The Heiress and the Sheriff

by Stella Bagwell

  “You knew Miranda Fortune?” Gabrielle asked her.

  “Yes. We were neighbors back then.”

  “I’ve never heard any of you speak of the woman. I didn’t realize there was a missing sister in the family.”

  Mary Ellen waved her hand dismissively. “We don’t speak of Miranda much. She left so long ago. And there have been so many other pressing problems for the family here of late. When Cameron died in the car crash, we were all hoping Miranda would hear about it and come to the funeral. Both Ryan and Cameron had feared their sister had met with foul play. But from the looks of that insurance policy, she was alive a few years ago.”

  Across the room, Ryan hung up the telephone, then turned to the others. “They’ll all be here in a few minutes,” he said happily. “In the meantime, I think we should have Rosita put some champagne on ice and bring out the best dishes for supper. This calls for a celebration!”

  Glad to see her fiancé finally smiling with good news for a change, Lily went over and linked her arm through his. “That’s a wonderful idea, Ryan. Would you like me to go to the kitchen and tell her?”

  He bent his head and kissed her cheek. “If you don’t mind.”

  “I’ll be right back,” she promised him.

  Lily left for the kitchen. Wyatt stopped his pacing and walked over to the older man. “Ryan, this family has been in a hell of a mess here lately. Don’t you think you’re jumping the gun with an impromptu celebration? For all we know, Gabrielle could have come here trying to extort money from you.”

  “Hell, Wyatt! Does that beautiful woman look like she could harm a fly? She wouldn’t do that to any of us!”

  Wyatt turned hard, unyielding eyes on Gabrielle’s pale face. “Sofia’s good looks haven’t kept her from dealing you plenty of misery.”

  Ryan glared at him. “You would have to bring that up. Let’s not talk about that…woman. I don’t want to spoil the evening.”

  “I don’t want to spoil your evening or anything else,” Wyatt assured him. “I just want you to be prepared when all of this turns out to be fraud.”

  Ryan shot him a glance. “I believe you’re the one who needs to get prepared to accept the fact that Gabrielle is really one of us.”

  By the time Dallas, Maggie, Matthew and Zane had arrived, the great room resembled a rowdy family reunion. The pictures and the document were passed from one relative to the next. While they were inspected and discussed, Ryan explained to Gabrielle how Miranda had left home at the age of seventeen.

  With her attention still captured by Ryan Fortune, who was sitting in an armchair directly across from her, Gabrielle said, “But she wasn’t of age, Ryan. I’m surprised your father allowed it. From all you’ve told me about Kingston Fortune, he sounded like a hard and strict man.”

  Ryan nodded, his expression full of wry fondness. “He was very strict with his two sons—he demanded and expected a lot out of Cameron and me. But Miranda was the apple of Kingston’s eye. He gave her anything she wanted. And the more he gave, the more she took. She went wild. I can’t think of any better way to describe my sister’s behavior back then. Anyway, after she left the ranch, Dad couldn’t stand it. He went all the way to California after her. But he was never able to track her down. Losing her broke his heart.”

  Gabrielle found it difficult to imagine a girl so young wanting to leave her home and family. Even then the Fortunes must have been rich. Miranda had siblings, a mother and father, and anything else she might have wanted. Yet she left it all. For what and why?

  “A movie star,” Gabrielle repeated, weighing the words, wondering about the woman whom Ryan believed was her mother. “Do you think that dream is really what pushed her to leave Texas? Did she ever write or contact any of you?”

  “Shortly after she left, we received one postcard. It was postmarked Nevada, and there was nothing written on it to explain what she was really doing or where she was staying.”

  Gabrielle pressed her hand against her forehead. A dull throb was beginning to build behind her eyes. She hoped it didn’t grow into a full-fledged headache before the night was over.

  Matthew came to stand near his father’s chair. The young doctor looked at Gabrielle. “You’re not going to catch the flight you had booked for tomorrow, are you?”

  Gabrielle glanced from the two Fortune men to Wyatt, who was seated in an armchair directly to her right. “I…I haven’t thought that far ahead,” she told Matthew. “This is all such a shock.”

  “Of course she isn’t going to leave,” Ryan spoke up.

