MEET THE FORTUNES

Fortune of the Month: Lucie Fortune Chesterfield

Age: 27

Vital statistics: Pretty as a princess, Lucie is tall, graceful and hopelessly single—or so she thinks.

Claim to fame: The accomplished daughter of Lady Josephine Fortune Chesterfield, Lucie is known for her charity work and her consistently calm demeanor.

Romantic prospects: While many men have attempted to woo her, Lucie has never lost her heart … at least not since high school, when she fell for a brash American cowboy at summer camp. Readers, she married him. But no one ever knew.

“They say you never forget your first love, but I’ve tried. Hard. And until a few days ago, I would have assured you that Chase Parker was firmly in my past. But that was before he showed up at my apartment in Austin.

“I can’t believe our teenage marriage was never annulled! I can’t believe Chase is here after so many years. And most of all, I can’t believe, after all this time, I dissolve at the mere sight of him. He’s only here to get our annulment taken care of—we both agree it’s for the best. And yet, I can’t help but imagine what could have been …”

The Fortunes Of Texas: All Fortune’s Children—Money. Family. Cowboys. Meet the Austin Fortunes!

Fortune’s Secret Husband

Karen Rose Smith

www.millsandboon.co.uk

USA TODAY bestselling author KAREN ROSE SMITH’S eighty-seventh novel was released in 2015. Her passion is caring for her four rescued cats, and her hobbies—gardening, cooking and photography. An only child, Karen delved into books at an early age. Even though she escaped into story worlds, she had many cousins around her on weekends. Families are a strong theme in her novels. Find out more about Karen at www.karenrosesmith.com.

To my grade school friend Liz,

who married young, too. We made it!

Thanks for being my friend.

Contents

Cover

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Lucie Fortune Chesterfield was late!

It was her own fault. She’d forgotten her phone and had to run back to the Austin, Texas, apartment she was subletting to retrieve it. In a rush now on her way out again, after disembarking from the elevator in the lobby, she stopped cold.

Was she seeing things? Was that Chase Parker leaving the building? Not possible. Just because he still invaded her dreams—

The doorman stood at his counter and she ran to him and pointed to the departing tall, broad-shouldered man whose Stetson was tilted at an angle she thought she recognized.

The doorman did a double take. “Lady Lucie, I thought you’d left.”

Irving hadn’t been at his station when she’d rushed back in for her phone. “I forgot something and had to return to my apartment. Do you know who that man is?”

Lucie was very used to doormen and chauffeurs and pomp and circumstance. Born in England and living on the Chesterfield Estate, she was considered “almost” royalty. Her mother’s adopted father had been an earl. Her own father had been knighted. In England and the United States, her family was sometimes hounded and followed by paparazzi searching for that money shot. After the scandal her sister had become involved in, Lucie was more than aware of her actions and couldn’t just run into the street chasing a tall Texan who resembled a ghost from her foolish past, a ghost so secret not even her family had known all the details about her association with him.

Irving, in his fifties and balding, turned red to his scalp as he reached out to the shelf under the counter and retrieved a business card.

“I’m so sorry, Lady Lucie. I saw you the first time and assumed you’d left for the morning.”

She’d been following a routine. Each morning after breakfast, she’d been scouting out properties for an office for the Fortune Foundation, which was planning to open a branch in Austin.

Irv, as he preferred to be called, went on to explain further as he handed her the business card. “The gentleman gave me this and said he’d be back later.”

Lucie read the card aloud in a low tone. “Chase Parker—” There were two numbers listed.

At the idea of Chase being in close proximity, she felt a tremble race through her. At seventeen, she’d been on a youth trip to Scotland. And then...

She had to forget about Chase Parker, ghost or not, and concentrate on this trip to visit her relatives in Texas. She had agreed to help the Fortune Foundation set up a branch in Austin for the benefit of children there.

“What do you want me to do if he comes back again?” Irv asked.

She fingered the card in her hand. What did Chase want with her now? He obviously knew she was here. Why hadn’t he called first? Should she phone him?

No. He’d forgotten about her easily. The past was in the past. If he had a reason to see her, she’d find out soon enough what that was.

Answering Irv’s question, she said, “If I’m in, buzz me just as you do with everyone else.”

“As you say, Lady Lucie. There is one other thing—”

She really had to be going, but Irv looked worried about something, so she waited.

“That reporter’s been out there again from the news station. I saw him yesterday afternoon, but he was gone until you got back.”

“As long as he stays outside, there’s really nothing we can do about him.”

“I don’t want him accosting you as you leave,” Irv maintained, “or as you return. You know, we can always arrange for your driver to pick you up in the garage instead of at the front entrance.”

“He’d soon catch on to that because he knows I’m usually out and about. I’ll deal with him if I have to, Irv. Please, don’t worry about me.”

“But I do,” Irv said with a boyish smile. “Somebody has to. With your relatives living in Horseback Hollow, you need somebody to worry about you here.”

Everyone thought they knew her family’s history—from the articles in the tabloids and in the more respectable media. Irv was right, though. Her relatives were in Horseback Hollow about five hours away.

“I have friends here, too. In fact, I’m supposed to be meeting them for brunch. So I really need to be going. Barry is waiting to drive me. You have a good day.”

“You, too, m’lady.”

The temperature in Austin, Texas, in March was around sixty during the day and went to a low of forty at night. Lucie had chosen a grass-green suit for this brunch, a professional look, since she would be visiting office spaces with a real estate agent afterward. The three-quarter-length sleeves of her jacket were perfect for the weather.

As she pushed her straight brown hair over her shoulder and stepped from the car, she checked the sky. All blue, not a cloud in sight.

Thanking Barry, telling him she’d text him when she finished brunch, she headed for the restaurant that her friends had chosen for this get-together. It was a bit of an elite location. Cavette’s catered to a crowd that didn’t have to worry what they spent on brunch, lunch or a late dinner. No paparazzi were allowed inside, and there was a security guard stationed in the restaurant who would react quickly if he had to. Celebrities in the area who often stopped in at Cavette’s were assured of their privacy and a backdoor exit should they need it.

The restaurant was tastefully decorated with lots of real greenery. Lucie stopped briefly at the hostess’s desk but spotted her friends at a table against the wall. Ella Thomas had recently returned from her honeymoon with Ben Fortune Robinson. Vivian Blair was engaged to Ben’s twin brother, Wes. Ella spotted Lucie first.

Ella was a beauty with thick, long, wavy auburn hair and blue-blue eyes. Lucie respected her. She wore minimal makeup and preferred to be admired for her brains rather than her body. She’d dressed today as she usually did, in dress jeans, a Western-cut blouse and expensive boots. In contrast, Vivian was taller than Ella with hazel eyes and honey-streaked brown hair that she wore pulled back today. She also wore glasses—very stylish ones. A computer programmer, she’d dressed in a navy pantsuit with a red blouse. She was shyer than Ella but smart and fun. Lucie liked both of these women immensely and was glad to call them friends. As she took a seat with them, she noticed they’d already ordered her a mimosa.

“You don’t have to drive this morning,” Ella counseled her. “Let loose. Champagne and orange juice are a good way to start your day.”

Lucie laughed. “I can’t let too loose. I want to choose the right office space for the Fortune Foundation. It has to be utilitarian, but classy, too, with just the right square footage to fit what they want to do.”

“And what is that?” Vivian asked after a quick hug.

“What I’m looking for would mostly be a functional space. If we have programs for kids, they would probably be at other sites.”

“Or maybe at a community center?” Ella offered. “I can see the Fortunes building one of those.”

“Just how long are you going to be in Austin?” Vivian asked.

“I’m free until April, when I fly to Guatemala with my mother to start a project there.”

“How do you like living in Austin? I know your sister likes living in Horseback Hollow.”

Lucie took the napkin from her plate and spread it onto her lap. “Amelia loves Horseback Hollow. But truth be told, I prefer Austin. It’s more metropolitan than Horseback Hollow.”

Vivian and Ella both exchanged a look. “You won’t get any arguments there,” Vivian said. “In Horseback Hollow, everybody knows everybody’s business.”

“And in Austin,” Vivian supplied, “they just know Lady Lucie Fortune Chesterfield’s business. Any reporters lately?”

