The stakes are high for this would-be dad...

CAUTION: TROUBLE AHEAD

Contractor Dillon Fortune wasn’t always so cautious. But as a teenager, impulse led to an unexpected pregnancy and a daughter he was never allowed to know. Now he guards his heart against all advances. If only free-spirited spa manager Hailey Miller wasn’t so hard to resist! Her sunny optimism is contagious, making Dillon dare to dream about a happily-ever-after for himself. When his secret child resurfaces, however, all bets may be off...

USA Today bestselling author Marie Ferrarella

USA TODAY bestselling and RITA® Award-winning author MARIE FERRARELLA has written more than 250 books for Mills & Boon, some under the name Marie Nicole. Her romances are beloved by fans worldwide. Visit her website, marieferrarella.com

Also by Marie Ferrarella

The Cowboy’s Lesson in Love

The Lawman’s Romance Lesson

Coming Home for Christmas

Dr. Forget-Me-Not

Twice a Hero, Always Her Man

Meant to Be Mine

A Second Chance for the Single Dad

Christmastime Courtship

Texan Seeks Fortune

The Maverick’s Return

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Fortune’s Greatest Risk

Marie Ferrarella

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-0-008-90336-7

FORTUNE’S GREATEST RISK

© 2020 Harlequin Books S.A.

Published in Great Britain 2020

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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To Charlie

Whose Kisses Still Make the World Fade Away.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Dedication

Prologue

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

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Extract

About the Publisher

Prologue

If anyone would have said to him seven months ago that twenty-nine was far too old for someone to actually feel homesick, Dillon Fortune would have laughed them off. In his opinion, being homesick was an emotion associated with preteens who were spending a month or so away from home surrounded by a bunch of strangers at a sleepaway camp for the very first time.

And yet, here he was, a grown man, feeling a deep, penetrating wave of homesickness.

Granted, he had been in Texas for more like seven months. And, yes, instead of being alone amid a bunch of strangers, he’d come out here with two of his brothers, Callum and Steven, as well as one of his sisters, Stephanie. But, when all things were considered, he had to admit, if only to himself, that he was most definitely homesick.

Very homesick.

Yes, Rambling Rose, Texas, was a beautiful place as well as an up-and-coming, flourishing town. A town that he and his brothers were heavily involved in building up, thanks to the construction company that the three of them owned. But if anyone would have asked him, Dillon would have had to say that his heart was back in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Dillon wished that the rest of him could be back there, as well.

But he had always been raised to believe that commitments, especially to family, came first and he couldn’t very well just take off for Fort Lauderdale now, even though he really wanted to. He was committed to these various projects. His brothers were counting on him and he knew he couldn’t just leave before all the projects were completed and up and running.

Granted, the new pediatric center and the veterinary clinic were now both open and successful. The pediatric center had even been christened, so to speak, on its very first day. A pregnant woman—Laurel, last name unknown—had gone into labor during the clinic’s ribbon-cutting ceremony. She was quickly rushed to a hospital in San Antonio with a NICU just in time, and gave birth there.

But the same success story couldn’t be written about The Shoppes at Rambling Rose, a collection of high-end stores which were built on the site of what had once been the town’s five-and-dime.

Not that any of the shops had failed—it was too soon to say something like that—but so far, they hadn’t been able to find their dedicated audience yet, people who could be seen as a loyal clientele. He had no doubts that that would happen—Callum had a knack for picking places that were just waiting to become successes. But Dillon had no desire to remain here waiting for that magical moment to transpire.

This part, he thought, could easily go on without him.

Yet here he was, sitting in his car outside of the town’s newly renovated wellness spa, another one of Fortune Brothers Construction’s projects. Paz Spa was going to be opening its doors for the first time this week. Somehow, his brothers had managed to talk him into coming here today for a final walk-through. That way, they said, he could make sure that the spa was all set to go full speed right out of the starting gate. Reluctantly, because he had never been able to say no to his brothers, he had agreed, even though this wasn’t his kind of thing. He was more of a design guy, not a people person. Nevertheless, here he was, trying to get himself to leave the shelter of his vehicle and walk into the spa.

If the spa faltered for some reason, then that might adversely affect their biggest project. The new town hotel—their company’s pride and joy—was still on the drawing board. So many factors could get in the way of it becoming a reality.

Again.

There were two different ways of thinking regarding all these new projects he and his brothers had undertaken. The town’s older local residents weren’t very gung ho when it came to building this new hotel, but the newest segment of the population, the millionaires who had taken up residence within the gated community of Rambling Rose Estates, were definitely all for it. Truthfully, The Shoppes had been built with these people in mind, in the hopes that eventually, with enough prodding, the locals would grudgingly come around. At least they seemed interested in Ashley, Nicole and Megan’s farm-to-table restaurant, Provisions, which was set to open within the next few weeks—barring any unforeseen complications.

His brothers were totally convinced that they could get the locals to change their minds, but as for him, well, Dillon had never viewed things in the same sort of positive light that Callum and Steven did. His take on the matter was that the construction company had done all it could here and they should move on to another town.

Preferably one in Florida.

But then, Dillon supposed he had never been as dynamic or optimistic as either Callum or Steven were. Truth be told, Dillon would have been the first to admit that he had always had a far more cautious view of life.

However, he was a Fortune and his brothers made it clear that they were depending on his clear eye to make sure that all systems were “go” before the spa’s grand opening.

In other words, they had faith in him.

All things considered, Dillon thought, he would rather have a root canal than face what he was about to endure now.

Well, it wasn’t going to get any better or any easier to face with him just sitting here, Dillon thought, finally opening his door.

Swinging out his long legs, he let his boots hit the ground and he got out of his car. The ache he felt in his shoulders reminded him that he hadn’t been exercising lately the way he was accustomed to doing. This project had caused him to let a lot of things in his life slide lately. That was going to have to change.

Closing the car door behind him, he locked it. As he walked toward the entrance of Paz Spa, a line out of an old Tennyson poem he’d once read way back in elementary school suddenly popped up in his head.

“Into the Valley of Death / Rode the six hundred.”

Given the challenge of the task ahead, it certainly seemed to capture his mood appropriately enough.

Chapter One

Yup, those were definitely butterflies in her stomach, Hailey Miller decided. They were not only flapping their wings, they were also multiplying like crazy.

Not that she anticipated anything going wrong, the petite spa manager thought, nervously combing her fingers through her long blond hair and pushing the wayward strands away from her face and off to one side. She was just focusing on everything going exactly right for this tour. This was her first time in the role of manager, and she wanted it to be perfect.

