“Hand me that platter. This batch is done.”
Holden snagged the platter and held it obediently as Matthew began piling ribs on it. The smell was heavenly. But Holden was more interested in watching the two women—Claudia, Matthew’s wife, and that hot little number she was talking to. She’d turned a little as he’d come out. He still couldn’t get a good look at her face. The platter grew heavier in his hand. “So, Claudia, where’s the guest of honor? Not sleeping through his own party, is he?”
Claudia glanced his way with a smile. She and Matthew had never seemed happier. His cousin had something—something Holden would never have. A wife who adored him. A family. A future. Holden felt a flash of envy and a hint of self-pity. He squelched both.
“That’s exactly what he’s doing,” Claudia said. “All the excitement of the christening wore him right out.”
The darker one looked his way. He caught her eye, but she quickly averted her face. There was something familiar about her. “You…haven’t introduced me to your friend.”
Matthew suppressed a chuckle. Claudia just shook her head. “Oh, come on, Holden. You know Lucinda.” At Holden’s blank look she went on. “Lucinda Brightwater? From high school?”
And then, even as he blinked in shock, the woman spoke.
“I’m afraid I never made that much of an impression on your cousin, Claudia,” she said, her voice slightly chilly. Yet deep and rich, like warmed honey. At last, she faced him.
Holden caught his breath. But this knockout couldn’t possibly be that untouchable, pristine, painfully shy girl he remembered. “Lucy Brightwater?” he asked, failing to hide his surprise.
She lifted her dark brows. “The one and only.” She started to turn away. “I think I see someone I know. If you’ll excuse me.”
“Hold on a minute!” Holden automatically moved closer, gripping her arm lightly. “Hey, it’s been years. Give a guy a break, huh?”
She looked at him, her gaze icy, before it dipped to his hand on her arm. Her message was clear.
He let go immediately. And the beautiful woman walked away. Lowering his chin, Holden sighed. “She sure grew up touchy. Gorgeous, though.”
“She’s not your type,” Claudia said. “As I recall, you made that fact painfully obvious to her back in school.”
He knew she was right, but he’d be damned if he’d admit it. “Shoot, if she’d looked like that back in school—”
“I think that’s the point, cousin,” Matthew volunteered. “You’re tipping the platter.”
Holden straightened the platter and a rib fell off. Shaking her head, Claudia came forward and took the dish from him. Holden eyed her. “Besides, I don’t remember being nasty to her in high school. At least, not enough to merit that icy reception.” Anyway, he’d had his reasons for steering clear of Lucy back then. Reasons…that all still existed. So why didn’t he just drop it? Why was he still watching her weave her way through the crowded great room? Why was he still running off at the mouth? “I always admired her. She…reminded me of Mom in some odd way.”
“She had a huge crush on you back then, Holden.”
“That’s right… That’s right. I used to see her hanging around at practice sometimes, watching me.” He remembered more than that, too. He remembered that he’d decided she was far too good for the likes of him. She probably still was.
“I suppose thoroughly ignoring a girl who’s not up to your standards is something you do so often you’re barely conscious of it anymore,” Claudia said.
Ignoring her, Holden stared across the crowded room to where Lucy Brightwater was now chatting with Ryan and Lily. She looked a bit like Lily. Same dark coloring, same dramatic black eyes. Damn, no wonder Ryan had been in love with Lily for thirty-some-odd years. A woman like that…
“I’m sure as hell not ignoring her now,” he heard himself mutter.
“Well, you sure as hell ought to be,” Claudia snapped. “Leave her alone, Holden. She’s not a one-night-stand kind of woman.”
“No. No, I remember that about her. She was always pretty…” He shook his head. “Man, she sure grew into her looks.”
“There’s a lot more to Lucinda Brightwater than the way she looks. As there is with most women, not that you’ve ever bothered to look any deeper than the surface.”
Holden shrugged. “Fine. You want to start listing her stellar qualities, go ahead. I’m listening.” And interested, he thought. In fact, he was dying to know what Lucinda in the Sky Brightwater had been up to all these years.