“Irv says one’s been hanging around, but I haven’t run into him face-to-face yet.” She took a sip of her mimosa. “You both look good,” Lucie said to them, narrowing her eyes. “Are you happy?”

Ella sighed. “I couldn’t be happier.”

“Me either,” Viv agreed. “And not only with Wes. We think the app I developed, My Perfect Match, is going to continue to be a huge hit. I mean, after all, it brought me and Wes together, though not exactly in the way I intended.”

Although she was listening to Viv, Lucie couldn’t help letting her mind wander again to Chase leaving his card with Irv. “Just when you think you have life planned out, fate shoves it in another direction.”

“Exactly,” Viv responded. “And I’m trying to think of a way to balance My Perfect Match. Tell me something, Lucie. Do you think it’s better to hook up with someone you know you’re compatible with, or should you hook up with someone who sets your heart on fire?”

Wasn’t that a question for the test of time? Because of her own experience, Lucie responded sadly, “Flames die down. Compatibility might be better long-term.”

“That sounds like experience to me.” Ella motioned to Lucie’s mimosa. “Come on and drink that, and tell us who taught you about flames.”

Lucie had slipped Chase’s card into her jacket pocket. Now she touched it, and when she did, she remembered all too vividly the touch of his hands. Her cheeks grew warm, and she blamed that on the mimosa. What could it hurt to talk about it a little? “Come on,” Viv coaxed. “You know all about our love affairs.”

“What was his name?” Ella prompted.

“His name was Chase.”

“Now, that’s a good Texas name if I ever heard one,” Viv noted. “But he couldn’t have been a Texan if you were living in England.”

“Oh, but he was a Texan. His father owned an oil company and they were wealthy. I was seventeen when we met in England at the start of the trip to Scotland. Chase was a group leader. I thought it was love at first sight, but I guess it was just lust at first sight. We got caught together in the hostel room. So much about it was against the rules. A leader consorting with one of the tourists, being in his room alone together, both of us undressed...” She trailed off. “Chase got fired, and I was sent home.” At least that was the gist of the story.

Contrite, feeling disgraced in the eyes of her parents, Lucie had vowed to herself to never do anything so reckless again. She’d maintained that vow by pouring all of her energy into setting up orphanages with her mother in developing countries. Their lives were about helping needy children.

“You never saw or heard from him again?”

“I received a letter. I wrote him many, but I never heard from him after that first one.”

“You didn’t call him?”

“Not what a proper lady would do,” Lucie answered almost teasingly, though there had been other reasons not to call, too.

Should she tell them about Chase dropping off his card at her apartment? No. He might not even come back. She was sure nothing would come of it.

Lucie had learned early on the best way to turn attention away from herself was to listen to another’s story, and she knew these women had stories to tell. Ella’s husband, Ben, had recently found out he was a Fortune and that his father, whom he’d always known as Gerald Robinson, was really Jerome Fortune, who had disappeared years ago. Ben was now on a quest to locate other relatives. The Robinsons might be Fortune cousins.

“Has Ben gotten any further in proving that his father is really Jerome Fortune?”

“His father is thwarting him at every turn,” Ella said with a frown. “His sister, Rachel, who uncovered the connection and confronted their dad, is sure their father is hiding something. Ben wants the truth. He has seven siblings who want to know about their roots, whether his father wants to deny the past or not. Thanks to you, he located Keaton Whitfield, who’s his half sibling.”

In one of those quirks of fate, Lucie had already known Keaton, an architect in London. He’d designed a house for one of her mother’s friends, and he and Lucie had run into each other at a few parties. He was what the Americans would call a stand-up guy. When Ben had asked for an introduction to him, she’d readily complied.

“Hasn’t he located anyone else who might be related?” Lucie asked. Apparently Ben’s father had had several affairs.

“Right now he’s on the trail of Jacqueline Fortune, who may or may not be his paternal grandmother,” Ella revealed.

“This is a mystery unraveling before our eyes,” Viv said with enthusiasm. “I can’t wait for the next installment.”

Brunch was full of more Fortune stories, including the party Kate Fortune had planned for her ninetieth birthday. Lucie, Viv and Ella kept their voices low because Kate Fortune’s residence at the Silver Spur Ranch near Austin was still a secret, except to the Fortune family. In the past, Kate had been the target of blackmail and kidnapping attempts. Now, looking for an heir for her company and not wanting media attention about it, she intended to keep her presence in Austin quiet.

When Lucie checked her watch, she saw the day was moving ahead without her, and she really had to get on with looking at properties. After goodbyes to Viv and Ella, she called the real estate agent who was advising her. They agreed to meet at the first location on Lucie’s list and then tour the others together afterward.

By late afternoon, while Lucie sat in the car on her way back to her apartment, she was quite discouraged. None of the spaces had seemed quite right. She was becoming more and more sure that she might also have to help find satellite locations for the actual kids’ programs themselves—summer lunches, music, art, sports. Building a community center might be a possibility, unless the foundation could find already established and deserving programs to fund.

Barry pulled up in front of her apartment building. She was tired and all she wanted to do was soak in her tub. After she climbed from the car, Irv came to meet her at the curb. That was unusual, since the doors had an electric sensor.

He said quickly, “Just in case you wanted to get back in your car and go in the other direction, I wanted to warn you, the man who was here this morning is waiting at my desk.”

Lucie stood at the curb and peered through the glass doors into the lobby. Her heart began to beat in triple time. The man at Irv’s desk was Chase Parker. She couldn’t tell exactly how much he’d changed from when he was twenty-one. After all, he’d be thirty-one now. But she could tell he was still as tall and straight-shouldered. The Western-cut jacket he wore fit him impeccably, his black jeans and boots just as much so.

He turned toward her now, and that tilt of his Stetson told her some of the young man still remained.

“It’s fine, Irv. Apparently he has some business with me, and I have to see what that is.”

She squared her shoulders, forgot her fatigue and started forward to meet her past head-on.

Lucie walked through the glass doors and approached Chase, thinking his dark hair was still the color of the finest imported chocolate. His dark brown eyes seemed to take in everything about her all at once. Even in that wonderfully cut jacket, she could tell he was more muscular than he’d been at twenty-one but not too bulked up. He was long and lean and still looked like everything good about Texas.

Before Lucie took another step toward the unknown, she turned to Irv who’d come in behind her. “Not a word of this meeting to anyone, not anyone.” After all, Irv knew Chase’s name from the business card. If the press associated their names, if reporters started digging, a new scandal could erupt.

“Not a word, Lady Lucie. You know you can count on me.”

“Thank you, Irv. You don’t know how much I appreciate that. Was that reporter around here at all today?”

“I didn’t see him...or the news van.”

She nodded and stepped up to Chase. She felt as if all her composure had slipped away, though she knew that was crazy. After all, she’d practiced that her entire life.

With that stiff upper lip Brits were accused of having, she said simply, “Chase?”

“You’ve grown up.” His gaze traveled over her suit, seemed to linger on her tiny waist, then idled on her long, straight brown hair. She wondered if he could see all the questions in her hazel eyes. She wondered if he had any idea of what seeing him again did to her—increased her heart rate and brought back vivid pictures of the two of them together, but, most of all, squeezed her heart until it hurt.

He nodded to the corner beside the elevators that was away from the doors, Irv’s counter and everyone else for the time being. She walked with him and stood beside a potted palm.

Before she could ask a question, he inquired, “Do you know how hard it is to track you down, even though you and your family and your stories are spread across the tabloids?”

Lucie was flummoxed. So he’d kept up with articles in the tabloids as if they were true.

He went on. “I thought you were in London. Then I found out you were in Horseback Hollow. After consulting a PI, I learned you were here in Austin, where my father’s company is located. If you only knew how much time I wasted—”

After all these years, he was acting as if seeing her was an emergency. “My life is full of people and activities, as I imagine yours is.”

“I don’t globe-trot. I was beginning to have visions of my traveling to some developing country to see you.”

“Would that have been so bad?” she asked, sensing his agitation but still not understanding any of it.

He took off his Stetson, ran his hand through his thick hair and shook his head. “None of that came out right. I read the stories about your work with orphans and refugees. I know you and your mother are selfless in your cause. But I had to find you.”

