Guarding His Fortune

by Stella Bagwell

  The idea of jumping out of the car at the next red light dashed through Savannah’s mind, but just as quickly, she realized that would only give her a momentary escape from this man. He’d come after her. Or call the police. Then her father would be livid.

  “Poor Chaz!” she said, her voice thick with sarcasm. “That would put you out of a job. Literally!”

  His attention left the road long enough to shoot a glower in her direction. “For two cents, I’d call your father and tell him I’m finished with—”

  His words broke off, but Savannah didn’t need further explanation.

  “Being my jailer?” she asked bitterly. Bending forward, she grabbed her handbag and, after a quick search through her wallet, tossed two pennies at him. The coins struck his thigh, then fell onto the seat near his crotch. “There. Your miseries of dealing with me are over!”

  The remainder of the trip to her apartment was finished in charged silence. Once Chaz parked behind her rental car, a vehicle she had only driven once, Savannah hurried inside and shut herself in her bedroom.

  Moments later, as she was changing out of the mint-green dress she’d worn to class, she heard Chaz entering the apartment and then his footsteps echoed down the short hallway leading to the bedrooms. For a few seconds, she held her breath, fearing he was going to knock on her door and tell her he was leaving.

  No. He wouldn’t leave just like that, she decided miserably. He was too much of a professional to walk away and leave her unprotected.

  After a moment, the sound of footsteps continued on past her door, confirming her beliefs, and she sank weakly onto the side of the bed and dropped her face in her hands.

  * * *

  Chaz placed the lid back on the pot of spaghetti and glanced at the clock hanging on the wall behind the kitchen table. Two and a half hours had passed since Savannah had stomped into the apartment and disappeared behind the door of her bedroom.

  Since that time, Chaz had tried to come to terms with his burst of temper and Savannah’s reaction to it. Now that his anger had cooled, he could understand her outrage. He must have come across to her as a crazy man.

  One thing was for certain, he’d learned little Miss Fortune was not a meek pushover when she was riled. Moreover, she seemed not to care one whit whether he walked away from the task of being her bodyguard.

  The reality of that had not only surprised him, it had stung him hard. Which was a stupid reaction on his part. How could he have allowed himself to forget, even for a second, that Savannah was on the same social level as Allison? Women of their wealth and standing didn’t suffer a broken heart over any man—they simply moved on.

  Wearily, he wiped a hand over his face, then walked out of the kitchen and straight to Savannah’s bedroom door.

  After a light rap of his knuckles, he waited for what seemed like ages before she finally called out.

  “Come in. The door isn’t locked.”

  He didn’t want to go into her bedroom. Hell, it was hard enough to keep his hands off her in the most public of places. Being in the bedroom with her was nearly as provocative as standing next to her without any clothes on.

  Drawing in a bracing breath, he opened the door and stood just over the threshold. Across the room, Savannah was sitting in an armchair near the window. Beyond the glass panes, the red-gold rays from the setting sun surrounded her dark hair like a glowing halo. Just looking at her lovely image was enough to steal his breath.

  Closing the hardbound book in her lap, she asked crisply, “Did you want something?”

  I want you.

  The thought was a reality Chaz could no longer avoid or deny. Yet, he didn’t know what, if anything, he could do about it. He was Savannah’s protector. It would go against all the rules to start a relationship with her. Yet, to be with her and not touch her was an agony that was growing worse with each passing day. To do the honorable thing would be to take himself off the case and out of the picture totally.

  With that dire notion in mind, he moved deeper into the room until he was standing a short space from her chair.

  “Yes, I do want something.” He strained to get the words past his tight throat. “I want to...apologize.”

  She looked even more stunned than she had back on campus when he’d pulled her off the park bench.

  “Apologize. Are you joking?” she asked, then shook her head ever so slightly. “No. I should know better than that. You’re not much of a jokester.”

  “I’ve heard that women are drawn to men who can make them laugh. Unfortunately, I never had the knack for it.”

  The hardness in her hazel eyes softened slightly and Chaz felt his heart thud with hope. Long ago, he’d quit caring what any woman thought about him. Until Savannah had come along. Now, her forgiveness meant everything.

  “What do you want to apologize for? Being an ass in general? Or for giving up on being my bodyguard?”

  He reached into the front pocket of his blue jeans and pulled out the two cents she’d thrown at him.

  “Here’s your money,” he said, handing her the copper coins.

  As her fingers curled around the pennies, her gaze landed on his face. Chaz could hardly bear the pain and confusion he saw in her eyes.

  “You’re not quitting?”

  “When I start a job, I do my best to finish it,” he said flatly.

  “I thought that you wanted out.”

  Her voice was soft now and it caused something in his chest to twist into a knot so tight he could scarcely breathe.

  “You thought wrong.”

  “Oh.”

  He heaved out a breath in the hope it would force his lungs to begin working again.

  “As for me being an ass in general, you’re right.” His voice sounded like he was coming down with the flu or had just sobered up from a three-day drunk. Pleading guilty had never been easy for Chaz. “I behaved like a first-class jerk. And I’m sorry. But when I saw you sitting there in the wide open, I was so damned scared I couldn’t see straight. I shouldn’t have lashed out at you and I hope you’ll forgive me.”

