Winning Her Fortune
Автор
Heatherly Bell
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HarlequinPrologue
Here’s something Cooper Fortune Maloney never thought he’d say: after tonight, he could add escort to his résumé. He waited for his time to go on the auction block. He removed his hat to run a hand through his hair, then dropped it back on, ready for his moment with the ladies.
It was Valentine’s Day, and the night of the bachelor auction in Chatelaine, Texas. Tonight they were raising money for the Chatelaine Fish and Wildlife Conservation Society and two of his brothers were also participating.
Coop stood in the hot storage space where they’d put all the bachelors at the back of the Saddle & Spur Roadhouse. Bidding for his older brother Max had gone out of control. Lively and enthusiastic. Just the way Coop liked things. Eliza Henry and Alana Searle were now battling it out for Max dollar by dollar. Everyone else had dropped out of the bidding.
Coop laughed as Max gave a tight smile and pulled at the collar of his shirt when Eliza once again outbid a frustrated Alana.
Coop had thought Max and Eliza were just friends. Since Max came into his Fortune silver mining inheritance, she was helping him find a house. Coop assumed she was just Max’s Realtor. Now, she seemed to be giving Alana death glares every time she countered her bid.
Coop hoped Eliza’s interest had nothing to do with the windfall Max had recently received. When Martin Smith had come to Chatelaine last month and handed his oldest brother, Lincoln, a check, all five of the Fortune Maloney children were given the shock of their lives. It turned out their grandfather Wendell Fortune had left a sizable inheritance from the silver and gold mines in Chatelaine. When his estate had tracked down his son, their father, Rick Maloney, they’d all learned of their father’s death. That meant all his children would receive the inheritance. For some odd reason, Wendell’s good friend Martin explained, the money was being disbursed slowly. So far, only Linc and Max had received their checks, Max just recently.
Coop looked at Max onstage, completely out of his element. His brother hated anything that involved being the center of attention, but Cooper had jumped at the chance to have a little fun tonight. He didn’t have a girlfriend at the moment and was free and clear of any romantic entanglements. Perfect. Whoever won him wasn’t going to regret it for a second.
Eventually, Alana took a seat and didn’t get up again, ending the bidding war. Coop figured they’d all have a good laugh later at how she’d pushed up the final price for Max.
“Aaaand sold to number fifty with the winning bid! Ladies, thank you for the enthusiastic bidding.” The MC pointed to Alana and winked. “Especially the lady in red.”
She was smoking hot in that short red dress with matching Western boots. With long blond hair and beautiful blue eyes, Alana had style. She was every man’s type. Too bad for Max his Realtor won him instead.
Max walked to the back and met Coop. Quite frankly, he looked ridiculous dressed in the cowboy hat they were all wearing tonight. Max was an accountant, not a cowboy.
“I think Eliza must have a thing for you.” Coop elbowed Max.
Eliza Henry was number fifty. The ladies were all bidding anonymously with numbered paddles, but Coop knew that Eliza Henry was Max’s friend and Realtor. He didn’t think anything else had been going on, but Eliza had been quite enthusiastic.
“She did me a favor. I asked her to make sure she got the winning bid for me. This is for charity, don’t forget.”
“All right, then. Whatever floats your boat,” Coop said. “You better go meet your woman.”
A bead of sweat slid down Max’s face, and he pulled at his collar again. “Is it hot in here?”
“Yes. Good job bringing it, Mr. Hottie.” Coop clapped his shoulder. “Eliza is a catch, which I’m sure you already know. Y’all have a good time tonight. Who knows? Maybe this is a chance to become more than friends.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
The way Coop understood things, tonight wasn’t the actual date, just a short time to chat and get to know each other a little better. The other bachelor who’d already been auctioned had left the private room and was now near the restaurant section having a drink with the woman who’d won. Coop watched as Max awkwardly went to join Eliza and led her out of the room.
The youngest Fortune Maloney brother, Damon, came up behind Cooper. “Damn, did you see that? Alana Searle is bidding tonight. I would give anything for her to win me. I’ve had a crush on her forever.”
“Get in line. Who doesn’t have a crush on her? She’s not interested in you. You saw what just happened. She wanted Max.”
“So what?” Damon adjusted the cowboy hat he never wore. “I’m better-looking than Max, and I could be her consolation prize.”
“Step aside, youngster, and let me show you how this is done.” Coop walked toward the auctioneer’s podium.
“Ladies, welcome our next bachelor, the notoriously single Cooper Fortune Maloney! Yes, that’s right, ladies. He’s one of the Fortunes of Texas. Let’s hear it for this cowboy who promises you one wild ride!”
