Panic seared through her.
“Steffi-Anne, I don’t have my purse,” Zoe said as she excused herself past the others who were waiting in line to get on the bus. “I have to go find it. I’ll be right back.”
Mentally, she retraced her steps. She’d probably set it down during the wedding show. But no, she’d purchased the cute little straw hat with a pink gingham band at Gus’s General Store. After that, she and Joaquin had ridden a couple of rides. Next they’d gone to the Patty’s Cakes Funnel Cake stand and stopped by Foaming Barrel Root Beer to get something to drink before he said goodbye to go meet his dad. That meant she’d left it at either Patty’s Cakes or the Foaming Barrel. But Joaquin had paid for the cakes and the root beer.
Her purse could be anywhere.
She jogged as fast as she could back to Patty’s Cakes. It was almost at the farthest corner of the park, away from the entrance.
“Excuse me, I was here earlier and I think I may have left my purse and phone. It’s small, pink, has a loop so I can wear it over my wrist.” Zoe pointed to her arm. “Please tell me someone turned it in.”
The kid shook his head. “Sorry, no one has turned in anything like that. You might want to try Lost and Found.”
The woman behind her made a sympathetic noise.
Zoe’s heart sank. It was getting late and she knew she was holding up the bus. Maybe she’d have to give up the search for now. She didn’t want to keep everyone waiting. She would’ve called Steffi-Anne to let her know she’d be right there, but she didn’t even have a phone.
“Where is Lost and Found?” she asked, just in case it was nearby.
“Up front,” said the guy. “Right by the exit.”
Well, that was good, but it didn’t do much to calm the panic festering inside her at the thought of losing her phone. It contained all of her contacts—phone numbers, addresses, her schedule, her life. Without it, she wouldn’t know her next move.
She swallowed the mounting hysteria.
She thanked the guy and jogged toward the main gates. She would tell her coworkers what she was doing and then run and check Lost and Found. If it wasn’t there, perhaps they could assist her with calling the other locations in the park.
It had been a long time since she’d run this far this fast, and her lungs were about to burst when she finally made it to the front. She breathed in great gulps of air as she walked to where the bus was parked.
Or—where it was supposed to be parked?
It wasn’t there.
Frantically, Zoe looked around, trying in vain to locate it. Cowboy Country wasn’t that large. Not like Disney World. There was only one place for buses, and this was it.
But the bus wasn’t there. Had they left without her?
Her heart pounded in her chest like a caged bird thrashing against its pen. As horror slowly morphed into fury, she realized that the bus had indeed taken off without her.
She had no money, no phone and no way to get in touch with anyone. Then her gaze found the Coyote Steak House, where Joaquin was dining with his father.
As much as she had wanted to spend more time with him, she didn’t want to do it like this—barging in on his family time, prevailing upon him to be her knight in shining armor whether he wanted to be or not.
She would look so stupid—worse yet, this would look so contrived. So planned. Steffi-Anne-level manipulation. But she had no choice, unless she wanted to start walking back to Austin.
Instead she took a deep breath and prepared herself to take the interloper’s walk of shame.
* * *
“The new job sounds like it’s agreeing with you, son,” said Orlando Mendoza as he helped himself to a dinner roll out of the basket and smeared a slab of butter on his bread plate.
“It is,” said Joaquin. “I like it very much. Although it doesn’t seem like a new job anymore. It’s already been three months.”
The aroma of grilled steak filled the dimly lit restaurant and Joaquin’s stomach growled in anticipation. The place was decorated in upscale cowboy chic. The walls were painted a deep green color, which set off the various cow heads and longhorn trophies intermixed with framed photos of famous country singers and rodeo champions.
“Has it been that long already?” asked Josephine Fortune Chesterfield. Her proper British accent sounded crisp and neat. “Where does the time go? Don’t get me wrong, we’ve missed you living in Horseback Hollow. But time does fly.”
