Winning His Trust by Toni Shiloh

Author:Toni Shiloh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2022-12-01T17:12:27+00:00

Chapter Ten

“You’re awfully quiet this morning,” Mike said.

Jordan chewed her bite of breakfast taco, then met her brother’s gaze. “I have a lot on my mind.”

“Want to talk?”

Did she? She’d managed to evade diving into the subject of her misery yesterday with Declan. Jordan didn’t know if he’d even realized that. But the idea of telling her brother, while having a comfort level of knowing each other a long time, also gave her a sense of shame.

“I’m not sure.”

Michael peered over his coffee cup as he took a sip. “You know I wouldn’t judge you, right, Jay?”

Do I? “You may not mean to, but you might.”

Her brother studied her. “I hate that you’re probably right. I really need to work on that.”

“I know you better than you know yourself.” She chuckled but it was forced.

“You have to admit, I’m good at repenting and making up for my gross misjudgments.”

Jordan laughed. At Christmastime, he and Vivian had had a falling-out, mostly Michael’s fault. To make it up to her, he’d taken her on a carriage ride. They’d been together ever since.

“It did work out, so...” She shrugged.

His lips curved as a faraway look filled his eyes. “I’m so thankful for Vivian.” He focused on Jordan. “But I’m also thankful for you. I love you, Pip and Chuck. I want you to know I’m always here for you. It guts me that you felt like you couldn’t share your accomplishments.”

“I didn’t want to fail you.”

Mike groaned, dropping his head, his voice low. “I’m not Pop.”

“I know that.”

“Do you?” His head rose and his gaze met hers. “Do you know you can’t fail me? I’m not your father. I’m not your child. I’m your brother. I’ll love you no matter what. I don’t have some kind of test for you to pass or fail.”

Jordan’s eyes watered. “Yeah, but it took me forever to get a degree, and you had one by the time you were twenty-two.”

“Are you dead?”

She jolted. “No.” What was he getting at?

“Then it didn’t take you forever.” A smug smile turned up his lips.

So, maybe that had been an exaggeration. Still... “I want you to be proud of me.”

“Of course I am. You’re talented, kind and my sister. Why wouldn’t I be proud?”

“Then why won’t you let me change the general store around? Why don’t you trust me?” The words tore from her throat.

Once again, she found herself in a situation where she wanted to grab the words and stuff them right back in the part of her that stewed over them, examined them over and over until her mind was exhausted. Once her thoughts became voiced, she no longer had control. Now she’d have no choice but to wait and hear what Michael thought. The time of creating different scenarios in her head was over.

Her stomach churned up acid.

“Is that what you think?” Michael sank back into his chair.

Might as well be honest now. She nodded, holding her breath.

Michael rubbed his beard. “I must be a terrible big brother for you to believe I don’t trust you.

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