Part 1 (1/2)
MARRY IN HASTE....
KAREN ROSE SMITH.
THE TEXAS TATTLER.
All the news that's barely fit to print!.
”Are You My Brother?”
Dapper millionaire groom Ryan Fortune received one wedding gift even more awe-inspiring than a diamond-studded Tiffany champagne bucket-the shocking appearance of his long-lost half brother, Australian rancher mogul Teddy Fortune. Recent Fortune scandal has been tabloid fodder worldwide. Teddy, seeing reports of Texans with his own crown-shaped birthmark, put two and two together and got millions...and a whole lot of new clan.
Here's the scoop on Teddy's eyebrow-raising past: Over fifty years ago when the now-mythic King Fortune was fighting overseas in World War II, his first wife died of pneumonia, leaving two-year-old son Teddy prey to King's evil father-in-law, who spirited his tiny grandson off to the remote outback.
Though King searched mercilessly for his firstborn son, he had vanished without a trace. Until...he upstaged the most lavish wedding of the new millennium! Gee, Teddy, you really shoulda called first....
Did we mention Teddy brought some of his children to Red Rock...single s.e.xy heirs with accents! And rampant rumor has it that last night, new-to-the-States rancher Reed Fortune moseyed off to a Reno honky-tonk to observe the ”local mating customs.”
Not only did he wake up in bed with ”the American Dream”-he'd married her! What, pray tell, does an Aussie hunk do for a second date?
Meet the Fortunes of Texas.
Reed Fortune: The rugged rancher thought being jilted by his fiancee was disastrous enough, but when he woke up married to a beautiful stranger he knew he was in real trouble....
Mallory Prescott: After the blue-blooded debutante had hightailed herself away from the altar-and a forced marriage-she found herself in the protective care of Reed Fortune...as his mistaken bride. It wasn't long before Mallory realized that he wanted to love her cowboy groom forever!
Brody Fortune: His heart had turned to granite after his college sweetheart walked away from him. Would her unexpected return reveal the decade-long secret that had kept them apart?
About the Author.
KAREN ROSE SMITH.
spent free time on a relative's farm when she was growing up. She remembers a bull with a ring in its nose, a recalcitrant yearling and the wide expanse of pastures with horses grazing that drew her as a child and still beckons to her now that she is an adult. Pennsylvania is far from Texas, but she called up those memories and they swept her onto the Double Crown for this romance. Karen likes to hear from her readers. You can write to her at P.O. Box 1545, Hanover, PA 17331.
To Steve and Kenny-with love.
Prologue.
Reed Fortune, his tan Stetson tilted low on his forehead, leaned close to Brazen Spirit's neck as he urged the black stallion into a dead run. The Texas range sped by in a blur. Air rushed at Reed's face as he felt the raw power of Spirit under him. Nothing he did this afternoon helped to ease the betrayal and anger he'd felt since receiving the letter from his fiancee Stephanie back home in Sydney, Australia-not unloading hay into one of the Double Crown's barns, nor working green colts, nor this mad dash across Texas range land.
He and the horse, one in speed and motion, left behind a trail of dust as they raced past mesquite and scattered live oaks. But the early June sun beat down on them relentlessly, and Reed knew he had to think about Spirit if not himself. The fine quarter horse had been a gift from his uncle when Reed had arrived two months ago. Actually Ryan Fortune, patriarch of the family, had told him to take his pick of the horses the Fortunes bred, raised and trained. Reed had taken one look at this restive three-year-old stallion and decided he'd found his mount for at least the duration of his stay.
Reining in Brazen Spirit lightly, Reed slowed him to a lope as he turned toward the fence line leading back to the Double Crown. Then he caught sight of a horse and rider approaching. From the tilt of the rider's hat and his chestnut mount with the black mane, Reed knew it was his cousin Zane. Zane was an executive in the Fortunes' office complex in San Antonio and lived in the city. But often on weekends he and his wife Gwen and their children came to the Double Crown to relax and spend time with the Fortune family.