His father had been seeing Josephine for a while now—since Orlando had moved to Texas from Miami a couple of years ago. Not only did they seem happy, they seemed to be getting serious. Although, Joaquin didn’t know what serious actually entailed for someone like his father. He couldn’t imagine him married to anyone else but his mother, but he did want Orlando to be happy and he couldn’t have handpicked a better woman for him than Josephine.
He felt that old familiar tug of apprehension. He had things he needed to discuss with his father. Questions that he’d kept buried for far too long that needed to be brought out into the daylight and have the truth shone on them.
His mother had been gone for four years now and it had been so long since he’d seen his father smile. He’d taken her death hard. It hadn’t seemed right to add to his suffering by opening a can of worms.
He was holding Josephine’s hand and they were exchanging a look that belonged to lovers who had made it through the uncertainty of a new relationship and were firmly grounded in a confidence of where they wanted to be, where they belonged.
Orlando had finally remembered how to smile again.
Now it didn’t seem right to mess that up by telling him Joaquin knew he wasn’t his birth father. Maybe Orlando knew the truth. If he didn’t, it meant his mother—the love of Orlando’s life—had cheated on him. Joaquin had a pretty good idea whom she’d slept with.
The issue was too important not to get some answers. But not tonight, of course. Not with Josephine here. Maybe this weekend. He’d have to gauge it.
“Have you given any thought to what you’re going to do once this project is over?” Orlando asked.
Joaquin took a long pull of his beer. It tasted good after spending the day outdoors and it took the edge off his appetite. Even though he and Zoe had eaten their fill of funnel cakes and drunk a good amount of root beer, he was hungry for some real food.
Spending the afternoon walking and talking with Zoe had given him an appetite. And not for food. If he were completely honest with himself, he was hungry to see her again. He’d have to give that some thought this weekend, too. Given the way things had turned out back in Miami, he should’ve learned his lesson about messing with the boss’s daughter, but Zoe Robinson was a far cry from Selena Marks.
Selena was another type of daddy’s girl, a different brand than Zoe, who seemed much too sweet to sleep with her fiancé’s best friend the way Selena had done. Selena took what she wanted when she wanted it, no matter whom she hurt. But Zoe seemed like a breath of fresh air compared to the suffocating pitch-black of Selena’s darkness. That was probably why he was tempted to break his number-one rule: no interoffice romance.
“Funny you should ask,” Joaquin said in response to his father’s question. “I have been thinking about the future. I wouldn’t mind taking a permanent position with Robinson if they had something for me. Gerald Robinson is an interesting guy.”
He glanced at Josephine to see if she had any reaction to the mention of Gerald Robinson’s name, but she didn’t. She simply smiled at him and looked as if she were waiting for Joaquin to expound.
“Josephine, I heard something interesting about Gerald Robinson. Do you remember him from Matteo and Rachel’s wedding? He’s Matteo’s father-in-law.”
“Yes, of course,” Josephine said.
“There’s a rumor that Gerald is r
elated to the Fortunes. Have you heard anything about that?”
Josephine cocked her pretty gray head to the right. “I haven’t heard a thing about that. But the Fortunes are a large and ever-expanding clan. I wouldn’t rule out anything. Look at my story, how I ended up finding out I was related to them.”
She had a point. It was an interesting saga, like something out of a novel. After more than half a century spent growing up in England, she’d learned she was adopted. Not only that, but that she was part of a set of triplets—two girls and a boy. She and her sister, Jeanne Marie, had been put up for adoption when they were babies. All these years later their brother, James Fortune, had learned of the existence and stopped at nothing until he’d found his long-lost sisters.
When Josephine, a widow, had learned of her new family connections, she’d moved to Horseback Hollow to be closer to her family. That was when she’d met Orlando. From what Joaquin had heard, it had been love at first sight but a relationship slow to take root.
Could Gerald Robinson have a similar connection to the Fortunes that he didn’t know about, the same way Josephine and her sister hadn’t known all those years? Zoe was adamant that wasn’t the case. He probably shouldn’t even have brought it up to Josephine. It was best to let the subject drop.
