Fortune's Secret Husband. Karen Smith Rose

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      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?”

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