A CHANGE OF FORTUNE

by Crystal Green

  The man I see before me has never had to work for anything his entire life, she’d told him. And from the look on his face, she’d hit a target. She’d been kidding around mainly, but she’d halfway meant it, too.

  She worked damned hard for what she had, mostly because her mother had taught her that she shouldn’t rely on looks. So she’d fought for everything, and it’d only gotten harder in the Air Force, where she’d felt she had to be twice as good as her male counterparts to get ahead....

  Her cell phone rang, and she glanced at the ID screen. An unfamiliar number. So she answered professionally.

  “Laurel Redmond speaking.”

  “Just the woman I’m looking for,” said a low, drawling voice that spun her sideways and back.

  She paused, not because she didn’t remember the voice—how could she forget it?—but because she was catching her breath.

  Sawyer.

  “Laurel? You there?”

  “I’m here. You were serious about those lessons, huh?”

  “Funny, there aren’t many people who’d say I’m serious about much, Laur.”

  She wanted to correct him. It’s Laurel. But she liked the Georgia-inflected way he said it, drawing out the one syllable, as if trying to make it last longer than it should.

  “When were you thinking of booking the lesson?” she asked, barely aware that she’d leaned her elbows on the desk, like a teenager in a fifties musical.

  “I can play around with my schedule. How about you?”

  Play around. Nope, she wasn’t going to think he’d said it purposely.

  “Today and tomorrow are full,” she said. “And I’m off work the day after. Then I’ve got a string of charter flights the rest of the week.”

  “Off the day after tomorrow, huh? Do you do much riding where you came from?”

  “In the Air Force?” It was as much of a home as she’d ever had. “Not really. I haven’t ridden a horse in...hell, years.”

  Not since she was a teenager and she’d volunteered at a ranch for troubled kids who took care of horses as part of their therapy. She’d loved the work, but on a more practical level, it’d also looked great to the college-scholarship committees.

  “Years?” he said. “Then I think it’s time you got back in the saddle, Laurel Redmond. What do you say you come over on your day off and we postpone those flying lessons for now? I’ll have my cook whip something up that you like and we’ll ride out to a nice spot where we can laugh about all the poor married people in Red Rock.”

  Was she really considering this? Hanging out with Sawyer Fortune, flirting a little more with him?

  Yes. Yes, she was.

  Someone came through the open door to the office, and she glanced up to see her brother with an iPad in hand. He wanted to go over scheduling with her.

  She waved him out, but that only made Tanner realize that she was trying to hide something. He leaned against the wall, his dark eyes full of questions as he nodded toward the phone.

  She tried to shoo him off again while wrapping up the discussion with Sawyer.

  “The day after tomorrow will be great,” she said, totally professional once more.

  “How about nine o’clock? We’ll have brunch, beat the heat by getting out to ride early. You know where New Fortunes Ranch is?”

  “I can GPS it.”

  “Forget that.” He gave her directions from the airport.

  “Thank you.”

  If he’d been bewildered by her change in tone, he didn’t say it, and they both hung up. Laurel laid her phone on the desk and expectantly looked at Tanner.

  “You know,” he said, “I could hear you chirping away on the phone before I came in.”

  Chirping?

  “It was business,” she said. “As in, none of yours.”

  Tanner chuckled. “I wasn’t sure it was really you. You haven’t sounded that lighthearted since...”

  He trailed off, but she knew where he’d been going.

  “Since Steve, right?” she asked.

  “Yeah.” Tanner’s jaw tightened. “It’s been about two years since that lout screwed you over, but it feels like yesterday. I still want to throttle him.”

  Laurel had gone past that and into the numbness stage a while ago. Or maybe she’d just been numb all along, ever since their father had left Mom high and dry, working two jobs to make ends meet, sacrificing any sort of personal life for her kids’ comfort. Tanner, Parker and Laurel had needed to grow up fast. She herself had girded herself against so-called romance early, only letting Steve in. If she’d had trust issues before he had come along, she sure had a thousand more now.

