Groom 0f Fortune (Fortune's Children: The Grooms Book 5) Read online

  Kate Fortune’s Journal Entry

  Can the Fortune family get together without some misadventure always happening? Judging by the latest fiasco in which my Isabelle ran away from her own wedding, I suspect not. Still, I can’t help but be relieved that Isabelle finally saw the light and acted with some gumption. In spite of what her parents said, she had no business marrying that Brad Rowan. Even I could see that he wasn’t on the up and up.

  According to the Fortune rumor mill, the investigator hired to look into Mike Dodd’s murder is now protecting her from Brad at a secluded mountain cabin. I’ve already seen how Isabelle and Link look at each other. And I can’t stop hoping that Isabelle will own up to her feelings and put this poor man out of his misery…by marrying him!

  Dear Reader,

  The year 2000 has been a special time for Silhouette, as we’ve celebrated our 20th anniversary. Readers from all over the world have written to tell us what they love about our books, and we’d like to share with you part of a letter from Carolyn Dann of Grand Bend, Ontario, who’s a fan of Silhouette Desire. Carolyn wrote, “I like the storylines…the characters…the front covers… All the characters in the books are the kind of people you like to read about. They’re all down-to-earth, everyday people.” And as a grand finale to our anniversary year, Silhouette Desire offers six of your favorite authors for an especially memorable month’s worth of passionate, powerful, provocative reading!

  We begin the lineup with the always wonderful Barbara Boswell’s MAN OF THE MONTH, Irresistible You, in which a single woman nine months pregnant meets her perfect hero while on jury duty. The incomparable Cait London continues her exciting miniseries FREEDOM VALLEY with Slow Fever. Against a beautiful Montana backdrop, the oldest Bennett sister is courted by a man who spurned her in their teenage years. And A Season for Love, in which Sheriff Jericho Rivers regains his lost love, continues the new miniseries MEN OF BELLE TERRE by beloved author BJ James.

  Don’t miss the thrilling conclusion to the Desire miniseries FORTUNE’S CHILDREN: THE GROOMS in Peggy Moreland’s Groom of Fortune. Elizabeth Bevarly will delight you with Monahan’s Gamble. And Expecting the Boss’s Baby is the launch title of Leanne Banks’s new miniseries, MILLION DOLLAR MEN, which offers wealthy, philanthropic bachelors guaranteed to seduce you.

  We hope all readers of Silhouette Desire will treasure the gift of this special month.

  Happy holidays!

  Joan Marlow Golan

  Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

  Groom of Fortune

  PEGGY MORELAND

  To Leanne Banks, Kathryn Jensen, Shawna Delacorte and

  Caroline Cross. It was an honor to participate with you all in this

  series and a thrill to add another limb to the Fortune family tree.

  Books by Peggy Moreland

  Silhouette Desire

  A Little Bit Country #515

  Run for the Roses #598

  Miss Prim #682

  The Rescuer #765

  Seven Year Itch #837

  The Baby Doctor #867

  Miss Lizzy’s Legacy #921

  A Willful Marriage #1024

  *Marry Me, Cowboy #1084

  *A Little Texas Two-Step #1090

  *Lone Star Kind of Man #1096

  †The Rancher’s Spittin’ Image #1156

  †The Restless Virgin #1163

  †A Sparkle in the Cowboy’s Eyes #1168

  †That McCloud Woman #1227

  Billionaire Bridegroom #1244

  †Hard Lovin’ Man #1270

  ‡Ride a Wild Heart #1306

  ‡In Name Only #1313

  ‡Slow Waltz Across Texas #1315

  Groom of Fortune #1336

  Silhouette Special Edition

  Rugrats and Rawhide #1084

  PEGGY MORELAND

  published her first romance with Silhouette in 1989 and continues to delight readers with stories set in her home state of Texas. Winner of the National Readers’ Choice Award, a nominee for the Romantic Times Magazine Reviewer’s Choice Award and a finalist for the prestigious RITA Award, Peggy has appeared on the USA Today and Waldenbooks bestseller lists. When not writing, she enjoys spending time at the farm riding her quarter horse, Lo-Jump. She, her husband and three children make their home in Round Rock, Texas. You may write to Peggy at P.O. Box 2453, Round Rock, TX 78680-2453.

