Page 45 of A Fortunes of Texas Christmas (Fortunes of Texas)

She half shrugged. “He seems very nice.”

Francesca laughed. “You’re a terrible gossip, Robin—you’re like a vault. Which is a shame, because I know Keaton was hoping to speak with him while he was here.”

Robin frowned. “He was? Why?”

Francesca’s lovely face turned instantly serious. “Oh...it’s nothing. Just a business thing, I think. I don’t know the details. Anyway,” she said as she slid from the booth, “looks like my order is ready. Gotta run. Let’s make sure we catch up soon.”

Then she was gone, like a whirlwind. Robin remained in the booth, ordered a hot chocolate and drank it, only to be reminded that Amersen had bought her the same the night they’d watched the movie together. Between the scarf and the chocolate, she was suddenly overcome with such hopeless emotion she couldn’t stop the heat forming in her throat or the tears burning her eyes. And by the time Mara and Janine arrived, she was crying foolish, wasted tears.

It was Janine who asked the obvious question. “What’s going on, Robin?”

She looked up as they slid into the booth. “The worst thing imaginable. I’m in love,” she admitted, scratching at her eyes with a Kleenex.

“You are?” Mara said, clearly astonished. “Wow.”

Robin sucked in a breath, blew her nose and felt her resolve return. “Yes. And as usual, I’ve fallen for the wrong guy.”

Janine patted her hand. “What do you mean? Did he cheat on you like Trey?”

Robin shook her head. “No...worse. He was honest about everything. He didn’t cheat. He didn’t lie. He didn’t make promises he couldn’t keep.”

Mara didn’t bother to hide her surprise. “Um...Robin, that kind of makes him sound perfect.”

“Exactly,” she said and sniffed into the tissue. “He’s the most perfectly wrong man I have ever met. And I hate him for making me fall in love with him.”

Her friends nodded consolingly, as though they understood exactly what she meant.

“So, what are you going to do?” Mara asked.

“Eat chocolate and pretend he doesn’t exist,” she said, meaning every word, but knowing she had as much chance of forgetting about Amersen Beaudin as she did of going to the moon.

Both were out of the question.

* * *

“Is there something going on you would like to talk about?”

Amersen looked up from his desk. At one o’clock on Friday afternoon, the only people who would come into his office uninvited were the nightclub manager, Trudi, his closest friend, Fabien, and his mother. In this instance, it was his mother, Suzette.

“Not now, Maman. I am busy.”

She ignored him, as he knew she would, came into the room and sat in the chair opposite his desk. “Yes, now.”

Amersen sighed, pushed the laptop aside a fraction and looked toward his mother. “Okay, what?”

“You have been back for two weeks and have said very little. I’m concerned.”

He ignored the twitch in his gut. He didn’t want to have a heart-to-heart with his mother about Texas, the Fortunes or anything else. “I told you about Kate’s offer. There’s little else to tell.”

“And...the other thing?”

Resistance crept up his spine. He knew what she was asking. Knew she had her concerns about opening a door to secrets that had been hidden for twenty-five years. “Maman, I did not go to Texas to look for my past. It was business.”

“Just a coincidence, then?” she inquired “That you go to the same city that is home to your—”

“Those people mean nothing to me,” he said quickly. “I didn’t speak to them. Or meet them.”

“Perhaps you should have.”

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