Baby of Fortune

  * * *

  THE TEXAS TATTLER

  All the news that’s barely fit to print!

  Fortunes Bestow Texas-Sized Welcome on Heirs!

  Never let it be said that those Fortunes don’t look out for their own. All of Red Rock is buzzing with news of the ten-million-dollar gift Miranda and Mary Ellen Fortune have bestowed on each of the “lost heirs.” Local merchants are stockpiling electronics and “luxury goods”—just in case Miranda and Cameron Fortune’s offspring want to unload some of that money.

  Of course, it’s not entirely clear that all of them need the money, especially Justin Bond. He’s already made his mark in the steel industry and is one of Pennsylvania’s leading businessmen. A source close to the Fortunes tells us that there is one thing this tycoon wants—his wife. Seems Justin and his college sweetheart have been estranged for the past year and during that time he became a daddy. Now, if you ask this reporter, that’s an even bigger gift than all the money in Texas!

  * * *

  Dear Reader,

  Welcome to the world of Silhouette Desire, where you can indulge yourself every month with romances that can only be described as passionate, powerful and provocative!

  Silhouette’s beloved author Annette Broadrick returns to Desire with a MAN OF THE MONTH who is Hard To Forget. Love rings true when former high school sweethearts reunite while both are on separate undercover missions to their hometown. Bestselling writer Cait London offers you A Loving Man, when a big-city businessman meets a country girl and learns the true meaning of love.

  The Desire theme promotion THE BABY BANK, about sperm-bank client heroines who find love unexpectedly, returns with Amy J. Fetzer’s Having His Child, part of her WIFE, INC. miniseries. The tantalizing Desire miniseries THE FORTUNES OF TEXAS: THE LOST HEIRS continues with Baby of Fortune by Shirley Rogers. In Undercover Sultan, the second book of Alexandra Sellers’s SONS OF THE DESERT: THE SULTANS trilogy, a handsome prince is forced to go on the run with a sexy mystery woman—who may be the enemy. And Ashley Summers writes of a Texas tycoon who comes home to find a beautiful stranger living in his mansion in Beauty in His Bedroom.

  This month see inside for details about our exciting new contest “Silhouette Makes You a Star.” You’ll feel like a star when you delve into all six fantasies created in Desire books this August!

  Enjoy!

  Joan Marlow Golan

  Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

  Baby of Fortune

  SHIRLEY ROGERS

  Books by Shirley Rogers

  Silhouette Desire

  Cowboys, Babies and Shotgun Vows #1176

  Conveniently His #1266

  A Cowboy, a Bride & a Wedding Vow #1344

  Baby of Fortune #1384

  SHIRLEY ROGERS

  lives in Virginia with her husband, two cats and an adorable Maltese named Blanca. She has two grown children, a son and a daughter. As a child, she was known for having a vivid imagination. It wasn’t until she started reading romances that she realized her true destiny was writing them! Besides reading, she enjoys traveling and going to the movies.

  Shirley loves to hear from readers. Please enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope and write to: PMB#189, 1920-125 Centerville Tpke., Virginia Beach, VA 23464.

  Meet the Fortunes of Texas

  Meet the Fortunes of Texas’s Lost Heirs—membership in this Texas family has its privileges and its price. As the family gathers to welcome its newest members, it discovers a murderer in its midst…and passionate new romances that only a true-bred Texas love can bring!

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  Justin Bond: This no-nonsense, hard-driven businessman has already made his mark in the world…but now he’s realizing what matters most—family!

  Heather Bond: Once she’d loved Justin with her whole heart, but a tragedy had ripped their marriage apart. Can she learn to love her husband again?

  Timmy Bond: At three months, he is too young to understand how the events happening in this single month will shape his entire life….

  Holly Douglas: Cameron’s illegitimate daughter had refused to come to Red Rock…so now the Fortunes are taking matters into their own hands and heading to Alaska!

  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

  One

  “Take your hands off my wife.”

  Justin Bond stood on the spacious porch of the home he’d once shared with his wife, and a flash of irritation whipped through him. He steeled himself to remain in control as he stared through the partially open door. He’d never expected to find Heather in the arms of another man.

  Sucking in a hard breath, he balled his hands into fists at his side. His plans to woo his wife slammed into a brick wall. He’d come to ask her to give their marriage another try. It was a blow to his self-esteem to discover she was seeing someone else.

  Reeling from the brutal tone of the warning, the man snapped his arms away from Heather, tripping over his own feet as he backed away. A nervous twitch appeared in his left eye. Justin considered that a victory of sorts.

  “Justin!”

  Shock and disbelief registered on his wife’s face. She pressed a hand to her chest, as if unable to catch her breath. Or was she embarrassed to be caught in a compromising situation? Justin wasn’t sure which, and at the moment, he didn’t exactly care. He wanted this jerk out of his house.

  “Heather.” Justin swiftly shifted his gaze in her direction again, and annoyance swept through him like a sandstorm in the desert. He clenched, then relaxed his hands again.