Claudia narrowed her eyes at him, then shrugged. “Fine, I will. Lucinda is kind, compassionate and caring. She’s intelligent and accomplished and sensitive, and a casual fling with a man like you could do a lot of damage to a woman like her. Leave her alone, Holden.”
As she turned and strode away to set the heaping platter on a table, Holden sent a confused glance at his cousin. “You’d think I was the devil himself, the way she acts.”
“Some might say you are,” Matthew said. “Claudia’s a little protective of Lucinda. They got pretty close during the pregnancy and all.”
Holden tilted his head, lifted a brow.
“Lucinda is Claudia’s doctor. Works over at Red Rock General.”
Holden blinked. “She’s a doctor?” He looked her way once more. Damn, she didn’t look like any doctor he’d ever seen. “Maybe it’s time I make an appointment. I must be overdue for a physical…or something.” He was only half kidding.
“Hey, I’m offended! I thought I was your favorite doctor. Besides, you’d never get in to see Lucinda…you don’t have the right equipment.” Matthew grinned at Holden’s puzzled expression. “She’s an OB-GYN.” Matthew said. “She delivered Bryan. And she and Claudia sort of…bonded.”
“That’s the Dr. Brightwater Claudia was always talking about,” Holden said as a lightbulb finally flashed on in his mind. He hadn’t made the connection until now.
“The one and only,” Matthew said, echoing Lucinda’s earlier words. “And she’s not the kind of woman who would enjoy being judged on the basis of her looks.”
“Then she shouldn’t go around looking like that,” Holden said.
“Give it up, cousin. You don’t stand a chance with her. Go find some bimbo to charm into your love nest. That woman is out of your league.”
Holden finished his drink in a gulp and set down the empty glass. “Yeah. That’s pretty much what I always thought, too. But that doesn’t mean I can’t talk to her, does it?”
Mistake, his mind cautioned him. Big, big mistake.
“I’m sorry, Claudia.” Lucinda Brightwater was still a bit shaky. She hadn’t wanted to come to this party. No, that wasn’t true. She had wanted to come. For Claudia and Matthew. For little Bryan. What she hadn’t wanted was to run into Holden Fortune. The man who had taken her virginity one drunken night so long ago she should have been over it long before now. A night that had meant everything to her. A night with repercussions that were still resonating through her life.
A night that had obviously meant less than nothing to him.
She was not an awkward teenager anymore. She was not the too smart, too tall, too skinny girl who didn’t quite fit in. And she certainly wasn’t the same girl who’d been heart-and-soul in love with the most popular boy in school. A boy who hadn’t so much as returned her shy hello when they’d passed in the halls. She was a doctor now. She’d grown into her body and become comfortable, even confident, with her looks.
So how could a brief encounter with Holden Fortune reduce her once again to a quivering mass of nerve endings, all of which seemed to be standing on end? She’d told herself that if she ran into him she would feel nothing but coldness—and a bit of her long-time resentment for the mess he’d made of her life so long ago.
Instead, she felt so many emotions she couldn’t name them all. Anger, shame…and still a hint of that old attraction to a man who was never anything but bad for her. Poison.
“You have n
othing to apologize for,” Claudia said softly. “My husband’s cousin puts on a good show, Lucinda, but he’s truly not as bad as he seems.”
“You’re forgetting,” Lucinda said with a slightly wry look, “I knew him in high school.”
Claudia tilted her head. “Did…something happen between you and Holden back then?”
“What a crazy question!” Lucinda averted her gaze. “Why on earth would you ask me something like that?”
“Well, you seem awfully…angry with him over something. And it has been a long time….”
Lucinda nodded. “You’re right, it has, and my mood really doesn’t have a thing to do with Holden.” It was a lie, but not entirely. She’d been feeling like hell for weeks now. She’d get the results of her ultrasound test tomorrow, and she was dreading what she’d hear. She had a pretty fair idea about what was going on with her body.