That was the reason she had dressed with such care this morning instead of throwing on a pair of jeans, a comfortable shirt with the spa’s logo on it and, like as not, a pair of her favorite boots the way she had done these last few weeks. No, today was special and that was why she had put on a flowing pastel blue dress and a pair of strappy high heels, the ones that flattered her legs. In her opinion, her legs were her best feature and she needed all the help she could get to look her best this morning.

Because this morning she was showing Dillon Fortune around the spa and Dillon Fortune was the man to please, Hailey thought.

The spa, located across the street from the Shoppes, had been his special project and he was the contractor responsible for the spa’s newly renovated look. In addition, the man was jaw-droppingly good-looking if the photographs she had seen of him on the internet were any indication. Hailey had a feeling that someone who looked like that was accustomed to being surrounded with beautiful, intelligent women. She definitely didn’t want the man to feel as if he was slumming when he conducted his tour through here.

Get a grip, Hailey. He’s not going to care what you’re wearing, or what you look like. The man’s coming here to see what you’ve done to highlight all the work that was done on the spa.

Just as she pressed her hand against her turbulent stomach, Candace Allen, her new assistant, came hurrying toward her.

“He’s here, Hailey,” Candace breathlessly announced. “Dillon Fortune!”

Okay, showtime! Hailey took in one last big breath to steady her nerves.

She turned toward her assistant and in that moment saw probably the handsomest man in her near recollection walking in her direction.

Instantly she felt those butterflies of hers revving up for one massive, uncoordinated takeoff.

Even at a distance, she could see that Dillon Fortune looked far more handsome in person than his photographs had made him out to be—and that had been pretty damn near perfect.

Okay, Hailey, you can do this. This is nothing more than a courtesy walk-through for the guy who made all this possible.

So why did part of her suddenly feel as if she were trying to make her way across hot coals?

As Dillon Fortune drew closer, she decided that her fresh wave of nerves had to be due to the look on the man’s lean, handsome face. The contractor looked distracted, as if he didn’t really want to be here.

Why? Was there something wrong?

Walking up to Dillon and meeting him part of the way, Hailey put out her hand and gave him her widest, most welcoming smile. “Mr. Fortune, I’m Hailey Miller, Paz Spa’s manager. I’ll be the one giving you a tour of this lovely facility this morning.”

Just for a moment, Dillon was caught off guard by the very attractive, animated woman standing before him. For such a petite woman, she had the largest, most expressive blue eyes he had ever seen. He found them almost hypnotic and just for a second, he forgot how much he didn’t want to be here.

But then it all came back to him. His intense homesickness, how all of this—the touring, the glad-handing—just felt like such a waste of precious time.

His precious time.

Still, he knew he couldn’t be rude. It wasn’t this woman’s fault that he was halfway across the country from where he wanted to be. And he could see that this perky manager was eager to show the place off to him. A place he felt it prudent not to point out that he was already familiar with, thanks to the fact that he had been the one who had drawn up the initial blueprints and then designed the spa’s look from top to bottom.

He offered the petite blonde what he hoped passed for a smile.

“I guess you were the one who wound up drawing the short straw,” Dillon told her. Belatedly, he remembered to shake the hand she was still holding out to him.

Hailey could only stare at the contractor. She had no idea what he was saying to her—or why. What short straw? “Excuse me, Mr. Fortune?”

Dillon didn’t think he had said anything particularly mysterious. “Well, you obviously have better things to do three days before the spa’s grand opening than dropping everything to give one of the people who renovated this place a tour of the exact same area.”

Put that way, she didn’t know if he resented having her show him around his own work, or if there was something else going on.

“Not really,” Hailey answered uncertainly. “We all thought that you might like to see how the ideas all came together to create this rather inviting haven. Everyone here is very eager to have the spa’s doors finally open so that our clients can come in and enjoy all the amenities that this place has to offer.” If nothing else, she thought, she could be a saleswoman with the best of them.

“As you can see,” Hailey continued, gesturing around the wide-open reception area, “this was all finished with reclaimed wood and other natural materials. It’s all extremely pleasing to the eye,” she pointed out with pride.

“Now if you’ll come this way,” Hailey urged as she began to lead the way farther into the spa, “I’ll show you some of the inner rooms that will be enjoyed by our clients.”

She opened a door that led into a room with a massage table. A mural of a peaceful forest scene on the far wall added to the feeling of tranquility. “We offer various kinds of massage therapy to help our clients relieve some of the stress they’ve built up during their week. As I’m sure you know, a tense body causes mental stress and may often be responsible for sleeplessness, gastrointestinal distress and headaches, to mention just a few things. The right sort of massage therapy will allow our clients to de-stress and rejuvenate.”

Hailey continued talking as she brought Dillon to another room painted in different colors. The main piece of equipment here was the same as in the first room. It all centered around a massage table, except here, there were two tables for the couples looking to reduce their stress levels together.

“I’m sure you’ll agree that in this fast-paced life we all lead, we could certainly use a little revitalization, not to mention a small precious island of time where we can step back from our incredibly busy lives and just take a deep breath and relax.

“And did you know that a good massage can also improve your circulation? That means no more cold hands and feet—if you have them, that is,” she quickly added in case he thought she was insinuating that this was his problem. “Think how good that would feel,” Hailey added with another bright smile. “Massage therapy can also help improve your flexibility, strengthen your muscles and reduce your pain levels by releasing endorphins.”

Her hand on his elbow, she gently guided Dillon toward yet another area.

“Now, right over here, Mr. Fortune, is where we decided to put...”

Hailey continued with what turned out to be a monologue for another good half hour, opening various doors and explaining in vivid, glowing detail what each area was for, be it a sauna, a tanning salon or the aforementioned massage tables. There were also large rooms where various classes would be conducted.

“Giving massages is my specialty,” she told the contractor. “I actually began working in the wellness field as a masseuse.”

She turned around to see how her one-man audience had received that piece of information. Looking at Dillon, she stopped talking for a moment, wondering if he had heard a single word she had said. He certainly didn’t act as if he had. He hadn’t made a single comment or said anything at all during the entire tour she had just conducted.

In fact, if she were to hazard a guess, Dillon Fortune was acting as if he would rather be anywhere else other than here.

Oh, he was being polite, she’d give him that, but the man was also being distant. Extremely distant.

And just like that, without any warning, she was five years old all over again. Five years old and desperately trying to engage her father by attempting to show him the new hairstyles she had so painstakingly fashioned for her favorite dolls. He’d been a workaholic who had never had time for her. All she wanted was just a little of his attention, but he was always too busy being successful to notice her. Eventually, she gave up trying.

Her father had had that same distant, removed look on his face that was now gracing Dillon Fortune’s ruggedly handsome face.

Well, handsome or not, it wasn’t good enough as far as she was concerned. Mentally resolved, Hailey decided to give it one last try. She was determined to engage Dillon Fortune on some level so she wouldn’t feel as if she were talking to a wall.

