Fortune's Texas Surprise

Shaking his head, Shawn snickered. “Acton, since when have you ridden your horse down Main Street? Not since us three brothers decided to ride in the rodeo parade and that was five years ago!”

Acton carried his empty plate over to the sink, then refilled his coffee cup. “I’m only using that as an example of how things are changing around here.”

“Well, if you want to get to first base with Stephanie Fortune, then I suggest you don’t bring up the subject of her brothers’ plans for a ritzy hotel.”

Acton glanced at his brother. “A ritzy hotel? For real?”

“That’s what I’m hearing. But you can hear anything at the Crockett Café.”

The old eating establishment had been a fixture in Rambling Rose for as long as Acton could remember. When he and Shawn and their brother Danny had been small boys, their father would take them to the café on the weekend as a special treat for doing their chores. All three would get milk shakes. The kind that was handmade with real ice cream and so thick you had to eat it with a spoon. The café still made handmade milk shakes, but now that Acton and his brothers were all grown men, it wasn’t the same.

“A ritzy hotel in Rambling Rose,” he murmured, thinking aloud. “Don’t reckon that will ever work. But you can bet I won’t tell Stephanie Fortune my opinion on the subject—if I ever get the chance.”

Finished with the pie, Shawn pushed aside his plate and cast a taunting grin at Acton. “How do you plan on seeing her again? You going to take Seymour back for a special checkup?”

“If he doesn’t improve I’m supposed to take him back. Damn dog, I don’t think he’s scratched once since I got him home. So I doubt I can use him for an excuse.”

Clearly amused, Shawn said, “You can always gather up the barn cats and take them in for their yearly shots.”

“Dad always takes care of that chore,” Acton said, then snapped his fingers with sudden dawning. “I know. I’ll take Elizabeth and Ryan by Paws and Claws. The clinic always has a few cats and dogs to be adopted and the kids love to look at them.”

Elizabeth, age seven, and nine-year-old Ryan were their older sister’s kids. On some evenings, after Acton was finished with his ranch chores, he’d drive over to Gina’s house and take the kids out for burgers or pizza. Gina often accused Acton of spoiling her children, but to tell the truth, he probably enjoyed the outings as much, or more, than the kids.

“Oh, how low can you stoop, Acton? Using your own niece and nephew to snag the attention of a woman,” Shawn taunted jokingly.

Frowning now, Acton walked back over to the table. “Look who’s talking. I don’t see you making any headway in the love department.”

Shawn’s eyebrows shot up. “Love? Don’t try to tell me that’s what you looking for.”

Acton could feel his face growing hot and he figured he looked like a sun-ripened tomato. Damn it, there were times Shawn could make him feel like he was sixteen years old again.

“Well, what if I am?” He tossed the question at his big brother. “Is there anything wrong with that?”

The goading look on Shawn’s face turned empathetic. “No. Nothing wrong at all. Except that maybe...”

His words trailed away and Acton couldn’t let it go at that. In spite of the teasing and bantering that went on between him and his brothers, Acton valued their thoughts and opinions.

“Except what?” Acton prodded him to answer.

Shawn shrugged. “That maybe when you really start looking for a woman to love, you should start with someone in your own social sphere. Just my opinion, little brother.”

If Acton was being totally honest, he’d probably admit that Shawn was right. Wanting to date someone out of his league was one thing, but getting serious about her would be downright stupid.

“Don’t worry. I’m not hearing wedding bells in my head. That’s not going to happen for another ten years, at least.”

Shawn chuckled. “I won’t tell Mom and Dad. They have the idea that you moved down here to Grandma’s house because you have marriage on your mind.”

Acton let out a loud burst of laughter. “Seriously? Who would I be marrying?”

Shawn pretended to think. “Well, you’ve been seeing the little blonde who works at Reddick’s Ranch Supply on a fairly regular basis.”

Acton’s laughter quieted to a chuckle. “Marietta? I’ve already put the brakes on dating her. She’s too much of a party girl.”

His comment caused Shawn to stare at him in comical disbelief. “Too much of a party girl? For you? Is that possible?”

“It is when she’s partying with more than me.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh. Which is no big deal. We didn’t have a serious thing going. And I sure didn’t move down here to Grandma’s house because of Marietta. I moved to give everyone more space in the big house.”

“Oh, I thought you moved because you were tired of everybody treating you like the baby of the family. That you wanted to prove you can take care of yourself.”

Acton slanted him a perceptive glance. “Maybe that, too, big brother.”

