But another voice—one that sounded suspiciously like his father’s—reminded him that he’d promised to fight for the woman standing in front of him. To prove himself worthy of her. To be a man who would make his parents proud. Even if he wound up heartbroken, he had to risk everything. Alice deserved the best he had to give.
He wanted to push her into the apartment and shut the door on his siblings. To gain a bit of privacy. But no. This had to be done here and now. No more hiding.
“I love you,” he said, and bent so he was level with her beautiful—if wary—gaze. “I think I started falling in love with you that first day on the park bench.”
One corner of her mouth curved as her eyes turned watery. “Really?”
“I never really understood the concept of a North Star until I met you, Alice. You are my guide in the night when I can’t see anything else. You’re the person who inspires me to make better choices in my life. You’ve shown me that I have more potential than I ever thought possible.” He shot another glare over his shoulder to where his siblings stood huddled against the far wall of the corridor. “That there is more to me than anyone believed.”
“You’re already that person, Charles,” she said softly, and his heart expanded even more.
“Only with you.” He leaned in and brushed a soft kiss across her lips. “I want to take care of you, but not because you can’t take care of yourself. My father taught me that one of the highest expressions of love is to take care of the people who mean the world to you. I also need you, rather desperately, I’m afraid, to care for me. To be patient, because I’m liable to make mistakes at every step.”
He heard one of his brothers cough and mutter something that sounded like “not good.” He shook off the distraction and focused on Alice.
“But I’ll work hard to fix every one. To make you happy. To be the man you and Flynn deserve. Please give me that chance.”
“What exactly are you asking, Charles?” Emotion danced in her eyes. Love for him. Devotion. Patience. It made all his fears and doubts fade away.
An image of Kate Fortune popped into his mind. He reached into his pocket for the velvet pouch that held the ring she’d given him. He’d brought it to Horseback Hollow to show his mother, and still carried it.
Without hesitation he dropped to one knee and pulled out the delicate gold band.
He heard a gasp, then a rather loud sniff behind him. Lucie, no doubt. He ignored it, continuing to stare into Alice’s wide hazel eyes.
“Alice Meyers, would you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?”
“Yes,” she whispered, and adjusted Flynn so that Charles could slip the ring onto her left hand. “I love you, Charles. So very much.”
“Want me to take the baby so you can kiss her properly?” Jensen offered with a brotherly nudge.
“I can kiss both of them perfectly well with no help from you,” Charles muttered, then folded both Alice and Flynn into his embrace. The baby laughed as Charles kissed Alice, Flynn’s chubby fingers poking at each of his parents’ cheeks.
His siblings let out a rousing cheer.
“Team Fortune Chesterfield,” Alice said against his mouth.
“Team Us,” he answered, and kissed her again. This was his future...his family. Charles intended to hold on to Alice and Flynn with every piece of his heart.
Epilogue
“Are you nervous?” Alice asked as she watched Charles take another deep breath.
They stood on the sidewalk in front of her parents’ house three days after Charles had declared his love for her. In that time, the media circus that surrounded them had begun to fade, spurred by Charles’s very public declaration of love for her and the announcement of their engagement.
His sisters, Lucie and Amelia, had coached Alice on how to handle the tabloid press when she did encounter them. Knowing she had the support of the Fortune family made Alice feel far more confident in her ability to cope with the public aspect of Charles’s life. But right now her handsome Brit was the one who looked distinctly uncomfortable.
He balanced Flynn’s infant carrier in one arm and ran his free hand through his hair. “Of course I’m nervous. I’m about to be introduced to your parents.”
She laced her fingers with his and led him up the paved walk. “You’ve met heads of state, Fortune 500 CEOs, celebrities from all parts of the world. My mom and dad are an ordinary couple from the suburbs of Austin.” She shook her head. “Why would they make you nervous?”
He stopped, tugged on her hand until she turned to him. “Because they’re important to you, Alice. They love you and I love you, so it would help if they at least liked me.” He made a face. “Our courtship didn’t follow the prescribed timeline. Meeting your parents after we’ve had a baby together and gotten engaged takes the phrase ‘putting the cart before the horse’ to a whole new level.”
Alice laughed. She couldn’t help it. Charles looked almost comically stricken. Then she brushed a light kiss over his lips. “They want me to be happy,” she whispered into his mouth. “You make me happy.”
She felt a little of his tension ease as he rested his forehead against hers, grounding himself in her. Since that afternoon in her apartment, Charles had become even more affectionate with her. Saying the words I love you out loud had freed up something in him, fragmented the last of his defenses so that now every moment they were together his touch conveyed the fact that he was well and truly hers.
It made her heart swell until it felt almost too big for her body to contain.
A throat cleared discreetly behind her and she turned to see her parents standing in the doorway. She knew Charles had nothing to worry about from Henry and Lynn Meyers.
He held out a hand as they approached. “Mr. and Mrs. Mey—”
Her mother cut him off, enveloping them both in a warm hug. “Call me Lynn,” she said. “I’m so glad our Alice found you, Charles. I know you’ll take good care of her.”
Alice could see that her mother’s faith in him bolstered Charles’s own confidence. “Every moment of my life,” he promised as he returned Lynn’s hug. “Your daughter is a precious gift. One that I’ll treasure and guard each day.”
“Oh, well. That’s perfect, then.” Her mother took a step back, her hand pressed to her chest as if she was having trouble gathering a breath.
“The Charles Effect strikes again,” Alice murmured, making him smile at their private joke.
She hugged her father, and Henry shook Charles’s hand, clearly not as quickly won over as his wife but approving in his own quiet way. “I’d like to know what you Englishmen are taught about the Revolutionary War,” he told Charles.
