Czytaj książkę: «The Fortunes of Texas: The Secret Fortunes»

Prologue

“Hello, Chloe, are you still there?”

Chloe Elliott’s hand tightened around her landline’s receiver as she heard the caller’s deep male voice asking her the same question again.

Was she still there?

Part of Chloe felt like answering the question by simply hanging up. She’d had enough disappointments in her twenty-six years to last a lifetime, why would she set herself up for yet another one?

But there was this other part of Chloe, the part that needed to believe that good things could happen, that they still did happen. That was the part that had been instrumental in making her get out of bed every morning even after Donnie, the husband she’d adored, had been killed while serving in Afghanistan after they had been married for only an incredibly short two years. That was also the part that had decided to make her gather her courage together and to try to get to know her father’s family.

The father who had, up until just recently, been a complete mystery in her life.

Ever since she could remember—until she’d gotten married—it had been just her mother and her. There had been no other family members to speak of, and that had been just fine with her. Filling in the blanks for herself, Chloe assumed that her father had been her mother’s high school sweetheart who’d been killed in a car accident before he could marry her nineteen-year-old mother.

Because that had been her belief since forever, Chloe hadn’t been prepared to learn that her father was actually tech giant Gerald Robinson. And even more, that for years now he’d been living under an assumed name. Gerald Robinson was in fact Jerome Fortune, one of the famous Texas Fortunes, no less. Neither had she been prepared for the eight legitimate Robinson offspring, giving her half siblings she’d never known she had.

And that didn’t even begin to take into account the various illegitimate offspring the man had left scattered in his wake, as well.

All in all, it had been a great deal for her to take in and process.

Realizing that the man on the other end of the line, Graham Fortune Robinson, the third of Gerald’s eight children, was still waiting for a response, Chloe answered quietly, “Yes, I’m still here.”

Chloe could almost hear the pleased smile in her half brother’s voice as he continued. “You might not remember me, but we met at that big family dinner at Kate Fortune’s ranch.”

How could she not remember? Chloe thought. She remembered everything about that evening, which had come about when Keaton Fortune Whitfield had contacted her out of the blue to tell her that he was her half sibling and invited her to come. And just like that, she’d gone from having no living relatives, now that her mother was gone, to having so many of them that she needed a scorecard just to keep track of them all.

She remembered how frightened and excited she’d been, walking into that huge mansion that evening. She’d harbored such great hopes.

Hopes that had been completely dashed when she’d met Sophie Fortune Robinson, her father’s youngest daughter. At least his youngest legitimate daughter, Chloe silently amended. Everything had gone downhill from there when she’d introduced herself to Sophie. The latter had looked utterly appalled to meet her, and if looks could’ve killed, Chloe definitely wouldn’t be alive to take this phone call right now.

Not that she could really blame Sophie, Chloe thought. It had to be quite a shock to find out that the man she had thought of as her father all those years had a completely other identity that she knew nothing about.

“Yes, I remember you,” Chloe finally responded to Graham’s comment.

She recalled that Graham had been the handsome, energetic young rancher and businessman whom Kate Fortune had tapped to run Fortune Cosmetics for her. It was obvious that the reserved woman had been quite proud of him.

“I know this must seem strange, my calling you out of the blue like this,” Graham said.

“No stranger than finding out after all these years that my father was Gerald Robinson,” Chloe replied, wondering where all this was going.

After that family dinner, she would have bet that that was the last time she would ever see any of those people again. And, to be quite honest, the run-in with Sophie had left a bad taste in her mouth. She’d decided to keep her distance from the Fortunes, especially since her mother had never had an interest in reuniting with her father.

“If I remember correctly, you have a degree in counseling, don’t you?” Graham was saying.

She was surprised that anyone even noticed her that night—other than thinking of her as an interloper. After all, how else would anyone regard their father’s bastard child? Chloe thought ruefully.

“Yes, I do,” she said uncertainly, waiting for Graham to get to the point—and wondering if, once he did, she was going to regret it.

