The Heiress and the Sheriff

by Stella Bagwell

  “Who the hell knows. There’re some crazy people out there,” he said with a weary sigh, then added thoughtfully, “But oddly enough, having baby Taylor in the house has helped the Fortunes. At least, it did until we learned Matthew was his real father.” Wyatt reached for his hat, put it on his head, then rose to his feet. “I’ll be out at the Double Crown if you need me.”

  In the study of the Double Crown ranch house, Ryan Fortune stood quietly with his back facing the cold fireplace. A few steps away from him, a tall young man in his early thirties with short dark hair paced up and down like a caged tiger.

  Parker Malone had been a friend of the family for years. He’d played football with Matthew in college, and his father’s law firm had handled many legal matters for the Fortunes through the years.

  Parker was currently handling Ryan’s divorce. With Sophia’s greedy claws wrapped around his money and a percentage of his assets, it was going to take a damn good lawyer to break her hold and leave him in the clear to marry Lily. And from all Ryan had heard and seen, Parker possessed one of the best legal minds in this part of Texas.

  Unfortunately, during these past few months, he could see the younger man was embittered about marriage. And Ryan could hardly blame him. Parker had watched his parents go through a hellish divorce, and then before he’d reached the age of thirty, he’d suffered through his own divorce. It was no surprise to Ryan that the man was continually advising him to put thoughts of marrying Lily out of his mind. At least until they had Sophia where they wanted her.

  “Look, Parker, I know my love for Lily seems foolish to you. And I admit I made a terrible mistake in judgment when I married Sophia. But at the time I was in a black hole. Janine had died and I missed her terribly. I couldn’t see what Sophia was really all about. But Lily is different—”

  The lawyer interrupted with a shake of his dark head. “Ryan, I’m not putting Lily down. I’m only trying to make you look at things sensibly. You could have waited to buy an engagement ring. We have no concrete promise yet that Sophia will sign the fifty-million dollar settlement we offered her.”

  “As far as I’m concerned, what Sophia does or doesn’t do has nothing to do with buying Lily an engagement ring. I’m going to marry her, one way or the other. And to hell with what it takes to get Sophia off my back.”

  Parker paused in mid-stride to frown at Ryan Fortune. “That’s just the sort of thinking I’m worried about. The woman doesn’t deserve a penny, Ryan. It sickens me to think you’re going to be giving her fifty million. Nothing is worth giving her more!”

  Ryan’s faint smile was tinged with sadness as he closed the distance between them and clamped a fatherly hand on Parker’s shoulder. “That’s where I disagree, Parker. Lily’s love is worth everything to me. I lost it once. I won’t let that happen again. One of these days you’re going to meet someone who will change you. And then you’ll know what I’m talking about.”

  “I very much doubt—” Parker was interrupted by a knock on the study door.

  Ryan moved away from him and called, “Come in.”

  Rosita stood inside the open doorway. Her gaze encompassed both men, then settled on her boss. “Wyatt would like to see you, Ryan. Are you busy now?”

  “No. Send him on in.”

  The housekeeper left, closing the door behind her. Parker said, “I’d better be going so you two can talk. We’ll discuss what’s happening with the divorce later.”

  “No. Stay. Wyatt might have some news we’ll all want to hear.”

  “All right.”

  A knock sounded on the door, and Wyatt stepped into the study.

  “Good evening, Wyatt,” Ryan quickly greeted him.

  “You know my lawyer, Parker Malone.”

  Wyatt glanced at the young man. “Nice to see you again, Parker.”

  “Same here.” Parker nodded warmly.

  “I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Wyatt said. “But I do have some news on the case. Are Matthew and Claudia home?”

  “I think so. I’ll buzz his suite and tell him you’re here.” He started across the room toward an intercom. As he walked, he tossed over his shoulder, “Have you found out something about Bryan or Taylor?”

  “In a way. I’ve discovered something Matthew and Claudia need to know. I’ll tell you when they get here.”

  Ryan nodded grimly.

