My Fair Fortune

by Nancy Robards Thompson

  “This makes me so happy,” she said. “Having the blueprints already drawn up and basically endorsed by the town puts us so much further ahead than I ever dreamed possible at this point.”

  “Glad I could help,” he said.

  They were standing so close to each other looking at the blueprint that their arms were touching. She stood there for a moment reveling in the nearness of him. She knew this was dangerous; she knew pushing this defied all logic.

  Yet she moved just a fraction of an inch closer so she could feel the heat of him against her.

  “I think we need to celebrate,” she said.

  If she turned just so to her left and he did the same, they’d be standing face-to-face, close enough for their lips to touch, for their bodies to be flush.

  “I vote for that.” His voice was deep and raspy, the sound sweet as syrup. “What did you have in mind?”

  She knew what she had in mind, and she was fairly certain it was exactly what he had in mind, too.

  Her desk phone rang, ruining the moment.

  “Are you going to get that?” he asked.

  Of course she was.

  She moved away from him and felt an almost palpable change of altitude.

  “Yes, Janie,” she said, trying not to sound annoyed with this woman, who was only doing her job.

  “Les Campbell is on the line. May I put him through?”

  “Yes, please.”

  Please don’t let this be bad news.

  Seconds later, Les said, “Hello, Ms. Moore. The Twin Rattlers coaster is ready for its inaugural run, and we were wondering if you’d like to take a ride?”

  Oh, good!

  She glanced at Brodie, who had his back to her, leafing through the pages of the blueprints. She wondered idly if he knew how to read the pages beyond the elevation on the first page.

  He was a man of so many talents...her gaze followed the line of his broad shoulders. He was wearing a white dress shirt tucked into trousers that did a fine job showcasing his...assets.

  Caitlyn tore her gaze away. She was as bad as Hank Harvey.

  No, she wasn’t. This was different.

  Completely different.

  “I’d love to, Les. Thanks so much for thinking of me. Oh, and Les, there will be two of us. We will see you in fifteen minutes.”

  “Sounds good, ma’am.”

  She wished people would stop calling her ma’am. It made her feel old. But she supposed it was a sign of respect. Besides, Les was one of the nicer members of the crew, and she appreciated how hard he worked and the way he went out of his way to be nice—not just to her, but to others, too.

  She hung up the phone.

  “Come on,” she said to Brodie. “Let’s go. I know how we’re going to celebrate.”

  He turned around and arched a brow at her. A dimple winked at her from his cheeks. “And what exactly are we going to do?”

  “We’re going to ride a roller coaster.”

  His smile faded, replaced by a you’ve got to be kidding me look.

  “Um. No, thank you. You go ahead, though.”

  “Brodie, it’s the inaugural ride of the Twin Rattler. This is the big-ticket ride. The moneymaker that’s going to draw in people from all over the country. It’s an honor to do the inaugural ride.”

  His brow knit. “Even better reason to say no. I’d rather not be the rattlers’ guinea pig. Sounds like a likely chance of being eaten. Or flung into the next town.”

  She cocked her head and looked at him. “Are you afraid?”

  Brodie shrugged but then shook his head. “No, I’m not afraid. I simply have common sense. That’s all.”

  “You’re a chicken.”

  “You’re a bully.”

  They both burst out laughing.

  “What are we? Twelve years old?” she said.

  “Apparently so. I never knew you were a mean girl, Caitlyn Moore.”

  “I’m not. I swear. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. But I’m not a big chicken. I’m going to ride the Twin Rattlers.”

  “So you’re that confident that this ride is ready to go?”

  “Yes, I am. My father is the roller-coaster king. To date, no one has ever died on a single ride in a single one of his theme parks. He handpicked the rides for Cowboy Country, and I highly doubt that he would want to end such a stellar no-injury record at his bucket list park. I have to trust that everything will be fine.”

  He looked at her for a moment, a look that seemed to reach all the way into her soul.

  “You really do see the best in everyone, don’t you?”

  She shrugged. “I try. There’s good in everyone. Sometimes you just have to look past the roadblocks that they throw in your way.”

  He nodded, and she took it as a nonverbal signal that he knew exactly what...or who...she was talking about.

  “With that endorsement, how can I say no? Besides, I don’t want to listen to you calling me a chicken, you insufferable bully. But before we go, let me make a phone call. This is a photo op, exactly the kind of fun, positive story we should be getting out there into the community.”

  Truvy Jennings from the county newspaper, The Cross Town Crier, said she would send someone out in fifteen minutes and with that, Caitlyn and Brodie made their way to the Twin Rattlers, which was the park’s crowning glory, situated in the very center of the property.

  When they got there, Caitlyn was surprised that Les Campbell and his team were the only other people there.

  “Where is everyone?” Caitlyn asked.

  Les gestured to Caitlyn and Brodie. “Right here. You’re all present and accounted for.”

  “But Les, usually when we do the first run, there’s enough people to fill the entire train.”

  “I’m sorry, ma’am,” he said. “We wanted to make this run special for you. We thought you’d like to do this by yourself.”