“I know this might seem unusual to you,” Graham continued.

Unusual doesn’t begin to cover the half of it, Chloe thought.

“—but I’m calling with a job offer.”

“A job offer?” Chloe echoed, stunned. “But you run Fortune Cosmetics. And I don’t know anything about cosmetics, other than what I have in my medicine cabinet.”

She heard Graham laugh. “You won’t have to. Have you ever heard of Peter’s Place?”

“Of course I’ve heard of it. That’s a therapeutic ranch for troubled teenaged boys.”

“Right.” He sounded pleased with her answer. “Currently, my wife, Sasha, is the only counselor there. Because of a recent, rather generous donation from the Fortune Foundation, we’re going to be expanding Peter’s Place. I’ve been doing double duty running the ranch as well as helming Fortune Cosmetics. Frankly, between that and taking care of a baby plus our eight-year-old daughter, I’m spread pretty thin. I—we,” he amended, including his wife, “could definitely use a bigger staff. Now, I realize that you’re just starting out, but I’ve got a good feeling about you, Chloe. I’d like you to come down to Peter’s Place for an interview—it’ll pretty much just be a formality. And while you’re here, you can take a look around the ranch—that is, if you’re interested,” he tagged on. It was clear from the way he spoke that he really hoped she was.

Life had robbed her of some of her optimism, making her suspicious of things that seemed to be too good to be true—which was why Chloe didn’t immediately jump at the offer, the way she might have only a few years ago.

“Like you said, I’m just starting out. Why would you be offering this to me?” she wanted to know. “It sounds like you could hire anyone you wanted to.”

“I know. And that’s what I thought I was doing,” he told her. “I’ve made inquiries about you, Chloe. According to my sources, you’re talented and you have a way with people. And,” he added most significantly, “because you’re family.”

You’re family.

Chloe felt a funny little sensation in the pit of her stomach. For most of her young life, it had been only her mother and her against the world. And then she’d married Donnie, only to have him taken from her all too soon two years ago. There was a part of her that was starving to be part of a family, even as part of her distrusted that feeling and the invitation she was being tendered.

Still, because there was that hunger to be part of something greater than just herself, to be accepted into a family, Chloe heard herself asking, “When would you like me to come down?”

Chapter One

Dear Lord, what am I doing?

The question echoed in her brain as Chloe pulled up before the main ranch house of Peter’s Place.

Yes, she really wanted to be part of a family, part of this family, but did she really want to leave herself wide open like this? To get this close to the Fortunes? After all, she sternly reminded herself, her encounter last month with the clan was less than successful to say the least.

It all came vividly rushing back to her now as she turned off the ignition and sat quietly in the car for a moment.

She never should have agreed to this interview. She was too intimidated by Kate Fortune, the family matriarch, who Chloe figured would be at this meeting. And why not? She seemed to run everything associated with the Fortune family.

Kate Fortune might well be ninety-one years old, but she looked decades younger and was sharp as the proverbial tack. The woman was not exactly the warm, cuddly grandmotherly type.

Was it too late to change her mind? Chloe thought not for the first time.

Then again, it wasn’t as if she was exactly hip-deep in job offers, able to pick and choose which position she was willing to accept. Given that, this job that Graham was offering her was at least worth a look. Heaven knew she wasn’t getting anywhere looking for work so far and she knew that Donnie wouldn’t have wanted her to give up on life just because he was gone. And who knew? Maybe she’d actually get it and things would work out for the best.

There was always a first time, Chloe told herself philosophically, doing her best to bolster up her flagging courage.

“Well, here goes nothing,” Chloe murmured under her breath as she unbuckled her seat belt and opened the door.

Glancing up into the rearview mirror before she exited the vehicle, she made one futile attempt to smooth down her wayward curly blond hair. Not that it did all that much good, she thought ruefully. Her hair seemed to have a mind of its own.

“Just like me,” Chloe murmured, thinking of what her mother had often said.