Or to a man who just didn’t hear her.

“You might have noticed,” Hailey started again brightly, “but everything here at the spa has this really good smell about it.”

Checking his phone for what felt like the tenth time since he’d arrived, Dillon looked up at his incredibly chipper tour guide. Had she just said something about smelling good, or was that just his imagination?

She was looking at him as if she expected some sort of a reaction from him. “Excuse me?”

“Scent,” she repeated. “There’s a really good scent here at the spa. That’s not by accident,” she assured him. “Finding just the right scent is all part of the experience here at Paz. We find that the right scent helps not just soothe our clients but it also invigorates them. We’re planning to use some of these scents as part of our aromatherapy massages.”

Hailey found herself talking fast now, trying not to lose his attention. To that end, she began showing him all the different bottles of the various scents that the spa had stocked up on.

“Care to take a whiff?” Hailey offered, uncorking one of the bottles. It was jasmine and was her personal favorite.

Dillon shook his head. “No, that’s all right.”

He was resisting, she thought and took it as a challenge. She was determined to use this latest example of therapy to get through to this man. These scents were meant to soothe a client, to help that person relax, and if there was ever an uptight person who needed to relax, it was definitely Dillon Fortune.

“C’mon,” Hailey coaxed, “you can take one whiff, can’t you?” She raised the bottle up for Dillon to get a better sense of what was in it. “Go ahead. Try it.”

Seeing that she wasn’t going to back off until he did as she urged, Dillon said, “Okay, fine, let me smell it.” If he didn’t breathe in too deeply, he’d be all right, he told himself. And then maybe she’d terminate this tour and let him leave.

Hailey held the open bottle up to his face and Dillon took a deep breath of the scent.

Perhaps a little too deep because the next thing he knew, he was sneezing.

A lot.

Waving Hailey back away from him, he accidentally hit the bottle she was holding up to him. That in turn sent the entire contents of the bottle flying out and all over his shirt.

And just like that, Dillon found himself utterly drenched in jasmine oil.

Horror stricken by the unfortunate chain of events that had brought about this present dilemma, Hailey could only stare at the drenched man, wide-eyed.

“Oh, my Lord, I am so sorry, Mr. Fortune,” she cried, embarrassed.

Dillon couldn’t comment on her apology at first. Not because he was so angry but because he just couldn’t stop sneezing.

Finally, all but wiped out thanks to his sneezing, Dillon could only hold his hand up, silently indicating that she had to stop saying she was sorry.

Damn it, Dillon thought, he smelled like a damn flower garden. Not exactly the scent he was going for, he thought.

He should have known better than to let this woman anywhere near him with that bottle. He wasn’t normally prone to allergies, but there were certain scents that could just set him off. He had never investigated the matter or found out which particular scents affected him, but he was aware that there were some that could be devastating to him. So he normally steered clear of all of them.

He realized he should have stuck to that instead of allowing himself to be overwhelmed by a rapid-fire motor mouth.

Dillon waved the petite woman away.

Stunned and embarrassed, as well as somewhat annoyed, she moved back. She was still clutching the bottle. It was obviously empty now, but who knew, maybe whatever traces of the scent that could be left coating the sides of the bottle might still be affecting him.

As if reading his mind, Hailey tossed the bottle into a trash can on the other side of the room.

When she quickly rejoined him, Dillon was still sneezing, although not nearly as violently as before. Hailey realized that he was sneezing because the scent was still around him, thanks to the fact that it had soaked his shirt and was now probably on his chest.

Hailey instantly felt just awful. It was clear that Dillon was suffering.

“Again, I am so sorry,” she apologized with feeling. “I didn’t know you were allergic to the oils we used. Why didn’t you say something?” she wanted to know.

It took Dillon a moment to clear his throat enough to be able to answer her. “Because I’m not allergic to oils,” he informed her almost indignantly. And then he was forced to add, “I just have this reaction sometimes when I pass by a department store perfume counter... I mean, not that I go around inhaling perfumes, it’s just that sometimes there are these overly zealous sales people spraying perfumes into the air and—”

Dillon had to abruptly stop because he’d started sneezing again.

Hailey saw only one solution to end the man’s misery. “You’re going to have to take off your shirt,” she told him.

Her declaration caught Dillon totally by surprise. He stared at the spa manager, certain that he had misheard her. “Say what?”

“Your shirt. It’s soaked,” she pointed out in case he had somehow missed that. “Take it off,” she instructed. It was half a request, half an order. “I can wash it for you.”

The hell she could, he thought. He wasn’t about to strip off his shirt.

“No, that’s all right,” he said as he began backing away. “I can just—”

“What, walk out of here smelling like a flower garden on steroids?” she asked him. There was a skeptical expression on her face. “I don’t think so. At the very least, you might wind up attracting bees and being attacked by them. Besides,” she said, pausing as Dillon sneezed again, “you’re probably not going to stop sneezing until you’re separated from that scent. It’s clearly all over you, and in your case, apparently a little bit goes a long way. So don’t argue with me, Mr. Fortune. Give!” she told Dillon, holding out her hand. “We have a small dedicated laundry area here at the spa. That’s how we get our spa robes so clean and fluffy.”

Dillon still looked really hesitant about surrendering his shirt.

“That’s too much trouble,” Dillon told her. “I can just—”

“Oh, I know what the problem is,” she told him, realizing why he was hesitating so much—or at least she thought she knew why he wasn’t taking his shirt off. After all, he was the spa’s contractor. He didn’t exactly want to be standing around in his semi-bare glory. The man looked as if he had hard muscles rippling under that shirt of his. Still, being shirtless would undoubtedly prove to be somewhat embarrassing for him. She could understand that.

“Oh?” Despite himself, Dillon’s curiosity was aroused by what this woman thought she knew.

“Yes,” Hailey answered enthusiastically. “You need something to put on,” she declared as if she had the inside path to his mind. “Wait right here. I’m going to go find something for you,” she promised, rushing off.

“No, really,” Dillon called after her, “you don’t have to go to any more trouble.”

Especially since she had managed to cause all this trouble just by taking him on a harmless tour of the place to begin with.

But Dillon found he was talking to himself. Hailey Miller, eager beaver par excellence, had rushed off in search of something for him to wear.

Dillon was about to cut his losses and just get out of here before something else went wrong. But his dearly savored escape was quickly aborted when Hailey came hurrying back less than a minute and a half after she had left him standing there dripping.

Instead of a T-shirt with the spa’s logo splashed across the front as Dillon would have anticipated, she came back carrying something white and fluffy.

“Here,” she announced, holding up what looked like one of the spa robes. “It’s the best I could come up with on such short notice—and it does cover everything up.” Although, she caught herself thinking, the man did have a really nice set of muscles on him.