  “Gabrielle has found her home.”

  Her home! She’d made this her temporary home, but never had she imagined she might truly belong here as a member of the Fortune family. The whole thing was beyond her wildest dreams. But then, she’d had those photos and the paper with Miranda’s name.

  “I can tell you right now, Gabrielle isn’t going on a plane to anywhere until we get to the bottom of this,” Wyatt spoke up, making all heads swivel toward him. “If Gabrielle can’t remember why she had your personal family items in her possession, then you don’t know what the hell she was up to!”

  “Wyatt! What is the matter with you?” Matthew exclaimed. “Gabrielle hasn’t attempted to hurt anyone while she’s been here. Or take anything from us. Can’t you give her the benefit of the doubt?”

  Gabrielle might not have tried to hurt anyone, Wyatt thought, but she had. Right now, he felt as if his world had been torn apart. In spite of her suspicious arrival on the Double Crown, he was gradually finding himself trusting her more and more. She was the first woman in years who’d made him think of trying to have a family of his own. And she was the only woman who’d made him stop and wonder if Marilyn’s leaving might have been a forced disappearance rather than a desertion. But now he had to wonder if he’d been made a fool of all over again by a smooth little gold digger.

  “Wyatt is looking at this whole situation from a sheriff’s point of view,” Ryan told his son. “If you were in his shoes you’d have to do the same thing.” Pausing, he directed his gaze at Wyatt. “But that doesn’t mean I agree with you.”

  Wyatt threw up his hands. “Look, you’re all simply assuming Gabrielle is your relative. The daughter of a sister who’s been gone from the family for thirty years. You need some sort of concrete proof. Something more than a couple of old photos.”

  “There’s also the document with Miranda’s name on it,” Zane spoke up.

  Wyatt frowned. “So she has an insurance policy with Miranda’s name on it. There’s nothing on the document linking her to the woman.”

  “Wyatt is right,” Gabrielle had to agree. “There might have been some other motive for me having those things hidden in the Bible.”

  A few steps away, Rosita paused as she carried a tray full of iced drinks to the coffee table. “There is proof Gabrielle is a Fortune,” she said to no one in particular. Then, directing her attention solely on Ryan, she said, “I’m surprised you haven’t thought of the Fortune birthmark before now.”

  Sudden dawning streaked across his face, and snapping his fingers, he jumped to his feet. “You’re right, Rosita!”

  Matthew turned stunned looks on his brothers. “Why didn’t we think of our birthmark? If Gabrielle is a Fortune, she’ll surely have one.”

  “That’s right,” Zane echoed. “We all do. Even Taylor. And we don’t even know where he came from.”

  “Gabrielle has the crown-shaped birthmark on her hip. I saw it on her some time ago,” Rosita said before Ryan could ask.

  Gabrielle had never seen Ryan angry with the housekeeper before. He always treated the woman with fondness and respect, but now he was practically shouting at her. “Rosita! You saw the birthmark and didn’t come straight to me?”

  Rosita shrugged, clearly unalarmed by her boss’s frustration. “I told Ruben about it, and we decided you had enough troubles to deal with besides wondering about a birthmark. And we figured if Gabrielle really was a family member,
you’d find it out anyway.”

  Dallas looked at his wife and groaned. Shaking her head, Maggie went to her mother and gently draped her arm around her shoulders. “Mother, don’t you think Gabrielle might have wanted to know? She’s been trying to get her memory back.”

  “I warned Wyatt that I felt Gabrielle was connected to the family. I could feel a strong urge had drawn her here. Just like I told you about the striking serpent that caused her wreck. But you paid me no heed,” she told her daughter. “No one around here wants to hear what I know or see.”

  “Mother—”

  “Don’t badger her, Maggie,” Dallas spoke up. “Your parents were only trying to mind their own business.”

  Gabrielle glanced from one face to another. It seemed they’d all forgotten she was in the room. Except for Wyatt. His eyes were boring a hole straight through her.

  Trying not to let his anger pulverize her any more than it already had, she spoke up in a voice loud enough to be heard by all. “If anyone is interested, I do have a birthmark on my hip. It looks almost identical to the brand you put on your horses. When I saw it down at the corrals, I kept thinking how strange it was that I was marked with the Double Crown brand.”