“Why such urgency?”

“Because...” he started. He leaned close and lowered his voice to a whisper. “We’re still married.”

Chapter Two

Chase felt as if he’d been kicked in the gut. Lucie Fortune Chesterfield was even more beautiful now than she’d been at seventeen. That glossy, dark-brown hair and those expressive hazel eyes... He remembered the dimple that only appeared when she smiled, but she wasn’t smiling now. She looked worried and upset and very pale.

She confirmed some of his conclusion when she warned him, “Come up to my apartment so no one overhears us or sees us.”

She was obviously worried about information getting into the wrong hands. He knew the paparazzi hounded her family. Put an earl in your background, or a sir, as in Sir Simon Chesterfield, her father, and the press thought the whole world wanted to read about you. Maybe they did.

Lucie pressed the elevator button with an impatient finger as she snuck a glance at him. He wanted to smile at her, but he had a feeling this was no smiling matter.

“We’ll get it worked out,” he said in a low voice.

Chase had been twenty-one and a group leader when he and Lucie had secretly married in Scotland. There, at seventeen, Lucie hadn’t needed permission. However, another member of her tour group had caught them disrobed in Chase’s hostel room and reported them. Chase’s father had swooped in with a lawyer and confidentiality agreements with promises of an annulment. Everyone had been sworn to secrecy.

When the elevator doors swished open, Lucie didn’t respond. Maybe she was so upset because of her sister’s recent scandal. He’d read the tabloids about Amelia’s status as a run-away fiancée and that she’d become pregnant from a cowboy lover. That had probably made Lucie even more skittish of public opinion. The tabloids ran with stories that weren’t even true. He knew that. Though he had followed Lucie’s engagement a few years ago with interest, and couldn’t help being irrationally relieved when it had come to naught.

When Chase’s elbow brushed hers, Lucie stepped away. He found himself taking a step closer. He was stabbed by the same desire for her now that he’d felt at twenty-one. Yet he was sure she must hate or resent him because of the way they’d been broken up...because of the way his father had handled it. After all, she’d never answered his letters.

When they stepped off the elevator, Lucie motioned to the left. Chase noted there were two apartments on the floor. “I’m surprised you don’t have a penthouse. Then you wouldn’t have to worry about nosy neighbors.”

“I don’t have to worry about nosy neighbors.” She took her keys from her purse and unlocked her apartment door. “The other apartment is rented by a businessman who travels a lot. He’s in Hong Kong right now for the month while I’m here. So I basically have the floor alone. Win-win all around.”

She’d made her voice light and airy, but he had a feeling nothing was light and airy. There was a note of anxiety beneath her words.

After she unlocked the door and he stepped inside the apartment’s foyer, he gave a quick glance around. “This doesn’t look like you,” he said automatically.

She gave him an odd look. “How do you know? You’ve had nothing to do with me for ten years.”

That sounded like an accusation, but he didn’t stop to wonder about it. The apartment was decorated in chrome and glass, black and white. There was a row of flowered throw pillows on the sofa and he wondered if Lucie had added those.

“You weren’t chrome and glass at seventeen, and I doubt very much if you are now.”

“I’m only going to be here a month, Chase. The sublet was furnished. Now tell me, why are we still married?” She went over to the sofa and sank down on it, motioning for him to do the same.

He rounded the long, glass-topped coffee table and lowered himself beside her, careful not to let any parts of their bodies touch. He didn’t know why, but it just seemed to be the wise thing. Discarding that sentimental thought, he gazed into her eyes and wisdom seemed to fly out the window. This was Lucie, the girl who had stolen his heart. But then he snapped his thinking back to what it should be. She was a public figure now and here only for a month.

He explained quickly, “I applied for a business loan separate from my father’s company. It has nothing to do with him.”

He saw the remembrance pass through her eyes that he’d once told her he’d never work for his father and never be anything like him. Circumstances had changed that, but now they were going to change again.

“After I filled out all the paperwork at the bank,” he went on, “the loan officer called me to tell me I needed my wife’s signature before they could put the payment through. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My parents said our marriage was annulled. But then I did research of my own and discovered it is still on the books. I wanted to tell you in person in case the information leaked out and somehow made the tabloids. I know how much your family has been hounded by the media.”

Lucie looked even paler. In fact, she looked ill, as if she might faint.

“Are you all right? Can I get you something? I don’t want you to pass out.”

She straightened her shoulders and tossed her hair back. “I’ve never passed out in my life, though this might be a good time.”

Apparently she still had a sense of humor. Right now, though, he didn’t think it made either of them feel better.

“Did you see the media storm my sister went through?” she asked.

Chase nodded. “I did. And I don’t want us to experience anything like it. That’s why I’m here. To tell the truth, I’d never be caught dead shirtless outside my house with a shotgun aimed at reporters like Quinn Drummond.”

Quinn was Amelia’s husband, a cowboy commoner in the eyes of everyone but Amelia and now her family.

“He was driven to it,” Lucie protested. “You can’t imagine what it’s like living in a fishbowl with every decision or faux pas analyzed to death by the media.”

Chase felt disgruntled at her assessment. Maybe he really didn’t know what it was like. “I understand your concerns. My parents and I can’t understand what happened with the annulment. My father maintains that he had the marriage dissolved. It must have been a snafu in the paperwork. He and I have spoken with our family’s lawyer, as well as an international attorney. We’re going to settle this as soon as possible. If I have to, I’ll get a whole law firm on it.”

Lucie wasn’t looking at him but rather at the wall. She seemed to be in a daze. Maybe he should stay a little while. On the other hand, maybe he should go quickly. He handed her another business card.

She started. “I have your card.”

But he shook his head. “You have my personal one. This is the ranch card. Note the address for the Bar P. It’s about a half hour from here.”

“You live on your parents’ ranch?”

“I live in the guesthouse. That’s going to change soon.”

“And you work for your father?” There was surprise in her voice. He’d been right. She did remember.

“For now, but that too will be changing. It’s a long story. You have all my numbers. If you want to talk anytime, just call me.”

She studied the card and kept studying it as if she was thinking about him working at Parker Oil, as if she might be thinking about all the things that might have been.

He stood, believing she needed time to absorb the news. He had started to cross for the door when Lucie suddenly popped up from the sofa and rushed to him. She took his arm. The feel of those fingers of hers, even through his suit jacket, made his body respond.

He could tell she was a proper lady now when she said, “I’m sorry for my reaction. The shock of the news of being married to you really upset me. You must be just as upset.”

“I’m not upset. I’m just concerned about what it means for you, too. When I couldn’t find you, I panicked a bit. I didn’t want this to come out without us talking first.”

Talking. Not only talking but falling right back into memories. As he had in the elevator, he caught the scent of her perfume, light and airy. It teased him, even though she always tried to be so proper. She hadn’t been proper in bed. That was something he’d never forget—their wedding night.

“Maybe after this sinks in and we absorb it, we can have lunch or something.”

She was gazing up at him in that way she’d always had, and he thought he could tell she still felt drawn to him, just as he felt attracted to her. But it didn’t mean anything. It couldn’t. A wife was the last thing he wanted right now. He intended to buy property that was all his own and move the horse rescue operation he’d started on his family’s huge spread to his own place. This project would be all his and have nothing to do with the Parker family name. He’d owe his dad nothing but a good day’s work when he consulted with Parker Oil.

Chase stepped away from Lucie and toward the door. She didn’t follow him. Maybe she’d decided a husband was the last thing she needed, too.

He opened the door, but he couldn’t help saying, “Remember, if you want to talk, call me.” He didn’t wait for her response. He left before he stayed.

Once outside the apartment complex, he headed down the street. Unfamiliar with the building and its parking restrictions, he’d left his pickup in a public lot down the block. He headed for it now and made a decision. Instead of going to his family’s ranch, which was about a half hour away, he was going to book a hotel room near Lucie. He’d give a call to his mother later and let her know he wasn’t going to be back tonight.

His mother had persuaded him to live on the Bar P. She’d asked him to stay there after his dad’s stroke several years ago. His dad had recovered, but she lived in constant fear he’d have another stroke. She wanted Chase to keep him from overdoing it, and that was what Chase had done on all levels for the past five years. But recently, when a college friend was killed, he’d realized he had to live his own life, not the life his parents wanted him to live. The horse rescue ranch would be a first step in that direction.