  Tanner had heard about every bit of it, too. He, along with Parker, had been her big, loving brother.

  Laurel got out of her chair, sitting on the edge of her desk, wanting Tanner to see that she could walk away from that phone and the conversation she’d been having on it—that she was the independent woman she’d always wanted to be.

  “I realized last night that I want to have some fun, Tanner,” she said. “I’ve missed fun so much. I really haven’t gotten out lately, and when I did last night, it occurred to me that it’d be great to have a guy around. It doesn’t have to be anything serious. I grew up with a lot of males—you, Parker—and I’ve been around them ever since. I’m used to them. I miss them, too, but not in a...”

  She was about to say “romantic way,” but Tanner was already gripping the iPad, his knuckles white.

  She went over to him, resting her hand on his, and he finally loosened up.

  “I’m never going to forget what Steve did to me,” she said. “So don’t worry.”

  “I don’t have to tell you to be careful, then?”

  “I’m always careful. You know that better than anyone.”

  And she meant it, even if she was going on a picnic tomorrow with Sawyer Fortune, the playboy of his family.

  The kind of man she would never, ever get serious with.

  Chapter Three

  Sawyer should’ve known that Laurel would be just as skilled in a saddle as she was in a cockpit.

  By the time midmorning had rolled around, she’d bonded with her gray American Quarter horse, Old Smokey, guiding him over the riding trails on the New Fortunes Ranch just as if she knew where each path led. And when they arrived at the creek where he’d planned to stop for their brunch, she didn’t need to be told how to loosen Old Smokey’s girth or how to tether him to a nearby cottonwood.

  After he took care of his paint, Lone Star, they unpacked their saddlebags. Laurel spread a plaid blanket over the ground as he brought out the picnic Carmen had packed for them: thermoses of coffee and orange juice, a fruit salad and breakfast baguette sandwiches with goat cheese, bacon and arugula.

  Sawyer poured the juice into the mugs as Laurel fixed their plates. Meanwhile, the creek water burbled by, the cottonwoods lending shade from the morning summer sun, the horses nickering in the near distance.

  “Will Carmen be around after our ride so I can thank her for this?” Laurel asked, sitting with her legs to the side. Her long blond braid hung over a shoulder, and she was wearing a light blue shirt with a bit of lace at the scooped collar. She was so feminine, even with the cut muscles of her arms testifying that she was as athletic as they came.

  “She should be,” Sawyer said. “Carmen keeps the house tidy, too. She calls herself my backup mom.”

  “And your real mom? Is she anything like Carmen, cooking and cleaning for you?”

  Sawyer laughed. “Her talents are better put to use in other areas. She went back to school recently for her degree.”

  “Good for her.”

  He was about to ask about Laurel’s mom—her entire family, too—but she changed the subject. Intentionally? Sawyer wasn’t sure.

  “Thanks for bringing me out here,” she said. “I can’t believe I’ve lived in Texas for about a year and I haven’t stopped to smell the roses like this. I needed it.”

  “You seem
like a busy person.”

  “I like to stay that way, but wherever I’ve lived or traveled, I usually enjoy taking in the culture.”

  Sawyer scooped some fruit salad onto his fork. “What’s your favorite country that you spent time in?”

  “Oh, that’s like asking me what my favorite book is, or my favorite movie—I have lists and can never choose a number one.” She shrugged. “But I liked being stationed in Germany quite a bit. Cologne was great. It has a big cathedral that I loved to just stare at, plus ancient churches. Romans settled there over two thousand years ago, and they left their mark.”

  She must be a trivia buff. “Germany. I’ve been there, but it was a long time ago, right after I got out of college. I took one of those grand tours, backpacking style.”

  “With a friend?”

  “Yeah. My college roommate. But we made a few more friends along the way, especially in the beer halls.”