  Everyone stared at her with wide eyes and slack jaws. Everyone but Wyatt. A quick glance from the corner of Gabrielle’s eye assured her he didn’t believe any more of the story than he had ten minutes ago.

  “Maggie, you and Gabrielle go to the bedroom where you can take a look for yourself,” Ryan said to his daughter-in-law. To Gabrielle he asked, “Would you mind?”

  Quickly Gabrielle rose from the chair. “Of course not. I want to know about this as much as you Fortunes.”

  As the two women left the great room, Wyatt got to his feet and walked over to the glass doors leading out to the courtyard. Not long ago, it seemed, he and Gabrielle had escaped to the hidden shadows among the gardens. At that time he’d been certain her need for him had been as feverish as his own for her. Now he could only wonder if everything about her had been a lie. Even the way she’d given her body to him.

  Hell, what did it matter? She’d been planning to leave tomorrow anyway. And he’d been going to let her go. But when tomorrow came would he really have been able to see her walk away?

  He didn’t have time to consider the agony of that question. Behind him the two women had returned to the room, and things were in an uproar. Wyatt’s long strides carried him to the midst of the commotion.

  “The birthmark is there,” Ryan told him, his face wreathed in smiles. “Gabrielle is really a Fortune.”

  Wyatt felt as if someone had knocked him sideways. “I don’t believe it. Everybody has some sort of birthmark.”

  “Not like ours,” Dallas insisted. “We’re branded on the hip in a certain spot with a crown-shaped mark.”

  Wyatt glanced at the other man without really seeing him. “I understand all you Fortunes have the same birthmark. But did you ever consider it could be copied? Think about it. People will do a damn sight more than put a mark on their bodies to get into the money you Fortunes have!”

  “What do you mean, copied?” Gabrielle spoke directly to Wyatt for the first time since they’d left the courtyard.

  “I mean that mark is probably a fake. A tattoo.”

  “It didn’t look like ink to me,” Maggie remarked.

  “Matthew is a doctor. He can verify whether the birthmark is real or fake,” Ryan said.

  Wyatt looked around at the faces in the group, wondering how they could all be so trusting and accepting after the heartache they’d been through this past year. Were they crazy, or was it him?

  “Forget it! You all want to believe Gabrielle is a Fortune, so go ahead—take her into your family. Just don’t forget I warned you.”

  The room went terribly quiet. Gabrielle was certain she could hear her heart breaking, shattering into a million pieces on the tiled floor at her feet. Without even glancing her way, Wyatt stalked away from the group and toward the door.

  “Wyatt, are you leaving?” Ryan called.

  Wyatt glanced over his shoulder. “I’ve got work to do and it’s obvious I’m wasting my time here.”

  As he disappeared into the entryway, Maggie put her hands on Gabrielle’s shoulders and gave her a little nudge. “Go after him, Gabrielle.”

  Her eyes full of pain, Gabrielle shook her head. “He doesn’t believe me,” she said hoarsely.

  “He’s in shock,” Mary Ellen suggested gently.

  Maggie nudged her again, and this time Gabrielle’s heart refused to listen to the logic in her head. She raced across the room and out to the front steps.

  “Wyatt!”

  Without turning to look, he paused on the walkway. She hurried down the steps to join him.

  “If you came out here to plead your case with me, forget it,” he said tightly.

  Moving in front of him, she looked up at his dark face. His features were so rock hard, he didn’t appear human.

  “I didn’t come out here to plead my case, Wyatt. I don’t know what my case is,” she said softly. “For all I know, you’re right about me. I could be a con artist, a gold digger who came here to get money from the Fortunes any way I could. If I had my memory, I might be able to defend myself. As it is I can only hope you’re wrong.”

  A sneer twisted his features. “You’re going to milk your amnesia story for all it’s worth, aren’t you? Do you honestly still expect me to believe your memory was lost when you crashed into that tree?”

  Shadows of pain filled her eyes as she continued to search his forbidding face. “It was.”

  “Hah!” he scoffed bitterly. “I think you’ve lied to all of us from the very start. Unfortunately, the Fortunes are still believing you. But I’m not.”

