Part 3 (1/2)
”And just what will you and I be doing?” she asked.
”Whatever we want.”
”What do you want? Why are you willing to do this?”
He answered without hesitating. ”I feel responsible. I'm the one who got you drunk. I'm the one who suggested we get married. Obviously you didn't have all your wits about you or you'd remember it. I'm not in the habit of throwing women to the wolves. That's what I'd be doing if I let you stay alone somewhere else. Ryan has twenty-four hour patrol guards on the ranch because of security concerns in the past, and the cabin has reliable locks. You would be safe there.”
Just thinking about staying in a cabin with Reed- ”The cabin has a bedroom, and it has a living room. You can take the bedroom, and I'll sleep on the fold-out sofa in the living room. You already know your virtue is safe with me if you want to keep it.”
”I have to keep it. I mean... If we want to get this marriage annulled, nothing can happen.”
”Nothing has to happen,” Reed told her gruffly. ”When Dawson gets back, you can decide what you're going to do next.”
”You're not going to tell anybody the truth?”
”We got married, Mallory. That is the truth.” His jaw became set.
As if she were reliving it, she remembered Winston's grip on her arm. She remembered his arms locking her against him, and him practically carrying her to his car. Unless she learned self-defense in a very short amount of time, all that could easily happen again. In contrast to the panicked feeling she experienced whenever she thought about Winston, she could also remember the safe feeling waking up snuggled against Reed.
The devil or the deep blue sea, she thought wryly. She guessed she'd take the plunge into the deep blue sea. ”All right. We'll pretend we're married until Dawson gets back. But I'm not your responsibility, Reed. I want you to know that. I don't want to be anybody's responsibility but my own anymore.”
He studied her for a prolonged moment and then picked up the phone again.
When they landed, everyone at the Double Crown would know that they were married.
Winston Bentley IV was an intelligent man who knew he'd been stalled for the moment. He'd made himself rich by always staying one step ahead of his opponent. This situation was no different. He boarded a flight to San Francisco. Once settled in first cla.s.s, he phoned the man who always got him the information he needed, when he needed it.
”I want everything you can get me on Reed Fortune,” he snapped. ”He's from Australia, connected to the Fortunes in Texas. I want to know why he's here, how long he's going to be here, and exactly where he's staying. Give me everything he's done in the past six months. No, make it a year. I expect to hear something from you by the time I land.”
Not comfortable with compet.i.tion in any form, Winston usually decimated it. Reed Fortune was no different than rival developers who got in his way or property owners who wouldn't sell. The right information, money, as well as selective arm-twisting worked wonders.
After landing in San Francisco, Winston hailed a taxi and headed toward George Pennington Smythe's address. When his cell phone rang, he took it out of his pocket and listened carefully. In a few minutes he had the information he needed. Tucking the phone back into his suitcoat, a small smile crossed his lips. This wasn't going to be too difficult. Mallory Prescott was used to luxury. The Fortunes might have money, but Reed Fortune seldom acted as if he did. Apparently, he worked hard training horses and running a ranch with his family. But the important tidbit his source had discovered was an engagement announcement that had appeared in a Sydney newspaper. It had claimed that while Reed Fortune and Stephanie Milton hadn't yet set a date, they were planning to marry sometime in the new year.
Winston deduced that nothing fit. Mallory Prescott was not used to ranch life. She also wasn't an impulsive woman. She wouldn't decide to marry a man in a day's time. Winston knew everyone she'd seen and met because he'd had her investigated and had kept close tabs on her since they'd become engaged. She hadn't known Reed Fortune before yesterday. He was sure of it.
When Winston rang the doorbell of George Pennington Smythe's mansion, a maid let him inside. A few minutes later George met him in the parlor. ”Have you found Mallory?”
Winston smiled rea.s.suringly. ”I certainly did. Where's Gloria? She needs to hear this.”
”She's on the phone, still canceling arrangements and trying to explain to everyone why the wedding didn't take place. I'm so embarra.s.sed about this, Winston. Mallory is usually so reliable, so steady.”