Stephanie softly hummed a lullaby as she gently rocked Linus and watched the last of the formula in the bottle drain away. In spite of the baby being born a bit early, he was thriving. This past month his cheeks had rounded and his arms and legs had grown fleshier. She’d even noticed that his gaze was trying more and more to focus on her face.

Incredibly, Stephanie had ended up being Linus’s foster mother by sheer happenstance. When Laurel had staggered into the ribbon-cutting ceremony in the throes of labor and shouted for help, Stephanie’s sister-in-law, Becky, who happened to be a nurse, and Dr. Green both rushed to the frantic woman’s aid. The next day, after the news had spread that she and the baby were safely settled in a hospital in San Antonio, everyone had believed that was the last they’d ever hear of the incident.

But a couple weeks later, Laurel had walked into the pediatric center, handed over the baby to a nurse and declared she couldn’t handle being a parent. Later, they’d found a note on the baby stating his rightful home would be found at Fortune’s Foundling Hospital.

Neither Laurel’s behavior nor the note had made any sense. And to make matters worse, none of the local foster families had been able to take in the infant they’d initially called Baby L. Stephanie, however, had.

Her brothers, Callum, Dillon and Steven, had been surprised. They’d always known she was a nurturer with a soft heart. However, they had been stunned to learn that she’d already gone through the process of being fingerprinted and background-checked in hopes of adopting one day.

They had all wondered why their lovely sister needed to adopt a child when she could give birth to one of her own. Stephanie hadn’t bothered to explain her reasons. They might not want to admit it, but all three brothers knew the answer to that question. Over the past few years they’d watched her suffer through several short-lived relationships, none of which had even gotten close to true love or an engagement ring. She didn’t want to wait to start a family at the end of her childbearing years. She wanted to have children while she was still young. And hopefully, later on, she might be fortunate enough to find a man who would truly love her.

“Linus, you might be the only baby I’ll ever have a chance to hold and cherish,” she whispered down to the sleeping boy.

His lips had gone slack around the nipple, and as Stephanie carefully eased the bottle from his mouth, emotional tears stung her eyes. She’d been told that in a year’s time if neither parent showed up to claim the boy, she might have a chance to adopt him. But a year was a long time. Anything could happen between now and then.

She rose from the cushioned rocker, then carried Linus over to a hooded bassinet and was tucking a warm blanket around him when a knock sounded on the door of her suite at the Fame and Fortune Ranch.

After crossing the large space that served as a living room, she opened the door to find Steven, her oldest brother, holding a large covered tray.

“Room service,” he said cheerily. “Hungry?”

She pulled the door wide and gestured for him to come in. “I was about to come down to the kitchen to see if there was anything to eat. What’s all that?” she asked, gesturing to the tray. “I thought Manny was taking the night off.”

He carried the loaded tray over to a green leather couch and placed it on a glass-and-wood coffee table. As Stephanie followed her brother, she thought she caught a whiff of pizza.

“Callum treated the construction crew this evening and there was so much food left over I brought some home.”

“This is nice, Steven. Thanks for thinking of me.”

“When you didn’t come down to dinner, I thought I’d better check on you. Is everything okay?”

For a long while in their family, Stephanie had been the only girl and her four older brothers had been very protective of their little sister. And even though a set of triplet girls had been born into the family four years after Stephanie, the guys still went out of their way to shield and care for her. Maybe because they thought that, due to her bad luck at love, she might never have a husband to love and protect her.

She smiled at Steven, while hoping that the tears that had stung her eyes a few moments ago were no longer visible. “Sure. Everything is fine. We had a hectic day at the clinic and it was later than usual when I finally picked up Linus from day care. So I’ve been playing catch-up. By the time I took care of my pets, Linus was yelling that he was hungry. So I put supper on hold.”

Steven chuckled. “I’d be flat on the floor if I’d been that busy today.”

She gave a wry laugh, then took a seat on the couch. “Join me?”

“I’ll sit for a minute. But I can’t stay for long. Callum is on a conference call and wants to talk with me afterward.”

“Callum is really excited about his projects. I think even more so now that Becky and the children are in his life.” She was happy for her brother; he’d found a wonderful single mother of twins who’d given him an instant family. She glanced slyly at her brother. “Is seeing him so happy giving you any ideas to become a family man?”

Steven shrugged. “It’ll take more than Callum’s grinning face to get me to the altar.”

Stephanie pulled the linen cloth from the tray to expose a wide array of food, ranging from hot wings and pizza, to macaroni and cheese and chocolate cake.