“I’d be honored to discuss that with you, sir,” Charles answer, earning a small smile from Henry. At that moment Alice was certain her Fortune would fit in just fine as part of their tight-knit family.
Flynn made a small sound from his carrier, and her mother led them into the house. An hour later, Charles came into the kitchen, where Alice was helping her mother set the table for dinner.
“Everything all right?” she asked. Her father had dragged Charles off to his office soon after they’d entered, and she hoped her dad had limited the conversation to details of American history and not grilled Charles about their relationship.
“Fine,” he answered, but ran a hand through his hair at the same time. His nervous tell. “Can I speak to you outside for a moment, Alice?”
Her mother glanced up from the vegetables she was chopping for a salad. “We still have fifteen minutes until the roast is ready. I can handle things in here.”
Her heart suddenly beating a funny rhythm in her chest, Alice picked up Flynn and followed Charles out the French doors onto the covered patio of her parents’ backyard. “Is something wrong? Did my father—”
“He loves you,” Charles interrupted, taking her hand and raising her fingertips to his lips. “Both your parents love you and Flynn so very much.” He smoothed his other hand over
the baby’s soft skin. “I can’t imagine taking you away from them.”
“My home is with you now,” she assured him, reaching into the back pocket of her jeans. “This came today.” She held up a shiny new passport. “I have one for Flynn, too, so we can leave for London as soon as I get my apartment packed.” She shut her eyes for a moment as emotion threatened to overtake her.
Alice meant what she said. She had no doubts about moving to England to be with Charles, not when she was so sure of his love. But it was still difficult to think about leaving behind the life she’d built for herself. She was proud of the woman she’d become in the past year, but even more excited about creating a future with Charles.
She opened her eyes to find him looking at her with such tenderness it made tears threaten. “I’m fine,” she whispered. “I promise.”
“I have something to show you, as well.” He took his phone from his pocket and lifted the screen so she could see. “What do you think?”
It was a photograph of a gorgeous two-story brick house, not quite a mansion, but definitely larger than anywhere Alice had ever lived. There were oversize gables, a midnight blue slate roof and copper gutters that gave the home a timeless air. The photo must have been taken at the height of summer because a colorful flower garden was visible to the side of the house and a large elm tree provided shade for the inviting wraparound porch.
“It’s beautiful,” Alice told Charles, covering his fingers with her own. “But I don’t need an English manor to make me happy.”
“That’s a good thing, love.” He leaned in to kiss her. “Because this house is right here in Austin.”
Alice felt her jaw drop, and Charles ran a finger under her chin to tip it closed. “I may never wear a ten-gallon hat, but I’m not going to separate you and Flynn from your family. Or mine, for that matter,” he added with a grin.
“Charles, thank you.” Alice threw her arms around his neck and he folded her into his strong, safe embrace.
“Thank you,” he whispered against her hair. “For making me whole. For being my home. My everything. I love you, Alice.”
“I love you, Charles. With all my heart.”
Flynn gave a great belly laugh as Charles held them closer, and Alice knew she had found her home.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from THE GIRL HE LEFT BEHIND by Patricia Kay.
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The Girl He Left Behind
by Patricia Kay
“There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable.”
—Mark Twain
Prologue
The boy stands under the overhang, guitar case in hand, his backpack stuffed with his belongings. The bus will arrive any minute. Beyond the overhang the rain falls steadily. It has been raining for days here in the Texas Hill Country.
His gaze sweeps the station platform.
Is she coming?
He’d told her she had to be here no later than eight o’clock. The station clock now reads eight twelve. The bus is due to leave the station at eight fifteen. The boy looks at his phone again. Should he risk calling her house? But what if her father answers? For at least the hundredth time since they’d become a couple, he curses her father’s stupid rules. Eve is one of the few girls left in their senior class who doesn’t yet have a cell phone. He has no way of contacting her without alerting her parents.
He looks around slowly, hoping this time he’ll see her, that she’ll be out of breath from hurrying, saying how sorry she is that she made him wait, that she didn’t say yes when he first started talking about her coming with him, that she made him worry. But she’s not there. The only other person on the platform is an older man who was already there when the boy arrived.
She’s not coming.
His heart thuds painfully as the truth sinks in. Yet he isn’t really surprised. Down deep, hasn’t he always known she wouldn’t come? That he’s never been good enough for her? Hasn’t he been lying to himself all along, pretending she would change her mind and come because he didn’t want to think about the alternative?
You’re on your own. She doesn’t love you enough to defy her family. You knew she wouldn’t leave home. It was never gonna happen. Forget about her. The two of you together was always a fairy tale, and you’ve never believed in fairy tales.
He thinks about how he’d once told Aaron to grow up, saying, “There ain’t no Santa Claus, kid, and you might as well get used to it!”
He sighs. Yeah, there ain’t no Santa Claus. And there sure as hell wasn’t gonna be a happy ever after for him. Not with Eve anyhow. He’d have to make his own happy ever after by making his dream of a career in music come true.
The hiss of air brakes heralds the arrival of the bus, and the boy pulls his baseball cap more firmly on his head and darts through the rain toward the opening doors.
Two minutes later, as the bus pulls away from the station, heading east toward his future, the boy gives one last, long look at the town where he’s spent all eighteen years of his life so far.
Then he turns resolutely away. No more looking at the past. From now on, he will only look forward.
Copyright © 2016 by Patricia A. Kay
Special thanks and acknowledgment to Michelle Major for her contribution to the Fortunes of Texas: All Fortune’s Children continuity.
ISBN-13: 9781488002342
Fortune’s Special Delivery
Copyright © 2016 by Harlequin Books S.A.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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