Page 33 of Wild Wolf
Jordan rolled her eyes. “If this is a test, stop underestimating me. You taught me when I was six about champagne and how only the region of Champagne, France, produces real champagne with natural sugars and a secondary fermentation that results in natural carbonation. Here, you use CO2, so it’s notnatural.”
Nolan gave an approving nod. “Youremembered.”
“Easy enough torecall.”
“I thought you wanted to forget everything about this place after that note you left myfather.”
Jordan winced again. Damn, it was barely ten and already she was off to a bad start. “That note was for his eyesonly.”
“As his beta, I knew everything heknew.”
Not everything. Not what Craig had told her after she’d gone to him, hoping for justice. Instead, she gotdismissed.
Her note had been scribbled before she’d shoved her few belongings into a backpack and slipped out the back door. In it, she called his father an alpha who cared more for his sterling reputation and ego than the good of the pack. She’d accused him of pandering to family and listening only to them, instead of respecting those who had novoice.
You’re a sorry excuse for a Lupine, you bastard. You and your family are corrupt liars with no sense of common decency orcare.
Bristling defensively, she put her hands on her hips. “I called your father out on something he neglected todo.”
“What?”
Elaborating now would only dredge up the past and this was a fresh start. “It doesn’t matter. It’s in thepast.”
Expecting him to defend his sire, she was stunned to see Nolan slowly nod. “Craig wasn’t perfect. Let’s moveon.”
Nolan continued the tour. He gestured to a layer of ice on a steel tank. “We kill the yeast off naturally instead of using chemicals. Cold stabilization is much better for the wine. Six times every fifteen minutes water goes through the chiller and then is pumped into these holding tanks to kill the yeast when the wine is ready. Water’s between 24 and 22degrees.”
Jordan studied the huge tanks, impressed with how the business had grown. “You still give sweet wines six weeks to ferment to get the supply outfaster?”
Nolan blinked. “Eight now. After dad died, I slowed it down a little to give it extra time. We make our own pinot grigio here as well. Pinot takes about two months. Less sugar in the grapes means it needs moretime. ”
Pinot grapes didn’t fare well in the Tennessee soil. “Where do you import thegrapes?”
“Washington.”
It clicked. “You get most of your grapes from other producers. Farmers? Is that how you got the state to give you an agexemption?”
Nolan finally cracked a smile. “You always did get it. Locals sell us grapes. The vineyards produce a much smaller amount, and of course, the premiere vintage exclusively for theFae.”
He showed her the press, which could hold 10,000 pounds of grapes. “After half an hour, you get skins looking like raisins. Aim is to squeeze out as much juice as possible. We give the skins back to the local farmers to use asfertilizer.”
She liked that. Craig had tossed out the skins. “Nowaste.”
Jordan leaned against the wall, scrutinizing her new mate. “You’ve improved the business and expanded it, Nolan. Been busy since Ileft.”
He picked up a cork, rolled it between his hands. “Most of it was after my father died. Had to do something to throw my mind off…everything. Hard to deal with the fact he wasgone.”
How well she understood that. In his own way, Nolan had also run away from his troubles, only added more responsibility instead of trying to escape hisproblems.
Nolan’s gaze grew distant. “Always wondered what would have happened if you stayed, Jordan. How you would have been here, helpingout…”
He went silent, then pitched the cork back into the box. “No point bellyaching about thepast.”
“I’m here now. What do you want me to do first?” Jordan didn’t want him brooding about what they once shared, her mistakes, and hisfather.
She wanted him looking to the future withher.
And knowing Nolan’s penchant for hard work and devotion to his duties, pitching in would help cement the idea that she was here tostay.