  “What a surprise. Would I be wrong if I said that they were probably buddies of the female persuasion?”

  It was Sawyer’s turn to shrug. He didn’t answer, just grinned and bit into his sandwich.

  Laurel didn’t seem to mind, though, as she stretched her legs in front of her, balancing her plate on her thighs and planting her hands on the ground. She was echoing his own posture, except she was raising her face to the branch-covered sky while he was watching her.

  Sawyer enjoyed that she was enjoying herself. And he also appreciated that he could just hang out with a woman like this—no expectations, no pressure, no dealing with questions about whether there were strings attached to this time they were spending together.

  But who was he fooling? She was more of a challenge than any woman he had encountered before, and that was part of the appeal.

  A huge part.

  As Laurel sighed, sat up straight and nibbled at her sandwich, his belly went tight. Even the way she chewed was sexy.

  After she swallowed, she said, “You really picked a good spot to settle down on.”

  Settle down? Her turn of phrase made him grin. He’d already told her that he would never settle down.

  “One of the things that drew me to Red Rock was how much land is available,” he said. “I can have as many horses as I want here. I can ride them in any direction and it feels like the world is a million miles away.”

  She was watching him with a small smile, and he saw the same appreciation in her blue gaze—a need to get away from it all, whether you were half the globe away from home or right smack-dab in the middle of it.

  “You’re lucky,” she said. “To have time enough to ride and lollygag on this ranch, I mean.”

  He recalled what she’d said the other night about him never having to work for anything.

  Holding his juice mug, he didn’t drink from it. He just stared at the creek trickling by. “You were right when you said that things have come easily to me. I really don’t have to work. Partly because I’m a Fortune.”

  “And what’s the other part?”

  He wasn’t sure. What was he besides a Fortune?

  “Well,” he said, “back when I was doing publicity and marketing for JMF Financial, I invested everything I earned carefully. Even without an inheritance, I’m a pretty wealthy person.”

  She laughed at his bluntness. “Not that you’re bragging or anything.”

  “I’m not. It’s just that it’s simple to make money when you already have money. I am very lucky, just like you said.”

  She acknowledged all of that, then kept on eating, picking a piece off her baguette.

  Did she think he was a rich, spoiled Fortune brat? She wasn’t acting like it, taking what he was saying in stride. Strange, because he’d never been able to say serious things like this to a woman.

  After she swallowed the bread, she said, “I’d be insanely envious of you if I didn’t know all that gossip about your dad and him giving away half of JMF’s majority shares to...what’s her name? Jeanne Marie?”

  “Yeah. Even rich people can be dysfunctional, huh?”

  “You guys just get more publicity about it.”

  They laughed again, because it was true.

  Was there anyone easier to talk to than Laurel Redmond? Ironic, seeing as that she hadn’t let many guys at Mendoza’s get a word out before she had them turning tail and going the other way.

  An odd warmth rotated in his chest at the thought that she’d deemed him worthy of getting past her barriers.

  He picked up his sandwich. “So it sounds like my family’s probably not the only one with weird dynamics.”

  She’d been about to take a sip of orange juice, and she paused with the mug halfway to her lips, continuing after a second. It was as if drinking had given her an extra couple of seconds to formulate a response.

  “I suppose,” she said, after putting her drink down, “I could write a book on family dysfunction. My father—and I use the term loosely—hasn’t shown his face since he walked out on us more than twenty years ago.”

  At least Sawyer had a father, faults and all. “I’m sorry to hear that. It must’ve been rough.”

  “I can’t help thinking we got the good end of the deal.”

  She brushed the whole thing off, just as if the topic were a heap of crumbs on the picnic blanket.

  Why did he get the feeling that she was putting on some kind of act, though? Had it been the too-cool tone of her voice? The way she was acting just a little more casual than most people would’ve?

  Miss Independence, he thought. Had she become that way because her dad had set her attitude in motion long ago?