“I probably shouldn’t have taken it out on him,” she said, but she didn’t mean it.
“What is bothering you, Lucinda?”
She shook her head. “Oh, the usual. You know, with every baby I deliver it seems I hear my biological clock ticking louder than before.”
Claudia smiled. “Got that urge, huh?”
“I’ve had that urge for some time now. And my time’s running out.”
“Don’t be silly. You’re only…”
“Thirty-four,” she said, lowering her eyes to hide the fear she knew she couldn’t hide. “And then there’s the clinic.”
“Still can’t get the funding, huh?”
Lucinda shook her head. “Health care for lower income women around here is practically nonexistent. And my big plans to change that state of things don’t seem to be going anywhere.”
“I don’t see why you won’t just let Matthew and I back you.”
“I need several backers, not just one. The amount I need to get this clinic up and running is too much to expect one person to give. And taking money from friends—especially the kind of money we’re talking about here—is never a good idea, Claudia. You know how I feel about that. Besides, the Fortunes aren’t the only wealthy family in Texas. I want to do this on my own. I just have to convince the local bigshots to open up their pockets for a good cause.”
“Just know you can count on us if you need to,” Claudia said.
Lucinda nodded and squeezed her friend’s hand. “I do know. And I’m grateful.”
“Come on,” Claudia said, tugging Lucinda toward the back of the room and the wide, curving staircase. “Let’s go up and see if Bryan’s ready to make his big entrance.”
“Hey, hold on a minute. We’ll come with you,” a voice called from behind.
Lucinda stiffened, because it was Holden’s voice. The voice that could still send delicious shivers up her spine yet make her want to claw his eyes out all at the same time. She turned, fixing a false smile onto her face as Holden and Matthew joined them at the foot of the stairs.
Maria had been quietly observing all of them, watching the women parade around in their expensive clothes, perfect hair, glamorous nails and real jewels. Watching the men, who watched the women. Rich bastards, all of them. When it looked as if the party was in full swing, and most of the guests had arrived, Maria slipped away again, up to the nursery to collect James. It was time for the big announcement. Time to watch them all pale with shock when they realized that she had mothered one of their own. That she wouldn’t be content to be merely tolerated or seen as a former servant, or as the daughter of Ryan Fortune’s whore. No. She’d be one of them now.
She slipped into the nursery, and leaned over the bassinet, cooing softly. Then she went still, because all that lay inside was the rumpled, down-soft blanket, and a large sheet of paper.
“James?” she whispered. What…
A soft gurgling noise made her turn her head sharply toward the massive crib at the far end of the room. That was it. Someone must have moved the baby. She quickly went to the crib, only to stop dead again. It wasn’t James staring up at her with wide, baby-blue eyes and a toothless, dribbly smile. It was Bryan. Matthew’s legitimate son.
Oh, God, where was James?
Her heart in her throat, Maria rushed back to the bassinet. Only then did she begin to panic. That sheet of paper seemed to stare up at her, daring her to look at it, to read what it said.
With the tip of a fingernail, she lifted the top fold.
We have taken Bryan Fortune. He will be returned unharmed, as soon as you have delivered fifty million dollars in cash.
“Fifty million…” Maria whispered. Kidnapped! Her son—her James—had been kidnapped! Mistaken for Bryan Fortune. Whoever had done this probably hadn’t even noticed the other baby in the crib across the room. Maria hadn’t when she’d first come in.
Fifty million dollars. Who would give fifty million dollars for an illegitimate little boy like James? Not the Fortune family. Even if they knew he was one of their own, even if Maria could somehow prove it to them…no, because James’s appearance in this family would throw their golden lives into chaos. They’d never pay. They’d let the kidnappers sell him or…or worse.
Maria’s throat went dry as she backed away from the bassinet and the cruel reality that was forcing its way into her mind. There was no way to get her baby back. No way…
Her back touched the crib, and the other child inside it cooed and chirped at her. She turned.
