Fortune's Secret Husband. Karen Rose Smith

his dad nothing but a good day’s work when he consulted with Parker Oil.

      Chase stepped away from Lucie and toward the door. She didn’t follow him. Maybe she’d decided a husband was the last thing she needed, too.

      He opened the door, but he couldn’t help saying, “Remember, if you want to talk, call me.” He didn’t wait for her response. He left before he stayed.

      Once outside the apartment complex, he headed down the street. Unfamiliar with the building and its parking restrictions, he’d left his pickup in a public lot down the block. He headed for it now and made a decision. Instead of going to his family’s ranch, which was about a half hour away, he was going to book a hotel room near Lucie. He’d give a call to his mother later and let her know he wasn’t going to be back tonight.

      His mother had persuaded him to live on the Bar P. She’d asked him to stay there after his dad’s stroke several years ago. His dad had recovered, but she lived in constant fear he’d have another stroke. She wanted Chase to keep him from overdoing it, and that was what Chase had done on all levels for the past five years. But recently, when a college friend was killed, he’d realized he had to live his own life, not the life his parents wanted him to live. The horse rescue ranch would be a first step in that direction.

      Thinking again about a hotel room, he felt he needed to stay close by Lucie so she didn’t disappear again or fly off somewhere. The reason? He couldn’t get his life restarted until their situation was cleared up.

      What other reason could there be?

      * * *

      When Lucie’s alarm woke her, she wasn’t only startled by the sound; she was startled by the dream she’d been having. It starred Chase and was anything but tame. She was still married to the man! Her subconscious had apparently been trying to process that and had inserted him naked into her dream.

      She remembered his body all too well. She recalled every detail of the way he’d touched her—not simply in the dream, but on their wedding night.

      “I’m still married to the man,” she repeated aloud, remembering all too well everything about it, including being sent home in shame.

      Her parents had known about her reckless affair with Chase, but not the marriage. Why hurt them with an impulsive escapade that had been erased from the books? Lucie had promised Chase’s father she’d never breathe a word about any of it to anyone. After all, her family would have been embarrassed and humiliated even more if the word of her marriage ever got out. They were constantly in the public eye.

      She had to talk to someone about it, and she had to talk now.

      If she called her mother... First of all, she couldn’t. Her mum was in a remote village without cell phone towers for miles. Second of all, she’d tell her mother in good time. After all these years, her mum might be hurt that Lucie hadn’t told her in the first place.

      Lucie sighed. The questionable decisions of youth. She’d thought the passage of time had healed all this, but she’d been wrong. Because the annulment had never gone through?

      Yes, that was certainly the reason.

      She’d call Amelia.

      She didn’t even bother to brush her teeth first. Amelia lived on a ranch with Quinn and she’d be up early. She had a baby, so certainly she’d awake. Thinking about her niece, Clementine Rose, made Lucie miss her. She picked up her cell phone and dialed her sister.

      “You’re up early,” Amelia said without preamble. “Going to look at more office spaces?”

      “I wish I was. I mean, I will be. I mean—”

      Lucie heard a shout...a deep male voice.

      Amelia called, “I’ll be right there, Quinn. I’m on the phone.”

      He must have shouted something back.

      “It’s Lucie,” Amelia called back. “Can’t you get Clementine her breakfast?” A pause. Then Amelia asked Quinn, “She tossed all the cereal on the floor?”

      Obviously this wasn’t a good time for Lucie to have a talk with her sister, not about something as serious as a marriage Amelia knew nothing about.

      She said, “Amelia, I’ll talk to you later when you’re not so tied up.”

      “Lucie, really, if you want to talk, I’m sure Quinn can handle this.”

      “No, it’s okay. You two give my niece a big kiss from me. I promise I’ll hug her soon. Have a good day.”

      “I’m coming,” Amelia called to Quinn. “You, too,” she said to Lucie, meaning it.

      Lucie stared at the phone after she ended the call. Maybe her brother Brodie could help, in more than one way. He might be able to give her some professional advice. He was a publicist who would know how to handle this news, especially if it got out.

      But when her call went through to Brodie, all she got was a voice mail message. Next, she tried her brother Jensen. He didn’t have voice mail and he didn’t pick up.

      That left one person she could call. Her brother Charles, who was still in London. She found his number in her contact list and pressed Send.

      “Hello, Lucie,” he said cheerily. “You’re up early.”

      It was around noon in London. “I have reason to be. Do you have time for a chat?”

      “With you? Sure. What’s wrong?”

      “Why do you think something’s wrong?”

      “You’re my sister. I know the tone of your voice. Spill it.”

      Charles was the youngest son, a bit of a playboy and charming. He sometimes had trouble being serious, but he was now as he waited for her to talk about whatever it was she needed to discuss.

      “Do you remember when I went to Scotland when I was seventeen?”

      “Of course I do. There was a ruckus when you were sent home. My sister, who was usually an angel, the perfect sibling, had gotten herself into a mess. Mom and Dad did some fast pedaling with the press, if I remember correctly.”

      “You mean, they managed to squelch the story that I was sent home from a trip because of a boy.”

      “That about covers it.”

      “Actually, no, that didn’t cover it. Now don’t say a word until I finish telling you everything.”

      “My lips are zipped.”

      Was she making a mistake telling Charles? She hoped not. “Promise me you will tell no one else until I say you can.”

      “Lucie, you’re starting to scare me.”

      She plunged in. “I didn’t just have an affair with Chase Parker in Scotland, I married him,” she blurted out. “But when we were caught, his father flew in, didn’t give either of us a chance to breathe and started paperwork for an annulment.”

      Charles whistled.

      “I’m not done,” she protested.

      “Still zipped,” he assured her.

      She rolled her eyes. “Chase found me and came to see me yesterday. The annulment never went through. We’re still married.”

      She wasn’t exactly sure what she expected from Charles, but she definitely didn’t expect his burst of laughter.

      “Oh, my gosh! Miss Goody Two-Shoes got herself into a mess. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

      “Stop it,” she warned him, “or I’ll hang up right now.”

      His laughter simmered down to a smile in his voice as he coaxed, “Ah, you wouldn’t hang up on me, not your favorite brother.”

      “Charles—”

      “Oh,