Fortune in Name Only
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Tara Taylor Quinn
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19
Chapter One
“Ma’am, you can’t mean that.” Turning his charm on full power, Asa Fortune also injected huge amounts of sincere emotion into his gaze as he looked the widow in the eye. “I’ve just offered you a generous amount, more than you’re asking for the place.”
The woman liked him. Asa knew she did. He rented a cabin on the ranch, boarded his horse there. Helped her out around the place.
When she started to shake her head, he burst into words. “Mrs. Hensen, you’ve put fifty years of your life into the Chatelaine Dude Ranch. You and your husband raised your kids here. And you also, in a way, raised me,” he admitted without a bit of shame. “I was here with my family when I was little, and it was one of the best times of my life. Because of those days, I became a rancher. I bought Majority right out of high school,” he told her, naming the horse that he was currently boarding at the Chatelaine. “Together, we’ve traveled all over the state of Texas, working ranches, learning, preparing for this chance. I can promise you, there’s no one you can trust more to carry on your legacy than Major and I.”
All true, although he’d never believed his young boyhood dream of owning the Chatelaine Dude Ranch would ever come true. As an adult, he’d just been hoping to have his own ranch someday. And for the past twelve years, he’d worked tirelessly toward that goal.
Asa saw the flash of hope cross her face. He didn’t imagine it. So it made no sense when she shook her head again.
Maybe he was the one missing something?
At an uncharacteristic loss for words, he watched the widow’s mouth move and could barely comprehend what he was hearing.
“I’ve realized that I can’t bear to sell the place to anyone who isn’t married.”
What? His brain started to sputter a flurry of responses, but she continued before he could articulate even one of them.
“This is a family ranch,” she told him. “My heart breaks at the thought of it not going to a couple who will love it, invest their hearts in it together, like my husband and I did. There are tough days running a dude ranch,” she continued. “Times when something goes wrong, and families need reassurance at the same time. And times when you’re so busy, you’re too exhausted, and you might want to quit, but then your spouse reminds you of the great days and suddenly you have energy again. And holidays...they’re celebrated like family here, with owners who are a family and who understand the importance of family...”
“I understand the importance of family!” Asa burst out, interrupting her. Could he really be so close to sweet success and still fail? Lose a lifelong dream when he’d already mentally moved in? There were other bidders for the popular ranch, though he’d heard none were full price. Still, chances were good some were married. “Family is why I moved to Chatelaine last summer, right before you put up your For Sale sign! My relatives have been in Chatelaine for as long as you have! Many were born here. It’s family inheritance money, from my great-uncle, that brought me here...”
She already knew most of what he was rambling on about. The whole town had heard about the letters the Fortune grandchildren had received from Freya Fortune, the previous summer, summoning them to Chatelaine to receive an inheritance they hadn’t known existed.
Just as they hadn’t been privy to the whereabouts of their disgraced uncle for years, or been aware that he’d married Freya.
Asa just couldn’t be holding his dream in his arms and let it slip away. Not when he knew he could not only honor the Chatelaine legacy exactly as Val Hensen wanted but help the business grow and prosper for generations to come. “I not only see your and Mr. Hensen’s vision for this place, I share it,” he told her in an impassioned plea that was totally unlike himself.
When he saw a second shake of her head, his system went into total freeze mode. Unable to process what he was dealing with, or come up with a way to smile his way to victory, he blurted, “You can’t just turn down the highest offer because of my marriage status.”
And knew he’d made a grave mistake, turning the conversation adversarial, before he even registered the tightening of her expression.
“You come back here with that offer and a marriage license and we’ll talk,” the widow said in a less friendly tone. “For now, I’m taking the place off the market.”
That first Monday in March was supposed to have been the day his life’s dream came true. Instead, it was turning into a nightmare.
With those parting words, the widow shut the door in his face.
Lily Perry might have slowed her step as she saw Asa Fortune’s truck turn onto Main Street right as she was deciding what to do on her break from work. The choice between heading to the bank and paying her electric bill, or stopping at the coffee shop was made for her when she saw him slow down. He might or might not head in for coffee himself, but if he was going to do so, she wanted to be there to hear his good news.