Looking at the robe, Dillon suppressed a groan.

Chapter Two

The next second, Dillon’s mind did a complete 180 degree turn regarding what he was about to do. Although the bubbly manager was holding out the white robe for him to put on, Dillon decided he wasn’t about to put it on.

“No, that’s all right,” he told Hailey, shaking his head. “I’ll just take a pass on putting that on, thanks.” He spared one final look at the offered garment, a disapproving expression on his face. “It’s not exactly my style.” He was rather conservative and the idea of stripping his shirt off in front of a total stranger left him with a bad taste in his mouth.

For a second, Hailey was puzzled. She looked at the robe she was holding out as if she’d never seen it before and reevaluated it.

And then it suddenly dawned on her.

“I didn’t mean that you’d have to wear this when you leave,” she clarified. “This is just something for you to put on temporarily while I’m getting that overwhelming scent washed out of your shirt. C’mon,” she urged, taking a step toward him, holding out the robe again. “The sooner I take the shirt and get started, the sooner you’ll get it back.”

Dillon took a step back, and then another and another. For her part, Hailey just continued coming toward him. He felt like he was being stalked, while for her part, Hailey felt he was being unduly shy. She was only trying to help.

“No, I said it’s okay. Really,” he stressed. He didn’t know how to make his position any clearer to her.

“But it’s not okay,” Hailey insisted. “I can’t have you leaving here like this, with your first impression of the spa being the place where you wound up smelling like a garden full of jasmine on steroids. Consciously or unconsciously, you’ll wind up hating the place. And who could blame you?” she told Dillon. “No, you need to take your shirt off so I can wash it,” Hailey repeated, more forcefully this time.

He made one last attempt to beg off, but it was becoming very obvious to him that the woman didn’t know how to take no for an answer. He opened his mouth to protest again, but before he could say a word, Hailey was already talking.

“Look, Mr. Fortune, I need your shirt,” Hailey stated in a friendly but firm tone.

With every step that this persistent petite woman had taken toward him, Dillon had taken an equal step back. But now his back was against the wall—literally—and he had nowhere to go.

The only way he could get her to stop was to raise his voice and tell her to back off, although that really wasn’t his style. However, as a last resort, he was willing to change his tactics.

And he was just about to, when the slender, vivacious spa manager cut him off at the knees. She raised up those big beautiful eyes of hers, aimed them directly at his and then fired the winning salvo.

Hailey said, “Please?”

And just like that, Dillon felt as if he’d been completely disarmed.

With a loud sigh, he conceded that he had lost the battle.

But how was he going to remove the shirt without feeling like a male stripper?

Hailey had always been blessed with the ability to somehow intuit what was going on in a person’s mind. She applied that ability to the situation she found herself in at the moment. When she did it, she was able to see exactly why Dillon was still hesitating to give her the shirt.

For some reason, he was embarrassed. Dillon was obviously well built, but apparently he was not one of those men who was comfortable about flaunting it.

“Tell you what,” she proposed. “There’s no one around here so you can take your shirt off now. I’ll even turn around to give you your privacy,” Hailey offered, then smiled brightly at him. “You can’t really do better than that, Mr. Fortune.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” he countered, contemplating whether or not to tell her exactly how he could have done better. He could have passed up on this royal pain of a tour altogether, he thought. But saying that out loud sounded cruel to him, so he decided to let it go.

Rather than argue with him, Hailey deliberately turned her back on the man she was determined to impress.

“Any time you’re ready,” she cheerfully announced, holding the robe out to the side.

Keeping her back to him, Hailey took a single step backward toward the contractor so that the robe would be more accessible for him.

As she did so, because of the angle where he was standing, Hailey realized that she could see his naked upper torso. It was reflected in the side mirror near him and that image was ricocheted back to her via the larger mirror that ran the length of the left wall.

The end result was that she was able to see exactly what he undoubtedly hadn’t wanted her to see—Dillon in all of his exceptionally sculpted glory.

Hailey’s mouth suddenly went very dry. It became clear to her that she wasn’t really able to swallow even if her life depended on it.

Dear Lord, the man was magnificent!

It was all Hailey could do not to utter the word out loud.

Belatedly, she realized that she had given herself away because in that first unguarded, unprepared moment, she had sucked in her breath the way someone sitting in the first car of a roller-coaster ride might do just as that car started to take its first plunge down the steep incline.

No matter how prepared she might have thought she was for the sight of this good-looking male, she was not that prepared. Seeing all those muscles, all those incredibly hard ridges, even secondhand because she was seeing them all reflected in the mirror, she was totally unprepared for the effect that gorgeous body had on her.

Maybe he hadn’t heard her, Hailey thought, crossing her fingers.

The next moment, her hopes were dashed. She could see from the raised eyebrows in his reflection that he’d heard her. Moreover, he probably knew that she knew.

Dillon, however, made the decision to carry on the charade and pretend that he hadn’t heard her sharp intake of breath. It was far safer that way. This way there would be no need to talk about anything.

Ignorance created a welcomed cloak that draped helpfully over everything, he thought as he thrust the shirt in the direction of Hailey’s waiting outstretched hand. “Here’s my shirt.”

“I can tell,” she answered, smiling to herself as her fingers closed over the surrendered article. Without turning around—she could tell by the sound that he was just shrugging into the robe she’d given him—Hailey started to hurry off. “I’ll get this started. Your shirt will be the only thing in the washing machine so it should be done in no time flat.”

It wouldn’t be done fast enough for him, Dillon thought.

When Hailey returned to the area several minutes later, Dillon saw that her hands were empty. Still, he couldn’t help asking her, “Is the shirt ready yet?”

“The spa’s washing machine is the very latest model on the market,” Hailey proudly told him. “But it’s not that fast,” she politely pointed out. “Again, I am so sorry about all this.”

Had he been one of those spiteful people willing to blame everyone else for anything he had to put up with, Dillon would have let her continue beating herself up for dousing his shirt and causing him to practically sneeze his brains out. But to do so wouldn’t have been right, or fair and he had too much of a conscience to indulge in that sort of behavior.

“It’s not your fault,” he told her. “The fault is mine. I wasn’t paying close enough attention to what was going on. Like I said, sometimes I have an allergic reaction to certain scents. If I had been paying closer attention to what you were trying to show me, I would have realized that.”

Hailey felt his admission opened up a door, leaving her free to talk. Maybe some good could come out of all of this, after all.