  Before they could talk any more about it, she changed the subject again, just as she had earlier when they’d been discussing moms.

  “This really was a great idea, Sawyer. I almost hate to go back to work tomorrow.”

  “Play hooky.” He grinned.

  “So says the billionaire.”

  “I’m serious. Why not?”

  She was looking at him as if he came from another universe. “Because if I cancel the charter flights I have, business will go elsewhere. I’m still establishing a client base. Besides, today was only the first meeting of the Red Rock singleton club, right? We can have, say, one a month.”

  “I’ve got a birthday this Sunday,” he said, not letting her off the hook that easily. “We should have another meeting to celebrate it. My brothers are throwing a small cocktail party for my big two-eight and—”

  She picked up her napkin and tossed it at him, laughing. “No way!”

  For a second, he thought he’d overstepped with her.

  Until her laughter really kicked in.

  “My birthday’s Monday,” she finally said. “Madame Luna should’ve told us we’re almost twins.”

  Two of a kind, he thought again. He’d already known it, just as Laurel had known his number right off the bat.

  “Then you’re not getting out of that cocktail party,” he said. “We’ll celebrate your birthday, too, but just a little early.”

  He didn’t add that having her at the small-scale party the night before his parents would be returning to town would take his mind off more troubles.

  She’d gone quiet, her gaze on the creek, pensive. Was this where she was going to tell him that she’d changed her mind? That he was going places with her she hadn’t asked for?

  Sawyer was done being coy. And he supposed that Laurel was too much of a straight shooter for them to talk around this anymore.

  “I’m gonna lay this out there,” he said. “I like being around you, Laurel.”

  Her gaze was on the blanket now. “Same here. I’m having a great time. But I meant it when I said that I don’t do relationships.”

  Why don’t you? he wanted to ask. Because of your father and how he left you and your family?

  He got the feeling there was more to it than even that.

  But, like her, he didn’t get in too deep, so he refrained from digging.

  “I wasn’t blow
ing smoke about being single and loving it, either,” he said.

  “So what’re you saying? That we should be single together? Friends with benefits?”

  A straight shooter, all right, and her naked comment got him right in the gut. He burned for her there, imagining her silky hair running through his fingers, her mouth under his...

  He had to know. “If it’s a bad idea, then just tell me. But I have to say that I don’t find many women who aren’t aiming for marriage, and it’s a relief that you’re not.”

  “Right,” she said softly. “Never marriage.”

  Her voice was bolstered by a conviction so strong that he studied her a little more. She met his gaze, and hers was a liquid blue that made his blood rush through him.

  It was clear that they were on the same page about everything.

  “What if I kissed you,” he asked, “just to see how it might work out?”

  She didn’t say anything, but he took that as a good sign, because he could see that she wanted a kiss.

  A kiss would tell him what she was made of: Was she a woman of the world or just a girl who talked tough? A singleton who could put her money where her mouth was or a closet romantic who had told herself that she wasn’t looking for love when she actually was?

  When she leaned toward him, he was pulled toward her, too, by some force within himself. And when her eyes closed, her thick lashes like wispy fans on her tanned skin, his heart gave a tiny leap that made him wonder where it’d been all these years.

  Their lips touched softly, but deep inside Sawyer, there was a hard thud of longing that rocked him.

  A brush of the mouths, an inhalation that chopped through him as she pulled away, as if she’d only wanted to test him.

  His lips tingled. And Sawyer had never tingled there before.

  She was breathy when she whispered, “I think that’s a good sign.”

  Even now, he could feel her words on his lips, because they were still within an inch of each other. He could feel the warmth of her skin suffusing his face.

  “Is it a good one?” he asked. “Because I could imagine even better signs between us.”

  She laughed, a bare sound that she covered up by angling away from him, then grabbing her plate. The shift in atmosphere was so abrupt that he didn’t move.