She’d been leaning toward the latter choice in any event. The bill wouldn’t be late for another two days, which gave her a couple of more shifts at the café to earn tips. And maybe a chance to pay the bill without drawing on her somewhat limited savings account.
Not that anyone else in the world knew that piece of the puzzle. Both of her sisters, newly reunited with her, had the means, and, she was sure, the willingness to front her a loan if she ever needed it. But she’d die before asking.
Having provided fully for herself since she was seventeen years old, she knew how to make extra cash if she needed it. Had even driven a couple of towns over to clean house a time or two when she’d been strapped for cash.
Seeing Asa’s truck slow just before the coffeehouse, all thoughts of personal cash flow flew the coop. The man had taken control of her senses since he’d moved to town the summer before. And while he’d dated seemingly every available female in Chatelaine except her, her heart still jumped at the chance to be the recipient of that magnetic smile.
And, maybe, secretly, it was also a bit thrilling to know that while Asa flitted from woman to woman, she was his one constant. The only female, according to him, who’d become a real friend to him.
Besides, he’d been going to make his dream come true that morning, and she couldn’t wait to share his joy. He knew she’d understand. She’d told him about her personal connection to the dude ranch when he’d run into her and his sister Esme having coffee at the café at the GreatStore. She’d told him then how as a baby, she and her fellow-triplet sisters had spent the day at the dude ranch with their parents.
A few days after the coffee with Esme, she and Haley had run into him downtown, and when Lily told Haley then that Asa was buying the Chatelaine Dude Ranch, her sister had told him why that day at the ranch had meant so much to them. Those hours at the ranch had been the last ones they’d ever spent with their parents. Haley had told him what she knew about the one-car crash that had ripped their parents away from them that night, saying that she kept trying to find out more, but couldn’t seem to.
Her sister had blurted out the story of old wounds that Lily didn’t want to reopen. Ever.
But when Asa had looked at Lily, she’d teared up.
She would never forget the compassion that had filled his compelling brown eyes as he’d asked her how old she’d been.
Nor could she escape the memory of how she’d felt...comforted by his continued interest when she’d told him she’d only been ten months old. She’d quickly turned the subject back to him, in upbeat tones, telling him how she’d keep her fingers crossed for him to get the ranch that had always held such a special place in her heart.
Which was why it hadn’t been a surprise to her when, a couple of days before, he’d stopped by the café at the GreatStore, to tell her he was making the new bid.
Wishing she was in something a little more sexy than her waitressing uniform, she opened the coffeehouse door and waved at the people who glanced up, all of whom she knew. She had her usual smile on her freckled face as she ordered her usual—a hot chocolate—and took a seat at the only two-seater table left available. Her back deliberately to the door.
Which went against the grain for Lily in general. A girl who’d grown up with no real family, moving from one foster home to another, learned at a young age how to keep her own back covered. Even in a small town where everyone looked out for her.
The door opened. Was she the only one in the room not checking to see who’d come in?
If it was Asa, either he’d join her or he wouldn’t.
She’d be fine either way.
Grabbing her phone out of her pocket, Lily hoped it looked as though she’d just had a text buzz for her attention. Or some such thing.
And then, just as quickly, pocketed the device. What was wrong with her? She was a fully grown, twenty-nine-year-old, completely self-sufficient woman. Not a starry-eyed schoolgirl.
Not that she’d know it by the silly flutter her heart gave when she saw a cowboy boot fall into her line of vision. “Mind if I join you?”
The voice...it was his, but something about it wasn’t right.
Forgetting herself, Lily’s gaze shot immediately to Asa’s face. Noted the downturned lips, the flattened cheeks and more than that, the lack of a glint in his so sexy gaze.
“What’s wrong?”
He looked like someone had died.
“Major’s okay, right?” His horse was more family to him than any of the relatives he’d found when he’d arrived in town the year before.