Mallory's mother Gloria came rus.h.i.+ng in before Winston could comment. ”Oh, Winston. Did you find her? Is she all right? That note with her engagement ring didn't tell me anything except that she was going away to think. I don't know why she has to think when she's about to marry you.”
Winston studied Gloria Pennington Smythe. Blond, brown eyes, ivory complexion, she was very attractive for a woman her age, which had to be around forty-five. But she looked thirty-five if a day. He'd had affairs with women ten years older than himself before, and they'd been quite satisfactory. He might have made a move on Gloria if he hadn't met Mallory and realized as an investment banker with good contacts, George could be a valuable in-law to have. They'd already pulled off a few successful deals together, legitimate by-the-book deals. George didn't know his future son-in-law operated any other way.
Winston had set his sights on Mallory and had been quite successful about it until she'd run away. ”I found her, Gloria, but there's a problem.”
”What kind of problem?” George asked.
”I think the stress of working and of planning the wedding have made her unbalanced. I think she's afraid she'll disappoint me in some way. Instead of asking me for more time, she's done something foolish.”
”What has she done?” Gloria asked, looking as if she were near tears.
”She married a stranger last night.”
”You aren't serious!” both her parents said at once.
”I'm very serious. And not just any stranger. His name is Reed Fortune, nephew of Ryan Fortune of Texas.”
”The family that's always in the news?” Gloria asked.
”That's the one.”
”What are we going to do?” George wanted to know. ”I suppose I could drive down there and get her....”
Winston shook his head. ”I think that would be a mistake right now. We don't want to do anything that might make her act even more foolishly and do something like bolt back to Australia with this man.”
”Australia!” Gloria gasped.
”Apparently he's from the Australian branch of the Fortune family.” Winston paused for a moment. ”I don't think she wanted to marry him. She did it to get out of marrying me. Soon enough she'll discover it was a mistake. You've raised your daughter well, Gloria, with certain advantages. She'll miss those.”
”But the Fortunes are rich,” George exclaimed.
”The Fortunes might be, but Reed Fortune is another matter. Right now he's living in a cabin on the property of the Double Crown. Can you imagine Mallory cooped up in two or three rooms with a man she doesn't really know?”
He smiled, thinking about it. ”We just have to give her a little bit of time to come to her senses, and I think with a little persuasion that will happen. Gloria, I think she'll need an understanding ear. In a couple of hours she'll be there and wonder what she's gotten herself into. If you give her a call, you can tell her how much we all care about her. It will set her thinking in the right direction.”
Gloria smiled at Winston. ”Mallory doesn't know how lucky she is to have you, how fortunate she is to have a man who understands her.”
Winston understood Mallory, all right. He understood that he wanted her for his wife, and she would become his wife no matter what he had to do. But before he pulled out all the stops, he'd give her a little time to let her realize how foolish she'd been and how much better off she would be with him.
All it would take was time. He had plenty of that, unlike Reed Fortune who would be going back to Australia eventually.
Soon, if Winston had anything to say about it.
Three.
When Reed brought the jet in for a landing on the Double Crown's airstrip, the touchdown was smooth and faultless. He and Mallory disembarked from the aircraft and descended the steps. Hot Texas air swept against Mallory's face, and she shed her sweater. As she draped it over her arm, a tall, solidly built man wearing a white Stetson approached them from the metal hangar. He looked to be in his fifties, with dark brown hair, dark eyes and deeply tanned skin.
He approached Reed and Mallory with a smile and extended his hand to Reed. ”Congratulations, boy. Zane told us the good news. A little unexpected, especially since you just-”
Reed took hold of the older man's hand and hooked his arm around Mallory's shoulders. ”Let me introduce you to my wife. Mallory, this is my uncle, Ryan Fortune. Ryan, this is Dawson's sister. Small world, isn't it?”
”Zane mentioned that. Fate just happened to bring you two to the Golden Spur at the same time. Just like it brought me and Lily back together again.” Ryan looked down at Mallory. ”My wife's out shopping or she'd be here to welcome you herself. Do you want to come up to the house or would you rather get settled in?”
Mallory was all too aware of Reed's arm around her, its weight and its heat. He was hard and strong. She just had to remember she was doing this only until Dawson returned. ”I'd love to, Mr. Fortune, but-”