You just keep dancing to your own drummer, Chloe. The world’ll come around eventually to join you.

Satisfied that she looked as good as she was going to look on this crisp March day—the wind had seemed determined to restyle her hair the moment she’d stepped outside—Chloe got out of her sedan and closed the door.

She didn’t bother locking the vehicle because it wasn’t the kind of car that anyone would think to steal. It had already gone through several owners before she’d bought it a year ago. Close to ten years old, it ran mostly on faith and used parts.

Warning herself not to expect too much, Chloe went up the three steps to the ranch house front door. Mentally counting to ten as she took a deep breath and centered herself, she knocked on the door.

The second her knuckles made contact, the door seemed to fly open. As a matter of fact, she could have sworn that the door opened a second before she actually knocked on it.

But that had to be her imagination—right?

“Oh, Chloe, you’re here,” Graham said, looking startled to see her.

He wasn’t in the doorway alone. Chloe recognized the pretty blue-eyed blonde right behind her half brother. It was his wife, Sasha. The petite woman looked even more frazzled than Graham did.

“I’m sorry. Did I get the dates mixed up?” Chloe asked, looking from Graham to his wife. It was the only conclusion she could draw, given the expressions on their faces and their almost breathless manner.

“No, no, you’ve got the right date,” Graham assured her. “But something’s just come up. There’s been a sudden family emergency. I just got a call from our babysitter that Maddie—that’s our eight-year-old,” he explained quickly, “decided that she’d give flying off the swing a try.” He frowned, shaking his head. “It didn’t turn out quite the way our fearless daughter had hoped. From all the screaming and crying, the sitter thinks that Maddie broke her arm. We’re just on our way out to meet them at the hospital.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Chloe cried, genuinely concerned. She could just imagine what was going through their minds. But at least they had each other to lean on. “Is there anything I can do?”

It took him only a second to answer Chloe. “As a matter of fact, there is.”

“What do you need?” she asked, ready to pitch in and help.

Chloe thought he was going to ask her to accompany him and his wife to whatever hospital their little girl had been taken. Maybe they were too rattled to drive safely. But that wasn’t what he needed her to do.

“Would you mind sticking around for a while?” Graham asked her. “I’ve got someone else coming in for an interview and I couldn’t reach him on the phone. I was going to call you as soon as we were on the road,” Graham quickly explained. “When he gets here, tell him that as soon as I make sure that Maddie’s all right, I’ll be back. I know this is a huge imposition on you and I wouldn’t ask if—”

“That’s okay,” Chloe said, cutting him off. She could tell just by his tone of voice that if he remained, the man’s mind wouldn’t be on the interview. “Go. See to your daughter.” She all but shooed the couple out. “I’ll stay.”

“We won’t forget this,” Sasha promised, tossing the words over her shoulder as she and her husband rushed out of the house.

Chloe offered the couple an encouraging smile. “Glad to help,” she called after them.

After all, it wasn’t as if she was exactly pressed for time, Chloe thought, watching the duo get into their car and drive quickly away.

Besides, Chloe reasoned, walking back into the ranch house and closing the door behind her, this way she could get a look at whoever it was that she would be competing against for this job.

Chloe looked around. She liked the looks of the ranch from what she’d seen of it, driving up here. Maybe she was reading things into it, she thought, but it had a good feel about it.

Chloe sat down on the sofa, prepared to wait. She remained sitting for all of five minutes before she began to feel restless. On her feet again, she started to prowl around the large living room with its comfortable masculine furnishings.

Definitely a good feel to the place, she thought as she moved about, touching things and envisioning herself working here.

She looked at an old-fashioned clock with gold numbers on the fireplace mantel, and she could almost feel the minute hand dragging itself in slow motion, going from one number to the next.

How long was she expected to wait? If she’d had some sort of a handle on that, then she could put things into perspective—or at least know when it would be all right for her to leave.

The sound of a back door slamming made her jump. As did the sound of a wailing baby.