  “What are you doing here?” She didn’t wait for him to answer as she looked from Justin to the other man, then back at her husband. Soft pink color stained her cheeks and neck, disappearing beneath the vee of her cream-colored blouse. “Um, you remember…uh, Paul…Paul Dailey, a colleague of mine from school?” Her voice trembled slightly.

  Justin acknowledged the introduction with a slight nod. Twisting his lips, he studied his competitor. He hadn’t thought much of Dailey when he’d first met him a few years ago at a school function with Heather. His blond hair was messy, his casual pants and shirt severely wrinkled. He’d always had that “slick salesman” look about him. Justin didn’t trust him for a second.

  It took every ounce of his willpower to restrain from storming into the room, grabbing the jerk by his collar and throwing him out of the house. Dammit! Heather was still his wife!

  “Paul stopped by to discuss some…committee decisions we need to make.”

  Justin sent his wife a questioning glance. “Committee decisions?” His throat tightened as his gaze shifted with lightning speed to her companion. “Is that what you were discussing with my wife?” he asked pointedly. He put his hands on his hips, and it gave him a bit of pleasure to note a trace of fear in Dailey’s eyes.

  “We, uh, I…yes.” Paul Dailey cleared his throat several times, and his hands flitted about nervously, as if disconnected from his arms. “Heather, we…uh, we can continue our discussion tomorrow at school.” He snatched his briefcase from the floor and clutched it against his chest like a shield of armor. Without looking at her, he cautiously approached the door, his eyes watchful of the man challenging him.

  Justin didn’t move, forcing Dailey to squeeze his slender body through the small opening created between Justin and the doorjamb. Before Dailey was through the door, Justin reached out and flattened his hand against the jamb, preventing his escape.

/>   “My wife is off-limits to anyone but me. In the future, you’d be smart to remember that.” The threat of Justin’s words was reinforced by his grave tone. He hesitated a moment, then dropped his arm. He heard the man’s hurried footsteps, then a car door, and finally a revving engine and squealing tires. If he wasn’t so irritated with his wife, he might have been amused.

  As it was, Justin stared at the woman he’d married seven years ago, his heart slamming hard against the wall of his chest. Damn, just seeing her again after a year apart made his pulse race. Heather had always had that effect on him. She was still as beautiful as the day he’d met her on the campus of Penn State during his last year of school.

  Watching him with uneasy eyes, Heather cautiously stepped closer, stopping just in front of him. She put her hand on the door, then leaned her hip against it, hiking her short brown skirt higher on her thighs. Her auburn hair fell in curls around her face and shoulders. Black shoes with three-inch heels complemented her shapely calves. Justin’s muscles tightened as he remembered the last time he’d stroked her legs, the last time they’d been intimate. His blood pressure rose a notch.

  Damn, a year was a long time without sex.

  Apparently, it had been too long for Heather, also, he thought, outrage pulling at him.

  “That was uncalled for,” she stated, her voice sounding more stable as she began to absorb the shock of seeing him. Small brackets formed a frown around her full lips.

  “Was it?” Justin shrugged one big shoulder. “The wimp wanted to have you. I made sure he understood he wouldn’t.”

  He heard her intake of breath as her green eyes darkened with emotion.

  “You have no right to interfere with my life.” Her features tightened as she glared at him, a line between her eyes becoming prominent.

  “You’re still my wife,” Justin reminded her. “Apparently you’ve forgotten that.”

  “I haven’t forgotten that we’re still married.” She faced him squarely, her shoulders visibly tightening. “But I easily could have. I haven’t heard a word from you in a year.” The reminder was spoken sharply, and hurt lingered in the shadows of her eyes. After she’d miscarried their baby, Justin had withdrawn from her. Eventually their marriage had suffered irreversible damage, and he’d chosen to leave her. The pain of his rejection still had the power to make her heart ache.

  Justin stated the obvious. “I’m here now. May I come in?”

  As she stared at her husband, Heather’s whole carriage stiffened. Her heart tripped over itself as his gaze held hers captive. He was so handsome that he literally stole her breath. Impeccably dressed in a white shirt and dark business suit, he looked as if he’d come straight from work. Justin always had a presence about him, something about him that commanded attention wherever he was, whoever he was with.

  She glanced back up at his face. His well-groomed dark brown hair was combed back from his face, and his blue eyes were blatantly perceptive as they studied her. Though she could never quite read what Justin was thinking, she wished now, more than ever, that she had such power.

  What was he doing here? Could it be that he still loved her? Flushing at the foolish thought, she dismissed it. She’d given up that hope long ago. Besides, she wasn’t going to let him hurt her again. There was no way in hell she could stand the torture of losing him again.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she told him, then frantically glanced behind her and into the living room, praying that none of her baby’s things were visible. It was the one area of the house that she tried very hard to keep straight.

  A flash of guilt swept through her, temporarily paralyzing her. She’d never told him that when he’d walked away from her, he’d left her pregnant. He had no idea that he had a three-month-old son. Knowing Justin, if she’d told him, he would have felt obligated to come back to her—and Heather hadn’t wanted him back on those terms. A child wasn’t a good reason to keep a marriage together. She’d learned that cold hard fact when her own father had deserted her and her mother when she was thirteen.

