Fortune's Secret Husband

by Karen Rose Smith

  “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 lett
ers.

  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.