What if the Fortunes believed that it was Bryan who’d been taken? No one knew James even existed. What if…
What if she took little Bryan…for just a little while? Just until the ransom was paid and James was safe again. Then she’d switch the babies back, make it all right. Somehow….
Somehow.
She bent over the crib, gathering Bryan Fortune into her arms. “You won’t mind so much, will you, little one? I’ll take good care of you, and you’ll be back with your mamma in no time at all. It’s not so much to ask, is it? To save my baby’s life?”
The baby smiled as if in response, and Maria wrapped him in a blanket and snuggled him close, smelling his baby smell as tears welled up in her eyes. “God, this all went so wrong…so wrong…”
She paused on the way out, licking her lips as she looked once more at the note in the bassinet. This had to look real, it had to be convincing. Cradling the baby close with one arm, she quickly picked up the note, using the edge of a receiving blanket to cover her fingers. No fingerprints. She mustn’t leave a trace. She carried the note to Bryan’s crib, dropped it inside, and hurried away before she could change her mind.
Two
As they walked up the stairs, Claudia and Matthew fell into step, side by side, hand in hand, leading the way. Leaving Lucinda to walk at Holden’s side. And the whole time, she swore he never took his eyes off her. She got the feeling he had some special X-ray vision that could see right through her clothes. Then again, that view was one he’d seen before—and it hadn’t made much of an impression on him then.
He certainly did seem to be paying attention now, though.
Men. She wished she could think like they did, feel like they did. All she wanted was a relationship that could develop into something…something like Claudia had with Matthew. She wanted a husband, a baby…
God, she wanted a baby so much….
But all her efforts at relationships had turned out in one of two ways. Either the man she was seeing wanted no commitment at all or he wanted too much of one. Mostly the latter. One man after another had bid her adios when it became apparent that she wasn’t willing to give up her practice, or her plans of building a clinic, to devote her full attention to him.
Maybe she didn’t need a man at all. Maybe all she needed was a willing sperm donor. A one-night stand.
“So, Lucy,” Holden said. “What are you doing after the party?”
She blinked at his interruption of her rather uncharacteristic and slightly shocking train of thought. She told herself not to imagine his gold-blond hair and sky-blue eyes on a
little baby. The baby that she’d lost all those years ago—maybe the only baby she would ever have a part in creating. But she imagined it anyway, and an evil thought entered her mind. About poetic justice. About his potential as a sperm donor. It was totally unlike her to think of such things as trickery and deception. But where Holden Fortune was concerned, it did seem justified.
And she already knew he was fond of one-night stands. “Um, why do you ask?”
They’d reached the top of the stairs. Claudia and Matthew were already heading down the hall, but Holden stopped there, turning to face her. “I don’t know, really. I guess…I’d like to make up for being such a jerk to you in high school.”
She felt the blush creeping into her face. “So you do remember.”
“No, I really don’t. I mean, I remember you, but not the part about being a jerk. But Claudia says…” He stopped. “I said the wrong thing.”
Lucinda shook her head. For a moment she’d thought maybe that special, horrible, wonderful night hadn’t been erased from his mind almost before it had ended. But she’d been wrong. It had.
“Look, I drank a lot in high school,” he blurted, trying to explain his way out of an awkward moment.
“Dated a lot, too.”
“I wouldn’t call it dating.” He gave her a sheepish smile.
“You haven’t changed a bit, have you, Holden?”
“Sure I have. And to tell you the truth, I’m dying to know what I did to make you seem so…unfriendly now. Why don’t you have dinner with me tonight and we can…talk.”
She narrowed her eyes and stared at him. Why not? If he wanted to wine her and dine her and take her to bed, why not go along with it? Maybe she’d get what she wanted out of the deal. A baby. Of her own, with no man and no strings attached. Lord knew, Holden wouldn’t be the type to demand joint custody. He couldn’t even commit to a steady girlfriend, much less a child. Hell, he might not even remember having fathered her baby after the fact.
Million Dollar Marriage Page 3