Thinking again about a hotel room, he felt he needed to stay close by Lucie so she didn’t disappear again or fly off somewhere. The reason? He couldn’t get his life restarted until their situation was cleared up.

What other reason could there be?

* * *

When Lucie’s alarm woke her, she wasn’t only startled by the sound; she was startled by the dream she’d been having. It starred Chase and was anything but tame. She was still married to the man! Her subconscious had apparently been trying to process that and had inserted him naked into her dream.

She remembered his body all too well. She recalled every detail of the way he’d touched her—not simply in the dream, but on their wedding night.

“I’m still married to the man,” she repeated aloud, remembering all too well everything about it, including being sent home in shame.

Her parents had known about her reckless affair with Chase, but not the marriage. Why hurt them with an impulsive escapade that had been erased from the books? Lucie had promised Chase’s father she’d never breathe a word about any of it to anyone. After all, her family would have been embarrassed and humiliated even more if the word of her marriage ever got out. They were constantly in the public eye.

She had to talk to someone about it, and she had to talk now.

If she called her mother... First of all, she couldn’t. Her mum was in a remote village without cell phone towers for miles. Second of all, she’d tell her mother in good time. After all these years, her mum might be hurt that Lucie hadn’t told her in the first place.

Lucie sighed. The questionable decisions of youth. She’d thought the passage of time had healed all this, but she’d been wrong. Because the annulment had never gone through?

Yes, that was certainly the reason.

She’d call Amelia.

She didn’t even bother to brush her teeth first. Amelia lived on a ranch with Quinn and she’d be up early. She had a baby, so certainly she’d awake. Thinking about her niece, Clementine Rose, made Lucie miss her. She picked up her cell phone and dialed her sister.

“You’re up early,” Amelia said without preamble. “Going to look at more office spaces?”

“I wish I was. I mean, I will be. I mean—”

Lucie heard a shout...a deep male voice.

Amelia called, “I’ll be right there, Quinn. I’m on the phone.”

He must have shouted something back.

“It’s Lucie,” Amelia called back. “Can’t you get Clementine her breakfast?” A pause. Then Amelia asked Quinn, “She tossed all the cereal on the floor?”

Obviously this wasn’t a good time for Lucie to have a talk with her sister, not about something as serious as a marriage Amelia knew nothing about.

She said, “Amelia, I’ll talk to you later when you’re not so tied up.”

“Lucie, really, if you want to talk, I’m sure Quinn can handle this.”

“No, it’s okay. You two give my niece a big kiss from me. I promise I’ll hug her soon. Have a good day.”

“I’m coming,” Amelia called to Quinn. “You, too,” she said to Lucie, meaning it.

Lucie stared at the phone after she ended the call. Maybe her brother Brodie could help, in more than one way. He might be able to give her some professional advice. He was a publicist who would know how to handle this news, especially if it got out.

But when her call went through to Brodie, all she got was a voice mail message. Next, she tried her brother Jensen. He didn’t have voice mail and he didn’t pick up.

That left one person she could call. Her brother Charles, who was still in London. She found his number in her contact list and pressed Send.

“Hello, Lucie,” he said cheerily. “You’re up early.”

It was around noon in London. “I have reason to be. Do you have time for a chat?”

“With you? Sure. What’s wrong?”

“Why do you think something’s wrong?”

“You’re my sister. I know the tone of your voice. Spill it.”

Charles was the youngest son, a bit of a playboy and charming. He sometimes had trouble being serious, but he was now as he waited for her to talk about whatever it was she needed to discuss.

“Do you remember when I went to Scotland when I was seventeen?”

“Of course I do. There was a ruckus when you were sent home. My sister, who was usually an angel, the perfect sibling, had gotten herself into a mess. Mom and Dad did some fast pedaling with the press, if I remember correctly.”

“You mean, they managed to squelch the story that I was sent home from a trip because of a boy.”

“That about covers it.”

“Actually, no, that didn’t cover it. Now don’t say a word until I finish telling you everything.”

“My lips are zipped.”

Was she making a mistake telling Charles? She hoped not. “Promise me you will tell no one else until I say you can.”

“Lucie, you’re starting to scare me.”

She plunged in. “I didn’t just have an affair with Chase Parker in Scotland, I married him,” she blurted out. “But when we were caught, his father flew in, didn’t give either of us a chance to breathe and started paperwork for an annulment.”

Charles whistled.

“I’m not done,” she protested.

“Still zipped,” he assured her.

She rolled her eyes. “Chase found me and came to see me yesterday. The annulment never went through. We’re still married.”

She wasn’t exactly sure what she expected from Charles, but she definitely didn’t expect his burst of laughter.

“Oh, my gosh! Miss Goody Two-Shoes got herself into a mess. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

“Stop it,” she warned him, “or I’ll hang up right now.”

His laughter simmered down to a smile in his voice as he coaxed, “Ah, you wouldn’t hang up on me, not your favorite brother.”

“Charles—”

“Oh, Lucie. So you made a mistake and it was never rectified. That doesn’t mean it can’t be now. A good lawyer will straighten it out. What does Parker say?”

“He says he has lawyers on it, that I should call him if I need to talk, that we’ll figure this out. Charles, if this gets out to the press, Mum will be mortified. Think of the scandal. I was engaged while I was still married. All my work at the orphanages will be looked at as some hypocritical jaunt. I can’t stand the idea of it.”

“The paparazzi are one matter,” Charles agreed. “But Chase Parker is another. Are you going to call him to talk about it?”

She remembered her dream. She remembered all the feelings that went with it.

“I don’t know,” she said in a low voice.

“Lucie, are you telling me everything?”

“What do you mean?”

“What did you feel when you saw him again?”

She went back to that moment yesterday, and she didn’t want to admit what she’d felt.

“Aha!” Charles said.

“What do you mean, ‘aha’? I didn’t say anything.”

“Exactly. It was never over with this man, was it?”

“Of course it’s over. It’s been ten years.”

“Sometimes our hearts don’t count time. More than anything else, Lucie, you’d better figure out what you want. You can’t face the world with news like this with any uncertainty if it does get out.”

“I have to think. I need some time.”

Suddenly Lucie’s bedside phone rang. From caller ID, she could see that it was Irv downstairs.

“Is that your phone?” Charles asked.

“Yes, I have to get this. It’s the doorman. Someone must be downstairs. I have to go. Promise me, Charles, you won’t breathe a word of this.”

“I promise.”

She ended the call with her brother and picked up the phone. “Yes, Irv?”

“Mr. Parker is here to see you. Shall I send him up?”

“Tell him to give me five minutes,” she said, suddenly out of breath.

“Yes, Lady Lucie. I’ll make sure he gives you five minutes.”

She didn’t have time to do much, but she did have time to brush her teeth. She was wearing pink-and-white-flowered sleep pants and a pink tank. No time to think about clothes. She ran a brush through her hair and grabbed a long pink satin robe, belting it tightly.

There was a knock at her door.

She ran to it and looked through the peephole. It was Chase. Today he was dressed more casually. His chambray shirtsleeves were rolled up, and he’d left his suit jacket somewhere. She undid the chain lock and then the dead bolt. When she opened the door, she just stared at him.

Breaking out of whatever spell that came over her when she looked at him, her senses returned. “Did anyone see you down there?”

“No one was around but your doorman.”

“We have to be careful, Chase. If we’re seen together, there will be questions and gossip. If anybody finds out Irv is buzzing me to let you up, someone will investigate.”

“I get it. We’ll have to work something out,” he said, as if seeing each other might become a common occurrence. Because of paperwork? Because of resolving their situation, of course.

“We can’t be seen together here,” he reiterated. “I understand that. But certainly there are ways you go out when you don’t want to be recognized, right?”

“I have a wig.”

He nodded. “Come to breakfast with me. I know a hole in the wall, otherwise known as a truck stop, where you won’t be recognized and neither will I. There’s wonderful food there. We can talk about all this and what we’re going to do.”