  Meet the Arizona Fortunes—a family with a legacy of wealth, influence and power. As they gather for a host of weddings, a shocking plot against the family is revealed…and passionate new romances are ignited.

  ISABELLE FORTUNE: She’d narrowly escaped marrying a murderer. But now, stranded alone in a remote cabin with Link Templeton, her heart was facing an even greater danger!

  LINK TEMPLETON: This streetwise man had pulled himself up from the gutter by his bootstraps, but now he was facing his biggest challenge—staying away from a woman thirteen years his junior, a woman whose innocence and privileged background posed a stark contrast to his own. A woman he’d lusted after for nearly a year.

  BRAD ROWAN: He’d offered Isabelle Fortune a marriage deal he thought she couldn’t refuse, but now she suspected him of murder!

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Epilogue

  One

  She didn’t love him.

  She wasn’t sure she even liked him.

  Yet, within minutes she would become his wife.

  Having slipped away unnoticed by her attendants, Isabelle Fortune stood in the vestibule with her fingers clutched tightly around her bridal bouquet, her nose pressed against the sanctuary door’s tiny window, watching her fiancé enter the sanctuary through the side door and walk toward the altar. Dressed in black tails and wearing a confident smile, Brad Rowan looked very much the part of the eager groom.

  And Isabelle felt like a lamb being led to slaughter.

  With a shudder, she forced her gaze away from Brad and to the pews already crowded with family and friends. More than a thousand engraved wedding invitations had been mailed, and it appeared that not a one of the recipients had sent their regrets. Not that she was surprised. When the Fortunes threw a party, no matter what the occasion, all of Pueblo turned out for the event, knowing that the Fortunes would spare no expense.

  And they wouldn’t be disappointed this time, either. The caterers her parents had hired had worked frantically for days, preparing the succulent hors d’oeuvres, entrées and desserts for the wedding reception, while a crew of workers readied the grounds of the Fortune estate for the outdoor gala, already touted as the social event of the year. A new marble fountain flown in from Italy had been installed in the swimming pool, and the gardens had been pruned and filled with a colorful array of flowering plants. White canvas canopies dotted the sprawling lawn, and a portable dance floor and a stage for the orchestra had been constructed beneath the largest of the tents.

  No, the Fortunes had spared no expense in marrying off their only daughter.

  A knot of dread formed in Isabelle’s stomach as she slowly scanned the ornately decorated church illuminated by hundreds of flickering candles, a glimmering reminder of the money invested in this day. Tall, slender tapers stood on the ledges of the windows, bringing to life the scenes depicted on the etched stained glass. Behind the altar, a dozen gracefully curved silver candelabra pedestals held even more of the slender tapers, while towering, fat columns of wax rose from the
ropes of ivy on the altar’s railing.

  Mesmerized by the flickering candles, she stared, the dread twisting tighter and tighter, until Brad stepped into her line of vision again, making her flinch. She watched him stop in front of the altar and take his place to the right of the priest, her fingers convulsing on the ribbon-wrapped stem of her bouquet. She knew it was considered bad luck for a bride to see her groom on the day of their wedding, but considering the fact that her marriage was a mockery, devoid of any emotion other than that of duty, she didn’t think that luck, good or bad, would have much effect on the success of their union.

  Regret over her hasty decision to accept Brad’s marriage proposal burned through her, momentarily overriding the dread, and she was helpless to force it back. She was sacrificing her life, her dreams, for her parents, a payback of sorts for all they’d suffered and sacrificed for her through the years.