The next second, a rather beleaguered-looking older man came in, holding the crying baby in his arms and looking as if he was at his wit’s end.

Without bothering to ask her who she was or to introduce himself, the man complained, “I can’t get her to stop crying. I’ve tried everything and she just keeps right on bawling. Do you know how to make her stop?” he asked pathetically, holding the baby out to her like an offering. “Please?”

Chloe stared at the stranger, stunned. She didn’t know the first thing about babies, and for all this man knew, she could have been some random thief who had just broken in to the house.

But he looked so distraught, she decided to skip pointing that out. Feeling sorry for the man, she said, “Give her to me,” although, for the life of her, she had no idea what she was going to do.

“Thank you, thank you,” the man cried. “This is Sydney. I’m Sasha’s uncle Roger, by the way,” he said as he placed the baby into her arms. “Graham and Sasha had an emergency and asked me to watch the baby while they were gone.” He flushed, embarrassed. “I said yes before I knew what I was getting myself into. I thought the kid would stay asleep. But the second they were gone, she started crying.” And then Roger stared at the infant, relieved and awestruck at the same time. “Hey, will you look at that,” he marveled, looking from Sydney to the woman holding her. “She’s really taken to you.”

To Chloe’s absolute amazement, the baby had stopped crying. She would have said there was some sort of magic involved, except it was obvious that Sydney appeared to be fascinated with the way the light was hitting the sterling silver pendant she was wearing around her neck.

The pendant that Donnie had given her just before he’d shipped out, she thought sadly.

Even now, you’re still finding ways to help me out, Donnie.

“More like she’s taken with my necklace,” Chloe told Sasha’s uncle.

To prove her point, she grasped the pendant and moved it around ever so slowly. Sunlight gleamed and shimmied along its surface. Sydney followed the sunbeam with her eyes, mesmerized.

“Hey, whatever it takes.” Roger laughed. “I’m just really relieved that Sydney’s finally stopped crying. I was afraid she was going to rip something loose inside that little body...or that I was going to start to lose my hearing. For a little thing, she’s sure got a mighty big set of lungs on her.”

For the first time, Roger turned his attention to Chloe. Apparently realizing that he didn’t know who she was, he asked, “You a friend of Graham’s and Sasha’s?”

“Not exactly,” Chloe replied.

She wasn’t really sure how to introduce herself. Yes, she was Graham’s half sister, but she was still getting used to that title herself. She didn’t know if she was comfortable enough to spring it on anyone else yet, not to mention that Graham might not welcome their connection becoming public knowledge.

Sitting down on the sofa as she continued to cradle and entertain the baby, Chloe evasively explained, “I’m here to interview for a job that’s opened up at Peter’s Place.”

“Ah.”

Roger nodded his head as he sat down, too. “Great place,” he told her. “Sasha and Graham do a lot of good here. And they could certainly do with a few more willing hands to help them out with the work. You got a job in mind?” he asked.

“I’m applying for the counseling job,” Chloe explained. Now that he was no longer distraught because he couldn’t get the baby to stop crying, the older man seemed very easy to talk to.

“Counseling, huh? Like my niece.”

She nodded. “Do you work at Peter’s Place, too?” she wanted to know.

Roger’s face registered surprise. “Me?” he cried, obviously stunned that she would think that. “No, I actually own the spread that Peter’s Place sits on. The Galloping G Ranch,” he told her proudly. “My house is down aways. I just came by when Graham and Sasha called, saying that they needed someone to watch Sydney here for a while. They forgot to tell me that I needed to bring my earplugs,” he added with a laugh. “You don’t mind my asking, how many kids have you got?”

“None,” she replied, sincerely hoping that the pang she felt making that admission wasn’t evident on her face.

She and Donnie had really wanted to start a family, but they had held off because Donnie was going overseas. He’d said that he wanted to be around while she was carrying his baby. Besides, he had told her, they had time. They had their whole lives in front of them.