She thought about it. Sometimes she did feel as if she were a captive in her apartment. Having a normal life was tough in her position. In her family, it had always been that way. Maybe that was why she’d been so reckless in Scotland when she met Chase. She just wanted to be normal. Since then, she’d accepted the fact that her life would never be that.

However, today—

“We can’t just walk out of here together,” she warned him.

He took his phone from his belt, tapped on his picture gallery and handed her the phone. “That’s a photo of my truck. It’s a blue pickup. I’ll drive into the parking garage and meet you up on the third level. Will that work?”

“That works, but I need at least ten minutes to get dressed.”

He looked her up and down. “I don’t know. What you’re wearing works for me.”

She blushed, and his grin and the sparkle in his eyes told her he was remembering when her being dressed in her robe or without her robe would have been just fine.

But that had been another time and place.

“I’ll meet you up on the third level, parking row C,” she confirmed.

“Got it,” he agreed, then went to her door and opened it. As he left, however, he threw another look to her that told her that, dressed or undressed, he still found her attractive. Just what was she going to do about that?

Fifteen minutes later, Lucie had her wig firmly in place, her sunglasses on her nose and all her wits about her. She would not let Chase rattle her. She couldn’t. There were too many consequences if she didn’t control this situation.

Finding Chase’s truck easily, she opened the passenger door and climbed inside.

Chase gave her a smile, nodded and started the engine. As he exited the parking garage, turned and drove down the street, he cut her a sideways glance. “You look hot as a redhead.”

So much for not being rattled by him. She didn’t respond.

She didn’t recognize the route he took, but then she didn’t know the city all that well yet. Ten minutes after they’d left the parking garage, he pulled up next to a gas station where several semis were fueling up. There was a restaurant attached—the Lone Star Diner.

Lucie had dressed in a more casual way than she usually did. After all, she didn’t want to be recognized. She’d worn jeans and a T-shirt and a blouse on top of that. Her auburn wig was curlier and fuller than her own hair and the chin-length strands brushed her cheeks. She had to hurry to keep up with Chase’s long strides as he led her into the diner.

“It’s totally impersonal,” he told her. “The waitresses rotate shifts, so the same ones are never on at the same time.”

“Do you come here often?”

“There are times when I like to be nameless, too. When I agreed to stay at the ranch, I told my mom I wouldn’t be there for regular meals. I didn’t want anybody keeping tabs on my comings or goings. So I drop in here now and then. The waitresses seem to have a high turnover. I haven’t run into the same one twice.”

All of that was good to know, not that she’d be coming back here again.

“The thing is,” he said in an aside to her, “this isn’t a royal kind of place.”

“I’m not a snob, Chase.”

He sobered. “That wasn’t an insult. I was just teasing.”

Yes, her sister and brothers teased her, but no one else did. She wasn’t used to it.

There were a few stools open at the counter, but Chase led her to a booth in the back, and she was glad of that. He was definitely aware of her need for anonymity.

The waitress arrived immediately and Chase said, “Two coffees and lots of cream for her.”

When the waitress moved away, he asked, “You still take it that way?”

“I do. But, you know, Chase, I’m not used to a sterling carafe to pour it from. When I go to developing countries to help with orphanages, sometimes I physically help to build them. My life isn’t all silver spoons and Big Ben.”

After a long, studying look, he nodded. “Noted. I won’t take the tabloid stories about you seriously anymore.”

“I’m surprised you read them.”

“Only when you’re on the cover.”

So he’d been curious about her and what was going on in her life? She was curious about him. “So, tell me what you’ve been doing for the past ten years. In Scotland, you explained you’d never work for your dad because he was manipulative and hard, and he had to control everything.”

“Yes, I told you that. After Scotland, I joined a construction crew, but I found I missed the horses on the ranch. So I signed on as a trainer at a quarter horse spread. I liked the work, and I liked being separate from my family.”

“But then?” she prompted.

“But then Dad had a stroke. At first we thought his one side would be completely paralyzed. But it’s amazing what rehabilitation can do now. I helped him with it. He’s so stubborn and independent that we set up a home gym. My mom asked me to live there and watch over him. When he went back to work, she asked me to be his right-hand man there again.”

“He didn’t ask you?”

“Are you kidding? He always expected me to work there, so that’s where I’ve been the past five years. But it’s time for a change. It’s time for me to leave. My plans are in the works. That’s where the loan and me finding out about our marriage have come into play.”

Because Lucie had known Chase before, she felt she could read into his expression and his words. He’d felt trapped for five years, and he couldn’t wait to break free. Now, however, he was trapped in a marriage he’d assumed had been dissolved.

“You want out. You want to be free.”

His gaze locked to hers. “Don’t you?”

She did, didn’t she? In a month, she’d be in Guatemala working on a new orphanage. In a month, Chase would be putting his plans into action. At that time, they’d be going their separate ways. That was the plan, wasn’t it?

Gazing into his eyes, she wasn’t so sure.

Chapter Three

Lucie sat beside Chase in his truck as they drove back to her apartment. She folded her hands in her lap, and she could swear they were trembling a little. Why was that?

After their initial dip into what she was doing and what he was doing, they’d talked about mundane things. Maybe because both were afraid to go too deep into anything...maybe because the tension between them was evident to them both. There was tension for lots of reasons—regrets, resentment, something unfinished. Most of all, sexual tension remained. When his knee had brushed hers...when her fingers had tangled with his, reaching for a creamer...

Touch was taboo.

Suddenly Chase said, “You said you’ll be in Austin for a month. Is that a solid deadline?”

“Yes, it is,” she answered. “I’m meeting my mother in Guatemala on the first of April. She has set up introductions to officials who can get the ball rolling as far as construction goes.”

“You have a site picked out?”

“We do.”

He changed the subject a bit. “So you’re officially a Fortune?”

“Yes, I am. When my mother found out about her heritage, that she had a long-lost sister and brother, she changed her name to Josephine Fortune Chesterfield, and I changed mine. It seemed right. Her sister and her family have come to mean everything to Mum. Now that Jensen and Brodie and Amelia all live in Horseback Hollow, our visits can become more raucous than royal.”

Chase chuckled. “Would you say your family’s become closer?”

“Amelia and I have definitely become closer. I know that seems odd, with her living in the United States and me living primarily in England. But when we were growing up, there always seemed to be a wall between us. I’m not sure exactly why. Maybe because we had nannies and were at boarding school. Maybe because our lives were very formal.”

“With her married to a cowboy, is her life as formal now?” Chase asked.

“Quinn is down-to-earth. With their baby, Amelia’s just like any new mom. Maybe we all just seem more human in Texas. I don’t know.”

When Chase drove into the parking garage, Lucie was almost sorry. In spite of the tension, she’d enjoyed breakfast and all of their conversations. He was more mature now, with a broader view of life than he’d had at twenty-one. She could tell he wasn’t as impulsive and he thought things through. He wasn’t so wild, though she could still see deep passion in his eyes. His father’s stroke had apparently changed his focus on life. Now he seemed to know what he wanted for his future.

Chase said, “I’ll park and walk you back to your apartment.”

“It will be safer if you don’t do that,” Lucie informed him. “You can watch me until I’m in the elevator if you’d like, but then I’ll be safe from prying eyes or from a stray reporter. The wig and the clothes help, but anyone who spies on me regularly could probably identify me. We don’t want anyone to identify you with me.”

Chase was silent as he drove up to the second level, through the garage and around the bend and then followed the exit sign to another ramp. No cars trailed them. No one with a camera was evident. Chase should probably change the level he parked on if they ever did this again.

There was no reason to do this again. Legal documents could be sent back and forth by courier.

Instead of just pulling up outside the glass doors that led into the elevator bank, Chase slowed, braked and then backed into a parking place.

“What are you doing?”

“If I’m going to stay until you get on the elevator, I don’t want to block traffic.”

That made sense. She fingered her purse, a simple, natural leather bag that didn’t snag anyone’s attention. She knew she had to look at him. That was only proper. But she also knew that when she did, she’d get caught by the dark, knowing expression in his eyes.

Stalling, she unfastened her seat belt, but then she angled toward him and realized he was already gazing at her. “I enjoyed breakfast.”

“The chocolate chip pancakes there are the best.”

“It wasn’t just the pancakes,” she admitted. “It was good catching up with you.”