  Moving closer, she gripped his forearm as her eyes pleaded with him to understand. “Do you think I was lying when I made love to you? I was a virgin, Wyatt! You know that!”

  For a split second she thought she saw regret flicker in his eyes. But then he deliberately picked her hand from his arm, and dropped it back at her side as though her touch was abhorrent to him.

  “Like I said before. People will do anything for money.”

  She wanted to slap him. But why bother? He’d made up his mind about her, and she couldn’t think of one thing that might change it. Besides, she could feel the throb in her head growing to the size of a bass drum beat. Sweat was beading on her forehead and upper lip, and trickling in rivulets beneath her shirt. The hysterical thought struck her that her head was going to burst right along with her heart.

  “I’m sorry for you, Wyatt. Truly sorry,” she whispered brokenly, then pressing her hand against her forehead, she turned away from him and hurried back into the house.

  By the time she staggered into the great room, she was on the verge of collapsing. Her legs were shaking and intermittent explosions of pain were going off behind her eyes.

  Mary Ellen was the first one to notice her return. The woman rushed over to her and took hold of her arm. “Gabrielle, what’s wrong?”

  “I…I’m getting sick. My head is pounding.”

  “Oh, this has all been too much for you, honey. To learn who you are would have been traumatic enough, but to learn you’re a Fortune, well, I can’t imagine what you must be feeling.” She brought her arm around Gabrielle’s back and urged her forward. “Come along, and I’ll help you down to your room.”

  When the others spotted Gabrielle and Mary Ellen slowly making their way toward the kitchen, the whole family rushed over to them.

  “Gabrielle, what happened?” Maggie cried in dismay.

  Matthew stepped forward and quickly scanned her pale, sweat-dampened face. “Is your head hurting?”

  She nodded. “Terribly. Worse than it ever has.”

  Matthew glanced at Mary Ellen. “Help her to bed, and I’ll go get my bag.”

  “Do you need help?” Lily asked Mary Ellen.

  “I’ll go with them,” Maggie sa
id as she hurried around to support Gabrielle’s other side.

  “Don’t worry about anything, Gabrielle,” Ryan said.

  “You might have lived in California before, but you’re home now. We’ll take care of you.”

  Gabrielle thanked him, then the two women helped her back to her room and into bed.

  “I’m so sorry you’re ill,” Mary Ellen said as she smoothed the sheet across Gabrielle. “We were getting ready to celebrate.”

  “I’m sorry I spoiled the evening,” Gabrielle said in a voice tight with pain.

  Mary Ellen smiled gently. “Oh, my dear, you haven’t spoiled anything.”

  “You’re the first happy news we’ve had in a while,” Maggie added. “We’ll celebrate when you’re feeling better.”

  Gabrielle squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her fingers against her forehead. If it turned out she was truly a Fortune, she would be glad. Yet the pleasure would be shadowed by the heartbreak of knowing Wyatt didn’t believe in her. And most of all, that he didn’t love her.

  “Wyatt doesn’t believe I’m cause for celebration. He’d jail me if he could find a legal reason.”

  Maggie came to stand by the end of the bed. “Wyatt isn’t behaving like himself,” she said. “He’s always been a tough nut to crack, but he’s usually not so hard-nosed or unreasonable.”

  Mary Ellen reached down and patted her shoulder. “He’s just afraid he loves you. That’s the only thing wrong with Wyatt.”

  Her eyes filled with pain, Gabrielle glanced up at Mary Ellen. “He thinks I lied to him.”

  “He’ll see the truth of things eventually,” Mary Ellen tried to reassure her. “Now, forget about Wyatt and try to get some rest.”

  A light knock sounded on the door and the three women looked around to see Matthew entering the room. He quickly took Gabrielle’s blood pressure and pulse, then examined her eyes with a penlight.

  “I don’t think the concussion you suffered last month is connected to this headache. I’m inclined to believe it’s an old-fashioned migraine brought on by nerves.” He reached into his bag and brought out two pain capsules. “Take these,” he said, handing them to Gabrielle. “If it doesn’t let up in about an hour, we’ll do something else. The best thing you can do now is turn off the light and try to sleep.”