Читать книгу Million Dollar Marriage - Maggie Shayne - Страница 11

The Fortune Family’s Double Crown Ranch, June 1999

Everyone was here for the party. Holden, looking angry about something—and without a woman on his arm for once. He must really be out of sorts. Matthew and Claudia, beaming with pride over their child. And why not? Bryan Fortune was lucky, born into billions, with half the county here to celebrate his christening. Even that snooty OB-GYN who’d delivered him was here. Lucinda whatever her name was.

Maria Cassidy used the back door. “The servants’ entrance,” though the phony Fortune family would never be heard referring to it that way. It was how they thought of it, though. Oh, they put on a good show. But that’s all it was. A show. The way the Fortune men had used Maria’s mother, Lily, and then tossed her aside was proof of that. The way Ryan Fortune was still using her. But Ryan’s guise as the kindly patriarch didn’t fool Maria. Nor did his claim to be madly in love with her mother. If he’d loved her, he would never have dumped her thirty years ago, leaving her alone and pregnant.

He’d fathered Maria’s brother, Cole. Him, or that philandering brother of his, Cameron. Maria couldn’t be certain. Her mother refused to say exactly what had happened when she’d worked in the Fortunes’ household as a girl. She hadn’t told anyone, not even Ryan, whom she’d “found again” after thirty years. None of the Fortunes knew about the crown-shaped birthmark Maria’s brother bore, identifying him clearly as one of their own. And Cole said he didn’t care.

But Maria cared. Part of the Fortunes’ wealth rightfully belonged to her family. To her mother for years of suffering and silence. To her brother who’d been denied his share. Cameron and Ryan Fortune were to blame, she was certain, for her family being cut out. But Cameron was already dead, and burning in hell if there was any justice in the world. And Ryan…he would soon be in a hell of his own, a hell of Maria’s creation. And his whole rich family would be there with him.

Maria clutched the tiny bundle in her arms closer, jiggling him gently as she slipped past the kitchen unnoticed. Little James was blessedly quiet. Good. She didn’t want to spoil her surprise by giving it away too soon. In the kitchen, that witch housekeeper, Rosita Perez, made enough noise to cover any James might make anyway. Barking orders to the staff as if she were one of the Fortunes. She’d never liked Maria. Always acted superior, even though she was just a glorified maid. Chief cook and bottle washer to the great Fortune clan. Had been forever, even thirty years ago when Maria’s mother had worked in this very house, in that very kitchen. And one year ago, when Maria had done the same.

Just like her mother, Maria had managed to sleep with a couple of Fortune males. Unlike her mother, she’d had a motive…to bear a Fortune child of her own and claim what her entire family should have claimed long ago. A fair share. And though Maria’s attempts had been unsuccessful at first, she’d found a way. Unorthodox, perhaps, but a way all the same. Just like her mother, Maria Cassidy had given birth to a Fortune child. Little James bore the distinctive, hereditary crown-shaped birthmark on the small of his back. Just like Maria’s brother, Cole.

That part of her plan was complete. This was the next step. Maria intended to tell the whole world who had fathered her child, and claim what was rightfully hers. A piece of the Fortune pie. A big piece.

She slipped through the old pantry to the back stairs and went up them, knowing every inch of this estate by heart. The nursery was at the end of the hall, and that was where Maria headed, on tiptoe, careful not to be seen.

When she stepped into the lavish nursery, she grimaced. ¡Dios! That Ryan’s grandchild Bryan should have all this while her own son had nothing! While her own brother had worked his tail off for everything he’d ever achieved. While her own mother had gone without all these years….

The crib at the farthest end of the nursery was hand-tooled light oak, and probably worth a bundle. The walls had been elaborately decorated with bright colors, and building blocks and teddy bears. The rocking chair was an antique. And the bassinet… God, the bassinet…

Maria went to it and ran her hands over the gleaming wood. It wasn’t a piece of furniture. It was a work of art. “This is where you belong, James,” she whispered to her son as she laid him gently inside it. “That’s right, darling. Sleep. Just sleep. Mamma will be back for you when the moment is right.” Bending closer, she kissed her son’s silken cheek, then straightened, and stepped back into the hall, closing the door softly behind her.

She paused there, took a breath, and wondered briefly if she were making a mistake. But no. This was right. She had to do something. She couldn’t let her mother go on sleeping with Ryan Fortune, believing that he loved her, believing that he would divorce that barracuda wife of his and marry Lily. He wouldn’t. He’d leave her high and dry…just like before. He still hadn’t acknowledged Cole as a Fortune. If he loved Lily, he would at least have owned up to having fathered her firstborn. Because even though Lily had never told him, he must at least suspect the truth. The man could add, couldn’t he? Lily had given birth to Cole only eight months after running away from the Double Crown Ranch—only seven months after marrying Maria’s father, big, gentle Chester Cassidy.

Well, Ryan Fortune would acknowledge James as his grandson. Maria would force him to.

It was the perfect setting for her revelation. A lavish, no-holds-barred christening party for Matthew’s child, Ryan’s grandchild, Bryan Fortune. But this whole clan would soon find out that they had another child to celebrate. Maria’s child. James.

And he was here to take his rightful place in the world. Her son was a Fortune. And he would not be denied!