He unfastened his seat belt and turned toward her. She wasn’t really so very far away from him. She caught a whiff of either soap or aftershave. Like lime, and manly. She fell under the spell of his dark eyes and the way his hair dipped over his brow. He’d tossed his Stetson into the back, and she could remember the feel of the thickness of his hair sliding through her fingers.

The tremble was back in her hands, and she felt she had to make conversation to hide her nervousness. “I like to do things that make me feel like a real person. This breakfast did that.”

He moved only slightly, but he was big and the cab of the truck seemed small. He was closer to her now as he reached out a hand and smoothed strands of hair from her wig away from her face. “You are a very real person, Lucie Fortune Chesterfield. I’ve always known that.”

“Even when the tabloids make me look like a cartoon?”

He smiled but didn’t move his hand from her cheek. She was both hot and cold and afraid to move.

“You could never look like a cartoon. You’re much too beautiful for that.”

Her father had called her beautiful, and her mother told her she was. But they were her parents. She accepted compliments as the polite conversation they were, but this was different. This one came from a man she’d once loved and was still sorely attracted to. She didn’t know what to say. Maybe it was better she said nothing, because they were both leaning toward each other.

Chase’s thumb swept across her cheek. “Ten years have given you refinement, polish and a generous spirit.”

He was going to make her cry. No, he wasn’t. She wouldn’t let him. When she found her voice, she whispered, “Ten years have made you wiser, stronger, motivated.”

“So this really was a get-to-know-you breakfast.”

“Maybe so.”

But then she asked herself the important question: Why were they getting to know each other when they were going to end something between them?

As if he sensed that question flitting through her mind, he said, “We may be clarifying that there was no marriage between us, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a friendship.”

Clarifying that there hadn’t been a marriage? But they had been married, and they’d done what married people do. How did you just wipe that away forever?

Now he reached out his hand to the other side of her cheek and held her face between his palms. “Are you happy?”

“We all define happiness differently. But yes, I am. I have every earthly need met. I’m helping children, so they can have their own needs met. My family and I are closer than we’ve ever been. Amelia’s baby daughter is such a blessing, and I love her deeply. My only regret is that Dad isn’t here to see it all. Sometimes I wake up and my heart hurts because I want him to be involved in all this, too. The Fortune Chesterfields are changing, and I want him to see that change and be as excited about it as I am.”

“I can believe he’s with you, Lucie. I can believe he nudges you in the right direction when you might go in the wrong one. Energy is energy and it doesn’t disappear. Your father could be your personal guardian angel whispering in your ear.”

“And who’s your guardian angel?”

“My guardian angel is a college friend I lost. He died way too young, without accomplishing a quarter of what he wanted to. I feel him sometimes pushing me. Really, I do. And not in the direction my father wants me to go, but one that will give me the most fulfillment in life. Not money, but value. Value that can help horses and people, too.”

“As I said, you’ve matured.”

“And you have grown into a woman many men would be proud to be married to.”

His face was before hers, and hers was before his. Neither of them were blinking. Neither of them were breathing. If she didn’t breathe soon...

He brought his lips very close to hers. “Do you want to kiss?”

“If we kiss, we could be starting something instead of ending it. Is that what you want?”

“I want to know what’s beneath the Lady Fortune Chesterfield facade.”

Lucie thought about her task here for the Fortunes. She considered her upcoming mission in Guatemala and her responsibilities as a Chesterfield. She considered the way her mother had depended on her since her dad died. She didn’t have time for a dalliance.

Chase ran his hands down over her arms and held her hands. “Do you want an annulment?” he asked.

There was only one answer. “Yes. I’m committed to my life. I don’t see it changing. What about you? Do you want it?”

“Oh, yes, I want it. Starting over at my own place, with no one telling me what to do but me, taking responsibility for it all, the horses, the finances and management, the vet bills. I’ve been counting the years until I could do this.”

When he talked about the work, she could see it made him happy. “So one day you’re going to leave your dad’s and not go back again?”

“No, it won’t be like that. I’m grooming someone in my office to take over my position. Jeff has been apprenticing with me, and he can do it. He just needs to have the confidence that he can. I’ll stay part-time for a while until everybody gets used to the idea. Then I can slip away and just be used for consulting services.”

“We’re on the verge,” she said softly.

With his gaze unwavering, he agreed, “We are. I enjoyed breakfast, too. Maybe we can do this again.”

When he tilted his head, she thought he was going to kiss her. It wasn’t full-blown. He kissed her on the cheek. She still felt it all the way down to the toes of her boots. She almost grabbed him and laid one on his lips, but she’d been taught better. Decorum could be everything. She’d never been forward and she wouldn’t be now.

She hurriedly opened her door, slid over to it and dropped her legs around to take the giant step down from the running board.

When it seemed as if he was going to come around the truck, she shook her head vigorously. “No, you stay. I’m fine.” Shaky, but fine.

She could feel his eyes on her as she walked through the glass door into the bank of elevators and greeted the security guard. She pressed the button and the doors swished open immediately. She stepped inside. Fortunately there was only time for a small wave before they closed in front of her.

She breathed a sigh of disappointment, regret, but also joy. She’d enjoyed being with him. She’d enjoyed feeling alive with him. She’d enjoyed the fact that Chase Parker still turned her on.

* * *

At his desk later that afternoon, Chase tried to concentrate on examining the work records, evaluations, and overall résumé of Jeff Ortiz. Jeff was now Parker Oil’s CFO, and had done a bang-up job ever since Chase hired him three years ago. He was a good manager with great public relations skills. Not only that, he was intelligent, informed about the industry and would go far either at Parker Oil or for some other company who might try to steal him. He was Chase’s pick to replace him when he left. The feat would be getting his father on board with the idea.

Turning away from his computer, Chase thought about breakfast as he had on and off all day. He couldn’t shove Lucie out of his mind. Had it been easier ten years ago? He’d had no choice then. If she hadn’t been so young, maybe things would have been different. If he hadn’t been so young, maybe he would have known better what he wanted.

He took his cell phone from his belt, pulled up his contacts and studied her number. She’d given it to him in case he had to reach her about the paperwork...about the annulment...about ending something that had hardly started.

He jabbed the green phone icon.

He half expected her voice mail. After all, she’d said she was going to look at more properties this afternoon with a real estate agent. But he didn’t get voice mail. She answered.

“Hi, Chase.”

Her tone was cautious, but at least she hadn’t avoided his call. Without preamble, he asked, “Are you finished with business for the day?”

“I just got home.”

He hesitated only a moment. “We have about an hour of daylight left. How would you like to see the ranch I plan to buy?”

Her silence lasted a few moments and he realized he was holding his breath. But then she answered, “I can be ready as soon as you get here. But you’d better pick me up on a different level this time. Let’s try level two.”

“I’ll be there in ten minutes,” he assured her.

When he ended the connection, he wondered how she lived her life like this. She had to think about every twist and turn in the road, and how the public would view it. When did she ever get to do what she wanted to do? Would she be wearing her wig again?

Standing, he pushed in his desk chair and realized he couldn’t wait to find out.

Ten minutes later, when she ran to his truck and hopped inside, he saw instead of a wig she was wearing a baseball cap with a large bill that practically hid her face. Jeans, a plaid shirt and boots rounded out her outfit. She didn’t look royal, and he supposed that was the idea. She used a persona for her public appearances.

Who was the real Lucie?

They didn’t speak until they were well out of Austin. He noticed her checking the rearview mirror a few times. He had checked it, too. From what he could tell, no one had followed them. She seemed to relax the farther from Austin they drove.

Finally she said honestly, “I was surprised you called...about your ranch.”

She was obviously wondering why he’d asked her to come along. He wasn’t entirely sure. “Maybe I just want a second opinion on the place.”

“No one else has seen it?”

“No one else.”

“How many horses do you plan to run on this property?”

“I’m bringing five over from the Bar P. I adopted two out last month, but I’d like to triple or quadruple that. A lot has to happen first, though. Some horses have to be quarantined. Others need their own pastures. There are no wild mustangs, per se, in Texas. That’s the way most people think about horse rescue. But in stiff economic times, people are abandoning horses on private and public lands. As far as the wild mustangs go, the Bureau of Land Management has adoption events in Texas. I purchased a few, gentled them, and then sold them.”