  And she wondered now if it wasn’t all a colossal mistake, one that she’d regret for the rest of her life.

  If she had any courage at all, she fretted, she’d leave right now, before the ceremony began. And why not? she thought, grasping at the idea. She’d simply tell her parents she couldn’t go through with the marriage, that she didn’t love Brad, that she’d only accepted his proposal for their sakes, so that the Fortune family could claim ownership to Lightfoot’s Plateau, and preserve the cave used as a spiritual retreat by Native American tribes, restoring it in memory of their ancestor, Natasha Lightfoot, Isabelle’s grandmother.

  She’d explain it all to them, she told herself, relief flooding through her. They’d understand.

  But the relief was short-lived as her gaze strayed to the candelabra and the candles that flickered there. She caught her lower lip between her teeth, reminded of her parents’ delight in her marriage to Brad. Would they understand? she wondered, doubt niggling at her confidence. Or would they…

  She jumped at a sound that came from behind her, and spun to see the entry door swinging open. Not wanting to be seen, she looked wildly around for a place to hide. Grabbing fistfuls of satin, she gathered up the skirt of her wedding gown and ran, ducking quickly behind the partially open door of the coat closet. Holding her breath, she listened to the echo of footsteps on the vestibule’s marble floor.

  “Are we late?” came a man’s low voice.

  “I don’t think so” was the reply, “though the music’s already started.”

  “Lucky son of a bitch,” she heard the first man mutter. “Marrying into all that money.”

  Her mouth gaping, Isabelle leaned closer to the partially open door, straining to hear. The voice sounded vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t put a face to it.

  There was a wry laugh from the other man. “As if he didn’t already have a direct pipeline into the Fortune’s bank account.”

  The first man laughed, too. “The greedy son of a bitch.”

  “Greedy, hell. He’s a genius, and we’re damn lucky to be in on the take.”

  “Yeah,” the first agreed. “Though I have to admit I was worried there for a bit when Mike started demanding a bigger slice of the pie.”

  Mike? Isabelle repeated silently in confusion. Mike Dodd? Though she hadn’t personally known the construction foreman who had been killed earlier that year in an elevator crash at the site of the Children’s Hospital her family was building, she had been affected by his death, as had all the Fortune family. But what pie were the men talking about? She pressed her ear closer to the door, hoping to hear more.

  “Brad handled it,” the second man was saying. “That guy’s cool as a cucumber when under pressure. Cold-blooded, he is, and that’s a fact.”

  Isabelle pressed a hand against her mouth to stifle the startled cry that rose. Her fiancé was involved in Mike Dodd’s death? But how? Why?

  “Easy enough when there’s nothing but ice running in your veins.”

  Numbed by what she’d overheard, Isabelle listened as the sanctuary door squeaked open on its hinges. Organ music spilled out into the church’s vestibule as the latecomers slipped inside the nave. Then, only silence.

  Isabelle sagged weakly against the coat closet’s door, her eyes wide, her hand still clamped over her mouth.

  Oh, God. If what she’d overheard was true, then her fiancé was responsible for Mike Dodd’s death.

  And within minutes, she would become the wife of a murderer.

  Link Templeton glanced at the clock on his dash, then back at the street ahead, and pressed the accelerator a little closer to the floor. He had to get to the church before it was too late. He had to get there before the wedding took place.

  He downshifted to third, made the turn onto Feather Road on two wheels, then stomped down on the accelerator again, fishtailing for a moment before he was able to bring the city-issue, four-wheel-drive Blazer under control. Perspiration beaded his forehead and ran in an irritating trickle between his shoulder blades.

  He knew in his gut that Brad Rowan was guilty of murder. Though he had no sound evidence to back up his theory, other than the papers found by Mike Dodd’s sister, Angelica, and given to Link by Angelica’s lawyer, Cynthia Fortune, which pointed to a deliberate cover-up. And he’d learned over the years to trust his gut instincts on a case. They were rarely wrong.

