Guarding His Fortune

Protecting a Fortune is hard work.

Falling for one is harder.

Savannah Fortune is off-limits, and bodyguard Chaz Mendoza knows it. The pretty grad student he has been hired to look after is smart, opinionated—and rich. He would lay down his life for her. Still, what would she want with a regular guy like Chaz? Her family has made it clear he has no permanent place in her world. But Chaz refuses to settle for anything less...

After writing more than eighty books for Mills & Boon, STELLA BAGWELL still finds it exciting to create new stories and bring her characters to life. She loves all things Western and has been married to her own real cowboy for forty-four years. Living on the south Texas coast, she also enjoys being outdoors and helping her husband care for the horses, cats and dog that call their small ranch home. The couple has one son, who teaches high school mathematics and is also an athletic director. Stella loves hearing from readers. They can contact her at [e-mail].

Also by Stella Bagwell

The Lawman’s NoelleDaddy Wore SpursChristmas on the Silver Horn RanchHer Rugged RancherHis Badge, Her Baby…Their Family?The Cowboy’s Christmas Lullaby HerKind of DoctorThe Arizona LawmanHer Man on Three Rivers RanchA Ranger for Christmas

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Guarding His Fortune

Stella Bagwell

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09090-2

GUARDING HIS FORTUNE

© 2019 Harlequin Books S.A.

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

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Version: 2020-03-02

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Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Extract

About the Publisher

Chapter One

Savannah Fortune struggled to hide her impatience as she gazed toward the opposite end of the study where her father, Miles, was standing in front of a massive cherrywood desk. Tall and tanned, with short graying brown hair, he made an imposing figure in a gray suit and power-red tie. Next to him in a plush armchair, her mother, Sarah, dressed impeccably in a white dress and pearls, waited for her husband to address the family.

“This is ridiculous.” Savannah’s hushed voice was directed at her younger sister, Belle. “Why has Dad called this urgent meeting in the middle of the day? Couldn’t he have waited until dinner this evening?”

Belle slanted her a droll look. “Urgent means he wants his children to focus on him. Not the boudin kolaches and gumbo we’re having for supper.”

Miles rapped his knuckles on the desktop and everyone in the room turned their attention to the patriarch of the New Orleans Fortunes.

“I’m glad to see everyone is here,” he spoke, his strong voice reverberating around the room. “I’ll try to make this as concise as possible.”

A few steps away, Savannah’s older brother, Austin, held up a hand. “Sorry to interrupt, Dad, but Nolan isn’t here. Shouldn’t he be privy to this family meeting, too?”

“Nolan has already been informed of everything I’m about to relay to all of you.” Turning slightly, Miles picked up a large manila envelope from the desktop and held it up for his family to see. “Earlier this morning I received this detailed report and as much as I hate to alarm all of you, the news is jarring.”

Jarring? Now that Savannah was taking closer notice, her father appeared drawn and pale. What was in that envelope? As far as she knew, Fortune Investments, her father’s massive banking business, was as lucrative as ever.

Leaning closer to Belle, Savannah whispered in her sister’s ear. “Has the stock market crashed or something?”

Belle made a hands-up gesture to say she didn’t have a clue as to what might be going on. Across the room, their older sister, Georgia, was arching a questioning brow at their brother Beau. From the lost expressions on the faces of Savannah’s siblings, it appeared all were a bit mystified by this meeting.

Miles cleared his throat and continued, “The news is conclusive. The Fortune family is being targeted.”

This wasn’t exactly breaking news, Savannah thought. Especially the kind that warranted a family meeting.

Apparently, her brother Draper was thinking along those same lines. He said, “I don’t mean to sound like a snob, but being wealthy has always made us targets, Dad.”

Miles nodded. “You couldn’t be more correct, son. However, this situation is different. Someone is deliberately trying to harm members of the Fortune family. As you all know, there’s already been an arson in Austin that came close to being deadly, a cyber-attack at Robinson Tech and a real-estate sabotage in Houston. We have no way of knowing who or what might be next. We do have reason to believe that Charlotte Robinson is behind all these incidents.”

“Do you know this for certain?” Georgia asked. “It seems strange the woman would want to hurt her own children.”