  In less than five minutes Matthew and his wife, Claudia, entered the study. Her shoulder-length blond hair was perfectly groomed, her makeup equally flawless. Yet the desperate look in the woman’s blue eyes told Wyatt she wasn’t nearly as composed as her appearance would lead one to believe. As for Matthew, his expression was one of a man who seemed resigned for more bad news.

  As the whole group turned their attention on Wyatt, he tried to remember the last time he’d been able to report anything positive to these people. He ached for them all. They were his friends, yet even with his sleuthing abilities, he hadn’t been able to put things right for them.

  “I know you were all hoping I’d be able to uncover Taylor’s mother through the list of women I received from the sperm bank. Today, I succeeded in tracing down the last two. There is one name left, but I’ve discovered the name is phony and so is the address. And from their records she only visited the clinic once and never returned for a follow-up visit.”

  Grim-faced, Claudia moved away from her husband and came to stand in front of Wyatt. “What did you find out from the two women you did track down? Did one of them give birth to Taylor?”

  Wyatt took a deep breath and let the bomb drop. There was no way to avoid it. “No. One of them was never able to conceive and finally abandoned the idea altogether. The other one had second thoughts and decided she didn’t want to get pregnant by artificial insemination.”

  Claudia flinched as if Wyatt had slapped her, then she whirled on Matthew like a wounded animal. “Bastard!” she said coldly. “You had an affair and all this time you’ve let me go through this agony—”

  Tears choked off the rest of her words, and she ran toward the door. Matthew threw his hands up and hurried after her.

  “Claudia, I didn’t have an affair! I’ve told you—”

  She jerked open the door, then paused on the threshold, her head held high. “I don’t care what you’ve told me! Wyatt’s evidence proves it. I’m not staying in this house with you another minute,” she said through gritted teeth.

  “But the baby—”

  “I’m taking Taylor with me. He might be yours by blood, but you obviously didn’t care enough about him to even acknowledge his birth.”

  Matthew groaned loudly. “Claudia, I didn’t know about his birth! There was no woman. Wyatt just said there’s one more name—”

  “Sure. A phony name,” she interrupted as tears began to stream down her face. “Oh, go tell your lies to someone else!”

  The door slammed in Matthew’s face and he slowly turned to face the three men. “I don’t know what to do anymore,” he said, his voice defeated, his shoulders sagging.

  “I’m sorry, Matthew,” Wyatt said. “I was afraid Claudia might react like this. But I had to tell you.”

  Matthew nodded glumly. “Of course you did. It’s not your fault. But dammit, Wyatt, what does it all mean?”

  Behind them, Parker spoke up like the true lawyer he was. “Matthew, are you certain you didn’t have one fling? Maybe one night you were feeling tired and depressed. You stopped in town for a drink or two, and one thing led to another.”

  “No! I would never betray Claudia in such a way. I love her! Dad, you believe me, don’t you?”

  “I’ve never known you to lie about anything,” Ryan told him. “But I can see how it all looks mighty incriminating to Claudia.”

  He stared in disbelief at his father. “Then you’re taking her side in this thing? You think she should move out—away from me?”

  Ryan held up his hand. “I’m not saying anything like that. I can see where both of you are being hurt by this
whole thing, and my taking sides would only make matters worse.”

  Wyatt placed his hand on Matthew’s shoulder. “I know this probably won’t help much right now, but I promise, Matthew, I will find the woman who gave birth to Taylor. If this Brown woman is the mother, I’ll find her someway. And then Claudia will have to believe you.”

  He looked gratefully at Wyatt. “Yeah, I know you will, partner. But by then, will any of it matter? How can I live with a woman who doesn’t believe in me?”

  “Touché!” Parker bellowed. “If you need a divorce lawyer, Matthew, you know where to find me.”

  “I just might at that,” Matthew muttered, then stalked rigidly out of the study.

  Wyatt planted his Stetson back on his head and glanced at the two men left in the room. “Well, I guess I’ve stirred up enough trouble for one night. I’ll say goodbye to you two.”