  Her face was all tender compassion as she rose and stood before him.

  “I accept your apology. And I apologize for causing you so much distress. The professor released us early,” she explained. “You hadn’t arrived yet, so I sat down and called my sister in New Orleans.”

  Closing his eyes, he passed a hand over his forehead. “That’s perfectly normal behavior, Savannah. For anyone else. Just not for a member of the Fortune family. At least, not with everything that’s been going on.”

  He opened his eyes just as she was turning her back to him.

  “I hate this,” she said. “I hate being a Fortune and everything that goes with it.”

  Her voice was choked with anguish and the sound put a strangle hold on his heart. Before he could stop himself, he folded his hands around her upper arms and drew her backward until her back was pressed to his chest and his cheek was nestled against her soft hair.

  “And I hate that this is happening to you, Savannah. But everything will get better—eventually. Until then, I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.” To get to her, Charlotte or her hired thugs would have to go over his dead body, he thought fiercely.

  Slowly she turned to face him and Chaz winced at the tears glazing her eyes.

  “I shouldn’t have gotten so angry with you, Chaz. I don’t want you to leave. Not really.”

  In spite of everything, her words brought him a measure of joy, making it impossible to hold back a smile.

  “I’m glad we got that out of the way.”

  “So am I.”

  “I’ve cooked a pot of spaghetti,” he told her. “It’s going to get cold if we don’t go eat it.”

  Pleasant surprise chased away the shadows in her eyes. “You know how to cook spaghetti, too?”r />
  He chuckled. “Besides acting like a jackass, I know how to do a few other things.”

  A tender smile touched her lips. “I am hungry. And spaghetti sounds wonderful.”

  With a hand against the small of her back, he urged her out of the bedroom. “Let’s go eat.”

  * * *

  At the kitchen table several minutes later, Savannah was halfway through the food on her plate when Chaz once again caught her by surprise.

  “I have an invitation for you.”

  She paused in the act of twirling spaghetti around the tines of her fork and looked up at him.

  “I’m guessing the invitation is from Dad—to return to New Orleans. Right?”

  “No. Although, I’m sure you’d make your father a happy man if you did leave Austin.”

  She grimaced. “Georgia tells me that Dad and Connor Fortunado believe Charlotte has gone off the deep end. Have you heard any news about the woman?”

  He shook his head. “Nothing concrete. I don’t believe anyone has been able to pinpoint exactly where she’s hidden herself away. Most likely, she’s moving around to cover her tracks. But you can be sure she’s not had a change of heart and decided to be a nice human being.”

  Savannah reached for her iced tea. “If it’s not Dad, then what is this invitation?”

  “My brother and sister-in-law would like for the two of us to join them for dinner tomorrow night at La Viña. Schuyler is all excited about seeing you again and she thought you’d be more open to the idea if I invited you.” His lips took on a wry slant. “She doesn’t know that you and I spend half our time squaring off with each other.”

  Savannah’s gaze slid discreetly over his rugged face and broad shoulders. How could she be so furious with him one minute and desperately want to kiss him the next? She must be developing some sort of mental disease that she’d not yet studied, she decided.

  “I wouldn’t say half the time,” she said with wry amusement. “More like an eighth or a tenth.”

  He chuckled and she tried to imagine how it might be if the two of them had met under different circumstances. If he didn’t have to concern himself with protecting her, perhaps he’d see her as a desirable woman and ask her out on a real date instead of an outing to please his sister-in-law.

  You’re becoming a bigger fool every day, Savannah. A man who looks like Chaz can have his pick of women. And you’re not going to be one of them.

  “What shall I tell her? Are you up to it?”

  His question disturbed her taunting thoughts and she shrugged nonchalantly. “Sure. Why not? While I’m here in Austin, I should use the time to get to know some of my Fortune relatives.”

  He arched a brow at her. “That’s something your father is dead set against.”

  “How would you know such a thing?”

  “Miles made his feelings clear when he was interviewing me for this bodyguard job. Then later, when I met your brother Nolan, he mentioned that your father wanted his family to remain separated from the other Fortunes. Although, I have no idea whether he’s following Miles’s wishes. I only met your brother a few hours before your plane landed in Austin.”

  She nodded. “I talked to Nolan briefly last night, but we mostly discussed little Stella, and Lizzie, and everyone back home in New Orleans. He didn’t bring up Charlotte, or Gerald Robinson, or his giant brood of offspring. And I didn’t want to broach the subject. It’s too...dismal.”

  “Well, get prepared. Schuyler will bring up the subject. She has the grand notion that all the Fortunes can get together and become one big happy conglomeration of relatives.”

  Savannah swung her head back and forth. “I doubt that will ever be possible. Dad and his half brothers—the ones he learned about a few months ago—all feel very bitter toward their father, Julius. I can’t see that changing. The man hurt a lot of people and, from what I hear, Gerald has also damaged plenty of lives.”