  By herself? No, this was about team building.

  Les frowned. “I suppose we could delay it for a couple of hours so we could round up others.”

  “A representative of the newspaper will be here shortly,” Brodie interjected. “We need to do this now. A delay might make people think we’re having problems.”

  He glanced at his watch and shifted uncomfortably. There was something he wasn’t telling her.

  “Les, is everything okay?”

  “Ma’am...um...may I speak candidly with you?”

  “Of course, Les. Always.”

  He exhaled. “We tried to round up a crowd, but we had a hard time finding people who were interested.”

  “No one wanted to do the first run?” Brodie’s voice had an edge. Caitlyn feared that what was coming next wasn’t going to be pretty. But she saw him take a deep breath and steady himself.

  “I suppose it was spur of the moment. I think we need to schedule some participation for later in the week. Everyone in the park should be familiar with the rides and the layout of the park.”

  Les nodded his agreement, but she could see he was stiff and possibly afraid to do or say anything else.

  Brodie turned to Caitlyn. “After we’re finished here, let’s schedule meetings with the department heads and look at the calendar to plan a mandatory pre-opening orientation for all employees. I want this place to be happier than the happiest place in the universe.”

  Oh, gosh, he needs to have some fun. He needs to loosen up.

  Somehow she was going to have to make him see that he needed to take a gentler approach. They’d have to talk about it later because in the distance, Caitlyn spotted Truvy Jennings from the paper approaching them with her camera in hand. Apparently, she’d decided to cover the story herself.

  Great. Just great.

  “Here comes Truvy from the paper. I need you to work your magic and convince her that this unceremonious ride for two is exactly what we’d planned. Can you give her your best impersonation of a roller-coaster-lover?”

  “I will bring nothing less.” He winke
d at her, back in PR professional mode.

  Watching him as he greeted Truvy and had her melting under his charm, no one would ever know just a moment ago he was ready to dismiss everyone who might refuse to ride a roller coaster. Especially when he hadn’t been very eager to ride himself.

  Then again, he’d changed his tune once she’d coerced him.

  The man was a puzzle who constantly kept her wondering who he really was deep down: Passionate lover? Stern dictator? Emotional stoic? Public charmer?

  But once they were seated in the Twin Rattlers’ first car, and he reached out and took her hand, her doubt melted away under his touch.

  Then the ride took off, carrying them up, up, up the first huge climb. He never let go of her hand as it spilled down the first drop and curved into the first twist.

  They laughed and screamed and held their hands up in the air—his fingers protectively laced through hers. The roller coaster definitely brought out Brodie’s uninhibited side, and Caitlyn loved it. It was the most fun she’d had in a really long time. But it stopped being fun when the train came to a jerking halt, halfway through the ride atop the highest point.

  * * *

  “Are you kidding me?” Brodie said as he searched Caitlyn’s face to see if she could offer an explanation for what was happening. “Is this some sort of joke?”

  She shook her head. “If it is, I’m not in on it, I assure you.”

  Brodie let go of her hand so he could lean forward, to try and see what was going on below, but the height gave him a pit of vertigo, and he sat back.

  “Do you have your cell phone with you?” he asked. “Maybe we can call someone and see what’s going on.”

  “I left mine on my desk because I don’t have any pockets.”

  Brodie raked his hand through his hair, trying to tame his mounting frustration. “I tossed mine onto my desk, too, before I came into your office with the blueprints. I should’ve grabbed it before we left.”

  “I’m sure it won’t take them very long. Les assured me that all the kinks had been worked out.”

  Brodie threw his hands up in the air. “And we were gullible enough to believe him. No wonder nobody else wanted to go on this inaugural ride. I’ll bet Truvy is getting one hell of a story. This is simply not acceptable—”

  He stopped midsentence when he realized Caitlyn was frowning at him.

  “Well, it’s not.”

  Caitlyn covered her face with both hands. “Can we not do this up here? Please?”

  He could hear the tinges of panic in her voice. Her breath was a little shallow.

  “Not everything is controllable,” she said. “Things happen. Rides break down. People don’t always perform the way you expect them to or want them to. Life is messy. You can’t control everything.”

  She was shaking. He took her hand.

  “Hey, I’m sorry. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay. Really.”

  He slipped his arm around her and pulled her in close. She took a deep breath and settled into him.

  It was a beautiful day. Not too hot, with a pleasant breeze every now and again that ruffled the treetops.

  “Really, this is the best view in the house.”

  He felt her relax a little bit more as he rubbed her shoulder. With his free hand, he pointed. “Look over there. That’s Main Street. It looks different from up here, doesn’t it?”

  She nodded, her breathing growing steadier. “It’s pretty. I didn’t realize there were so many trees.”

  He traced where Main Street would have continued under the canopy of oaks to a stretch of open highway. “I believe if you follow that highway on down, that’s the road that leads to my aunt Jeanne Marie and uncle Deke’s ranch.”

  “Everything looks so much smaller up here. Down on the ground everything seems so much closer together. I never asked this, but where do you live?”

  He gestured behind them.