  “Thanks for coming, Wyatt,” Ryan said to him. “I’m sorry you had to witness that scene between my son and his wife. But you, as much as anybody around here, know what they’ve been going through.”

  Wyatt nodded, his lips compressed in a stern, straight line. “Yeah. I’ll keep you posted on anything I uncover.”

  On his way out, Wyatt found himself turning toward the corridor that led to Gabrielle’s room.

  As he stood outside Gabrielle’s door, he asked himself what he was doing. He’d come to the Double Crown only because he had wanted to give Matthew and Claudia the crushing news about the baby in person, rather than over the telephone. There was no reason for him to see Gabrielle tonight. Except that he wanted to.

  As he knocked lightly on her door, he cursed himself for his weakness. Young virgins were not his style. And young virgins with no recollections of their past were way off-limits. Yet something about her tugged at him long after he heard her voice and looked upon her face.

  “Yes? Come in. The door is unlocked.”

  For one brief moment he considered turning on his heel and quickly walking away. Then, cursing himself for being a coward, he pushed through the heavy door.

  She had been sitting on the leather couch, but the moment she saw it was him, she stood. A silk, peach-colored robe was wrapped around her slender figure and cinched at her waist. Even from this distance he could see the naked outline of her breast beneath the fine material, and his body stirred with unashamed longing.

  “I didn’t know it was you,” she said bluntly.

  “Obviously.” He walked over to where she stood, his eyes drinking in the tousled hair piled atop her head, the smooth brown column of her throat, the curves of her bare lips.

  “Don’t you ever rest?”

  His lips twisted into something close to a grin. “Only when it’s a necessity.”

  Like the heavy thud of a bass fiddle, Gabrielle’s heart pounded inside her chest as his gaze continued to sweep over her face and down to the gaping material between her breasts. Not caring how virginal or modest she looked, she reached up with one hand and clasped the robe tightly together.

  Her action made the grin on his face deepen, and Gabrielle felt stunned, bowled over by the flash of his white teeth and the dangerous glint in his hazel-green eyes. How many women had seen that same sensual look on his face and been lured into his bed by it?

  “Why are you here? Have you found out something else about me?”

  The question reminded him who he was and why he’d come to the Double Crown in the first place. It hadn’t been to see her. But now that he was seeing her, he didn’t regret his decision to walk down here to her room. She looked like a juicy apricot. Sweet and tart and, oh, so ready to bite.

  “Scared?”

  She lifted her chin a fraction. “Not of you,” she lied.

  His gaze settled on her lips, and she clutched the robe even more tightly.

  “If you’re not, you should be,” he said slowly, then forced himself to step around her and over to the windows facing out onto the courtyard.

  Gabrielle turned and watched the muscles of his shoulders flex as he folded his arms against his chest. He was dressed as she’d seen him last: in jeans and a khaki shirt with short sleeves. The sheriff’s badge was hidden beneath his arm, but she instinctively knew it was there. She figured he rarely took it off. Even when he went to bed, he probably pinned it to his shorts. But then maybe he didn’t wear shorts—maybe he slept in the raw. The idea of his long bronze body without a thing on it stung every inch of her with heat.

  “I had some business to attend to with Matthew and his family,” he said. “I thought I’d check on you while I was here. You weren’t feeling well the last time I saw you.”

  “You surprise me, Wyatt. I thought you believed my blurry vision wasn’t real. That I was faking it…along with my memory loss.”

  “I considered it.”

  “I’m sure you did.”

  Irked by his brutal honesty, she walked over to where he stood by the windows. When his eyes slanted down to her upturned face, she felt everything inside her begin to shake. Not with hostility, but from the simple excitement of being near him.

  “If you really want to know, I’m feeling stronger,” she told him. “But I still lose my vision without any warning.”

  “So that means Matthew doesn’t want you traveling yet.”

  He said it as a statement, but she answered it as a question. “No. He doesn’t. So now I guess you’re thinking I’m faking the headaches and blurry vision so I can continue to live here in luxury?”

