Mendoza's Secret Fortune. Marie Ferrarella

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      As she went in, Cisco had acted as if there was nothing out of the ordinary going on, but she could tell that she had surprised him—and disappointed the man, as well.

      Rachel walked back out into her living room and flopped down on the sofa. Picking up her remote control, she turned on the TV and automatically began flipping through channels.

      She was searching for something—anything—to distract her.

      Rachel frowned, wondering if there was something wrong with her.

      It had been a perfectly nice date, and she had had a perfectly nice time. Granted, there hadn’t been a magical spark of chemistry blowing her away, but hey, that was lightning in a bottle, right? Finding something like that was exceptionally rare.

      Especially since her mind kept drifting off, envisioning that other Mendoza at her side instead of his equally handsome, equally intelligent older brother.

      Right up to the end, as she waited on their table earlier today, she kept hoping that Matteo would be the one who would ask her out or, barring that, the one who ultimately showed up in Cisco’s place, murmuring vague apologies for his brother and saying something about Cisco being unavoidably detained.

      She had found out fairly early in their time together tonight that Cisco was a real-estate investor. So being detained by an important deal was perfectly plausible.

      But Cisco hadn’t been unavoidably detained, and Matteo hadn’t come to take his brother’s place. Cisco had been the one waiting for her, the one who followed her home so that she could leave her car there and then ride in his as they went out.

      On paper, the man was perfect—and very easy on the eyes, as well. But she heard no bells ringing and no banjos playing when they were alone together. And she really didn’t want to settle for anything less than bells and banjos. More than anything else, she wanted a magical relationship—or nothing at all.

      It was just as well that it had been Cisco tonight and not Matteo, she told herself, still flipping channels and looking for something numbing and mindless to help her unwind. Cisco had told her that his younger brother was a pilot “like our father.” She felt that flying was somewhat risky, and flying for a living just increased that risk.

      The last thing she needed was to lose her heart to someone who had a dangerous occupation and might not be there in a week or a month.

      This way, there were no unnecessary complications for her to deal with. Just a nice date. End of story, she told herself.

      “Face it, Rach. This is not the time for you to get involved with anyone.” First, she had to get her life in gear and on track—find out where she was going with this Foundation internship she’d taken on. Once that was settled, then she could think about getting romantically involved with someone and falling in love, she thought, giving herself a mental pep talk since she had no one to turn to for any sort of support. “Don’t go putting the cart before the horse. Remember, you’ve got a plan and order is everything.”

      It made for a good argument, she thought, watching channels as they whizzed by.

      But deep down in her soul, she wasn’t completely convinced.

      * * *

      Just as she had anticipated, Rachel didn’t sleep all that well following her date. Every time she managed to doze off, her brain would conjure up fragments of dreams.

      For the most part, they had to do with her evening out. But oddly enough, instead of the charismatic and confident Cisco, she saw Matteo at her side.

      The dreams seemed so vivid that she felt they were actually happening—until she would wake up and find herself in her bed.

      Sweating profusely—and very much alone.

      After she’d gone through three such cycles, Rachel gave up all attempts at getting any sort of decent rest.

      Besides, she reasoned, it was actually already too late for that. Her alarm was set to go off at seven-thirty. That was in less than another hour. She was going to work at the Fortune Foundation this morning, and she wanted to get there early, before her workday actually started. She wanted to absorb everything she could about the company.

      Rachel already knew that the Foundation had been founded in the memory of Fortune patriarch Ryan Fortune, a man who had been a firm believer in paying it forward. He had lived his life that way, personally doing just that at every opportunity.

      She’d learned that from the people who had been chosen to run the Horseback Hollow branch of the Fortune Foundation: Christopher Fortune Jones and his new wife, Kinsley.

      The couple were returning from their honeymoon today, and Rachel wanted to be right there when they came in—not just to welcome them back, but to be able to listen to everything Christopher had to say.

      She sympathized with Christopher and the way he had initially felt about the Fortunes when he had discovered that he and his siblings were actually directly related to the wealthy family. He had learned about this unexpected connection not all that long ago, and it had turned his entire life upside down until he finally made peace with the information.

      That had taken a bit of doing on his part, as had adjusting to the fact that his mother, Jeanne Marie, was actually one third of a set of triplets. She and her sister had been given up for adoption. Her brother, James Michael, had grown up not knowing a thing about his two sisters, with only the vaguest memory that they existed.

      It was through his relentless efforts to find them that his two sisters were told of their true identities. Both women took it a lot better than their families did at first.

      Amazing how being part of that family created such drama for some people, Rachel couldn’t help thinking.

      The next moment, she pushed the thought aside.

      She couldn’t just sit around, contemplating life’s little tricks and secrets. She had a job waiting for her. A job that wouldn’t be waiting long if she started coming in late—or calling in sick.

      Now, where had that last thought come from? Rachel upbraided herself. It certainly hadn’t been on her mind a moment ago.

      This was what happened when she broke with her routine, she chided herself. Last night had been an aberration from her normal course of operations, and now she was paying the price by feeling just a little bit better than death warmed over.

      Or maybe just as bad.

      Knowing she needed a boost, Rachel stopped in the kitchen to pour herself a cup of coffee. Her coffeemaker was ready for her, as she’d set the timer to brew at the ungodly hour of four-thirty in the morning.

      Closing her eyes as she took her first sips, Rachel gave herself a moment to allow the jet-black hot liquid to go slowly coursing through her veins, bringing everything in its path to attention.

      How did people live before coffee was invented? she idly wondered.

      “Better,” she pronounced after a few more moments had gone by. She felt almost human now.

      Fortified, Rachel set the cup down on the counter and hurried off to take СКАЧАТЬ