“You know, you did look a little preoccupied when I was taking you on that tour,” she told him. Actually, he had looked a lot preoccupied, but saying that might have sounded as if she were criticizing him, so she left it at her initial statement. Instead, she diplomatically approached the subject she was attempting to broach. “Maybe you could stand to avail yourself of one of the spa treatments we offer here at Paz.” Her enthusiasm grew as she continued, “I could personally set up an appointment for you and then—”

Dillon immediately stopped her before she could get carried away. “No. No, thank you. I’m good,” he assured her.

The man was good-looking, but he definitely wasn’t “good” in the sense he was trying to convey. He needed prodding, she thought.

“Are you sure? Because these treatments can be really helpful, Mr. Fortune. They’re designed for the busy executive like yourself. Tell you what,” Hailey continued eagerly. “If you feel a little uncomfortable about getting one of our special tailored massages, I would be more than happy to be the one who—”

“Nope, I’m fine,” Dillon insisted, cutting her off. “It’s all good, really. Thanks, but no thanks,” he repeated, leaving the woman absolutely no wiggle room to talk him into anything.

The truth of the matter was he sensed that he could easily be attracted to this woman. The very last thing he needed—or wanted—was for that feeling to escalate. And that would be exactly what would happen if she put her hands on his back and torso to work the kinks out of his stiff, sore muscles.

“Okay,” Hailey replied compliantly, “if you say so. But I want you to know that if you should decide to change your mind, the offer stands open anytime that you feel the need to try our method of—”

“Thanks, but I won’t be changing my mind,” Dillon informed her, cutting her off. “Don’t worry about it,” he stressed rather forcefully. “The only thing I want from you is—”

“Your shirt, yes, I am well aware of that,” Hailey said, anticipating what he was about to tell her. She really didn’t have to be a mind reader in order to know that.

“Well, yes, that, too,” Dillon readily agreed. “But what I was about to say is that I’d also like you to promise me that you won’t mention this incident to my brothers. I doubt if the topic will come up,” he added, stating the fact before she had an opportunity to, “but on the outside chance that it might, I’d really rather that they didn’t find out about this unfortunate incident.”

“Yes, of course. I won’t say a word to anyone,” Hailey promised him. “Your secret’s definitely safe with me, Mr. Fortune.”

Dillon laughed despite himself. “Considering everything that has just happened between us, I think you can call me Dillon,” he told her.

A smile rose to her lips, so warm in scope that it fascinated him for a couple of moments.

“I’d like that,” Hailey told him, then added his name, making what she said sound infinitely more personal. “Dillon.”

He caught himself thinking that his name sounded almost lyrical as it came from her lips.

Wow, he was really getting carried away, Dillon upbraided himself. At best this was just a business meeting that had gone wrong, nothing more. Besides, as Hailey had already pointed out, his mind had been elsewhere, not here.

“Would your brothers really give you a hard time if they knew about this?” she asked, curious. Hailey immediately backtracked when she saw Dillon’s brow go up. She didn’t want him getting the wrong idea. “Not that I’d ever mention any of this,” she quickly added, trying her best to reassure him. “Because I’d never say a word. To anyone,” she emphasized once again. “Really,” Hailey stressed. “I just asked you that because I was curious about what it was like, having all those siblings around. People who you know you can always lean on, no matter what.” That sounded like heaven to her. “How many siblings do you have again?” she asked, cocking her head.

He was doing his best not to get distracted again. There was something about this woman that tended to do that to him. Anyway, why would she want to know that? he couldn’t help wondering.

“I have seven,” he finally answered. He kept the fact that some were half siblings to himself. Continuing to remain cautious, Dillon watched the woman’s face as he asked, “Why?”

Hailey shrugged. “No reason. I was just thinking that it had to be nice, having that many siblings around. You always have someone to talk to, someone to turn to for advice. I just have one sister,” she told him. “And I have to admit that I always thought it would have been really great to come from a large family.”

Dillon shrugged, thinking of the people who comprised his family and of some of the incidents that had occurred while he was growing up.

“It has its moments, I suppose,” he admitted somewhat reluctantly.

“Like what?” she asked, her tone encouraging him to elaborate.

Damn, it was happening again. He was getting distracted. Why did this woman have that effect on him? She seemed so guileless...

He had to snap out of it! He really needed to be on his way.

Dillon glanced at his watch again, then at her. “Could you check to see if my shirt’s ready yet?”

The man looked as if he were ready to jump out of his skin at any second, Hailey observed. She wondered if she’d said something to set him off.

His question had her snapping to attention. “Oh, right. Sorry, I guess I forgot about that,” she confessed. “But you obviously didn’t,” she added with a smile. She could feel herself growing nervous again. “How could you, standing there in that robe?” she asked. “I didn’t mean to go on like that,” she apologized for what felt like the dozenth time since he had arrived at the spa. “I’ll go right now and see if it’s ready.” She hurried off.

It wouldn’t be ready, he thought. Not unless the shirt somehow “knew” it had to dry itself after it had finished washing.

He glanced at his watch again. How much longer was he going to have to hang around this place waiting for his shirt to dry?

Not that being with this woman was any sort of actual hardship, he amended in all honesty. Under any other set of circumstances, he might have even welcomed the excuse.

But right now, he felt like a total idiot and standing around in this long fluffy robe just seemed to intensify that reaction.

It also upped the chances of someone coming in and seeing him looking like this.

He really wanted to get out of here.

Now.

Chapter Three

A while later, the dryer Hailey had put Dillon’s newly washed shirt into was still running.

To check, Hailey pressed the pause button on the oversized machine and it tumbled to a noisy halt.

Opening the door, she fished out Dillon’s shirt, ran her hand over the material and frowned. It still felt a bit damp. Not dripping, she conceded, but definitely damp. If given a choice, she knew that she wouldn’t have wanted to put it on. The damp material would feel clammy against her skin.

Against his skin, Hailey corrected herself.

She was about to put the shirt back into the dryer when she heard Dillon’s deep voice coming from directly behind her.

“Is it ready yet?”

Surprised, she turned around. He’d followed her. She wouldn’t have thought that he would. The laundry room wasn’t all that hard to find, but coming here necessitated walking out into the hallway wearing that long, flowing fluffy robe—and being seen wearing it, something she’d gotten the very strong impression that he wanted to avoid.

The man really had to be anxious to get out of here, she thought.

Even so, Hailey felt she had to be honest with him. “No, not really.” She looked down at the shirt as she spoke, and when her eyes raised, she noticed Dillon had crossed the floor and was now standing right beside her.

For some reason, being alone in the room with Dillon and envisioning him naked from the waist up beneath the spa robe made the hairs along her arms all stand up, almost at attention.

You’re not being very professional, Hailey. You’ve had undraped men on your massage table before and it’s never affected you.

Still, the appealing vision of Dillon Fortune that had popped up was a difficult one to banish from her brain.

“Let me see it,” Dillon was saying. He put his hand out expectantly, waiting for his shirt.