  He turned slightly so that he was facing her head-on. His expression was smooth—neither accusing nor believing. “I think Matthew is a doctor with a kind heart. And right now, well, he’s in no condition to make judgments.”

  Gabrielle frowned at him. “What does that mean?”

  “The man has been through hell, and I’ve just handed him another plate of trouble to digest.”

  Forgetting to hold the robe, her hand dropped to her side. “What sort of trouble? Have you found his baby son?”

  His eyes narrowed as he turned his gaze away from her and out to the darkened courtyard. “No,” he said grimly.

  “Then—”

  “I had to tell him and Claudia that none of the women who’d requested his sperm at the fertility clinic is the mother of Taylor.”

  Gabrielle gasped at the realization as to what that meant. Yet she refused to believe Matthew had committed adultery. The sordid behavior didn’t fit the man at all.

  “Oh, dear. How did they take it?”

  He slanted her a sardonic look. “How do you think? Claudia is furious. She’s taking Taylor and moving out.”

  “Oh, no! That isn’t going to help matters.” Gabrielle spoke her thoughts out loud.

  The twist to Wyatt’s lips deepened. “No. I don’t expect it will. I don’t know what the hell Claudia is thinking. If she can’t trust her husband more than this, I’m not so sure Matthew needs her.”

  Gabrielle’s mouth fell open as indignation poured through her. “Trust! You of all people are going to condemn Claudia for not having enough faith in her husband? He’s fathered a baby somehow, yet you expect her to believe in his innocence? If you can be so open-minded about Matthew, why do you treat me like a felon? I haven’t done anything wrong either.”

  His face hardened, his nostrils flared. He’d seen too much pain tonight. And he’d heard too many lies from too many women in the past to take Gabrielle’s accusations lightly.

  “Get this straight, Gabrielle. I will never trust any woman. Especially you.”

  Like a black cloud, rage blinded her to everything but the moment and the provoking expression on his face. Before she could stop herself, her palm cracked solidly against his jaw.

  By the time her hand fell back to her side, she realized what she’d done. Her heart was pounding wildly and her breasts were heaving with anger and fear. Yet the consequences of her actions no longer mattered, she told herself. At least she’d gotten the satisfaction of retaliation.

  “You m
ight be the sheriff around here, but that doesn’t give you the right to insult me!”

  His eyes glowing oddly, he snagged both her shoulders—and jerked. She stumbled forward. The heels of her palms landed against his chest, preventing her from falling completely against him.

  Desperately, she tried to lever herself away, but his hands snatched her waist and yanked her into his arms. Air whooshed from her lungs as her breasts flattened against his hard chest.

  “Let me go, you bully! You arrogant bast—”

  The rest of her words were smothered when, like a hawk swooping down on a helpless little field mouse, his mouth covered hers.

  For the first few seconds Gabrielle was too stunned to resist, and then, suddenly, she was consumed with the dark, forbidden taste of him. If she’d ever sampled anything so rich or delicious she didn’t know it. His hot mouth was devouring hers as his tongue slid smoothly between her teeth and against her tongue.

  She felt locked in some timeless place where nothing existed but the feel of his hard body pressing into hers, the raw hunger of his lips. She wanted to stay forever in the warm space he was creating. She wanted to cling. Absorb. Never let go.

  His fingers slid inside her robe and clamped around her naked breast. As the pad of his thumb teased her nipple, longing coiled in her loins and caused her to whimper in the back of her throat.

  The small, sensual sound penetrated Wyatt’s foggy brain. With a shocked start, he realized his body had already been set on a forward motion with no intention of stopping until he’d buried himself inside her. God, what had come over him!

  He thrust her aside so forcefully that she nearly stumbled. Stunned by the rapid escalation of her desire, and the abrupt end of their embrace, she sucked in a long breath and tried to calm her racing heart.

  Finally she was composed enough to glance around the room. Once again she was shocked to see Wyatt about to walk out the door. Angry, she raced across the room and slammed the door closed before he could step through it. “Where do you think you’re going?”