“It’s a wonderful idea. What made you start doing it?”

“Dad added property to the Bar P when I was a teenager. It was a rundown ranch. The owner was selling. Two of his horses were malnourished and hadn’t been cared for. I convinced Dad to let me take them on that summer. I turned them around. One of them became Mom’s favorite to ride. After Dad’s stroke, I guess I needed an outlet for living there again, something else to keep me occupied while I was there. So I began rescuing horses.”

“I looked you up online yesterday.”

He cut her a glance. “Oh, you did.”

“There’s an article about you in one of the Texas magazines about being the most eligible bachelor in Austin.”

He kept silent to see where she was going with this.

“It’s just—with your money, looks and reputation, you could be leading the good life.”

“Fast cars, bars, clubbing every night?”

“Something like that.”

“That might have been me in my teens and early twenties, but it isn’t now. Scotland changed me, Lucie. Didn’t it change you?”

“Before Scotland, I was never impulsive or reckless the way you were. I think maybe I let you sweep me away to prove that I could be. The thing was, after the humiliation the whole episode caused my parents, being sent home from the trip in disgrace, I was never that way again.”

Had she reverted to type, or had she just curbed her passionate tendencies? Maybe that was something he wanted to explore.

Lucie’s face wore an interested expression as he veered onto the gravel lane to the ranch. Suddenly the thought that this was a bad idea assaulted him. The ranch was run-down. The main barn needed to be refurbished. The second barn with its apartment on the second floor needed a makeover, too. This property was certainly nothing like the Bar P or the Chesterfield Estate in England. He’d seen video clips of her home. What was she going to think?

“I have to repair the fence, of course.” He nodded to the worn stakes and supports along the road.

“Lots of caretaking involved,” Lucie commented as if she knew.

“It will be a lot of work at the outlay, but then upkeep won’t be so bad. The land alone is worth the price. With the rest, I’ll add to its value.”

As the truck bumped along, the barns and then the house came into view. They could see the forest beyond now and Lucie was looking in that direction.

As they parked at the house, they both climbed out.

“I’m going to have the house sided, of course,” Chase said. “I’m thinking tan with brown shutters.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Pale yellow siding with black shutters would be more inviting.”

He grinned. “I knew there was a reason I brought you along.”

They went up the three porch steps to the house. The porch was a large one, rounding three sides.

“It’s locked, of course,” Chase explained. “But you can peek inside. It’s empty, so you won’t see much. The plank flooring is good, if a little worn. In time, I’ll redo the kitchen.”

Lucie peered in the window, devoid of shades or curtains. “The living room looks nice-sized,” she noticed.

“There are four bedrooms upstairs. One’s a little small. The whole place has that original ranch house feel.”

She stepped back from the door and glanced toward the barn.

“Do you want to explore a little? The barns aren’t locked.”

“Sure. Old barns can be like treasure chests. They take you back into another era.”

“Exactly.”

They were on the same page with that. The early 1900s feel of the barns and the house was the reason he liked them so much. If he had his way, he’d restore all of them as much as he could and keep the original wood and architecture.

He went ahead of her and opened the heavy, creaking barn door. She came up beside him and when she passed him, the light perfume she wore teased him. Once inside, however, the smell of hay, old wood and rusting tools was evident. There was a loft with an old, rickety ladder propped against it.

“I wouldn’t use that ladder to look around up there,” she warned with a smile.

“I brought my own in to have a look around. But when I own the place, I’d like to replicate the original.”

Basically the barn was one open space.

“You’ll need stalls, right?” she asked.

“Oh, yes. Lean-tos and a fenced corral. I’m looking into enlarging the second barn.”

“Wow. You have your work cut out for you.”

“I do and I can’t wait to start. I want to do some of the work myself, especially in the house.”

They were standing close to each other near a support beam. He had one hand on the support and his other he dropped by his side. She was standing right in front of him, close enough to touch. Dim light shone in the foggy windows. Last light from a long day shadowed the barn. The hushed atmosphere inside made him aware of his breath as well as hers.

He tipped up the bill of her cap. “This really doesn’t disguise you very much. The wig does a better job.”

“It hides my hair, though, and part of my face. It works, Chase.”

Her life seemed to be all about what worked, what fit in, what didn’t stir the pot. What if he stirred the pot?

As he swept the hat from her head, her hair fell down around her shoulders. He couldn’t help touching it. He couldn’t help sliding his hand under her hair, along her neck. He couldn’t help bending his head.

A beep made them both start. It was as if someone had walked into the barn and caught them there.

Lucie stepped away from him and said, “My phone. I’d better check to see who it is.”

Slipping it from her pocket, she said, “It’s Amelia. I have to take this. She and I never ignore each other’s calls.”

Chase didn’t have a brother or sister, but he understood that if he did, he wouldn’t ignore their calls either. He turned away and walked to the other side of the barn to give Lucie some privacy. The idea of kissing her had revved him up. Better if she didn’t understand just how much.

Chapter Four

Lucie was abominably rattled. She knew Chase had been about to kiss her and she’d wanted him to do it. Good sense hadn’t stepped in. Recklessness had almost taken over. Thank goodness Amelia had called.

She was breathless when she glanced at Chase, who’d turned away and walked across the barn. She answered her phone. “Hi, Amelia.”

“I’m sorry I was so distracted yesterday morning. It was late last night until I realized I hadn’t called you back. So I made time right now. The baby’s sleeping and Quinn’s out in the barn. Are you at your place?”

Her place. Only it really wasn’t hers, because she’d be flying away again soon.

“No, I’m not at the apartment. I’m exploring a ranch.”

Amelia sounded puzzled. “For the Fortune Foundation?”

“No, not for them. I’m with...” She couldn’t go into a long explanation with Chase in the same room, so to speak. “I’m with a friend.”

“I’m so glad you’re making friends in Austin. Are you with Ella or Viv?”

“No, not them. Amelia, I really do want to chat. We have a lot to talk about. But now isn’t a good time.”

“I entirely understand. Maybe midnight would be better, when the day is calmed down. The problem is, then Quinn wants all my hours—”

She stopped as if she’d said too much.

“Of course he does. You’re still newlyweds.”

“It feels as if we are,” Amelia admitted happily. “And truthfully I don’t want it ever to end. You should try it.”

Wasn’t that a touchy subject? She couldn’t talk about finding Prince Charming with Chase in the barn with her.

As if Amelia understood something was going on, she asked, “So you can’t talk freely?”

“Not now.”

“Okay, so you don’t have any privacy, and I know you probably have a bunch of international calls coming in later with regards to your trip.”

Lucie had almost forgotten about those. She checked her watch. She had told contacts who were donating supplies to call her after eight tonight. Or was it nine? Chase had her so rattled. The whole situation had her rattled. This wasn’t like her at all.

“Have you heard from Mum?” Amelia asked.

“Not since last week. And now she’s traveling in an area with no cell phone connection. Did she tell you about that?”

“Yes, she did. When I spoke with her last, she seemed to be in her element again. She loves the work...just as you do.”

Lucie’s life had been about helping orphaned children. But had she chosen the work for the right reasons? Or because her mother had needed her to be just as involved as she herself was? The orphanages had become a passion project after her husband died.

Now she wanted to tell her mother about her marriage to Chase. She wanted to prepare her in case news of it got out.

“Text me when you’re free,” Amelia went on. We’ll have that talk. We can video-chat.”

“I’ll text soon. Give Clementine a kiss for me.”

“Will do.”

After Lucie ended the call, her gaze found Chase. He was over at the loft looking up, maybe deciding what he wanted to do with it. He was acting all casual, as if he hadn’t been listening.

But as he turned to Lucie, he asked, “So I’m a friend now?”

He’d obviously heard her conversation with Amelia. Suddenly frustrated with the whole situation, Lucie blew out a breath. In a fit of unusual pique, she said, “I don’t know what you are. We’re in a kind of limbo. We want to live in the now, but the past is interfering. Yet we can’t resurrect the past—”

Apparently Chase believed the simplest thing to do to get her to stop thinking was to encourage her to stop talking. She noticed a moment of doubt in his eyes. Then suddenly his arm was around her, his hand on the small of her back, urging her closer. His gaze never left hers.

