Page 28 of A Fortunes of Texas Christmas (Fortunes of Texas)

“I was just thinking that,” he admitted softly. “I was thinking that I didn’t give much thought to being happy these days.”

Her gaze narrowed. “Why not?”

He shrugged one shoulder. “Too busy. Too many meetings. Too much ambition. All of the above. But...” He paused, looking around, gesturing a hand in a vague arc. “Hanging out here, with you...that makes me happy.”

As soon as he said the words, he felt like snatching them back. Her eyes were suddenly huge in her face, her cheeks blotched with color, and she took a step backward. “I...uh...I need to get back to work.”

Amersen gave himself a mental shake. “Sure. Take care, Robin.”

She turned around and spoke as she climbed the ladder. “Yeah...you, too.”

“The tree looks good, by the way,” he said.

“Thanks,” she said and climbed higher, her voice raspy. “So long.”

Amersen lingered for a moment, then realized she wasn’t going to say anything else. He opened his mouth to speak and quickly changed his mind. He was cursing himself for being foolish as he left the house, and still giving himself a lecture about being attracted to a woman who clearly wasn’t interested in anything other than a mild flirtation as he headed into town.

When he reached his hotel in the city, it was after three o’clock. He pulled up outside the hotel and handed the car keys to the bellhop. Amersen was striding across the foyer when the concierge approached him and handed him a message, handwritten in a scrawl he didn’t recognize. As he read the words, his entire body stilled.

Heard you were in town. Would like to catch up. Keaton Fortune Whitfield.

Damn.

There was a cell number at the bottom of the note. Figuring it wasn’t too early for a drink, Amersen headed for the bar. He ordered a belt of scotch and sat alone in the corner. The place was deserted, and it gave him time to think.

So, his half sibling had somehow been tipped off to his arrival in Austin.

Amersen wasn’t sure how. He’d kept his movements under wraps—hadn’t posted any activity on any of his social media accounts. No one except his family, his lawyer and two of his closest friends in Paris knew of his whereabouts. And he trusted them implicitly. Other than having his assistant back in Paris use his real name to rent a car and book the hotel, he’d flown under the radar. Even his visit to the Fortune Cosmetics Headquarters had taken place in the evening and with some secrecy. Only Kate and a pair of security guards had been with him.

Then he remembered that Robin’s brother had been sniffing around for information about him on the internet...maybe there was some connection? From what her parents had said when he’d been there for dinner, it was clear the Harbins knew Keaton and several of the other Robinsons. His head hurt thinking about it, and he’d just decided to order another drink to drown his woes when his cell pinged, indicating he had a text message. He’d bloody well be heading back to Paris on the first flight he could get if Keaton Fortune Whitfield had somehow managed to access his cell number.

But it wasn’t his half sibling.

It was Robin.

Dinner. Friday night. Seven o’clock. My place. Parent-free zone.

He smiled. Paris could wait.

Chapter Six

Without anyone telling her so—notably because she hadn’t breathed a word to anyone—Robin knew by late Friday afternoon that she was asking for all kinds of trouble by inviting Amersen to dinner.

And yet...she couldn’t help herself.

Hanging out here, with you...that makes me happy.

His softly spoken words banged around in her head and she mentally sighed every time she thought of them. Damn, the man so knew how to get under her skin. Maybe it was deliberate? Perhaps that was how a smooth, charmin

g player got women into his bed? Good sense would say so. So would online gossip. And yet he didn’t seem that manipulative. He seemed genuine. In that moment, he’d seemed so achingly vulnerable—and it had done something almost indescribable to her raw defenses. She couldn’t pinpoint the feeling, and her logic didn’t want to. But within an hour of him leaving the ranch, she’d made a decision.

To hell with good sense.

She liked him. She enjoyed being with him. So what harm could a night in, some dinner and conversation really do? It didn’t mean she was about to jump into bed with him. It didn’t mean that she would lose her heart to the man. It was just dinner.

No big deal.

“Something special going on tonight?”

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