  He leaned back in his chair and studied her thoughtfully. “I’ve tried to imagine what it feels like for you to be a Fortune, but I can’t. No matter where you go, the Fortune name registers with people. You never have to worry how you’re going to pay the utilities or grocery bill. Whatever you want, you can go out and buy.”

  She frowned at the image he was painting. “There are plenty of things money can’t buy or fix, Chaz. And being a Fortune is not always easy. Like now—with Charlotte taking aim at us.”

  “Yeah, I can see where some things about carrying the Fortune name would be hard to deal with.”

  She swallowed the last of her spaghetti before she replied, “I think being a Fortune was harder for me and my siblings when we were children. Classmates teased, and taunted, and set us apart from them. And even the ones who were supposed to be good friends stabbed you in the back. That’s why I grew so close to Bethann. She never treated me any differently. What about you? I’d like to hear what it’s like to be a Mendoza.”

  A faint smile bent the corners of his lips. “Compared to yours, the Mendozas are a simple family. We grew up in Miami and back then, money was mostly tight. We all worked to get the things we needed.”

  “Have you always been a close-knit family?”

  He inclined his head. “Always. But naturally when you have five young boys together under one roof, there’s going to be squabbles and wrestling matches. The Mendoza house had plenty of those.”

  Smiling, she rested her arms on the table edge and leaned earnestly toward him. “I’m sure your parents were usually around to keep the peace. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for your mother. Trying to corral five boys would be crazy.”

  Like a cloud suddenly covering the sun, his face went dark. “Dad was the one who did all the corralling. See, my parents divorced when we boys were very young. After that, she wasn’t ever around. As far as that goes, she still isn’t.”

  “Oh. I’m sorry. I noticed you hadn’t spoken of her. I thought she might have died.”

  He pushed back his chair and carried his plate over to the counter. “No need to be sorry. And no, Mom is still living. Although it’s rare that any of us hear from her,” he conceded. “My parents had a volatile relationship. Dad liked wine and women. Too many women. Mom took his cheating as long as she could and left. As an adult, I can see it was for the best that they divorced. But as a child, it was hard to understand why our mother wasn’t around.”

  Savannah watched him scrape his leftovers into the garbage disposal while wondering if he’d just revealed a reason why he had no interest in marriage or a long-term relationship.

  “Your dad never married again?”

  He released a short cynical laugh. “No. Thank goodness. He’s still too much of a playboy to settle down with one woman.”

  Like father, like son? Perhaps Chaz wanted to pursue women without acquiring the baggage of children and a divorce. Or was he simply afraid to take a wife? Afraid she would leave him, like Esteban’s had left him?

  “Well, it’s not like the Fortunes have been blessed with fidelity. Every time I walk by a rack of tabloids, I expect to see another love child of Gerald’s plastered on the front page.”

  He spooned coffee grounds into the coffee machine and added the water before he turned to look at her.

  “The Mendozas have had their own scandals,” he said flatly. “Not that long ago, my brothers and I learned that Joaquin was actually our half brother. After years of believing he was our cousin, you can imagine how shocked we were. How everyone who knew our family was shocked.”

  Savannah couldn’t believe he was sharing such a private matter with her. Especially after the angry outburst they’d exchanged earlier. She could only think that the argument between them had acted like an icebreaker.

  Picking up her plate, she joined him at the counter. “Your cousin actually turned out to be your half brother? How did that happen?”
/>   He rolled his eyes. “How do you think? My father had sex with my uncle’s girlfriend.”

  His blunt explanation put a blush on her face. “I understand that part. You said you learned about Joaquin not long ago. Was it a family secret or something?”

  “Or something, I guess you’d call it. Technically, Luz wasn’t Orlando’s wife at the time she got pregnant. You see, she’d always been in love with my father. But even then, Dad couldn’t be a one-woman man. He ran off with another woman before Luz could tell him about the baby. Orlando married her and together they decided to keep secret the fact that Esteban was actually the baby’s father.”

  “Oh, my. What a tangled web. How did the secret finally come out?”

  Folding his arms against his chest, he slanted her a rueful glance. “Well, we all knew a deep riff had existed for years between Dad and Uncle Orlando. We just didn’t know what had caused it. Until Joaquin wanted to donate blood for his sick mother and discovered his blood type couldn’t have been produced by Luz and Orlando. He began putting two and two together and finally confronted Orlando. Once the truth came out, the two men flew to Miami and told Esteban what had happened.”

  “You mean, after all those years, Esteban still had no idea that Joaquin was actually his son?”

  Chaz shook his head. “No. To say it floored him would be putting it mildly. But as it turned out, the two brothers forgave each other and Joaquin is close to both men.”

  “So now all of you are running Mendoza businesses together,” she mused. “Maybe there is hope for the Fortunes to be one big happy family. But that would take a whole lot of forgiving by a whole lot of people.”

  He slanted her a sly smile and as her gaze met his dreamy brown eyes, the pit of her stomach tumbled end over end.

  “Right now, I’m just glad you decided to forgive me.”

  Because he didn’t want to lose his bodyguard job? Or because he wanted to stay here with her?

  Like a fool, she wanted to believe the latter.