“Okay.” Hailey held the blue silk shirt out to him. “Go ahead, touch it,” she coaxed.

The moment the words were out of her mouth, she realized how they must have sounded to him. They sounded like an invitation. Embarrassed, she cleared her throat. “I mean, you can see that it’s still pretty damp,” she told Dillon, avoiding his eyes. “If you give it a few more minutes—”

“That’s all right,” Dillon said, overriding the woman’s protest. At this point, in order to be on his way, Dillon would have worn the shirt even if it were completely sopping wet.

His urge to bolt was so strong that he allowed the robe to drop off his shoulders. It fell to the floor as he slipped on his shirt. He was so intent on putting it on, he didn’t see the startled look, immediately followed by an appreciative one, passing over Hailey’s face. But she was very aware of it as she caught her reflection in the dryer door.

Damn, she’d already seen the man’s sculpted torso, but seeing its reflection completely paled to viewing the man up close and personal like this. Hailey felt a wave of intense heat pass over her and it was all she could do to keep her knees from buckling.

How was this man walking around unattached and without legions of starry-eyed, eager women following him around, desperate for his attention? It made no sense to her.

Breathe, Hailey, breathe. He isn’t interested in you that way. His desire to make a hasty exit makes that perfectly clear. Don’t complicate matters by drooling on him.

Meanwhile, Dillon was still getting dressed. It was a little tricky, pushing his arms into the damp sleeves, but it was amazing what a man could do when pressured by a sense of urgency.

“The main thing,” he told her, “is that that smell is gone.”

As if to test his statement, Hailey leaned in toward his chest and took a deep breath. She wrinkled her nose a little.

“Well, actually, there’s still a trace of it left,” she told him. Wait. What was she doing, stepping so close to him and smelling him? Had she lost all sense of professionalism?

After a moment’s hesitation, Dillon leaned back. “I—” He stopped, then started again, regaining his thoughts. With her so close, it wasn’t easy. “It’s good enough,” he finally declared. “As long as it doesn’t attract a swarm of bees, I’m ahead of the game.”

“But if you just give it a few more minutes, Mr. Fortune...” she tactfully protested. In light of his obvious anxiousness to flee, she had reverted back to his surname, feeling that to call him Dillon was far too familiar right now.

“I’m already late for...something,” Dillon said evasively.

That would explain his constantly looking at his watch and his phone while she had been taking him on the tour, she thought. The pang that went through her was involuntary. Did he have a hot date waiting for him? Or maybe he was going to be meeting up with his next conquest?

It was none of her business, Hailey silently told herself. Whoever it was, the person was obviously enough to distract him.

Hailey bent over to pick up the fallen robe and slung it over her arm as he finished buttoning his still damp shirt. It seemed to cling to every ridge, every ripple, she couldn’t help noticing.

Keeping her face forward, Hailey fell into place beside him as Dillon started walking toward the front exit.

“Will we be seeing you at the grand opening?” she asked.

Focused on making his retreat, as well as on what time it was, Dillon hadn’t heard her. But by the look he saw on her face, the woman was obviously waiting for some sort of response from him.

“What?” he asked, still walking as he tucked his shirt into his slacks.

“The grand opening, it’s in a few days,” Hailey prompted. “Will we be seeing you there?”

“Oh. Right. Yes, of course. Wouldn’t miss it,” he assured her a second before he made good his escape.

“I don’t know about that,” Hailey murmured under her breath as she watched him hurrying down the front steps. “You seemed to have missed the tour, even though you were physically here for it.”

With a sigh, Hailey turned away from the spa’s large double-glass doors.

“So? How did it go?” Candace asked.

Hailey’s assistant seemed to materialize directly behind her the moment that the contractor had walked out of the building.

“It went,” was all that Hailey allowed herself to say.

Candace frowned. “Well, that doesn’t sound very good.”

Hailey tactfully walked back her initial assessment. “It could have gone better,” she amended. “I got the impression that Mr. Fortune’s mind was elsewhere during most of the tour.”

“His mind was probably on his next project,” the young woman guessed.

Or his next conquest by the looks of it, Hailey thought. She had seen men preoccupied with the women in their lives, or the women they were about to have in their lives. Dillon had all the signs.

But, for the sake of the spa and things moving forward on that front, Hailey decided to agree with her assistant. “You’re probably right. He was undoubtedly thinking about his next project. I guess I’m being just a little bit edgy.”

Still, despite her pep talk to herself to the contrary, Hailey couldn’t help being curious about who the person on the other end of Dillon Fortune’s phone had been. Whoever it was was wreaking havoc in what otherwise seemed like Dillon Fortune’s orderly world.

To her way of thinking, the butterflies that Hailey had experienced at the beginning of the week while she had waited to give the handsome contractor a tour of the spa were just a dry run for what she assumed she would be experiencing today, at the spa’s official grand opening ceremony.

But oddly enough, she turned out to be wrong. To Hailey’s surprise, when the big day came, she was completely calm.

Hailey had spent the days between then and now overseeing every single detail involved in the grand opening, then going over them twice, from the festive decorations to the extensive array of catered food. She’d even easily handled the last-minute shipments of some equipment. Mercifully, nothing rattled her.

She survived it all and when the big day finally did arrive, she was ready hours ahead of time. To her relief, the butterflies in her stomach seemed to remain subdued.

One of the first people to arrive to the festivities was Ellie Fortune Hernandez, Rambling Rose’s mayor and Steven Fortune’s recent blushing bride. As expected, Steven was at her side.

The mayor was scheduled to make an appropriate speech about how the spa was one of the projects that were already revitalizing the town and how she anticipated that this feeling would be on the upswing in the weeks to come, thanks to other projects that were in the works.

Waiting for the official ribbon-cutting ceremony to take place, everyone meandered around the front of the spa, availing themselves of the refreshments that were set up on tables before the front doors. Hailey was there to play hostess to the gathering crowd.

The slender dark-haired mayor and her six-foot-tall husband were still practically newlyweds. The striking couple definitely looked the part. Anyone looking at them could see that they still had that newlywed glow about them, although Hailey was willing to bet part of that glow was due to the fact that Ellie Hernandez was also pregnant. Her condition was just now beginning to show and no matter what the young mayor talked about, she seemed to be literally beaming.

Hailey found that she was both very happy for Ellie as well as just a little bit envious of the woman. Hailey could only imagine what it had to be like to be that in love with someone and to be that loved in return. In Hailey’s estimation, anticipating the birth of a baby only added to that perfect scenario, increasing happiness by a hundredfold.

She sincerely doubted that it would ever happen for her.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew, Hailey.

Just as she was about to say something to Ellie, the mayor beat her to it. Ellie came up to her, gestured about the immediate area and said, “So I see congratulations are in order.”