Reed brought Spirit to a walk to cool him down.
His cousin's usual smile was absent as he rode beside Reed and glanced at him with some concern. ”Are you planning on entering Spirit in a race?”
Lifting his Stetson, Reed ran his s.h.i.+rtsleeve across his brow, then resettled his hat on his blond hair. ”We were just letting off some steam.”
”I hear you've been doing that all afternoon. What's gotten you so riled up?”
Reed figured he might as well tell Zane because everyone would find out soon enough. ”Stephanie married another bloke. The news came in the mail today.”
Zane pulled his horse up. ”You've got to be kidding.”
Reed kept Spirit walking.
When Zane brought his horse up beside Reed's again, he asked, ”She didn't warn you? No phone call? Nothing?”
”Just a short letter and an apology. No explanation. Dammit, Zane. She didn't even give me a chance to fight for her! If she'd told me something was wrong, I wouldn't have left. If she'd told me something was wrong, I would have gone back. But she didn't give me the chance or the right.” He swore again, long and hard, his voice as gritty as the Texas dust.
They rode in silence for a stretch until Zane asked, ”Are you going to go back?”
Reed had planned to stay at the Double Crown until the end of the summer, not only to get to know his long-lost family but to get a good grasp of the horse operation here. Once back home, he'd like to convince his father to expand and modernize their horse-breeding business on the Crown Peak Ranch near Sydney. While he was in the United States, he also wanted to do some traveling. He'd planned to leave tomorrow to go hiking in Big Bend National Park. But now- Answering Zane's question, he decided, ”Stephanie's married. Going back home isn't going to change that.” He'd known four or five months was a long time to be separated from her. But they'd discussed it before he'd left and agreed they had the rest of their lives together.
He'd have to tell his family about the breakup. None of his siblings had been very enthusiastic about Stephanie, and he'd thought it was because he'd be the first of the six of them to break away and marry. Stephanie would have made the perfect wife. Living with her parents and helping on their ranch, she had no desire for a career and just wanted to be a wife and mother. Usually quiet, she never argued with him and never did the unexpected. Until now.
As he and Zane walked their horses over the rolling plain and crested a hill, the barns and sheds and training arena of the Double Crown came into view. But before they made the gentle descent, Zane stopped again. ”I think you ought to change your plans. Instead of leaving for Big Bend tomorrow, why don't you go someplace a little livelier.”
”Such as?” Reed asked, knowing from the look on Zane's face that he probably had something particular in mind.
”A friend I went to college with opened a country-western bar in Reno. It's a great place. Dawson and I went up there a few times in my bachelor days.”
Dawson Prescott was a financial a.n.a.lyst for Fortune TX, Ltd., and a good friend of Zane's. ”Reno, Nevada?” Reed asked.
His cousin grinned. ”Yep. Casinos, shows, women. What more could a single guy want? Why go to Big Bend when you can find a desert like that when you go back to Australia? You can fly the company jet. I'm sure Dad won't mind if you take it up to Reno for a few days or even a week.”
Reno. Bright lights, music, women. Maybe Zane was right. Maybe it was time to forget responsibility for a few days and just have some fun. Maybe if he drank enough tequila and danced with enough women he'd forget about a future that had slipped through his fingers.
He'd forget about a fiancee who had chosen someone else.
One.
Mallory Prescott pushed open the heavy wooden door, thinking that she'd been a good girl all her life. Where had it had brought her?
To the Golden Spur Saloon in Reno, Nevada.
This should have been the night before her wedding, but thank goodness it wasn't. Running away from what amounted to an arranged marriage to a ruthless man might not have been the most courageous thing she'd ever done, but it was certainly the wisest. Her stepfather had introduced her to and promoted her engagement to Winston Bentley IV, a wealthy San Francisco land developer. From the first moment she'd met him, Winston had been charming, a perfect gentleman and everything Mallory should want in a man. But his kisses had never turned her on and finally, three days ago, she'd questioned her decision to marry him.