Until they didn’t, she thought sadly. She really wished he had gotten her pregnant before he left. At least she would have had a part of him to help her ease the pain of loss.

“I’m sorry. Did I say something to upset you?” Roger asked, clearly concerned.

Chloe shook her head. “No, I was just thinking of something.”

“Oh, well, good. I wouldn’t have wanted to upset you, especially since you’ve been such a help with Sydney here and all.” He glanced at his watch, then looked up at her almost sheepishly. “Um, listen, I really need to make a phone call. Since Sydney here seems to really like you, would you mind holding her a bit longer while I make my call? Shouldn’t be too long,” he added.

The man was already edging his way toward the back of the house as he spoke. It was obvious that he was hoping she’d agree.

Chloe really wanted to hand the baby back to this man, but she couldn’t very well turn down his request. Besides, she had promised Graham to wait until whoever he hadn’t been able to reach on the phone turned up for his interview, so what was one more thing added to that?

“Sure, I can watch her,” she told Roger.

The heavyset man beamed at her. “Thanks,” he cried. “You’re going to love working here. They’re both really great people,” Roger told her, giving her a quick fatherly pat on the shoulder just before he turned on his heel and quickly disappeared, leaving the same way he had entered.

“Looks like it’s just you and me now, Sydney. I’m Chloe, by the way,” she told the baby, who was staring up at her with enormous blue eyes, looking as if she was hanging on every word. “Your dad’s half sister,” she explained. “What’s that?” Chloe pretended to lean in toward the baby to hear the “question” that Sydney had “asked.”

“You didn’t know he had a half sibling? Well, he does. Several of them from what I hear,” she added with a laugh.

“Your grandfather really took that ‘Be fruitful and multiply’ passage in the Bible to heart, I guess. I’ve got a feeling that there’s going to be lots of us popping up around here from now on. I hope when you start talking, Sydney, you’re going to be good with names,” she told the baby.

And then she smiled down at the sweet, innocent face that seemed to be listening to every word she said.

“You don’t have a clue what I’m saying, do you?” Chloe asked and then laughed. “Know what? Maybe it’s better that way. Maybe it’ll all sort itself out by the time you’re old enough to know what’s going on. Until then—”

Chloe stopped talking abruptly when she heard someone knocking on the door.

Knowing it wouldn’t be Graham and his wife, she figured it was the other candidate. The one who’s after my job. She set her shoulders to do battle. “Let’s go see if we can scare him off or talk him out of it, okay?”

Sydney made a little noise, and then the next moment Chloe saw that there were bubbles being formed around the infant’s rosebud lips.

Chloe laughed, delighted. She shifted the baby, holding Sydney a little closer to her as she rose and began to head for the door.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Chloe told the baby.

Sydney responded by making even more bubbles.

Chloe opened the door, but whatever greeting she had come up with to offer the person on the other side temporarily vanished.

This was not the type of person she had expected to see when she opened the door. Given the position that she assumed they were both competing for, Chloe had unconsciously thought that he’d be a rather scholarly-looking man. The kind who seemed to fade into the woodwork without anyone taking notice of him.

Instead, what she found herself looking at was a cowboy, most definitely an adrenaline-stirring cowboy. The kind whom women were given to fantasizing about whenever the word cowboy came up.

The man standing before her had to be about six foot three with shoulders wide enough to give him trouble getting through narrow doorways. He had somewhat unruly, dirty-blond hair and eyes so blue they looked as if they’d been cut right out of the sky. He was wearing tight jeans, a long-sleeved denim shirt, boots and a Stetson—set at what could only be described as a sexy angle. In summation, he looked picture-perfect.

If she had to guess, she would have said that the cowboy was somewhere in his late twenties.

What she didn’t have to guess at was that the man was utterly gorgeous.

The second the thought occurred to her, it hit her with the force of a thunderbolt.

Gorgeous?

She hadn’t even so much as noticed another man since Donnie had died, much less labeled that man as “gorgeous.” What was happening here? she upbraided herself. Had she just lost her mind?