Hailey’s eyes dipped down to the mayor’s waist. It was still very trim looking, but Hailey could see that it was just beginning to widen in order to accommodate its new little boarder.

“I hear the same can be said to you and your husband, Madam Mayor,” Hailey responded, looking over Ellie’s shoulder and catching a glimpse of Steven who was talking to someone.

Ellie offered her a serene smile, the kind that was so commonly seen gracing the faces of expectant mothers.

“Thank you,” Ellie responded, her eyes shining. The next moment, the mayor’s husband came up to join them. He rested his hand protectively on Ellie’s shoulder.

“Don’t you think you should be sitting down?” he tactfully asked her.

“I feel fine,” Ellie assured him. “Really.” Looking at Hailey, the mayor decided she needed to explain her husband’s display of concern. He wasn’t just being a typical nervous husband. “I had a touch of morning sickness earlier, but it’s gone now. Really,” she repeated, underscoring the word for her husband’s benefit. “I’m not a fragile little flower, ready to wilt at the slightest provocation,” Ellie insisted. “I never have been.”

“Well, between you and me, Ms. Miller, my wife wouldn’t say a word even if she was at death’s door,” Steven confided to Hailey.

Ellie laughed, waving away her husband’s obvious concern.

“Luckily, I’m not,” she insisted. “I—” She pulled up short as she pointed at two men who’d just arrived. “Steven, look. Aren’t those your cousins?” she asked.

Hailey and the mayor’s husband both turned to see who the mayor was referring to. The two men who had just walked up the spa’s front steps definitely bore a striking resemblance to not only Steven but to several other Fortunes, as well.

But while the two men looked vaguely familiar to Hailey, Steven recognized the duo almost immediately.

“You’re right,” he agreed. “That’s Adam and Kane Fortune. They’re my Uncle Gary’s two oldest sons,” he said for Hailey’s benefit since he knew she wasn’t as up on the Fortune family tree as he and his wife were.

“Are they in the construction business, too?” Hailey asked, making what seemed like a logical assumption to her.

Steven laughed under his breath. “I think they probably think they are.”

Hailey was trying to follow what Steven was saying. “So they’re not part of your construction company?” she asked the mayor’s husband.

She knew that Steven as well as Callum were both part of the same company that Dillon was part of. All of them had helped make the spa and several other new projects in Rambling Rose a reality in the last few months. The Fortune brothers were responsible for breathing life into the fading town.

“No,” Steven said with feeling. “They’re most definitely not part of the company. They’re recently in from New York, but I think they’re here to get the lay of the land and they either plan to eventually ask to join up with our company, or to form one of their own. To be honest,” he confessed, “it’s not exactly clear to any of us yet.” And by us, Hailey knew he was referring to Callum, Dillon and himself.

The next second, Adam and Kane came up to join them.

“Hey, you guys did a great job here,” Adam announced in a loud voice. “Too bad we didn’t arrive here sooner so we could have gotten in on the ground floor with all this.”

“There’ll be more projects,” Steven answered vaguely. “Right, Dillon?” he asked, looking over his cousin’s shoulder toward his brother.

The latter had just arrived and was silently taking all this in.

Ellie turned around to face her brother-in-law. “When did you get here? I don’t remember seeing you when we got here a few minutes ago.”

“That’s because I just arrived,” Dillon answered. For some reason, he felt it prudent to avoid Hailey’s eyes. Instead, he nodded at his two cousins. “Kane. Adam.”

“They were just saying how much they regret not having arrived in Rambling Rose sooner, that way they would have been here to help work on the various construction projects that are either going up or being renovated. Seems that they think this is a good place to invest in and build up,” Steven told his brother pointedly.

Ellie picked up on her husband’s tone and looked from him to his brother. “Am I missing something here, boys?”

Steven smiled. “Dillon’s the family Cassandra,” he explained. He continued despite the frown on Dillon’s face. “You know, the woman in Greek mythology who always foresaw all the bad things that were going to happen.”

“I didn’t say something bad was going to happen,” Dillon insisted. “I just don’t wear the same rose-colored glasses that you and Callum do,” he said flatly.

Hailey was trying to follow what was being said. “You didn’t want to renovate this spa?” she asked him.

Rather than attempt to deny the statement, Dillon tried to explain his thinking. “I just didn’t think the town was ready for it. The bottom line was profit and I just didn’t think that there was going to be that much profit to be made here, not the way my brothers did,” he explained.

“Let me put it this way,” Steven responded. “Callum and I see the glass half full and getting fuller by the minute, while Dillon here—” he glanced at his brother with an affectionate smile “—well, his glass is always half empty. Not only that, but the glass is leaking, as well. Am I right, Dillon?”

Dillon didn’t believe in washing dirty laundry in public. And even if he did, this wasn’t the time to do that or to argue, not at an important grand opening ceremony and definitely not in front of his cousins and a stranger, even a very attractive, sexy one. He decided to let the topic go. Any actual discussions he needed to undertake would be conducted with his brothers in private.

Smiling at his brother, Dillon inclined his head. “Close enough, brother,” he said to Steven.

Chapter Four

Steven Fortune inclined his head in close to his wife’s ear and whispered, “Looks like it’s time, Madam Mayor.” When Ellie turned her head to look up at him, he asked, “Are you ready, or do you need a little more time? I can stall if you’d like.” Taking nothing for granted, Steven was concerned that, even now, his wife might be battling another wave of morning sickness.

Her husband’s thoughtfulness touched her each and every time he displayed it. Once again, Ellie thought how very lucky she was that the two of them had found one another. When she thought of the odds against that happening, against her finding her soul mate, especially when she was already carrying another man’s child, Ellie was nothing if not humbled.

Grateful, Ellie squeezed her husband’s hand. “I’m fine,” she told him.

Taking her at her word, Steven moved over toward Dillon and gave his brother a thumbs-up sign.

“Looks like it’s time,” he told his brother in a quiet voice.

Watching them interact, Dillon found himself envying their closeness, and wishing he could find someone to love him who loved him back the way Steven had.

Ordinarily, Dillon didn’t welcome being in the spotlight. However, Ellie would be the one with all eyes on her and he knew his brother’s new wife thrived on the favorable attention.

“Everyone,” Dillon said, raising his voice as he addressed the people in front of the wellness spa. “If I could have your attention for a moment, please,” he began.

Slowly, more and more people turned to look in Dillon Fortune’s direction, their conversations halting until relative silence reigned.

“I want to welcome all of you here today and thank you for coming,” Dillon said, addressing the gathering. With that, he turned the proceedings over to the town’s mayor. “Madam Mayor, they’re all yours,” Dillon told her.