  “I live in the complete opposite direction. About five miles from the Fortune ranch. I am renting a carriage house from my brother’s father-in-law. Oliver stayed there before he and Shannon were married. I’m lucky to have it since rental property in Horseback Hollow is hard to come by. If not for the Singleton house, I probably might have been forced to bunk with my extended family. Even the thought of that scares me.”

  Caitlyn gave him a little nudge with her shoulder. “You have a wonderful family. I don’t understand why living with them would be such a horrible thing.”

  He sighed. “There’s such a thing as too much togetherness. My family takes a nice thing and turns it into smothering.”

  “When I was a little girl I used to wish for a large family. Don’t get me wrong, I adore my parents. But my dad has always been a workaholic—”

  Brodie smiled. “A man after my own heart.”

  “I’ve been wanting to thank you for being so good to my father while he’s been ill. I mean, I know he’s paying you handsomely—as he should—but you seemed to connect better with him than most people—certainly better than my ex. I saw that when you defended me to him the other day. Granted, he’s trying to be a little more relaxed because of his condition, but if you hadn’t handled that just right it could’ve turned pretty ugly. I’ve seen it happen before.”

  Brodie shrugged. He liked hearing her open up about her family, her childhood and her past.

  “Tell me about your ex,” he said. “What happened?”

  She tried to wave him off. But then she sighed. “Two weeks before the wedding, I found out that he’d slept with someone else. The worst part was that it was someone he just picked up one night. He was willing to sacrifice everything that we had for one night with a stranger.”

  “So, was that your motivation for sleeping with me after the wedding?”

  Oh, hell. Why had he said that? The look in her eyes made him want to kick himself.

  Then she lifted her chin. “What if I said yes? Is it only acceptable for men to pick up women?”

  “I’m not judging,” said Brody. “But you sound like you’re the one who isn’t comfortable with the idea of one-night stands.”

  She shrugged and looked away.

  He wondered if they would be sitting here like this right now, getting so personal, if not for that one night in February.

  Of course they’d both be here at Cowboy Country, and they’d probably be attracted to each other—this thing between them was magnetic—but he’d bet money that they would both be all business. They might wonder, but if he’d known out of the starting gate that she was Alden Moore’s daughter, he probably wouldn’t have acted.

  As far as he was concerned, that one-night stand in February was one of the best things that had ever happened to him.

  “When a guy cheats, when anybody cheats,” Brodie said, “it’s not a reflection on the person who was cheated on. It’s a reflection of the cheater’s cowardice. There’s not a thing in the world wrong with you, Cait. This one’s all on him.”

  She turned back to him. “You sound like you speak from experience.”

  “In a roundabout way. My father cheated on my mother. He treated her terribly.”

  “Poor Josephine.”

  Brody nodded. “She didn’t deserve it. No one does.”

  “As far as I know, my dad has never cheated on my mother. He may be a lot of things, but at least he’s always been an honorable man. But despite the fact that I’m twenty-nine years old, in my father’s eyes I will forever be twelve. Know what I mean?”

  “No. Not really. I mean, I understand what you’re saying, but I have not personally experienced that. I never really had a relationship with my natural father.”

  “But your mother is lovely. She seems to dote on you.”

  “My mother is a lovely person. I’ve just had a very different upbringing than you.”

  “Tell me about your childhood. I want to hear everything.”

  She snuggled in closer to him and right about then she could have persuaded him to talk about anyth
ing, especially if it meant that he could hold her like this.

  She fit so perfectly next to him.

  “Really, it’s a rather boring story. I went to boarding schools, and then I went off to university. I started my own company, and here I am.”

  She nudged him again. “I don’t want the Brodie Fortune Hayes bio. I want to hear about the real you.”

  He held up his free hand in a one-shoulder shrug, keeping his other arm snugly around her.

  “I’m sort of a what-you-see-is-what-you-get type of guy—”

  “No, you’re not. You are much more complicated than that, and I want to know what’s made you that way.”

  He stiffened, but he resisted the urge to squirm. Because anyone who knew anything about body language understood that was one of the first signs that a person was uncomfortable.

  “You may ask me five questions,” he said. “And I will answer them.”

  “Really?” She glanced up at him. As he nodded, his gaze focused on those lips of hers. They were so full and kissable...and tempting. His body responded.

  “Then I get to ask you five.”

  “It’s a deal,” she said. “Tell me about your father.”

  That was one way to kill the mood. How was he supposed to know she’d zero right in where it hurt?

  “That’s not a question,” he said.

  “What is this, Jeopardy? You didn’t specify that it had to be phrased as an interrogative. That one doesn’t count. Let me rephrase it. Will you tell me about your father?”

  “No. Next question.”

  “That is so not fair. You didn’t answer my first one.”

  “Yes, I did. You asked if I would tell you about my father. I answered no. Next question.”

  “I suppose we could sit here in silence until you answer me.”

  “I forgot to mention that open season expires once the ride starts again.”

  He felt her tense up again. “Oh, right. Thanks for reminding me. For a moment we were having so much fun, I forgot we were stuck.”