Lone Star Wedding. Sandra Steffen

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СКАЧАТЬ Kingston Fortune, but his dark hair and eyes came from his mother, Selena. Ryan’s personality, drive and conviction were all his own. “To my future wife.”

      Suddenly all eyes turned to Lily. Lily Redgrove Cassidy stood out in every crowd, but the smile she cast at her future husband made her appear radiant in a way Hannah had never seen. A smile tugged at Hannah’s mouth, as well. She raised her glass, her gaze darting over people all around the room. There were plenty of Fortunes present, of course, but the rest of the guests were a mixture of people who wore power and prestige as if it were their right, and others who had worked for Ryan Fortune for years and had earned a permanent place in the Fortune household as well as in all the Fortunes’ hearts.

      Pleased that all these people were welcoming her mother into their circle, Hannah smiled warmly at her brother, who winked, eliciting a broader smile from her. Her glass was almost to her lips when her gaze meandered to the man standing to Cole’s right. Her eyes widened, her head turning automatically for a more direct look.

      Disbelief had her lowering her glass. She might have glanced right past the piercing blue eyes that were staring directly at her, the chiseled jaw, prominent cheekbones and slightly arrogant tilt of the man’s head, but she couldn’t have overlooked the shadow in the tiny cleft in Parker Malone’s chin even if she’d tried.

      Two

      Hannah couldn’t believe her eyes. Unless Parker Malone had an identical twin, he was staring at her across this very room. Surely every ounce of blood had drained out of her face. It stood to reason, since her heart seemed to have stopped beating.

      She managed to turn her attention to her mother and arrange her features into what she hoped passed for a normal, nonplussed expression. Hannah believed in fate and in chance. She even believed in luck, good and bad. But what in the world were the chances that the same man who had mistaken her for a hooker not only knew the man who was going to marry her mother but knew him well enough to be invited to an intimate party honoring his intended engagement to her mother? If the odds of that weren’t slim enough to constitute bad luck, they were close.

      “Do you know the dark-haired man on Ryan’s left, Mom?”

      Still smiling, Lily answered, barely breaking eye contact with Ryan across the room. “That’s Parker Malone.”

      So much for Hannah’s identical twin theory. “Is he a friend of the Fortunes?”

      “Their families go way back, but Parker is Ryan’s divorce attorney.”

      Malone, Malone & Associates. Ryan’s divorce attorney, who was adamantly opposed to Ryan’s wish to make his engagement to Lily public. And the first man Hannah had been completely attracted to in a long, long time. Three separate identities all rolled into one. Hannah couldn’t believe her run of lu—

      “Luck,” Ryan said.

      Hannah started, because Ryan said the word in the exact moment she’d been thinking it.

      “It was a fluke, really,” he added, “that has reunited Lily and me. Therefore, I’d like to propose another toast. To the divine wheel of fortune that brought Lily back into my life. To chance and circumstance and a marvelous coincidence that changed my life.”

      Hannah’s gaze was inexplicably drawn to Parker once again. He lifted his glass to her in a private toast and graced her with a smile that was stark and white and so intimate she had to remind herself to breathe.

      While Ryan made his way toward Lily, people throughout the room drank to his health and future and patted him on the back as he passed. Hannah admired the way her mother held her ground, raised her chin, as regal as a queen, and waited for Ryan to stroll gallantly across the room. She was old-fashioned that way, wanting the man to come to her. The Cassidys had never had the Fortunes’ money, but they equaled them in pride.

      Although Ryan accepted congratulations on his way by, his attention on Lily was steadfast. The degree of his devotion to her mother brought a lump to Hannah’s throat. It was the kind of love she was waiting for.

      Ryan kissed Lily’s lips, and then Hannah’s cheek. “Thanks for coming, Hannah,” he said.

      “You’re welcome.”

      “I mean it,” he said. “It means so much to me to have both you and Cole here. I understand Maria isn’t as pleased about Lily’s and my upcoming wedding as you and Cole. I only hope that in time, she will come to realize how deeply I care for your mother.”

      Lily and Hannah shared a long look and a heartfelt sigh. Maria was every bit as beautiful as Lily, but there was a hard edge to Maria that simply didn’t exist in her mother and sister. Although Lily had spoken with Maria by telephone a month ago, neither she nor Hannah had been successful in connecting on a meaningful level with the youngest Cassidy in a very long time.

      “I don’t like to admit it,” Lily said, looking earnestly into Ryan’s eyes, “but I’m afraid Maria is ashamed of her meager roots.”

      Ryan placed his hand on Lily’s cheek as if he couldn’t get enough of touching her. “Families are complicated. God knows, mine is.” His gaze strayed over Lily’s head where his son, Matthew stood, all alone.

      Hannah had heard rumors that Matthew and his wife, Claudia, had separated. Her heart went out to the couple, whose lives had become twisted in tragedy and haunted by unanswered questions since their newborn son had been kidnapped and another child returned in his place. Matthew and Claudia were both here, but not together, the events of the past year etched in each of their faces.

      Ryan shook his head. “My family history is riddled with enough twists and turns to fill several books. My son, Zane, thinks I should write them down. Maybe I will. In my old age. Suddenly, at fifty-three, I feel like a very young man.”

      He took Lily’s hand and turned to the guests. Raising his voice above the laughter and noise, he motioned to the wide double doors Rosita Perez, his devoted friend and long-serving housekeeper, had just opened. “Some of the finest musicians in San Antonio have been tuning their instruments for the better part of the past hour,” he said good-naturedly. “Let’s all go outside where we can appreciate their music as well as the stars on such a beautiful summer night.”

      Hannah was swept forward with Lily and Ryan and the throng of guests heading outdoors. She found herself in the courtyard, surrounded by people she didn’t know. Ryan had been right about the beautiful summer evening. Night had tamed the scorching temperature, turning it gentle, touching it with mystery. Lily had once told Hannah that Ryan’s mother, and later, his first wife, had been avid gardeners. The courtyard and the grounds were testimony to the love and care they’d given the lawns and gardens surrounding the sprawling adobe-styled house. Masses of large, purple sage plants looked almost black beneath the pale glow of artificial lights. Roses covered arbors, and flowering vines climbed the sandstone walls that surrounded Ryan’s home.

      The orchestra was playing, and several people moved onto the dance floor. Hannah had gotten separated from her mother and Ryan. Making small talk with an older couple nearby, it occurred to her that she and Cole were the only guests present who were connected more closely to Lily than to Ryan. She made a mental note to remind the ushers, when the time came, to seat guests on either side of the church, so as to better balance the guests, rather than in the traditional manner of the bride’s guests on the left, the groom’s on the right.

      “It’s a small world.”

      Hannah СКАЧАТЬ