Miles pecked a finger against the manila envelope. “As you all have learned, my half brother Kenneth Fortunado in Houston has a son, Connor, who’s a highly skilled private investigator. Connor has continued to dig up information about Charlotte and he’s recently discovered the divorce between her and Gerald recently became final.”

Austin quickly countered. “Why should we be concerned about this? We’re not a part of the Austin Fortunes or the Houston Fortunes. Undoubtedly, we’re related to them, but we’ve never even met most of them.”

Austin’s remarks matched the ones going through Savannah’s head. The other Fortunes were strangers. In fact, only a few months had passed since Miles had admitted to his children that he was actually an illegitimate son of Julius Fortune, the man who’d also fathered Gerald Robinson aka Jerome Fortune. At that time, Miles had beseeched his children to keep the secret under wraps. However, it wasn’t long afterward that the long-buried truth had somehow gotten back to the Austin Fortunes and from there it had spread.

Miles placed a protective hand on his wife’s shoulder as he answered Austin’s question. “Gerald and Charlotte were married for thirty-some years. Plenty of baggage and money has accrued over that length of time. The woman is furious that she’s losing out. Not to mention that she’s been humiliated in public by Gerald’s endless philandering. Make no mistake, she’s seeking vengeance on the Fortune family. And I’m very concerned the woman has most likely learned I am a half brother to her ex-husband, Gerald Robinson. And regrettably, that makes all of us an enemy in her eyes.”

Everyone began to talk at once, bouncing questions and opinions back and forth until the room sounded like Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras. Savannah was content to stand to one side and wait for the commotion to die down. After all, she was soon going to be off on her own and away from the family. This Charlotte-threat didn’t apply to her.

Eventually, Miles called for silence. “I’m due back at the office in half an hour, so I need to wrap up this meeting,” he announced. “Are there any last questions before I leave?”

Belle asked a basic one. “So what does this mean for all of us, Dad?”

Miles somber gaze encompassed his whole family as he spoke. “It means all of us need to remain on high alert and be vigilant of people, our surroundings and anything out of the ordinary. Meanwhile, if any new information about Charlotte comes to me, it will be passed on to all of you.”

He assisted Sarah from the chair and as their mother made her way out of the study, everyone followed, including Savannah, who was on the tail end of the group.

She was about to step into the hallway when Miles suddenly called to her. “Savannah, please remain in the study. I’d like a private word with you.”

Smiling to herself, she made an abrupt about-face and walked back to the center of the room. Her father was going to congratulate her on being invited to the University of Texas to join an important study group, she thought. No doubt, he was proud to hear his daughter would be studying with one of the most elite professors in the field of epidemiology.

“Yes, Dad?”

He gestured for her to take a seat in the same chair her mother had occupied.

She shook her head. “I don’t need to sit.”

Actually, she was impatient to get back to her bedroom, where suitcases and garments were laid across every inch of the king-sized bed. By the end of the day, she wanted to have everything packed and ready for the move.

“Sit down anyway.” He adjusted the knot of his tie, then placed the report about Charlotte Robinson into the leather briefcase he carried to work.

Biting back a sigh, Savannah eased into the chair nearest to her and smoothed the hem of her mint-green skirt over her knees.

“Okay, I’m sitting,” she said cheerfully, then shot him a smug smile. “I assume Mother told you my good news.”

Easing a hip onto the corner of the desk, he said flatly, “She told me. Unfortunately, that’s why we’re having this talk.”

Instead of sounding like a preening father, his voice was crisp and resolute. It was the same unyielding tone she often heard him use on the phone with a business crony.

Frowning, she asked, “Dad, aren’t you happy about the invitation?”

“I’m always proud of my children’s achievements.”

His response was hardly encouraging. “Being invited to join a study group probably doesn’t sound like much to you. But in my world, it’s quite an honor.”

He shook his head. “Savannah, I realize the invitation from the university is a big coup for you. And normally I’d be the first to give you a proud send-off to Austin. But considering all the troubles that have been plaguing the Fortunes, I have to insist that you cancel your trip to Texas.”

Her jaw dropped. “Cancel? You must be joking! You don’t just cancel an invitation to study with a group of brilliant graduate students and a professor who has an impressive reputation as being one of the best in his field. There are hundreds of students who’d kill to be in my position!”

