In truth, she hadn’t tried to hide it. That hadn’t occurred to her. She wondered now if she might have subconsciously wanted Tyler to know he was going to be a father. But did that make any sense when she’d run from him?
She shrugged hopelessly. “I’m sorry,” she whispered even as his fingers bit more fiercely into her arms.
He shook her hard enough to make her head wobble. “Damn you, Julie. I’ve met a lot of women, but none as coldly calculating as you. You had everyone fooled.”
Tears gathered in her eyes, and she couldn’t wipe them away while he had her pinned. “N-n-n-no,” she sobbed. “I didn’t try to fool—”
“If you think I’ll let you take my child away, you manipulative witch—”
“You didn’t want a baby! That was your family’s idea.” She stared up at him in shock. “You didn’t even want a wife. How can you be so upset now that you won’t have either?”
He wasn’t listening to her. “I can make you come back to Pueblo and stay there until the baby is born. Legally, I could pull it off. And afterward, I could take you to court for custody of my child.”
She broke free of his grip and staggered backward before running into the dishwasher. “You wouldn’t.”
“The Fortunes have very good lawyers,” he stated coldly.
Her eyes narrowed. “And they’ll have one hell of a fight on their hands.”
Something flashed across his features. A momentary look of admiration. Or excitement? But it was gone before she could label it. Then he was frowning at her, more puzzled than angry but holding his fury in reserve should she say the wrong thing.
Julie sighed. “Tyler, I won’t lie to you. I couldn’t bear to stay in Pueblo. I know I promised to marry you if you’d give me a child. And now you’ve kept your part of the bargain. But I hadn’t counted on—”
“On what? On getting pregnant so soon?” he said sullenly. “You thought you’d be hanging around for a few months or even a year or two before you got your wish?”
“No,” she said sadly, “although I had hoped I’d be able to stay…for a long time.”
His scowl deepened. “What are you trying to say?”
Outside car doors shut quietly. Footsteps moved stealthily along the sidewalk between apartments. Julie pushed the interruption from her mind and concentrated on what she had to say to the man who had won her heart then broken it.
“I thought I could be like you,” she whispered. “I thought I could treat our relationship like a business. Go through the motions. Enjoy the advantages of being a Fortune and even allow myself the physical pleasures of sleeping with you, without feeling anything for you. I was wrong. I fell in love with you, Tyler.”
She looked up at him. His face was a stony blank. “You left because you fell in love with me,” he repeated woodenly.
A sound near her door made her glance that way for just an instant. Then she looked back at Tyler. “How could I stay?” she asked. “I couldn’t live in the same town with you, in the same house, knowing you felt nothing for me. I was hurting, Tyler. Don’t you see it could only get worse? I’m sorry. I tried. I just can’t do it.”
A look of amazement slowly lightened his eyes. He started to speak, but his words were drowned out by a booming voice from the other side of the door.
“Police! Open the door.”
Julie stared numbly at her poor, battered door.
“Ma’am, are you all right? Your neighbors said a man busted into your apartment. Ma’am, please open the door if you can.”
Tyler opened the door for her. Two uniformed Houston police officers burst into the room, weapons drawn. Tyler rolled his eyes. “Thank goodness for neighbors.”
Julie stared at him, more interested in the words she’d missed than the presence of the law in her home. “What did you just say?”
“Ma’am, are you all right?” one of the officers persisted. “Do you know this man?”
“I thought I did,” she said softly, not taking her eyes from Tyler. “What were you just saying?”
“I said, I love you, Julie.”
Her heart tripped over its own beat. “You’re just saying that to make me go back with you. Because of the baby.”
The cops looked at each other.
“No,” he said. “I’m telling you I love you because it’s true. Shane said something to me the night you left. It should have made me realize right then how I felt about you. Instead, it took a couple of days to sink in. I’ve loved you since the first moment I saw you in that crazy video.”
Now the two officers really looked interested.
Julie ignored them and stepped closer to Tyler. “Is this true?”
He brought her into his arms. “I knew there was something special about you that first time I saw you. I just didn’t know what to call it. And when you came to Pueblo to check me out, I sensed you belonged there. You felt right in my house, and in my arms.”
One of the cops grumbled something to his partner, and they both holstered their guns.
“Lady, next time you have a fight with your boyfriend, at least tell him where you are so he doesn’t terrorize the entire county trying to find you.”
Julie smiled and mouthed the word sorry against Tyler’s chest. They left, and she could hear them reassuring her neighbors that everything was under control.
“Tyler, please don’t tease me. I need the truth, not a fairy tale to make me feel better. If you don’t love me, tell me. Now that I know the baby is important to you, we’ll work things out somehow.”
He touched his lips to hers. “Have I ever told you anything but the truth?”
“No,” she whispered.
He kissed her lightly again. “I can’t tell you how I hurt inside when you left me. It wasn’t until you were gone that I knew my own heart. But I couldn’t come after you then, because I didn’t believe you would ever love me in return. When we struck our agreement, all you wanted was a child. I thought that was still all that mattered to you. I wasn’t about to go begging.”