  The papers had provided him with the information he needed to clear Riley Fortune as a suspect in the murder case though, and they had substantiated Link’s theory that Brad was the man responsible for Dodd’s murder. But Link still lacked the solid evidence he needed to put Rowan behind bars and win a conviction in a trial.

  Evidence or not, he told himself, he had to stop the wedding before it was too late.

  But how would Isabelle take the news when he told her that the man she loved was a murderer?

  She’d hate him. He’d had enough experience handing out bad news in his job as a criminal investigator for the city of Pueblo to know that the messenger rarely received any praise from the family and friends of the accused. Hadn’t he already felt the sting of the Fortunes’ outrage when he’d been forced to arrest Riley Fortune, Isabelle’s brother, as a suspect in the death of Mike Dodd?

  He growled low in his throat, glaring at the road ahead. It didn’t matter what Isabelle Fortune or her family thought of him. It was the case that was important. It was slapping iron on a guilty man’s wrists and jerking another criminal off the streets that brought him satisfaction. It was his job.

  But stopping a society wedding wasn’t.

  He slapped an angry palm against the steering wheel. But he couldn’t just stand by and permit Isabelle to marry Brad Rowan. Not when he knew the man was capable of murder. What if, after their marriage, Isabelle happened upon some bit of information that pointed to Brad’s guilt? Would Brad kill her, too, as he had Mike Dodd, to silence her? The very thought had Link curling his fingers tighter around the steering wheel. He wouldn’t let Brad harm her. He couldn’t. He—

  He shoved the unwanted thoughts away, but try as he might, he couldn’t erase the image of Isabelle the thoughts had drawn. He remembered the day when he’d dropped by Cynthia Fortune’s and had stumbled, unknowingly, into a wedding shower held in Isabelle’s honor. When his gaze had met Isabelle’s across the room, it was as if lightning had struck. He’d stood immobile, paralyzed by the violet eyes that met his, his pulse pounding in his ears, every nerve in his body burning with awareness.

  And he was sure that she’d been similarly affected. A laugh from a guest was what had finally shocked him into movement. He’d torn his gaze from hers and turned away…but he’d never forgotten the look in her eyes. The awareness. The desire. He’d recognized them, because he’d lived with both ever since that day.

  He snorted in disgust. She’s in love with another man, he reminded himself. And even if she wasn’t, he was too old and too jaded to make a play for a woman like her.

  He caught a flash of red in the church parking lot ahead, then a convertible sports car shot out of the lot and directly into his path.
“Damn!” He stomped on the brake, whipping the steering wheel to the right to avoid broadsiding the small foreign car.

  His heart pumping like a jackhammer, he stared after the car, watching as the woman behind the wheel ripped a wedding veil from her head and held it up, letting the wind have it. The delicate lace panels sailed behind her for a moment, then floated slowly to the street, like a kite with a broken string.

  Isabelle? he asked himself, recognizing the pricey foreign car and its driver. Where was she going? She was supposed to be getting married. What the hell had happened?

  He glanced toward the church for an answer, but the thick entry doors were closed. And though the parking lot was full, there wasn’t a soul in sight. He glanced again in the direction of the red sports car, then back to the church where the wedding was to have taken place. It’s none of your business, he told himself. You’ve got no jurisdiction when it comes to Isabelle Fortune’s personal affairs.

  “Like hell, I don’t,” he muttered. Setting his jaw, he turned his face to the street ahead, stomped on the clutch and shifted into first. Peeling out and leaving a trail of black rubber in his wake, he took off in the direction the red sports car had taken.

  Isabelle fairly flew along the stretch of two-lane highway that led into the desert, intent on nothing but putting miles between her and the church. She drove for nearly an hour, her mind frozen, her fingers cinched tightly around the wheel. The wind whipped tendrils loose from her upswept hair and stung her eyes, but she was oblivious to everything but the white line that stretched in front of her.