“And there’s one person out there who might literally want to kill you just because your name is Fortune,” he shot back at her. “No, Savannah, I’m very serious about this. Austin is full of Fortunes. It’s where Gerald’s business, Robinson Tech, is located. Living there would place you in the thick of danger.”

“But Nolan lives there,” she argued. “If he can, then so can I.”

Miles muttered something under his breath and Savannah knew better than to ask him to repeat it. Frankly, she’d never seen her father looking so stressed. Not even when the stock market took a wild plunge, or a huge investment had gone bankrupt.

“Nolan is a grown man with a family,” he reasoned.

And being twenty-five and a single woman made her incapable of taking care of herself? She wanted to fling the question at her father. But she was smart enough to know that sparring with him in that manner would only send his blood pressure to the boiling point. Miles Fortune was old-school. Women of the family were to be pampered and protected. Men were expected to show strength and wisdom.

“I’m fully grown, too, Dad. And my career, my education are very important to me.”

“Your life is more important to me,” he retorted.

Frustration caused her head to swing back and forth. “But, Dad, I’ve already rented an apartment in Austin and purchased a plane ticket! I’m in the process of packing!”

“Sorry. Cancel everything. When this ordeal with Charlotte Robinson is over, then you may reschedule your studies.”

Reschedule? By the time Charlotte Robinson was tracked down and punished for her misdeeds, Savannah wouldn’t be able to fetch herself an invitation to a dogfight, much less to the university study!

She leaned toward him, her expression beseeching him to understand the importance of her trip to Austin. “Dad, you’ve been a businessman for the major part of your life. More than anyone, you understand that to get ahead you have to strike while the iron is hot. I have to jump at this study now! I won’t have another chance like this.”

His expression was unrelenting. “I won’t have a daughter of mine running around on her own in Austin! You’d constantly be in the crosshairs! You might as well pin a sign to your back with the name Fortune written in bold letters.”

“Dad, for heaven’s sake, most of my waking hours will be spent at the university. I’m sure the security there will be more than adequate.”

Before he could shoot a negative reply at her, Savannah rose from the chair and started out of the study.

“Savannah, I’m serious about this. You’re not going.”

Glancing over her shoulder, she smiled at him. “This is my life. My career. I am going, Dad. And I hope it will be with your blessings.”

“That isn’t going to happen, young lady!”

Her chin high, Savannah walked through the door, then carefully closed it behind her.

* * *

Living in New Orleans all her life, Savannah was long accustomed to hot, steamy weather, even for the first day of April, so when she stepped through the glass doors of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, the oppressive afternoon heat hardly caught her attention. But a man walking straight in her direction had definitely caught her attention. Somewhere near thirty, he was at least six foot three or four with enough muscles to suggest he spent hours in the gym. His tanned complexion and black close-cropped hair coupled with a neatly trimmed goatee and mustache conjured up an image of dark and deliciously dangerous.

And the danger grew even closer as he stopped a few steps in front of her. “Miss Fortune?”

She instinctively glanced around the busy entrance to make sure the dreamy hunk of a man wasn’t addressing someone else. “That’s right,” she finally answered. “How did you guess?”

A faint, almost cocky grin lifted a corner of his masculine lips and for a brief moment, Savannah couldn’t tear her eyes away from the sexy sight of straight white teeth, an unyielding jaw and chocolate-brown eyes fringed with thick black lashes.

“I’m Chaz Mendoza and it’s my job to be a good guesser.” He gestured to a sleek black car parked at the curbside of the sheltered portico. “I’m here to take you to your destination. Are those your bags?”

The question snapped her out of her survey of his chiseled features, and she glanced over her left shoulder to where a valet was pushing a cart loaded with the luggage she’d just collected from the baggage carousel. “Those are all mine.”

Before she could ask him if the university had sent a car to collect her, the man was already directing the baggage attendant to the trunk of the waiting car.

Standing to one side, Savannah allowed her gaze to wander discreetly over the driver. The navy short-sleeved polo shirt and tight jeans he was wearing showed off every hard muscle of his brawny physique. Everything about him exuded authority and strength.

Chaz Mendoza. The name sounded very familiar, but try as she might, she couldn’t recall exactly where she might have heard it. And she knew for certain she’d never met him before. He was the type of man a woman didn’t forget.

Oh, well, she thought, he was hardly any business of hers and she’d not traveled all the way to Austin to have her focus derailed by a man. Even if he was scrumptious eye candy.