First she felt surprise, swiftly followed by anticipation. Would a kiss be as explosive as it had been ten years ago?

There was only one way to find out. She let it happen.

Chase’s lips covered hers before she could second-guess her decision.

* * *

In his adult years, Chase had prided himself on his self-control. But kissing Lucie almost destroyed it. It was the scent of her, the softness of her, the feel of her in his arms again. He wasn’t thinking about the past or the future as his tongue breached her lips, and he took the kiss deeper, wetter, more intense. The fire was still there—fire that burned away any reservations, fire that had urged him to propose to her. The main reason...she’d been a virgin. Now, when she gripped his shoulders and he felt the sweet clutch of her fingers, his desire ramped up until it was almost dizzying.

Nevertheless, as quickly as it had started, it ended. Lucie broke away, brought her hands to his chest and put a foot between them. When he gazed into her eyes, he saw she was reeling from the kiss, too. Past dreams had been resurrected just for an instant. However, reality had rushed in, and he could see her good sense was telling her to run. That was exactly what she did, if not literally, figuratively.

He heard her swallow hard. He heard her deep intake of breath. He needed a swig of air himself. He needed to calm sensations that he’d forgotten.

She said, “I have to go. Can you take me back to my apartment? I have incoming international calls that I’m expecting tonight, and I can’t be late.”

He couldn’t help asking wryly, “Isn’t that what cell phones are for?”

“They’ll be coming in on the landline,” she informed him. “I want to make sure my conversations aren’t cut off.”

Sure she did. She was doing important work. She’d be leaving in a month to build another orphanage. She probably had suppliers to talk to, directors to engage, donors and sponsors to extract money from. And she was telling him in a not-so-subtle way that that kiss had changed nothing, that the past was in the past, that their lives were very different and separate now.

“Let’s go,” he said, motioning to the barn door. “I’ll have you back in no time at all.”

And he did. They drove in silence, and when she climbed out in the parking garage, she said, “Goodbye, Chase.”

He watched her walk to the elevator bank. He watched her nod to the security guard, then disappear inside, regretting every word they hadn’t spoken, regretting the fact that Lucie’s life was headed in one direction and his was headed in another.

* * *

The walnut-paneled study at the Silver Spur Ranch was the perfect place for Lucie’s meeting with Kate Fortune the following day. Lucie studied this icon, who had recently turned ninety, as she sat in a huge leather chair that seemed to swallow her up. Kate had ended up in the hospital recently and was still recovering, but she looked at least ten years younger than her age, maybe more. She had more wealth than anybody could make use of, thanks to the success of the Fortune Youth Serum, which she’d discovered and perfected in the ’90s. She was a walking advertisement for the efficacy of the product. But the future of her company was on her mind and she was looking for the right person to run it. For some reason, the two of them had seemed to connect at Kate’s birthday party and Lucie had accepted this invitation to coffee, glad to see this remarkable woman again.

“How are you feeling?” Lucie asked.

Kate waved her hand. “Better each day. As you know, I’m still looking for the right Fortune to work at my company. I can’t seem to find someone with all the attributes that are necessary, though the family tree does seem to be growing.”

Kate motioned to the coffee and pastries that a butler had set up on a tray near them both. “Eat, my dear. You’re much too thin.”

Lucie did eat, and she was fortunate that she didn’t seem to put on pounds because of it. She picked up a petite cherry Danish and took a bite. “What about you? Are you going to have some?”

“I have to watch everything these days—sugar, cholesterol, caffeine. I suppose it all matters. This morning I’m just going to enjoy your indulgence in the pastries. Tell me what you think about Ben Robinson’s claim that his father is a Fortune.”

“Could it be true?” Lucie asked, unsure how to answer.

“Anything can be true, I suppose,” Kate mused.

“I had brunch with Ella and Viv,” Lucie said. “They both seem very happy. Ben and Wes both are their Prince Charmings.”

“Prince Charming is one thing, a Fortune is another,” Kate proclaimed. “Ben can be very bold, as he proved at my party, but I believe he’s sincere. I’ve tried to contact his father since I’ve been out of the hospital to verify Ben’s claim that his father is Jerome Fortune. But Gerald Robinson hasn’t returned any of my calls or my emails. Ben might claim his father is Jerome Fortune, but the man doesn’t seem eager to prove it. His children deserve to know the truth, and so do I.”

“They also want to find any half siblings they might have,” Lucie explained.

“You’re the one who connected Ben with Keaton Whitfield, correct?”

“Yes. I happened to know Keaton. It was amazing, really, that Keaton confirmed to Ben that Gerald Robinson is his father, too.” Keaton and Ben were now working together to uncover other possible blood relatives that Gerald might have sired. The Fortune family was complicated and messy, and if Gerald Robinson was truly Jerome Fortune, Kate would have a lot to sort out.

“I know what you’re thinking, my dear—that maybe finding family and trying to control my legacy might just be too complicated for someone my age.”

“I’m not thinking that at all,” Lucie protested. “Maybe I would be thinking that if you were the type of woman who sat in a parlor with an afghan covering your lap, knitting all day.” She waved to the study with the computer, the printer, and the state-of-the-art smart TV for video-conferencing. “But you’re not that type of woman. You like to be in charge. You like to know what’s happening. You want to have a finger on what happens after you leave. I think you’re up to the task.”

Kate laughed. “I’m glad to see someone’s on my side.”

“I’m sure lots of people are.”

“I’ve been reading more about how you and your mother work together to build orphanages and provide schooling for children who don’t even have the necessities. Emmett Jamison, the head of the Fortune Foundation, told me you’re hunting for office space to open a branch of the foundation in Austin. How is the hunt for space progressing?”

“I’ve seen a few possibilities. Probably the best strategy is to tap into programs that are already running. If we set up the office, then on-site events for kids can be anywhere. For instance, if there’s a sports program that needs funding, we can do that. If there is a music therapist involved in community action, we can help her find space and a place to teach. We could also help provide college scholarships for girls interested in science.”

“Emmett told me you’d put a lot of thought into this. It will be a remarkable undertaking.”

“We would have an Austin Fortune Foundation Central, so to speak,” Lucie concluded. “Then all the outreach programs would be like satellites.”

“That sounds practical,” Kate agreed. “Any program that is worthwhile can apply.”

Kate gave Lucie a sly smile. “I have no doubt you’re capable of getting this ball rolling. But I have been wondering something.”

“What’s that?”

“You travel the world with your mother helping others, but that doesn’t leave much time for a personal life, does it?”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“Do you ever intend to marry?”

Lucie didn’t know how to answer that honestly, because the truth was, she was already married!

When Lucie seemed stumped for an answer, Kate went on. “It’s none of my business, of course. Charitable work is wonderful. But you know, don’t you, it can’t replace the love of a husband and family.”

Lucie wondered if Kate was right. On the other hand, though, her mother had had both during her second marriage, as well as now, though now she spent more time and intensity doing her charity work. Lucie realized she would never want to give up helping children, even if she had a husband and her own family.

If she had her own.

Just what kind of father might Chase Parker be?

She pushed that thought out of her head.

“Would you like to go for a walk?” she asked Kate. “It’s a beautiful day outside.”

“A change of subject is in order, huh?” Kate smiled. “Sure. Let’s go for that walk. You can tell me about your sister Amelia and all about Horseback Hollow. You can also regale me with stories about how your royal life is different from mine.”

Lucie laughed. “You are a royal, Kate Fortune, and you know it.”

Kate gave a slight nod, agreeing.

* * *

Chase’s workday had seemed long and tedious for several reasons. Soon he had to tell his father his plans and was trying to figure out how to do that. His dad was away in Galveston meeting with cronies, checking on a branch of their office there. But when he got back, Chase would have to be honest with him. And speaking of being honest, his last encounter with Lucie was heavy on his mind, not to mention that kiss.

So when he got home from Parker Oil, he headed toward the barn. That was his place where he could work off stress, communicate with the horses and chill. At least that was what he hoped. After a quick change into jeans and a T-shirt at the guesthouse, he checked on one of the last horses he’d rescued. The owners had left the property and abandoned him in the pasture. Chase didn’t know how people could be so cruel.

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