Forgotten Honeymoon

I can no longer bear to stay silent. My family is crumbling, and Jake needs my support. I believe all the plots to destroy the Fortunes have been unearthed. Now we must unite and stand proud against our enemies. It’s not easy being rich and powerful, always in the spotlight. Everyone wants a piece of you. But I know that together we can triumph over any adversity. I know justice will prevail and Jake’s innocence will be proven. Then we can get back to what really matters—love and family.

A LETTER FROM THE AUTHOR

Dear Reader,

I have always been a firm believer in family and family ties. The idea of big family gatherings has always filled me with a warm, nostalgic feeling. And year after year, I still manage to get choked up at those greeting-card commercials. You know, the ones where siblings and children overcome great obstacles to walk into a house and a warm hug just in time for the holidays. They never fail to make me misty.

For the longest time, my own family was tiny—just my two brothers, my parents and me. I can remember envying people with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. That was why it was such a treat to be one of the authors included in the FORTUNE’S CHILDREN series. While writing Forgotten Honeymoon, I could close my eyes, put myself in Kristina’s place and pretend to have scads of family scattered all around the country. Family that, no matter what the differences involved might be, come through for you when the chips are down. And after all, isn’t that, along with having five different flavors of ice cream in the refrigerator, what the American Dream is really all about? To always have people to rely on, to watch over and to have watch over you?

I hope you enjoy reading Forgotten Honeymoon half as much as I enjoyed writing it. Now go and hug someone close to you.

MILLS & BOON

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To Jessi and Nikky, the beginning of my legacy

MARIE FERRARELLA

is a RITA® Award-winner and USA TODAY bestselling author with over 140 titles for Silhouette Books.

Marie was born in Germany, raised in New York City and currently lives in Southern California with her husband, their two children and a German shepherd named Rocky. She holds a Masters of Arts degree with a concentration in Shakespearean comedy from Queens College. Her interests include old movies, old songs and musical theater, and her motto is Always Be Prepared. (She sewed her own wedding dress and made it wash-and-wear “just in case”!)

Meet the Fortunes—three generations of a family with a legacy of wealth, influence and power. As they unite to face an unknown enemy, shocking family secrets are revealed…and passionate new romances are ignited.

KRISTINA FORTUNE: She is beautiful and wealthy, but there’s more to Kristina than her spoiled rich-girl attitude. However, it isn’t until she loses her memory that she proves she is more than just another pretty face….

MAX COOPER: The tough blue-collar loner has had to make his own way in life. He resents that pushy and pampered Kristina is his new business partner. And when amnesia renders her at his mercy, he decides to teach her a lesson…. But could he be the one who ends up learning about love?

JAKE FORTUNE: He stands accused of murder. But will justice set him free, or will he end up imprisoned for life?

KATE FORTUNE: She can no longer stay hidden while her family faces a relentless adversary driven to destroy them. So she reappears to provide the emotional support that binds the Fortunes together in their crisis.

REBECCA FORTUNE: The mystery writer and amateur sleuth is determined to unravel the clues and prove Jake innocent of murder. Will her investigation succeed before it’s too late?

LIZ JONES—CELEBRITY GOSSIP

Kate Fortune is alive and well! Many friends and family members grieved the death of this wonderful woman. But apparently the crafty matriarch of the Fortune family has been hiding out. She survived the plane crash—which was an attempted murder, not an accident!—and has remained in hiding, trying to discover who’s been out to destroy her family. With Monica Malone dead and Jake on trial for murder, Kate could no longer remain silent. She’s back to support the family and resurrect the mighty Fortune empire.

Go, Kate!

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

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Epilogue

One

K ristina Fortune hung up the telephone. A bittersweet smile played on her lips, a reflection of her ambivalent feelings. Grant was getting married. And while she felt happy for her older half brother, she couldn’t help feeling sad for herself. She doubted it would ever come to pass for her, that knock-your-shoes-off kind of love that left you tingling and wanting more.

Especially since she wasn’t about to let her guard down anymore. Not after David.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, she thought. And nothing ripped apart.

With a sigh, she wandered over to the window. The view from the fourteenth floor of the Fortune Building was next to nonexistent today. Visibility, according to the radio, was zero. Air traffic was at a standstill. Looking out the window was like looking into the interior of a cloud. A dense fog was embracing the city, swirling its long tentacles around the tall Minneapolis skyline and smothering it like a white feather boa thrown about the shoulders of a call girl.

She remained standing there, staring, though there was nothing to see. Staring and thinking.