“Robinson stays out of my way for the most part,” Joaquin said. “He lets me do my own thing. Of course, I get my work done. So he has no reason to crowd me. But it’s a good atmosphere. It’s stimulating and I like my coworkers.”
Zoe’s face came to mind. Actually he hadn’t been able to get her out of his head. Those big brown eyes. That smile. The sound of her laugh. The way he’d wanted to kiss her when they had ridden the Ferris wheel today. And how, for a crazy second, he had thought about asking her to ditch the bus ride back and stay with him here in Horseback Hollow for the weekend. But just as fast, he’d come to his senses. He’d blamed it on the altitude of the Ferris wheel, which was a lame excuse, of course. Almost as lame as the idea of her spending the weekend with him.
Maybe not lame, exactly.
Unwise. Reckless.
Tempting as hell.
His reckless days of buckling under temptation were over. If he knew what was good for him and her—for both of them—he’d stop thinking about her right now, look at the menu and figure out what he wanted to eat. Then he would focus his mental energies on how he would broach the subject of his paternity and his father’s estrangement with Esteban once they’d said goodnight to Josephine.
As he lowered his gaze to study the menu, he caught a glimpse of a woman across the dimly lit steak house that reminded him of Zoe.
Now he was imagining her. Hell, he was conjuring her—the woman could be her twin. Her identical twin. Dressed in an orange blouse and pink shorts—
Oh, for God’s sake, that was Zoe. She looked a little frantic.
Joaquin stood and waved at her, and relief seemed to wash over her as she headed in their direction.
“Who are you waving at?” Orlando asked, looking in the direction Joaquin was facing.
“It’s Zoe Robinson. Gerald Robinson’s daughter. Hey, please don’t mention anything about the rumors about his Fortune connection.”
“I remember Zoe from Matteo and Rachel’s wedding,” Orlando said. “I won’t mention anything.”
Josephine nodded in agreement and Orlando stood as Zoe reached the table.
“Hi, I’m so sorry to barge in like this,” Zoe said. She looked at Josephine and Orlando. “Hello, I’m Zoe. I work with Joaquin. I’m so sorry to interrupt your dinner. But I have a minor emergency. I need to borrow Joaquin’s phone.”
“Hi. Uh, no, it’s fine,” Joaquin said. “You’re not interrupting. We haven’t even ordered yet. What’s wrong?”
Orlando cleared his throat.
“Zoe, this is my father, Orlando Mendoza, and Josephine Fortune Chesterfield. I believe you met briefly at Rachel and Matteo’s wedding.”
Zoe’s eyes flashed at the mention of the Fortune name and her gaze swept over Josephine. It was so subtle that no one else probably caught it. Especially because she smiled sweetly and greeted them both.
“Yes. Of course, I remember you. Please, carry on with ordering. Don’t let me interrupt. Joaquin, if I could borrow your phone, I’ll just take it into the lobby and make my call.”
He handed it to her. “Sure, but what happened to yours?”
She always seemed to have it with her. He knew she’d had it today in the park because she’d been afraid it would get wet when they rode the Gulch Holler Rapids log flume ride.
“I don’t know.” Her voice sounded shaky. “And—” She covered her face with her free hand for a quick moment. “This is so embarrassing. I must’ve lost it in the park. I realized it after I’d checked in to get on the bus. Before I went to look for it, I told Steffi-Anne that I’d be right back, but she must not have heard me because the bus left without me. Now, here I am stranded with no phone and no money and I’m just thanking God that you are here because I don’t know what I would do if you weren’t. Well, actually, Rachel lives in Horseback Hollow and before I bothered you I used the restaurant’s house phone to call her, but she’s not picking up.”
“You are not bothering us,” Orlando interjected. “The reason you can’t get hold of Matteo and Rachel is that they’re out of town for the night. But you have nothing to worry about. We will take care of you. Please join us for dinner.”
