MEET THE FORTUNES
Fortune of the Month: Lucie Fortune Chesterfield
Age: 27
Vital statistics: Pretty as a princess, Lucie is tall, graceful and hopelessly single—or so she thinks.
Claim to fame: The accomplished daughter of Lady Josephine Fortune Chesterfield, Lucie is known for her charity work and her consistently calm demeanor.
Romantic prospects: While many men have attempted to woo her, Lucie has never lost her heart … at least not since high school, when she fell for a brash American cowboy at summer camp. Readers, she married him. But no one ever knew.
“They say you never forget your first love, but I’ve tried. Hard. And until a few days ago, I would have assured you that Chase Parker was firmly in my past. But that was before he showed up at my apartment in Austin.
“I can’t believe our teenage marriage was never annulled! I can’t believe Chase is here after so many years. And most of all, I can’t believe, after all this time, I dissolve at the mere sight of him. He’s only here to get our annulment taken care of—we both agree it’s for the best. And yet, I can’t help but imagine what could have been …”
The Fortunes Of Texas: All Fortune’s Children—Money. Family. Cowboys. Meet the Austin Fortunes!
Fortune’s Secret Husband
Karen Rose Smith
USA TODAY bestselling author KAREN ROSE SMITH’S eighty-seventh novel was released in 2015. Her passion is caring for her four rescued cats, and her hobbies—gardening, cooking and photography. An only child, Karen delved into books at an early age. Even though she escaped into story worlds, she had many cousins around her on weekends. Families are a strong theme in her novels. Find out more about Karen at www.karenrosesmith.com.
To my grade school friend Liz,
who married young, too. We made it!
Thanks for being my friend.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Epilogue
Lucie Fortune Chesterfield was late!
It was her own fault. She’d forgotten her phone and had to run back to the Austin, Texas, apartment she was subletting to retrieve it. In a rush now on her way out again, after disembarking from the elevator in the lobby, she stopped cold.
Was she seeing things? Was that Chase Parker leaving the building? Not possible. Just because he still invaded her dreams—
The doorman stood at his counter and she ran to him and pointed to the departing tall, broad-shouldered man whose Stetson was tilted at an angle she thought she recognized.
The doorman did a double take. “Lady Lucie, I thought you’d left.”
Irving hadn’t been at his station when she’d rushed back in for her phone. “I forgot something and had to return to my apartment. Do you know who that man is?”
Lucie was very used to doormen and chauffeurs and pomp and circumstance. Born in England and living on the Chesterfield Estate, she was considered “almost” royalty. Her mother’s adopted father had been an earl. Her own father had been knighted. In England and the United States, her family was sometimes hounded and followed by paparazzi searching for that money shot. After the scandal her sister had become involved in, Lucie was more than aware of her actions and couldn’t just run into the street chasing a tall Texan who resembled a ghost from her foolish past, a ghost so secret not even her family had known all the details about her association with him.
Irving, in his fifties and balding, turned red to his scalp as he reached out to the shelf under the counter and retrieved a business card.
“I’m so sorry, Lady Lucie. I saw you the first time and assumed you’d left for the morning.”
She’d been following a routine. Each morning after breakfast, she’d been scouting out properties for an office for the Fortune Foundation, which was planning to open a branch in Austin.
Irv, as he preferred to be called, went on to explain further as he handed her the business card. “The gentleman gave me this and said he’d be back later.”
Lucie read the card aloud in a low tone. “Chase Parker—” There were two numbers listed.
At the idea of Chase being in close proximity, she felt a tremble race through her. At seventeen, she’d been on a youth trip to Scotland. And then...
She had to forget about Chase Parker, ghost or not, and concentrate on this trip to visit her relatives in Texas. She had agreed to help the Fortune Foundation set up a branch in Austin for the benefit of children there.
“What do you want me to do if he comes back again?” Irv asked.
She fingered the card in her hand. What did Chase want with her now? He obviously knew she was here. Why hadn’t he called first? Should she phone him?
No. He’d forgotten about her easily. The past was in the past. If he had a reason to see her, she’d find out soon enough what that was.
Answering Irv’s question, she said, “If I’m in, buzz me just as you do with everyone else.”
“As you say, Lady Lucie. There is one other thing—”
She really had to be going, but Irv looked worried about something, so she waited.
“That reporter’s been out there again from the news station. I saw him yesterday afternoon, but he was gone until you got back.”
“As