  Her husband’s unexpected arrival on her doorstep unnerved her. Was it possible he’d learned of Timmy’s existence? Panic seized her—the hard, gripping kind that twisted and tortured every muscle in her chest.

  “I’d like to talk to you.” Justin spoke with obvious control. Though he appeared calm, the underlying determination in his tone spoke volumes.

  Heather glanced at her watch and realized she was very late picking up Timmy. Nerves made her stomach tighten as she weighed the consequences of allowing Justin inside. She was thankful she’d had a few errands to run after school, and hadn’t swung by her mother’s for her baby.

  “Maybe some other time,” she suggested coolly, dropping her hands to her side. Dispassionately, she continued, “I have another appointment in a few minutes.” It was the wrong thing to say.

  Justin stared directly at her, his curiosity apparently piqued. “What kind of appointment?”

  “Just something I need to take care of,” she offered vaguely. She combed her hair away from her face with her fingers. “Look, can’t this wait?”

  “It’ll only take a few minutes,” he insisted, stepping closer. “What harm could there be in inviting me in?”

  His words made her skin burn hot, and Heather immediately assured herself that her reaction was only from seeing him so unexpectedly, not at all because of his nearness or the familiar scent of him. No, she couldn’t afford to let her heart respond to him.

  “None, I assure you,” she retorted, then wished she hadn’t let him provoke her.

  “Then let me in—” his lips curved ever so slightly “—since you have nothing to be afraid of.”

  Heather thought about it for a moment. Well, technically he was still her husband, even if she didn’t want to acknowledge that fact to him. That they’d been separated for a year apparently meant nothing at all to him. And she really couldn’t refuse, since he still owned the house they’d shared through six years of marriage.

  She shifted and moved away from the door. “All right. For a few minutes.”

  Justin stepped inside, and then he shut the door behind him. As he entered the foyer and then the living room, his gaze slowly swept it, as if cataloging every item in minute detail.

  His scrutiny made Heather edgy, and she glanced about, again searching the room to be sure it was free of anything that belonged to her son. Then she walked over to the sofa and stopped beside it. “Would you like to sit down?” She gestured toward the chair across from her.

  “I’ll stand.” Justin walked farther into the room.

  His gaze swept her from head to toe, and she nervously smoothed her hair with her hand. The curls refused to cooperate, and she tucked a stray strand behind her ear.

  “How long have you been seeing Dailey?” It came out sounding like a blunt demand.

  “We’re just friends. I haven’t been seeing him.”

  Justin stared at her, his expression disbelieving. “Then that was the first time he’s come on to you?”

  Heather blushed furiously.

  “I didn’t think so.”

  “All right, I’ll admit that it wasn’t, but that doesn’t mean anything!” She put her hands on her hips to stop them from shaking. He had the power to annoy her without even trying. Apparently he hadn’t changed. Justin always had to be in control. It was one of the things she’d first admired about him. He’d been a no-nonsense, hard-driven, dependable person in her life when she’d needed someone to care for her. After years of struggling with feelings of abandonment by her father, it had been easy for her to let him take charge.

  But she was no longer the love-starved young girl he’d married. She no longer needed someone to lean on, someone to protect her and take care of her.

  “I see.”

  “Apparently you don’t,” Heather retorted, taking in his skeptical expression. “Maybe Paul’s asked me out a few times, but I’ve always refused.” Heather had her
hands full working full-time as a teacher and being a mother.

  Okay, so maybe she got lonely once in a while, but she wasn’t ready to date again. She didn’t have time for a relationship, nor did she want one. She knew too well how easy it was to get hurt.

  Justin’s jaw tightened a fraction. “He didn’t look as if he was going to take no for an answer just now,” he remarked.

  “You didn’t give me a chance to make it clear to him that I wasn’t interested.”

  “If he’s come on to you before and you’ve discouraged him, apparently he isn’t getting the message,” he reasoned, and a muscle worked in his jaw.

  Heather gave a frustrated sigh. “I really don’t see that this is any of your business. You’ve been out of my life a long time, Justin, and I don’t owe you any explanations.”

  He favored her with a curious look, lifting his brow in question. “We’re still married.”

  She bristled, annoyed by the intimate reminder she saw in his eyes. “We haven’t lived together in a year,” she stated, resolving to end the conversation.

  “That’s why I came to see you.”

  Heather paled and her breath caught. She felt as if she’d been punched in the chest.

  He’s come to ask you for a divorce!

  She trembled before she brought herself under control. Though totally unprepared for this, she could handle it. She could, dammit! Shaking her head, she realized she should have expected that he’d find someone new.

  “You want a divorce,” she stated flatly, denying him the chance to tell her he was in love with someone else.

  A small smile gradually spread on Justin’s lips, just enough to expose a trace of the dimple in his right cheek. Heather’s heart hammered. His smile was what had first attracted her to him. His smile and that damn attractive dimple.