Another thing they had in common—finding family in adulthood, rather than growing up with them. Though she’d known about her triplet sisters growing up, she’d had no idea where they were, and no money or way to find them. Turned out, Tabitha and Haley, who’d both had families, hadn’t even known about her...
“He’s fine.” Setting his coffee on the table with a thump, Asa dropped to the chair across from her. Leaving her with no choice but to stare at his massive shoulders in the button-down shirt beneath his pouty face. Make that gorgeous pouty face.
“Your financing didn’t work the way you wanted,” she guessed then. While she didn’t know the intimate details of his money, nor all that much about managing an inheritance of any size, let alone one as exorbitant as his, she’d known that he’d been overhauling his original purchase and investment budget. The Chatelaine ranch not only needed some updating, but he’d planned some additions, too.
A local horse training program for local children, being one of them.
When he shook his handsome, dark head, she frowned. Then leaned in toward him, her worried gaze meeting his. “What then?”
“She turned me down.”
“She what?!” Realizing she’d raised her voice with the force of her shock, she bent further in to practically whisper, “Why? How can she even do that? You were offering over asking price.”
With a look of total disillusionment, he shrugged. “Says she’ll only sell to a married buyer. Something about having had this epiphany about it being a family place, and she’ll only feel good about it continuing that way if it’s run by a married couple. She had her list of reasons.”
“She can’t do that, can she? Pick and choose a buyer based on someone’s marital status?”
“I have no idea. And it doesn’t matter. She’s taking the place off the market rather than be forced to accept my bid.”
Completely nonplussed, hurting for him, and quite a bit disappointed for herself, too, she stared at him in dismay. Ever since he’d told her he was upping his bid on the property, she’d been toying with the idea of offering to help him out as he took over at the dude ranch, just to give herself a valid excuse to spend time on the land she’d been on the last time she’d been with her parents.
Back when her life, her future, had seemed safe and secure.
When she’d had as many opportunities as her triplet sisters to make a great life for herself.
Not that her life wasn’t great, it was. Just...
Asa’s sad chuckle brought her mind straight back to him. “So, you want to marry me?” His eye roll told her how completely not serious the comment was.
She opened her mouth to offer a chuckle right back to him. A friend commiserating with a friend. And instead, what came out, with a burst of unfamiliar giddiness, was, “Okay.”
“What?” Still wearing the smile that had accompanied his pathetic attempt at a laugh, Asa stared at Lily. As always, those hazel eyes captivated him. He’d never met a woman whose gaze always seemed to be telling him that she had something to say that he needed to hear.
But he had to have heard her wrong. Or her earnest expression was a cover for the laughter that would erupt as soon as he started to take her seriously.
Not that he felt much like being the butt of a joke at the moment. Even hers...
“Okay, I’ll marry you.”
Asa sat straight up. Fast. Cramming his shoulder blades into the back of the chair. Had the world gone mad?
Or the day just hadn’t started yet, and he was caught in some kind of weird nightmare where he meets with a seller and isn’t at all himself. And then gets proposed to by a woman who was probably his best friend in the world. If you could forge such a connection in the short time that he’d known her...
Taking a deep breath, he refrained from pinching himself to verify that, yes, he was really awake. Watching Lily, seeing her fidget, and noting how her freckles were growing more pronounced with the color forming on her cheeks, he took a sip of his coffee that turned out to be a gulp. Of steaming hot liquid.
Which burned the hell out of his tongue.
Yep, he was definitely conscious.
“You can’t be serious,” he said then. Enough time had passed to ensure that she wasn’t about to burst into laughter.
“Why not?” She shrugged. The color on her cheeks intensified even more. Those freckles had become frequent visitors in his dreams. He loved how they gave him clues into Lily’s thoughts. Or emotions.
How they set her apart. Like there was more to hanging out with her than with any other woman.
When he was done with his freckle obsession, he started to silently compile the dozens of reasons “why not.”
“How about if, while you figure out all the why-nots, I tell you why?” Her voice hit him softly...but with the power of a ton of bricks. So much so that he nodded.