“No salad?” she asked teasingly.

Steven chuckled. “Sorry. The guys ate all the salad. There wasn’t a drop of it left.”

“I’d be willing to bet there wasn’t a drop of it to begin with,” she said drily.

He laughed. “Construction workers need more than rabbit food for their dinner.” He glanced around him. “Speaking of rabbits, where is Orville?”

“Look behind you. He finally managed to charm Violet and Daisy into sharing their bed.”

Steven glanced behind the couch to see Stephanie’s Siamese cat and yellow tabby snuggled in a large basket. Wedged between the two felines, a brown-and-white domestic rabbit snoozed contentedly.

“Ha! They must have decided Orville was just a strange-looking cat. I’ll say one thing—he’s one lucky rabbit to have you adopt him. Did you ever find out how he happened to be roaming around the clinic parking lot?”

Stephanie shook her head as she placed a pair of hot wings on a small paper plate. “No. We figure someone just didn’t want him anymore and put him there hoping the clinic would take care of him. It’s so sad, too, because Orville is a real sweetheart.”

“Every needy creature is a sweetheart to you.” Steven settled back against the couch and crossed his ankles out in front of him. “Stephanie, sometimes I think you’d take on a small zoo and a dozen kids without ever batting an eye.”

Smiling wanly, she shrugged. “What would I be doing if I wasn’t taking care of Linus, my pets and the animals at Paws and Claws?”

“Anything you wanted. You might actually have time for a personal life.”

Trying not to grimace, Stephanie reached for a piece of cheese pizza. “If you’re talking about me getting myself a man, there’s no need for you to worry. I’ve decided the best thing I could ever do for myself is cross marriage off my list of lifelong endeavors.”

Steven hardly looked pleased. “You’re twenty-seven, intelligent, beautiful and, most of all, loving. But you want to hide away and waste yourself just because you’ve dated a few losers.”

Stephanie ate a bite of pizza before she bothered to reply. “Not only were they losers, they were users and jerks, too. Let’s face it, I wouldn’t know a good man if he wore a sign around his neck.”

“If he has to wear a sign around his neck to let people know he’s good, then he probably isn’t.”

She let out a brittle laugh. “No need to worry, Steven. Linus keeps me happy.”

Her brother left the couch and walked over to the bassinet where Linus was sleeping peacefully. Gazing down at the baby, he said, “You’re very brave, Stephanie, for taking on this little fellow with so much uncertainty surrounding him.”

Leaving her plate on the coffee table, she walked over to where he stood and slipped an arm through his. “I’m hardly brave.”

He looked at her. “Don’t suppose you’ve heard any news about the mother?”

“No. It’s like her trail has vanished.”

The cell phone in his shirt pocket suddenly chirped to signal a new text message had arrived. Steven glanced at the phone. “Callum is finished with his conference call. I’d better go see what he’s stirring up next. We’ve just put the finishing touches on The Shoppes at Rambling Rose.”

“Poor you,” she said with a grin. “The building never stops.”

“Wait until he hears I need to hire more carpenters,” he joked. Then he planted a kiss on the top of Stephanie’s head and started out of the room.

“Thanks for the food,” she called after him.

He gave her a backhanded wave and shut the door behind him.

Stephanie’s attention returned to the baby, and as she gazed down at Linus’s quiet features, her heart overflowed with warm, maternal love. Would she ever have a child of her own? A man to love?

Love.

These days she rarely allowed herself to dwell on the fleeting emotion. But after meeting Acton Donovan this morning, she’d been feeling totally out of character.

True, she wasn’t good at judging the quality of a man, but even she could see he was far from her type.

So why had she continued to think of him throughout the day? Why was she thinking of him now?

Because no guy like him had ever flirted with her? Of course, she’d had men hit on her before, but most of them had been sleazy or unattractive, or just downright obnoxious. But Acton had been none of those things. He’d been cute and rather sweet, and she’d gotten the impression that he was a nice guy. With a dog like Seymour, he had to be nice, she thought.

There you go, Stephanie, judging a man by his dog. That’s a brilliant deduction. It’s no wonder you’ve had your heart broken a dozen times. Before long you’ll be saying the denim shirt he was wearing made him look dependable and trustworthy.

The mocking voice in her head made her turn from the bassinet and return to the tray of food sitting on the coffee table.

She couldn’t let thoughts of a young, happy-go-lucky cowboy elbow their way in on her common sense. And yet, she couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to have Acton Donovan sitting next to her on the couch, sharing this little supper with her.

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