Orlando gestured to the empty seat next to Joaquin.
“Oh, thank you. That’s so kind of you to offer, but I can’t impose like that.”
“Looks like you don’t have many other options,” Joaquin joked. “So you might as well.”
He gestured to the empty chair next to him. Zoe’s face clouded and he realized his words might not have sounded as humorous as he’d meant them.
“Thank you,” she said. “But I’ll call Steffi-Anne and ask if they can come back and get me.”
She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and Joaquin knew even the thought was humiliating to her. What the hell was wrong with Steffi-Anne to go off and leave her stranded like that?
“Do you really want to do that?” he asked.
“No, of course not. But as you said, I’m sort of short on options.”
“Do you know her phone number, because I certainly don’t have it?” Joaquin said.
Zoe frowned. “No, I don’t. Okay, time for plan C. Will you lend me some money for a place to stay tonight? I will pay you back as soon as Rachel gets home and she can take me back to Austin.”
“Nonsense,” said Orlando. “The closest hotel is the bed-and-breakfast in Vicker’s Corners. There is no need for you to stay there when I have plenty of room at my house. I insist that not only you stay with us tonight but that also you join us for dinner.”
Orlando flashed his trademark winning smile and it seemed to work on Zoe because she heaved a full-bodied sigh and her entire demeanor changed. She glanced at Joaquin as if to make sure he was amenable to his father’s suggestion.
They would be sleeping under the same roof tonight. A frisson of awareness sparked inside him. What would her body feel like pressed against his? What would it be like to wake up with her in his arms? He blinked away the thoughts because he wouldn’t find out tonight. She was in a vulnerable position right now. She was depending on him. He would never take advantage of her. The thoughts brought out a protectiveness he didn’t know he possessed. “Please, join us,” Joaquin tried again. “There’s an empty place right here next to me, just waiting for you.”
Chapter Six
What a way to meet the parents—or parent, in this case—Zoe thought as she bid Orlando good-night from the couch in front of the fireplace in the expansive living room of his ranch-style home. He was such a nice man. He’d made her feel so we
lcome. Not as though she was an idiot who had lost her purse, missed the bus and barged in on their dinner, which was all true.
Or worse yet, he had not suggested that she might be a manipulator who had manufactured the excuse simply to spend time with his son, which was 100 percent untrue, but still made her cringe thinking about how it looked.
No, both Orlando and Joaquin had been nothing but gracious, right down to opening an after-dinner bottle of wine and building a fire in the fireplace.
Even though it had been a pretty day with temperatures in the low seventies, the thermometer had dropped into the forties tonight. It was downright chilly.
Now that Orlando was retiring for the night, she and Joaquin would be left alone to finish the bottle of merlot. The realization left her nearly breathless. So, she turned her thoughts on expressing her appreciation to Orlando.
“Thanks, again, for the dinner and your generous hospitality, Orlando. I really don’t know what I would’ve done without you and Joaquin.”
After dinner the four of them had gone to the lost and found to see if anyone had turned in her wristlet and phone, but no one had. The manager on duty had taken her name and contact information and had promised to call her if they turned up.
“It was my honor and pleasure to welcome such a lovely guest,” Orlando said. “I hope you will be very comfortable tonight. If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask. Either Joaquin or I will be happy to get it for you.”
He smiled warmly and gave a quick parting salute as he left the room. She knew instantly where Joaquin had gotten his good looks and gentlemanly manners.
Josephine had been wonderful, too. Kind, engaging and interesting to talk to. If she was representative of what the Fortune family was like as a whole, being related to them might not be such a bad thing, after all. But Zoe hadn’t brought up the subject of her father’s possible connection to the clan.
Given the way Gerald had so vehemently denied it, broaching it felt like a betrayal. Besides, who knew how Josephine felt about the rumors—if she’d even heard them. Why risk ruining what had turned out to be a perfectly lovely dinner with potentially upsetting talk of hearsay and speculation?
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