There was no doubt about it, she felt restless. Edgy. Grant’s phone call had just brought it to the fore. It was as if there was no place within the chrome-and-black-enamel office where she could comfortably alight. So she didn’t bother moving at all.

The feeling of restlessness, of dissatisfaction, was due largely to her grandmother’s sudden death.

Kristina still couldn’t believe it.

Death happened every day. The newspapers and the rest of the media were full of it. But it was always someone else’s family, not hers. Death wasn’t something that she wanted to think about at twenty-four. It had no place in her life.

Except that it had entered, hoary and unannounced, claiming someone she cared about a great deal.

Grandmother would have been happy for Grant.

Kristina smiled to herself. The sad curve of her mouth mocked her as she looked at her reflection. Funny, she’d just assumed that Kate Fortune would go on forever, like the sun, like the tides. Never once had her grandmother given any hint that she was actually mortal. She’d never been sick, and she’d worked long, endless hours tirelessly. She’d been more an institution than a flesh-and-blood woman.

Except that she could be warm and kind when a granddaughter was needy, Kristina thought sadly. She fingered the silver charm around her neck, the one shaped like a lace valentine. It had been specifically bequeathed to her, taken from her grandmother’s charm bracelet. It was the charm her late grandfather had given her grandmother the day Kristina was born. “Another valentine joins the lot,” Ben Fortune had told his wife, continuing the tradition of giving her a charm for each birth.

As she touched the charm, Kristina remembered the way Kate had held her and let her cry her heart out over David, the one and only time she’d allowed her heart to be vulnerable. David, who had turned out to be far more interested in the Fortune name and inheritance than he was in her love. David, who had gone on to marry well, ensconcing himself in a political dynasty. Breaking off her engagement, Kristina had spent the night at her grandmother’s house. They’d stayed up all night and talked. Kate had been the only one to ever see this softer, vulnerable side of her. Kate had understood how much it hurt to discover that you had been made a fool of.

She pressed her hand against the glass. Winter was just outside, harsh and unforgiving. Like life, she thought, if you let your guard down and made one mistake. Kristina blew out a long, tired breath. It didn’t help ease the tension.

David and politics deserved each other, she decided, her mouth hardening. But her grandmother didn’t deserve what had happened to her.

She thought of Kate as she had last seen her, her hand lightly resting on her lawyer’s arm as she inclined her head toward him, quietly commanding center stage, just by her presence. Kate Fortune had been a magnificent woman, even when approaching her seventh decade. She hadn’t aged the way other people did. There were no telltale wrinkles, none of the mocking badges that the passage of time awarded, like hands that shook, or a mind that became progressively more vague and enfeebled. Kate Fortune had embodied the very essence and vibrancy of life.

That was why having that life snuffed out in a plane crash seemed so highly impossible. The ultimate insult. Kristina could barely make herself believe it.

And yet, if her grandmother had picked a way to die, that was the way she would have chosen, Kristina was certain. She would have elected to go out in one astounding blaze of glory, crashing somewhere in the middle of a mysterious jungle.

Leaving the rest of her family to realize just how much they missed her. How much they needed her. Not to run Fortune Cosmetics, but just to be.

Kristina’s throat tightened with the swell of tears that insisted on forming. Tears she hadn’t allowed herself to release. Kate Fortune wouldn’t have wanted tears. She would have wanted them all to go on, to forge an even greater legacy than the one she had worked so hard over the years to give them. The Fortune success was due as much to Kate’s efforts as it was to Ben’s. Perhaps even more, for she had continued the expansion even after her husband died.

God, but she missed her.

Kristina sighed again. The weather was getting to her. It was so gloomy, so pervasive and disheartening.

She needed to get away for a few days, she thought. Kristina glanced at the official document on her desk, the one she’d been studying this morning. Maybe, she considered, for more than a few days.

She thought of Grant and Meredith and their pending marriage. And the honeymoon to follow. A gleam entered her eyes.

Why not?

With the enthusiasm that was the hallmark of everything she did, Kristina turned back to her desk and began making notes. The idea that had been born yesterday morning began to take on depth and breadth at a speed that would have astounded anyone who didn’t know her.

Those who did knew that Kristina never did anything slowly or in a small way.

At twenty-four, she was already successful and recognized as being insightfully creative, a definite asset to the advertising department she had joined. She was also driven. She took after her grandmother that way. A powerhouse who enjoyed making a difference, leaving her mark upon everything she came in contact with.

Buffered by inheritances, completely devoid of monetary concerns, Kristina could very well have done nothing with her life but attend parties from dusk till dawn.

