Natural Born Daddy by Sherryl Woods

now to forget such images.
    â€œOkay, munchkin, would you be sure to tell her I called?” He was proud of the steadiness of his voice when his pulse was still ricocheting wildly. “Tell her I have to spend some time with my father this morning, but I’ll be there as soon as I can, okay? Can you remember that?”
    â€œI can remember.”
    â€œTell her the minute she gets out of the shower.”
    â€œOkay. ‘Bye, Jordan.”
    â€œâ€˜Bye, munchkin. See you later.”
    Jordan left Cody’s shortly after hanging up. The trip to the main house took only a few minutes, not nearly long enough for him to decide how to tell his father that Cody was gone. He didn’t catch a break once he was there, either. He found Harlan alreadyseated in the dining room, the newspaper spread open in front of him.
    His father regarded him with open speculation as Jordan poured himself a cup of coffee and plucked a corn muffin he didn’t really want off the buffet.
    â€œYou didn’t listen to a word I said to you, did you?” his father grumbled when Jordan was seated at the table.
    â€œWhich words of wisdom are you accusing me of ignoring?”
    â€œYou spent the night with that woman.”
    He noticed that the note of glee in his father’s voice contradicted the somewhat negative phrasing of the statement. It simply confirmed Jordan’s suspicions that his father had been trying out a little reverse psychology on him by warning him away from Kelly.
    â€œI assume you’re referring to Kelly, and no, I did not spend the night with her,” Jordan told him irritably, cutting the muffin into precise little sections to avoid having to meet his father’s gaze. “I was at Cody’s.”
    That grabbed his father’s attention. Harlan’s gaze narrowed suspiciously. “What the devil were you doing there?”
    â€œTrying to persuade him not to hightail it away from here.”
    â€œDammit all!” Harlan set his coffee cup down so hard, the coffee splattered all over the tablecloth. He made no attempt to blot it up. “Cody’s leaving? Without a word to me? Damn that boy’s hide.”
    â€œHe’s already left,” Jordan corrected.
    â€œWhy would he want to go and do something crazy like that? We have work to do. He couldn’t have picked a worse time for a vacation.”
    â€œI don’t think he sees this as a vacation.”
    The color drained out of his father’s face. “He’s taken off for good?”
    â€œSo he claims.”
    He stared at Jordan, disbelief and anger warring on his face. “That’s nuts,” he protested. “He loves this place. It’ll be his one day. You and Luke will get your shares, of course, but the ranch will belong to Cody.”
    â€œWhich is exactly as it should be. He’s the one who always wanted it.”
    â€œSo, why the hell did he go and leave?” He waved his finger under Jordan’s nose. “I’ll tell you this, if he doesn’t have a darn good explanation, I’ll cut him out of my will, that’s what I’ll do.”
    His father’s face was turning bright red as his anger mounted. Jordan suspected, though, that beneath that anger there was genuine concern. For all of his domineering attitude and his manipulations, Harlan loved his sons.
    â€œCome on now, Daddy, settle down,” he soothed. “You don’t know the whole story.”
    â€œSo tell me,” his father snapped.
    Jordan wasn’t sure how much detail Cody would want him going into, but he realized his father wouldn’t be satisfied with some evasive answer. “He and Melissa had some kind of a falling out. A pretty bad one. He needed to get his head straight, so he took off.”
    â€œTo go where?”
    â€œHe didn’t say. He did promise to let us know where he winds up on the condition that we nevershare that with Melissa. Who knows,