hour to arrive. I thought it would be a lot easier that way. After all it is for charity. So feel free to join us after you’re done with your work on Friday. The evening will start at around seven-thirty. Anytime after that will be just fine.”

  “Actually, Mamma Lou, I always head home on Thursday evenings and don’t return to the island until Tuesdays. I’m sure you understand,” he said, feeling confident that he’d once again sidestepped any matchmaking plans she might have.

  “Well, of course I understand. And I really appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to do this. I’m sure you won’t mind coming back to the island Friday evening. After all, it is for charity and you’ll have all day Saturday to work. Good, it’s settled.”

  “Mamma Lou…” he began, realizing he’d just been backed into a corner.

  “It sounds like you’re working entirely too hard. You need some downtime to relax. So, you stop by the manor Friday evening and then get back to your other job on Saturday. So there, see, problem solved. I knew we could work it out. Now if you need a place to stay, you’re more than welcome to stay here at the manor anytime. I have plenty of room.”

  He opened his mouth, and then closed it quickly while shaking his head. She was good, she was very good. “Thank you for the offer, Mamma Lou. I have a condo here that I rent,” he began then paused, realizing there was no way he was going to evade her this time. This was his third invitation from Louise Gates and each time he’d successfully avoided her offer. “No promises, but I’ll try to make it. Thank you again for the invitation.”

  “You’re very welcome, dear. I look forward to seeing you Friday evening. Have a good day.”

  “Goodbye, Mamma Lou.” He hung up, shaking his head. The woman was impossible. He glanced down at the blueprints and he opened his laptop. Moments later there was an abrupt knock and the door opened. Ian Parker poked his head inside. “Hey, got a minute?”

  “Yeah, what’s up?” Jordan said as he glanced up then quickly turned back to the plans he’d just started reviewing.

  “I got a call from Cleveland, there’s…”

  Jordan looked up again. “Yeah, I meant to call him. I’ve had my mind on a dozen things. He wasn’t at the gate.”

  “That’s because he’s been up at the secondary site,” Ian said, stepping all the way into the trailer. Then he stopped talking and grimaced. “Damn, man, you look like crap.”

  “Thanks,” Jordan said sarcastically as he rubbed the roughness on his chin. He decided to ignore the remark. “So, what’s up with Cleveland? Is everything all right?”

  “Yeah, he was walking a new guard through the process and then got a call. Apparently our visitors found their way to the secondary site. I think you’re gonna need to get up there.”

  Jordan shook his head. “This day is getting better and better,” he grumbled as he grabbed his hard hat and sunglasses and followed Ian out the door. They headed toward the secondary site. He saw several workers gathered around in the distance. “I was just up here late last night and again earlier this morning. It looks like we have some vandalism going on again.”

  “I’ll make sure to file an official report. So, you were up here last night and then again early this morning. Tell me,” Ian began, “do you ever sleep at night or do you just roam around the site until dawn? No wonder you look like a zombie.”

  Jordan chuckled and rubbed the stubble on his chin again. He hadn’t shaved today. As a matter of fact he hadn’t shaved in the past few days. “Are you gonna get all Dr. Oz on me?”

  Ian laughed. “Yeah, it looks like I’m gonna have to.”

  “Fine, I’ll shave. I guess I’ve just been too busy getting this place up and running.”

  “See, right there, that’s just what I’m talking ’bout. You’re letting this project get to you, man. Look at you, you don’t have a life outside of this place and now you’re starting to micromanage every minute detail. Let it go, man. Take a break. Chill out and relax. Check out some of the local flavor here on the island. Everybody needs some downtime, even you. When’s the last time you even went out on a date?”

  Jordan didn’t reply.

  “Uh-huh, that’s what I thought. Man, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were doing that celibacy thing like your brother Julian.”

  “Nah, man. That’s not me.”

  “Yeah, all right, if you say so,” Ian said skeptically. “Still, you need to take some time off and chill.”

  Jordan knew Ian was right. He was trying to micromanage everything and everyone. It wasn’t his style, but this job was too important to him. He didn’t want any more unnecessary mistakes. “This island doesn’t exactly compare to New York’s nightlife. At least not yet,” Jordan said.

  “No, granted it doesn’t.” Ian chuckled. “But there are things to do here other than constantly work. I know the company’s got a lot of projects going on. But if you burn out, you’re no good to anyone. You gotta relax, man. Trust me, this project will get done and if the blueprints and scale models are any indication, it’s gonna be majorly impressive. But if you’re gonna stress out for the next few months, we’re gonna have a serious problem. Why don’t you take the weekend off and hang around here? You know it’s called God’s garden for a reason. This place is like paradise.”

  “Yeah, it is,” he agreed.

  “Good, then take advantage of it.”

  Suddenly suspicious, Jordan looked at Ian. “All right. Did my brothers put you up to this?”

