The Debutante. Elizabeth Bevarly

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      Praise for Elizabeth Bevarly:

      “…supersteamy…”

      —Cosmopolitan

      “…fresh and funny.”

      —Publishers Weekly

      “…the very best in love and laughter.”

      —Romantic Times

      “Practically perfect romance…”

      —Library Journal

      “Elizabeth Bevarly delivers romantic comedy at its sparkling best!”

      —Bestselling author Teresa Medeiros

      “I just love Elizabeth Bevarly’s sense of humor.”

      —Bestselling author Julia Quinn

      Don’t miss Signature Select’s exciting series:

      The Fortunes of Texas: Reunion

      Starting in June 2005, get swept up in

       twelve new stories from your favorite family!

      COWBOY AT MIDNIGHT by Ann Major

      A BABY CHANGES EVERYTHING by Marie Ferrarella

      IN THE ARMS OF THE LAW by Peggy Moreland

      LONE STAR RANCHER by Laurie Paige

      THE GOOD DOCTOR by Karen Rose Smith

      THE DEBUTANTE by Elizabeth Bevarly

      KEEPING HER SAFE by Myrna Mackenzie

      THE LAW OF ATTRACTION by Kristi Gold

      ONCE A REBEL by Sheri WhiteFeather

      MILITARY MAN by Marie Ferrarella

      FORTUNE’S LEGACY by Maureen Child

      THE RECKONING by Christie Ridgway

      The Debutante

      Elizabeth Bevarly

      

www.millsandboon.co.uk

      Dear Reader,

      Writing continuities for Silhouette is always so much fun. First, there’s the challenge of taking the story and characters the editors create and making them my own, and then there’s the joy of working with so many of my favorite writers. I was both flattered and delighted to be invited to participate in THE FORTUNES OF TEXAS: REUNION. The Debutante is my second contribution to the Fortunes saga, and it was wonderful to be able to go back and visit the family again. I had a terrific time writing about Lanie and Miles, and about their sometimes rocky, sometimes comical, journey toward finding true love. I hope you have fun reading about them, too.

      Happy Reading!

      For the readers.

       With a million billion thanks.

      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

      Bonus Features

      One

      No carrot cake. Drat. She’d just have to settle for chocolate torte instead.

      Lanie Meyers sighed with not-quite-heartfelt disappointment at the realization. Ah, well. One couldn’t have everything, could one? Not even at a “Dessert, the Whole Dessert, and Nothing But Dessert” fund-raiser for one’s own father’s gubernatorial campaign.

      Not that Lanie understood the need for yet another fund-raiser, even if it did involve the consumption of mass quantities of sugar. Her father was already governor of Texas, and last she heard, he was still ahead in the polls, even if it was only by a small margin. And since October was nearly over, the election was less than two weeks away. She just didn’t see how a last-minute financial push like this was going to help all that much. Nevertheless, if her father’s campaign wanted to host a $100-per-person party at this point in the game, the least Lanie could do was show up for it.

      And eat lots and lots of dessert.

      She scooped up a modest serving of the chocolate torte—well, okay, maybe it wasn’t as modest as some—and transferred it to her plate. Then, just to be on the safe side, she forked up a little—kind of—piece of what looked like marble pound cake to go with it. And, okay, just a smallish—sort of—piece of the maple nut cake, too. It just really complemented the other two so nicely, aesthetically speaking. And maybe just a teeny slice of the white velvet cake to fill in that last empty spot on her plate.

      Well, she’d written a check to her father’s campaign for a hundred dollars just like everyone else here tonight had. There was no reason why Lanie shouldn’t enjoy as much of the spread as the other guests. Besides, she’d been forced to skip dinner because her mother had wanted her to come along for moral support during the speech Luanne Meyers had given to the Austin Gardening Society. Lanie just decided not to think for now about how snug her clothes would feel in the morning. That was tomorrow, after all. Fiddle-de-dee on that. She told herself it was only her imagination that the brief, strapless sapphire-blue cocktail dress she’d donned for the occasion was already beginning to pinch.

      Nudging away a stray lock of blond hair that had fallen into her face from the topknot fixed loosely at the crown of her head, she retrieved her glass of club soda from where she had left it on the table, took her mile-high pile of assorted cakes and retreated to the far side of the room where she could eat in peace, removed from the crowd. The ballroom of the Four Seasons Austin was packed with her father’s supporters, the majority of them talking politics, naturally, which was probably Lanie’s least favorite topic of conversation in the entire world. She would have rather talked about the mating habits of the luna moth, for heaven’s sake. Unfortunately, she being the daughter of a Texas governor, it seemed as if everyone assumed she was as rabid about state government as Tom Meyers was. There were even a few of her father’s cronies who had dropped hints that Lanie herself might run for office one day.

      As if.

      She could think of scores of occupations she’d rather pursue than stateswoman. Of course, there were those who might argue that her current occupation was hobnobber, which wasn’t that far off from politician.

      Lanie just hadn’t figured out yet what she wanted to do with her life, that was all. Yes, at twenty-five she probably should have some vague notion of what path she wanted to follow—professionally, if nothing else. But she’d been groomed since childhood to be the daughter of a politician, and no one had ever encouraged her to stray from that path. Even in college, Lanie had majored in fine arts, not exactly a field of study that had made her highly employable. But she’d volunteered on both of her father’s gubernatorial campaigns, and she worked side by side with her mother in a number of charitable organizations, so she did stay busy. Income wasn’t exactly a problem, since the Meyerses were quite wealthy, and Lanie was what had commonly become referred to as a “trust-fund baby.”

      Nevertheless, there were days when