That wasn’t her.

Kristina thumbed through the folder Sterling Foster, their family lawyer, had been thoughtful enough to send on to her. There was a very lackluster-looking brochure included in the packet. Four pages in total, it featured three rather homey, unflattering photographs of a bed-and-breakfast inn, one her grandmother had made a sentimental investment in so long ago. Every word she read within the brochure generated more notes on her pad. And sketches that she kept for future consideration.

The youngest in her large family, Kristina made certain that she would never have the adage “Last but not least” attached to her. She was never going to be last, in any manner, shape or form. She was too conscious of beinning first. Of being a winner.

If, in winning, it cost her a friendship or two, well, she rationalized, those people couldn’t have been such very good friends after all. Not if they didn’t understand what making her mark upon things meant to her. Being part of the Fortune family meant having to try harder to make an impression. She didn’t want to be just one of the Fortunes, an interchangeable entity. She wanted to be distinguished from the rest. To do things her way and stand out.

Like Grandmother.

This might just be her key, she mused, turning the brochure over to the back page—even though the inn looked tacky. Tacky could always be fixed.

Moving the brochure aside, she looked at the cover letter on her desk, the one Sterling had sent with the deed and the information on the inn.

How like her, Kristina thought. Even in death, Kate had seen to everyone’s needs, leaving each of them not only a monetary legacy, but something else, as well. In Kristina’s case, it was a half interest in a country inn located in southern California.

Until she was notified by Sterling, Kristina hadn’t even known her grandmother had the inn among her holdings. From what she’d gathered, it seemed Kate Fortune had remained a discreet silent partner in it for over twenty years.

Kristina smiled fondly now. It was hard to envision her grandmother being a silent partner in anything. They had that in common, too. Neither of them had ever believed in keeping her opinions to herself.

“The silent aren’t heard,” her grandmother had once said to her.

At the time, Kristina had thought that the line was just a quaint, self-evident homily, but now she understood the deeper meaning behind her grandmother’s words. You had to make yourself heard in order to get your own way. If you didn’t, no one would ever know what you had to offer.

And she had a lot to offer, especially to this tacky little place. Kristina tapped a well-manicured pink nail on the photo on the cover of the brochure for emphasis. In fact, she’d guess that the bequest had arrived here just in time. Just in time for the inn.

As a matter of habit, she’d requisitioned the tax information on it from their accountant. It had taken some doing to find the information for her, but it had wound up on her desk this morning, just as she had requested.

The statement wasn’t heartening, but that hadn’t been completely unexpected. There was a huge margin for improvement. As far as investments went, this hadn’t been a shrewd one for Kate.

Kristina decided that Kate must have kept her hand in for some sentimental reason. Maybe she had even met there with Grandfather Ben for a lovers’ tryst.

The thought pleased her. Kristina would have wished her grandmother that kind of heart-quickening happiness.

The kind that Grant now had. The kind that had completely eluded her.

Kristina banished the thought before it could make her maudlin again, and made up her mind. Her career was established and flourishing. She was a natural at creating ad campaigns that were simple yet sleek and caught the public’s attention. But after two years, it was a case of “Been there, done that.”

What she wanted now was a challenge, something new to try her hand at. Something that was hers alone, not an integral part of the Fortune dynasty. She looked at the paper on the desk. The place was begging for help.

And she was just the woman to give it.

With a nod of her head, Kristina swept together the papers on her desk and deposited them in their manila envelope. Her pensive, restless mood had vanished, now that her course had been established.

“Thanks, Grandmother. You always knew how to set things right for me.”

Frank Gibson had been part of the advertising department at Fortune Industries for the last fifteen years. He had slowly worked his way up within the framework, losing a little more hair with each advancement. Now, as the senior VP, a title that he felt at times was more decorative than lucrative, he retained only a slight fringe of brown just above his ears. And even that was in danger of going.

Such as now.

He looked at the blond slip of a girl who had been all but foisted on him two years ago and digested what she was saying to him. He might have accepted her into the fold reluctantly, expecting nothing, but he had been more than just a little pleasantly surprised. He’d quickly discovered that Kristina Fortune pulled her own weight and then some. If at times that meant she ran over some toes, allowances could be made, not just because she was the boss’s daughter, but because she was damn good.

He didn’t like the idea of doing without her for any long extended period of time.

Frank rubbed his large palms along the edge of his desk, a sure sign that the news he was receiving was making him nervous.

“You want what?”