Holden Fortune was not amused. His uncle Ryan had paraded no less than a dozen “nice young ladies” past him tonight in a thinly veiled effort at match-making that was doomed to failure. He’d just introduced yet another; a petite little thing that reminded Holden of a mouse. Holden’s brisk greeting had sent her skittering off in search of someone friendlier. Uncle Ryan was scowling at him in a fairly good impersonation of Heston’s scowling at Brynner in The Ten Commandments.

“I don’t understand you, Holden. We all know you like women—”

“Ever the king of understatement,” Holden remarked dryly, taking another sip of bourbon and branch.

“So, what’s the problem? Every girl I’ve brought over here has been attractive, and nice and—”

“I don’t want attractive and nice, Uncle Ryan. I want drop-dead gorgeous and very, very naughty. Especially tonight. ‘Nice’ just isn’t gonna cut it tonight.”

Around him were more people than he’d seen at the last cattlemen’s convention. Two-thirds of them family. All the colorful Mexican rugs had been rolled back and the double patio doors thrown wide. The crowd spilled out into the courtyard where Rosita had piled food on tables and Matthew manned the barbecue pit. The smells were damned mouthwatering. Yet Holden had no appetite.

“You’re going to have to stop this,” Ryan ordered in his head-honcho tone.

“Stop what?”

“You know damned well what. Holden you are not your father. You don’t need to go through life trying to live up to his reputation as a playboy. You can settle down, find a good woman, make a life—”

“Yeah, dear ol’ Daddy made sure I would, didn’t he? Went so far as to write it into an ironclad will that I can’t inherit my fair share until I do.”

Ryan nodded solemnly. “And just why do you think my brother did that, Holden?”

Holden shrugged. “Because he was a bastard?”

Ryan lowered his head quickly, probably to hide a hint of amusement. “I like to think my brother realized the error of his ways, in the end. I like to think he wrote those conditions into his will so his firstborn son wouldn’t make the same mistakes he did.”

Holden sighed deeply and shook his head. “Therein lies the problem, Uncle Ryan. If I marry some decent woman, I will be doing just that. Repeating my father’s mistakes. Ruining a good woman’s life by tying her to me. For God’s sake, look at my mother.”

Ryan did. He glanced up, scanned the crowd. Holden followed his gaze and found Mary Ellen Fortune standing alone, a drink in her hand, staring up at the portrait of her dead husband. Fifty-six, and still a knockout. She’d kept her figure. Her red hair didn’t have a streak of gray in it, and since Cameron’s death, she’d even had it cut into a more modern style that bobbed just above her shoulders and moved when she did.

“She was wasted on him,” Holden said. “He made her miserable. And I wouldn’t want to follow in his footsteps by making some other good woman equally unhappy. Unfortunately, unless I do, I don’t inherit a dime.”

Ryan looked back at Holden again. “Your lawyers…”

“I spoke to them an hour ago. It’s over. The judge upheld the will as is. No more appeals, no more contesting it. It’s over.”

Ryan sighed deeply. “I’m sorry, Holden.”

“Yeah. So am I.” Holden took a long pull from his glass.

“But just because your father was a womanizing louse, doesn’t mean you have to be.”

“Too late, Uncle Ryan. I already am.” He glanced up at his father’s portrait. The golden boy looked down at him. His smile seemed to Holden almost mocking. Blond hair, blue eyes, clean-cut, all-American, rich SOB. It was like looking into a mirror. Holden lifted his glass in mock salute. “You win, Dad.” Then he downed the contents. As he did, he spotted exactly what he’d been looking for. Someone he could take home, take to bed, and ravage in every possible way until he got this will stuff out of his system.

She was standing near the barbecue pit, talking to Matthew and his wife Claudia. Her back was to Holden, but he could see enough. She was…exquisite. Jet hair, so black it seemed almost blue in the slanting afternoon sun. So smooth…like satin. He’d bet her eyes were dark, too. Ebon, and slanted. Native American eyes, to go with that bronze skin. Slender, yeah, with just the right curves to her. She was hot. Dressed to hide it, sure. Forest-green silk suit. But that skirt was short, and tight, and her legs looked as if they never ended. She’d be a wild woman in bed.

“Now there’s someone I’d like to meet,” he muttered to Ryan, and when his uncle didn’t answer, Holden turned to see he’d lost Ryan’s attention. It had been stolen the second Lily Cassidy had entered the room. As usual, Uncle Ryan only had eyes for the dark beauty who’d captured his heart thirty years ago, and only recently come back into his life. Lily’s heart was in her eyes as she crossed the room and Ryan took her hands. If anyone in the world deserved to be happy, it was those two. Holden wished for the millionth time that Sophia would just agree to the divorce and set his uncle free. Everyone knew it was the money she’d been after all along.

With a sigh, he returned his attention to the other dark beauty, the one out in the courtyard with his cousin the doctor. He supposed he ought to be grateful for at least one of his father’s traits—he’d never yet met a woman who would tell him no. And from the looks of her, he didn’t expect this one to be the first. Holden exchanged his empty glass for a full one at the portable bar set up in the great room, and sauntered out through the wide-open patio doors to the pit where Matthew tended the ribs. He pretended great interest in the cooking process, all the while keeping one eye on the lucky woman he’d chosen to ease his misery tonight. “Anything I can do, cousin?”

“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 nothing 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.