He slammed the trunk shut on her baggage and the sound pushed her out of her musings. She quickly opened her handbag and handed several bills to the valet.

The lanky young man thanked her with an appreciative grin, then hurried off with the empty cart.

Savannah looked at the driver. “I was expecting to catch a taxi to my apartment. This is certainly nice of the university to provide me with a ride. Funny, though. I don’t recall giving anyone the arrival time of my flight.”

“It probably just slipped your mind. I think right now, we’d better be on our way. This parking spot is limited to a few minutes.” He cupped a hand beneath her elbow and escorted her around to the passenger side of the car.

After he’d helped her into the plush bucket seat and joined her in the car, Savannah gave him the address of her new apartment.

“If the address isn’t recognizable to you, I have a navigation map on my phone,” she offered as she snapped the seat belt in place.

He quickly belted himself in and merged the car into the slow moving line of traffic exiting the airport. “Thank you, but my car is equipped with a navigational system. I’m familiar with that particular part of the city anyway.”

“Oh, that’s good,” she told him. “I hope I’ll soon learn my way around. Of course, I need to pick up a car of my own before I start trying to navigate the city streets.”

He glanced in her direction and Savannah found herself looking directly into his brown eyes. The connection rattled her for a brief moment before she purposely turned her attention to the traffic in front of them.

“So you’re not familiar with Austin?” he asked.

His voice was slow, and warm, and just rough enough to cause goose bumps to rise along the back of her arms. Or was that the cold air blowing from the vents on the car dash? Either way, her reaction to the man was making her feel more than foolish.

She took a deep breath and blew it out. “No. I’m from New Orleans.”

From the corner of her eye, she could see a faint smile touch his lips. “So that’s where that lilting drawl of yours comes from.”

“And yours doesn’t exactly sound Texan. Are you a native Austinite?”

“No. My family is originally from Florida, but in the past several years most of them, including me, have migrated here to Texas.”

“I see. So you and your family obviously like it here,” she said.

“Very much.”

Savannah sighed as thoughts of her father once again drifted through her mind. Since the day of the family meeting, she’d expected him to be fighting her tooth and nail over this Austin trip. Instead, he’d avoided her completely. Even this morning, before she left the Fortune mansion to catch her flight, she expected him to give her a few parting words of warning. Instead, her mother had informed her that Miles had skipped breakfast to make an early downtown business meeting. So much for worrying about her safety, she thought glumly, much less wishing her good luck.

“Is anything wrong?” her driver asked.

Was her state of mind so transparent that a stranger could read her troubled thoughts? She darted a glance at him.

“No. Everything is fine,” she said. “I’ll just be glad to get to my apartment. I’ve never really cared for flying. Once I’m back on solid ground, I always feel drained.”

“Have you done much of it? Flying, that is.”

From the corner of her eye, she could see his left hand resting comfortably on the steering wheel. There was no sign of a wedding band and the fact that she was even bothering to look caused a tinge of embarrassment to warm her cheeks.

What are you thinking, Savannah? Take a closer gander at this guy. You think he got those muscles from relaxing in a recliner in front of the TV? This man is as far from married as a man can get.

Clearing her throat, she pulled her straying thoughts back to his question. “I’ve flown across the country many times, and overseas. I see it as a necessary evil to get to where I’m going. What about you? Do you travel much?”

“I used to. But not since I’ve moved to Austin. I guess you could say I’ve already gotten to where I’m going.”

She smiled at him. “Hmm. That must be nice. To know that you’re in the right place and exactly where you belong.”

By now, they were traveling a busy highway that led deeper into the city. If Savannah had taken a taxi as she’d originally planned, she would’ve been taking note of her surroundings and the city skyline ahead of them. But Chaz Mendoza’s huge masculine presence was distracting her from seeing Austin clearly for the first time.

“Is that why you’ve come to Texas? To figure out where you belong?”

It was a rather personal question to be posed by a stranger, she thought. Especially one who’d been hired to simply drive her from the airport to her apartment. But to be fair, she hadn’t exactly been discussing the weather with him.

“Not really. I know my roots are in New Orleans. I’m here because I’ve been invited to partake in a study group at the university for a few weeks.”

“That sounds very impressive.”