  Ian laughed. “Darius and Julian have nothing to do with this. I’m just saying…”

  “All right, all right, I get it. Chill out, relax and have some fun. I’ll add that to my to-do list. So what’s going on up here?” Jordan asked as they neared the site.

  “I have no idea,” Ian said, squinting against the sun’s brightness just as his cell phone rang. He answered and quickly agreed. “It looks like it’s just going to be one of those days.”

  “What’s up?” Jordan asked.

  “First the backhoe hits something up here on that mound and blows a hydraulic valve and now there’s a problem with one of the generators on-site.”

  “What kind of problem?”

  “I don’t know. I doubt it’s anything serious, but I’m gonna head back and check it out just in case.”

  “Do you need the electrical plans?”

  “Nah.”

  “All right, I’ll see what’s going on up here and catch up with you later. Let me know if you need me,” Jordan said over his shoulder.

  “All right, later,” Ian said as he turned and headed back toward the main building. Then he stopped, turned and called out, “Yo, Wilamina just texted you. You need to charge your phone. She just left two messages. Darius needs you to call him.”

  “Yeah, he’s called a few times. I’ll get back to him later tonight,” he said. Moments later he approached the site. He heard a woman’s voice giving what sounded like an extensive lecture on the importance of preserving history. He sighed heavily. After spending th
e entire morning and most of the afternoon dealing with nonsense, the last thing he needed to do was deal with someone camped out at his work site intent on causing trouble. Several of the men gathered nodded and spoke as he approached. Two men stepped aside as he walked to the front row to listen to the woman’s tirade.

  Chapter 3

  Jordan’s first thought was to immediately break this up, get everyone back to work and have Cleveland toss her out. He figured she was just another nutcase rabble-rouser there to cause trouble. They’d had a number of them when the project first started months ago. But seeing her, hearing her, he began to change his mind. She was certainly something to see, dressed in a perfectly tailored business suit and high heels. He smiled. Her passion was almost addictive.

  He listened for a few more minutes and couldn’t help but be fascinated as he watched this sexy troublemaker have her say. She stood with her back to him, directly in front of his backhoe, preventing the shovel arm from moving. Her fists were planted firmly on her hips. The sight was a bit like David and Goliath, with the backhoe being Goliath. She turned around to make a point. He saw a determined scowl crease her soft brown complexion giving it a fiery red blush. He knew her instantly, but hesitated. She was very different than he remembered.

  She was always attractive in a sweet girl-next-door kind of way, but now she was a sultry, hot firecracker and there was something temptingly enticing about her. Maybe it was her passion or her fire—either way he found her exciting. This certainly wasn’t the tame, meek woman he’d met months ago.

  Her dark, angry brown eyes narrowed and sparkled with enthusiastic zeal as she turned to make yet another point. He watched her mouth as she spoke. She had full, luscious, kissable lips lightly tinted with a soft coral that he doubted had much to do with cosmetics. She had high cheekbones and an elegant face and neck, perfect for the curly hair that barely touched her shoulders. It was obvious she believed in whatever she was talking about. He wondered just how passionate she was about other things. He knew the face and body, but not her name. “Do you know who she is?” he asked a couple of the workers standing beside him.

  Both men shook their heads. Then Jamie, standing nearby, answered. “Yeah, that’s Sheri Summers. She works at the museum here in town. She really knows her stuff when it comes to history. If she says something’s there, it probably is.”

  Jordan nodded and half smiled. “Is that right?” he muttered as he circled around to the side. She continued talking to the man leaning on the backhoe. Other workers who had gathered began to head back to the main work site. Jordan gazed down the length of her body. She certainly wasn’t dressed for this confrontation. She wore a blue fitted skirt with a matching jacket, a white striped shirt and very high heels now covered in mud from the work site.

  Her fervor seemed genuine. She appeared knowledgeable and determined to unearth whatever might be buried on the site. That intrigued him. Of course there was also her sexy body and air of self-confidence. He suddenly thought about what Ian had just said. Perhaps he wasn’t experiencing enough of the local flavor.

  “Look lady,” the machine operator repeated, obviously having grown frustrated arguing with her. “It’s just a bunch of old decayed wood tossed in a hole. You act like this is Noah’s Ark or something.”

  “Noah’s Ark isn’t the only important ship in history. Have you ever heard of the Amistad or the Zong? They were also important ships. And both changed the course of history. At the time these ships reignited the abolitionist movement and are remembered for changing the course of history. And for your information this island was named after another very important slave ship. It was called the Crescent. But you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you? That ship’s history changed the lives of thousands of people and to this day is a little known piece of Civil War history. So as you can see, it’s not just a bunch of wood, as you so callously put it. It might possibly be the most important piece of wood on this island.”

  Jordan knelt down and picked up a fragment of wood that had been pulled from the hole earlier that day. He examined it closely. It looked exactly like what it was, an old plank of waterlogged wood that had rotted and petrified over the decades. “What makes you think it’s so important?” he asked, still feeling the rough edges of wood.