She knew she could do this without asking. No one’s opinion really mattered, when you came right down to it, except her father’s. And he would give her her head, as she was requesting, especially since it involved his mother’s bequest.

But, technically, Frank was her boss, and she got along with him a great deal better than she did with her father. So, to avoid any bad feelings, she went through the proper channels and put her request to him.

“A leave of absence.”

They were unveiling a new perfume in a little more than two months. There were still a thousand details to see to. It had been Kristina’s baby all the way.

“Now?” Frank asked. “In the middle of an ad campaign?”

Kristina laughed. She couldn’t remember a single day going by when Frank hadn’t behaved as if everything were a matter of life and death.

“Frank, we are always in the middle of an ad campaign.” Sitting down on the sofa against the wall, she crossed her legs and saw Frank’s eyes drift to her hemline before he quickly looked away. Frank’s romantic life began and ended in his mind. “It’s nothing you can’t handle.” She genuinely liked the mousy little man. He was kind to her without being obsequious. She tucked her tongue into her cheek. “Maybe not with my flair, but at least with my notes.” She nodded in the general direction of her office. “I left everything organized for you. It’s under Redemption.” Which was the name she had given to the new scent.

Kristina had made her mind up to handle the inn herself a week ago, when she first received Sterling’s letter. But she had taken the extra time to do her homework on bed-and-breakfast inns. She never ventured into anything unarmed.

Frank frowned. After years of trying, he could finally find his way around a keyboard, as long as it was attached to a typewriter. Word-processing and spreadsheet programs were completely beyond him. You might as well ask him to pilot a starship.

“You know I hate computers. That’s what I have you for.” Finally comfortable with her, he was not above putting a teasing spin on their working relationship.

She laughed as she leaned forward. “You have me for a lot more reasons than that, Frank.”

In actuality, at this point, Frank was content to let Kristina head most of their campaigns. The TV spot she’d come up with for Hidden Sin had single-handedly upped sales a full ten percent across the board.

“All right,” he agreed. “Rub my nose in it, but don’t leave.”

“Leave of absence, Frank. Leave of absence.” Kristina enunciated the words slowly. “That doesn’t mean forever.” She knew how quickly Frank could come to rely on something. It was flattering, but right now, it was getting in the way of the new pair of wings she wanted to try.

Kristina rose, giving the appearance of being taller than she actually was. “I’ll only be gone for about two months.” She thought of the photographs of the inn. “Two and a half, tops.”

He knew it was useless to argue with her. She would do what she wanted to do. She was a Fortune and could afford to, unlike the rest of the world. “And what is it that you want to accomplish in those two months?”

“Something new.” She couldn’t quite put it into words, but something was calling to her, telling her that this was right. That she had to do this. Maybe it was even her grandmother, whispering in her ear. She wasn’t certain. She just knew she had to go. “Grandmother left me her share in a bed-and-breakfast inn in California.”

“California?” he echoed, horrified at the thought of the place. “They have earthquakes.”

She laughed at the expression on his face. Frank was one of those people who were content never to try anything new in their lives. He ascribed the feeling to everyone. “And we have fog and tornadoes.”

Frank snorted shortly. Nothing in the world could get him to travel to California, even on business. He would delegate trips if he had to. “A fog can’t kill you.”

She looked out the window. The gauzy texture of the fog hadn’t changed since this morning. “No, but it can depress you to death.” She knew she didn’t have to explain herself, but because she liked him, she wanted Frank to understand. “I don’t know, Frank, I just feel that I want to try my hand at something that doesn’t have the Fortune stamp all over it.”

“It will when you get through with it,” he pointed out, in case the fact had escaped her.

She turned to look at him, her smile wide, satisfied, as if he’d gotten the point. “Exactly, but it’ll be my own stamp.”

“Your mind’s made up?” It was a rhetorical question, uttered for form’s sake. He already knew the answer.

“When have you known me to waver?”

Never. She was the most self-assured woman he’d ever encountered, next to her grandmother. Frank sighed. “All right.” Cocking his head so that he resembled a sparrow eyeing an early-morning worm, he gave it one last shot. “I suppose there isn’t anything I can say to make you change your mind?”

Kristina slowly moved her head from side to side, her amused eyes on his.

Frank spread his hands wide, helplessly. Surrendering, since he’d never had a chance of winning. “Then there’s nothing for me to say except yes.” He frowned as he sighed, resigned. “When has a man ever said no to you?”

She grinned. “Hasn’t happened yet.” Even with David, she’d been the one to say no. But that had only been after she discovered that his one and only love was the Fortune money. “And I don’t see it happening anytime soon.”