“Oh, Tyler. I’m so very sorry. It was because I loved you so much that I had to leave. You were so distant, I couldn’t get through to you.”
He pressed her head to his chest and she felt his heart beating. This is where I belong, she thought. With this man I love, who loves me.
“I thought I didn’t want to be a father,” he tried to explain, “because I believed I’d be a lousy one. Last night I talked to Jason about how it has been for him with his daughter. If he can do it with Lisa, I can find a way to be a good father to our children. I promise. But I also want to be your husband. During the short time we were together, I learned to appreciate all a good woman could do to make my life meaningful. You’re that good woman, Julie.”
Then he held her tight and kissed her till her head spun. And she knew in her heart that as long as Tyler Fortune lived, she’d never see another lonely or loveless day.
It was the end of March, and spring bloomed vigorously across the desert. Tyler split most of his days between Fortune Construction headquarters and the hospital, but when he came home he shared with Julie the triumphs and setbacks of the day. She liked that the project meant so much to Tyler. He cared about his heritage, cared about children and families. These were good signs. A man so honorable, who felt so deeply that these things were important…he deserved to be loved.
One night as they lay in bed, holding hands after making love, Julie told him about a hospital back in Houston that had a wonderful in-house learning center for young patients. Tyler listened quietly to her description of the tutoring program for long-term residents and the library in the play center.
“I think I know a way we can incorporate something similar into the design of our hospital,” he said slowly. His thumb circled softly over the pulsepoint in her wrist, moving a little faster as he grew more excited over her idea. “Would you be willing to meet with my architects to discuss redesigning the floor plan of one of the wings?”
Julie was thrilled. “I’d love to. And if you like I can draw up a list of books to order for the children’s library, and learning materials for the tutors to use with your patients.” She bubbled on excitedly. “All you’ll need is one full-time paid teacher. The other tutors can be volunteers. That’s something I’d love to do myself if—”
He stilled her lips with a kiss. “I have a feeling you’re already a Fortune at heart. If we can just get this hospital built, it will be a second home to you.”
“Yes,” she said, knowing he was right. And that night when she fell asleep in his strong arms, she dreamed of all she could do to help children in need, while she raised her own precious tribe with Tyler.
Tyler woke Julie one Saturday morning with a soft kiss on her forehead. “Get dressed,” he whispered. “I have something to show you. Meet you out at the truck.”
He waited while she found a pair of jeans that still nearly fit over her expanding belly and climbed sleepily into the truck beside him. He handed her a steaming mug of coffee. Just the way she liked it—two sugars, lots of cream.
She took a sip then snuggled up to him. “What’s up?”
“We’re going on a picnic.”
“For breakfast?”
They drove toward the edge of town then out across the desert. It wasn’t long before he could tell she thought she knew where they were headed. He smiled to himself, enjoying the last few minutes of his secret.
“Has the restoration begun at the plateau?” she asked.
“That will have to wait until the property officially changes hands.”
He slanted her a look. She seemed surprised when they rounded Lightfoot’s Plateau and continued on for another few miles. The land began to rise into foothills covered with scrub brush and a few stunted trees. It was dramatically rough and beautiful land, and she often told him how much it suited him. He pulled the truck off the road, got out and took a basket from the rear bed. Opening her door, he offered her a hand down.
Julie jumped to the ground and looked around with an adorable pout. “What is this place?”
“Ours,” he said.
She stared at him. “You own this land?”
He nodded as he spread a blanket on a flat patch of land sheltered on three sides by the rocky hillside. Protected from the desert heat by the shadow of the mountains, wild roses, gum plants and sheep sorrel blossomed. The open side looked out over the valley with Lightfoot’s Plateau rising in the middle. An early-morning sun cast golden shadows across the land and stately saguaro cacti, blooming in brilliant pinks and oranges.
“It’s magnificent,” Julie breathed, sitting down on the blanket.
“I’m glad you like it because, after the hospital is finished, I want to build us a house on this spot.” He watched her expression shift from surprise to delight.
“Oh, Tyler!” She grabbed him around both legs and hugged so hard he lost his balance and tumbled, laughing, onto the blanket beside her. “You’ve already given me so much! I can’t imagine a better place for us to live and raise our children.” She kissed him happily on the mouth then reached inside the basket and pulled out a container of freshly cut melon. “I suppose the least I can do is feed you.”
Tyler took the plastic bowl from her and laid it aside. “First, I think we should christen our home site.”
Julie’s eyes gleamed with anticipation of his touch. “Will it be very long before we can make love in our new house?”
A cloud passed briefly over his joy. “I hope not.” He touched her cheek tenderly then traced her sweet lips with one finger. “That will depend upon what the police and Link are able to uncover in the next few months. Until then, do you think our little condo and here, under the Arizona skies, will do?”
She grinned up at him. “It will do very nicely,” she whispered. “Now kiss me…as if you love me more than life itself.”
And he did.
Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to
Kathryn Jensen for her contribution to
Fortune’s Children: The Grooms series.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1071-4
MAIL-ORDER CINDERELLA
Copyright © 2000 by Harlequin Books. S.A.
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