  Sheri turned around quickly, seeing another construction worker kneeling down in the pile of debris. He was dressed like the others, jacket, jeans, work boots and hard hat. It looked as if he were trying to grow a beard and he had on dark sunglasses, so she couldn’t see much of his face. But there was something very familiar about him.

  “Well?” he prompted as he looked up at her.

  “That’s just it, Mr….” She paused.

  “Hamilton. Jordan Hamilton,” he said, standing up. “This is my development site.”

  Jordan Hamilton. Damn. Just like the last time, he took her breath away that fast. Good Lord. Yeah, she recognized him. He had a beard now, but even with the dark sunglasses and hard hat, she knew it was him. She remembered him, there was no way she’d forget, but apparently he didn’t remember her since there was no sense of recognition in his face. She watched as his head dropped slightly. No one else noticed, but she did. He was checking her out just like he had before when Mamma Lou introduced them a few months ago. It was one of her matchmaking ploys, but it didn’t work. Admittedly she was impressed when they met and apparently showed it. He went to get her a drink and returned with three women in tow. She just walked away.

  “Mr. Hamilton, my name is Sheri Summers and this is my assistant, Genie Hopkins.” She walked over, pulled out and handed him her business card. “We’re here from the Crescent Island Museum because we think this may be an important find.”

  He took the card and looked it over. “It’s not a find. It’s a hole in the ground,” he corrected, looking at the card the assistant had given him.

  This she remembered well. He was arrogant and stubborn. “For you, maybe. But there is a very good possibility it’s more than just a hole in the ground.”

  “But you don’t know for sure,” he responded.

  And contrary. “No, not for sure, not yet. We’ll need to take samples, run tests and possibly excavate a portion of—”

  “Excavate?”

  And attractive. “Yes, but all that takes time. We’re asking for that time. For something this important you must realize keeping this site intact is crucial. So, no we’re not one hundred percent sure, but even the most remote possibility should be explored and not dismissed out of hand.”

  “So you do your tests and then what? In the meantime we’re just supposed to stop working on your say-so?” he asked.

  And sexy. She stiffened her chin firmly, more because of her own wayward thoughts than the discussion they were having. “I am highly qualified to make that call, if that’s what you’re implying.”

  He looked directly at her. “How?” he asked.

  She frowned at him slightly confused by the question. “What do you mean, how?” she asked.

  “I mean, how are you highly qualified?”

  “I’m a historian, and an anthropologist and a museum curator. I run the historical department in the Crescent Island Museum. The museum is a branch of the Smithsonian for which I also work. I’ve studied all over the United States and around the world. However, my specific area of expertise is Virginia history with an emphasis on Crescent Island. I doubt anyone knows the history of this island better than I do.”

  “And your credentials…”

  “Are impeccable, I assure you.”

  Jordan shook his head. “Sorry, that’s not good enough,” he said with a sense of authority. “It sounds like it’s still just your word to me. Now if you’ll excuse us, we have work to do.” He stepped back and turned to leave.

  Sheri took a deep breath then slowly released it. She was seething inside. Apparently he was going to make this impossible. It was obvious he had no intention of hearing her out. He’d already made up his mind. S
he glanced around. Most of the men who had been standing around had begun to move on. “With all due respect, Mr. Hamilton, it’s not just my say-so,” she called out, loud enough to stop him in his tracks. He turned back around. “It’s the very real possibility of an extraordinary cultural discovery right here on this mound. However remote, it’s still possible. I think that takes precedence over another concrete edifice to stroke some rich guy’s superinflated ego.”

  A few of the men still standing around shook their heads and openly chuckled at the obvious slight meant for him. “Well,” he said turning around to her, “be that as it may, that’s just not good enough.” He walked back over to her. The other men standing around instantly moved back, giving him space. “I see no reason to hold this up any longer. You had your say, now you need to step back and let my men do their jobs.” He turned to the man now sitting in the backhoe. “Okay, Leroy, start it up, let’s get this done.” The machine roared to life again.

  “No!” she yelled, stepping right into the path just as the machine lurched forward. “Wait!” She held her hands out as if to stop it all by herself. The shovel part of the backhoe jerked and slipped.

  Jordan turned just as the shovel arm released. He dashed over and grabbed Sheri’s waist and pulling her aside. “Are you insane or are you just off your meds this week? That machine could have killed you,” he yelled over the loud noise the machine’s engine made. “You can’t just step in front of a moving piece of equipment like that. The shovel arm swings down automatically when the machine is turned on. Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? No, I don’t suppose you do in your little history world.” He was obviously furious.

  Sheri’s body shook as she realized what had just happened. “I wouldn’t have to step in front of that backhoe if you would have just listened to me in the first place,” she yelled back.