A gratifying swell of applause and whistles rose up over the room. Coop tipped his Stetson and flashed everyone a smile.
Vicky Chandler, an entertainment news reporter from Corpus Christi, was their MC tonight. She turned to Coop expectantly.
“Cooper, what kind of date do you promise the young lady who wins you tonight?”
He tipped back on his heels. “You’ll have a good time. I’ll make sure of it. We’ll take a ride out to Lake Chatelaine and have a picnic, then watch the sun set. Whatever happens after, well, that will be ladies’ choice. Let’s just say I’m going to leave my entire night wide-open. We can stay up and watch the sunrise.” He grinned. “I make a mean breakfast.”
A few more whoops and hollers, and the auction began.
Within minutes, there were several bids from some excited women, and the price quickly increased. Some of his ex-girlfriends were bidding, which gave him pause. But hey, this was for charity. He’d go on a date with an ex if he had to, but he would prefer someone else to win. Someone like, for instance, Alana. The lady in red.
The bidding inched up, one lady always outbidding another. Then Alana reentered the room. He hadn’t seen her in the crowd after she’d lost Max, probably having left to go lick her wounds. Now she raised her hand and made a bid several steps ahead of the last one.
This caused a general moan from the ladies, but Coop’s ex-girlfriend Shannon rose to the challenge. When Alana jumped way ahead with her next bid, Shannon sat down in a huff.
“Aaaand sold, to number sixty-one. Congratulations. Way to hang in there.” The MC pounded her gavel.
Coop walked toward Alana, who, if possible, looked even better close up. That dress was doing all kinds of things for him. She wore her blond hair down, her skin creamy and peachy, cheeks pinked. Probably from all the effort. Every time someone had outbid her tonight, she’d jumped up in her chair, springing up like a jack-in-the-box.
They’d gone to school together, like so many in their small town, and so they were acquainted with each other. But she was four years younger, still in junior high when he’d been a senior. It had been out of the question for him then, as he had his own rules for dating. But beyond that, he’d always found her gorgeous and somewhat unattainable. Now, he wondered why they’d never dated after high school, since they seemed like a likely pairing. Both had reputations for hard partying and good times.
“How about that? I won the next-best brother,” Alana said with a sly wink.
Coop winced, not from the raucous noise from the back room at the closing of the bidding on Damon, but from the reference to the “next-best” brother. But yeah, okay. He got it. At the moment, since his inheritance hadn’t come in, he supposed one could look at it that way.
Then again, he’d always had more game than Max.
“I’m kidding!” She elbowed him.
“Don’t worry, darlin’, I’ll make sure you don’t ever regret winning me.” He sent her his most wicked smile.
“I’m sure I won’t.”
“Would you like to get a drink, and we can talk about this date I’m taking you on?” He pointed her toward the bar.
“Um, sure.”
When they each took a stool, he ordered a beer, but Alana wanted a soft drink.
“Not drinking tonight?” Coop handed her the soda.
“Everyone asks me that.” She didn’t meet his eyes. “It’s...this new diet I’m on.”
Diet? What kind of diet allowed a sugared soft drink but no alcohol? What the hell did he know. He’d never dieted a day in his life.
“Thanks for outbidding Shannon. We dated once a while ago, and let’s just say I didn’t want to go there again.” He took a pull of his beer. “So, tell me, what do you like to do on a date?”
“Probably some of the same things you do.” She smiled—if he wasn’t mistaken, a bit wickedly.
The rumors swirling around flirty Alana were apparently true. She was aggressive and knew who and what she wanted. Once again, two of a kind. He could play that game. It sounded like they were very much in sync, at least in one way. Coop couldn’t wait to find out more.
“Well.” He waggled his brows. “That kind of thing could take me all night.”
“Promise?”
Damn, Coop really liked this girl. He would schedule this date tomorrow if possible.
“You got it, sweetheart. I’m your man.”
She shook her head. “Don’t say that. I know you would have never asked me out on your own.”
This was probably true, but only because she hadn’t been on his radar recently. She’d worked at GreatStore with Linc, until he’d received his inheritance and quit. And she’d been dating Patrick, a fellow ranch hand. Every time Coop saw Alana, in fact, she’d been with some guy.
Until tonight.
“You date a lot,” he explained. “I didn’t think I stood a chance.”
“I could say the same thing about you, cowboy.”
This was true, so he didn’t bother arguing. “Well, I think you’re beautiful.”
“Thank you, that’s sweet.”
“It’s the truth.” He leaned forward. “So, what did you have in mind for this date that will probably last all night long?”
She sipped from her soft drink and gazed at him from hooded eyelids. “Surprise me.”
Yet one more thing they had in common. She liked surprises.
“Just wait. It’s going to be epic.”
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