But didn’t look away. Because for the first time since Mrs. Hensen had shut that door in his face, Asa was feeling something besides despair.
Of course, he knew there was no way he could ever marry Lily Perry. First, because he wasn’t marrying anyone. But definitely not the one person in the world he wanted to have in his life forever. In his experience, based not only on his parents, but his aunt and uncle, too, marriage and real life didn’t exist well together. Instead, the recipe created rancor, resentment, tension, eventual affairs...
She’d given him a second to stop her.
He waited instead. Expecting her to retreat. If there was one thing he’d learned about Lily that he wished was different, it was the way she always settled for what she had, rather than reaching for more.
He understood. Her life hadn’t been easy. He admired the hell out of the way she always found the good in things. And was secretly addicted to her perennial sunny mood. But she could do both. Find good and reach for more...
“For starters, I’m in kind of a slump.” If he hadn’t been seated, her words would have floored him. Had the woman read his mind? Using what he’d just thought about her against him?
Or was it for him? The morning was just getting too bizarre.
If he didn’t know better, he’d think he’d been drinking.
“Ever since I reconnected with my sisters... I look at them, my triplets, who started out in the same womb with me, and now one is a mother of twin babies, the other a successful magazine writer, and me? I’m refilling cups and ketchup dispensers...” Seeing the shrug of her slim shoulders, with that long dark hair gracing them, hit him hard.
For no reason he could understand.
Then her mouth quirked, and she gave a little head tilt, admitting softly, “Truth is, I already had a plan to ask you, once the place was officially yours, if I could come help out, work for you, as you took over the business.”
He had a feeling he knew where she was going with this but didn’t want to make any assumptions, so he gestured for her to go on.
“I know it might sound a bit over the top, but I want to be able to have a good reason to spend time out there. I told you before I’ve always had a fondness for the ranch. It’s the last place I was before I became an orphan in the foster system. You know? The last time I was a member of my own family.” She shrugged again. Looked away.
“It’s not out there. I get it.” Asa forced himself to ignore the temptation to reach for her hand. Lily was off-limits. Sacred. She was a...friend. “But—”
“It wouldn’t have to be for long,” she said then, glancing back over at him.
She wasn’t letting it go.
Not allowing him to let it go.
“Once the place is in your name...it would probably behoove us to, you know, stay together for a while.”
“A while, huh?” he couldn’t keep himself from asking. “Exactly how long are you thinking?”
“Just long enough to make it look like we tried...but think about it, Asa. Who on earth would ever believe that a woman like me—the perennial friend—would ever be able to keep a hunk like you satisfied?”
He saw no pain or mockery in her grin. Just the wide-open honesty that had drawn him to her from the first time they’d met.
But his own anger made up for her lack thereof. Leaning forward, he gave himself time for a deep breath and then gritted out, “Don’t you ever, ever say anything like that again,” he said softly. “You are worthy of the best man on earth, Lily Perry. It’s the men who aren’t worthy of you.”
Her lips trembled. And she glanced away. He wasn’t sure she believed him.
He meant the words with every fiber of his being.
Himself included.
If only there was a way he could make certain that he and Lily would never fight for real, never fester any resentment...
But, wait.
“You really planned to ask me to come work at the ranch?”
“It would be lot more challenging than delivering plated burgers.”
“If we did this, and it’s a big if, I’d be the one at fault when we separate. In some big obvious way...” What was he saying? Thinking?
Was he really considering this outrageous scheme?
Her nod seemed a bit...jerky. Had he scared her?
Talking like he was really going to consider the ludicrous idea?
“Rest assured,” he quickly added, “there’d be separate bedrooms.”
He saw her flinch that time, then noted her chin lift as she said, “I didn’t see it happening any other way.”
He almost grinned at her tone of voice. The woman might not ask much for herself, but she could most definitely hold her own.
Against anyone.
Him included.
Sitting back in his chair, he exhaled slowly, then locked eyes with her once again. “I need to think about it,” he told her.
Her nod was circumspect.
But the smile that lit her face was something Asa knew he was never going to forget.
For better or worse.