All eyes turned toward Ellie, waiting for her to cut the white ribbon and officially open up the spa to make it become a part of the townspeople’s lives.

“I’m not going to bore you with a long, fancy speech or a lot of rhetoric,” Ellie began warmly. “We all know why we’re here.”

“Yeah, for the refreshments,” someone in the back of the crowd called out.

Laughter rippled through the crowd.

“Exactly,” Ellie agreed. “Refreshments for our bodies as well as for our souls, which is exactly what this spa with all its new techniques and amenities promises to deliver,” the mayor told her constituents. “Paz Spa brings what all of us would agree is a much needed shot in the arm to the residents of Rambling Rose. I for one can’t thank the Fortune family enough for having traveled here and bringing their ideas and their revitalizing energy to our heretofore sleepy little town. Though in the beginning, some of us weren’t quite convinced about the merits of this undertaking, you,” she said, pausing to smile at her husband and at Dillon, “have shown us the error of our thinking. Believe me when I tell you that you have earned our undying gratitude many times over.

“In the famous words of Humphrey Bogart at the end of the classic film Casablanca, ‘I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.’ And I can say that we are all looking forward to watching that friendship unfold and thrive.

“So now, without any further ado,” Ellie declared, taking hold of the over-sized scissors that Dillon had handed to her, “let me cut this ribbon and declare Paz Spa officially open for business!”

With that, holding onto the two large halves of the scissors, one in each hand, the young mayor cut through the fabric. The two severed white halves of ribbon fluttered to the floor amid enthusiastic cheers.

Steven put his arm around Ellie’s shoulders as he pressed a kiss to her temple. “Well done, Madam Mayor,” he told her with a pleased laugh.

“Actually, holding onto those two ends and getting them to cut through the ribbon isn’t all that challenging,” Ellie cracked.

“Well, you pulled it off with grace, the way everyone knew you would.” Hailey knew that some women had a tough time coordinating the demands of their jobs with pregnancy. But Ellie seemed to sail right through things, unaffected.

“I wasn’t worried,” Ellie said, glancing over her shoulder toward her husband. And then her dark eyes twinkled. “I had a backup waiting in the wings.”

“Everyone, please, there’s a lot of food waiting for you to do justice to it. So eat, drink and—well, you all know the rest of that saying. Now go do it!” Hailey instructed, waving the crowded gathering to move into the spa’s reception area where a buffet had been set up.

There were all sorts of sandwiches as well as several kinds of tortillas to choose from. Alongside that were different cuts of fried chicken. They were sitting next to french fries, pizza slices and so many different kinds of pastries, Dillon lost count when he’d tried to catalog them. There were also a selection of salads, smoothies and fresh fruit for the dedicated purists.

When he’d instructed the spa’s manager to spare no expense for this celebration, he hadn’t thought that much of his words, but she had obviously taken them to heart.

Coming up to Hailey, Dillon felt that he had to tell her what he thought of the tempting array.

“You certainly do know how to put on an inviting spread.”

Hailey turned toward the sound of the deep male voice and smiled warmly up at Dillon. She appreciated him telling her that.

“Thank you, I’m glad you approve. I wasn’t sure exactly what you had in mind,” she confessed, “so I figured that if I got a little of everything, I’d wind up covering it.”

“Yes, I noticed,” he said with a laugh. “If we get locked in here for a week for some reason, we certainly wouldn’t starve,” Dillon commented. “By the way, I didn’t see a bill for all this.” He felt he had to bring that up because he didn’t want her getting stuck footing the bill for this celebration. From what he gathered, she wasn’t being paid enough for that.

“That’s because I haven’t forward it to you yet,” Hailey told him.

She had been so completely immersed in all the preparations there’d been no time to pull the tab together. But it was nice of him to make that point.

“Well, just make sure you do,” Dillon told her. He looked around the huge salon again with all the people milling around, enjoying themselves. “Everything really looks great, Hailey,” he repeated with feeling, as well as an element of approval.

Hailey could feel that same warm sensation spread out all through her again. “Thank you, Mr. Fortune.”

Dillon looked surprised that she had used his surname. “I thought we decided you were going to call me by my given name,” he reminded her.

“Sorry, I forgot.” She hadn’t, but by the time he’d left the spa last time, wearing his not-quite-dry shirt and hurrying off to his car, Hailey felt that their relationship had reverted back to its previous formal standing.

“Well, call me Dillon,” he instructed.

The next moment, someone else was calling out his name. It turned out to be one of his cousins and Hailey got the impression that he didn’t look all that anxious to respond.

“I guess this is a case of careful what you wish for,” she said, taking a chance that her observation wouldn’t sound too familiar.

Rather than take offense, Dillon laughed softly to himself.

“You can sure say that again.” He sighed. He could see that his cousin was not going away. “I’d better go see what Adam wants.”

Judging by the expression on his face, Hailey had a feeling that he already knew exactly what his cousin wanted to see him about. Adam and Kane Fortune had made no secret of the fact that they wanted to get into the “family” business, not because they harbored any desires to expand Rambling Rose commercially—or to expand any other town that way for that matter. What the cousins seemed to want to be part of were the resulting profits that would be coming down the pike.

Very soon, they hoped.

Hailey watched as Dillon made his way over to his cousin Adam. One minute the contractor had been smiling at her, the next he was withdrawing, as if folding his tent and all but disappearing into the night.

Not again, she thought.

She honestly didn’t know what to make of the man, but she did know that she really wanted the opportunity to be able to get to know him better so she could make an intelligent decision about him. That way she could see if they had anything in common outside of those sparks she’d felt the other day, as well as today. Some sparks fizzled while others, if fanned, could turn into a roaring fire.

But first, of course, she needed to get the man to stand still in one place long enough for her to make up her mind about him.

And this was not the right time.

Right now, she needed to mingle and promote the spa’s many services. This seemed like the perfect opportunity, while everyone was in a festive, receptive mood and the spa was brand new and at its most appealing.

In her new mindset, the first person Hailey came across was Ellie Hernandez who, for once, wasn’t surrounded by a gaggle of people. And the mayor’s husband seemed to be otherwise occupied, as well.

She had the woman all to herself.

“That was a very nice opening speech, Madam Mayor,” Hailey said, coming closer to the young woman.

“Thank you. It was impromptu,” Ellie confessed to Hailey.

“It didn’t sound as if it was,” Hailey told the woman in all honesty.

“Normally I prepare in advance,” she explained and then confided, “but I’m afraid this pregnancy is taking a toll on me and wearing me down more than I’d like to admit.”

“Really?” Hailey asked, her interest really piqued now. “Well, lucky for you, I just might have the answer for that.” Nothing gave her more pleasure than helping someone and advancing the spa’s clientele.

“The answer?” the mayor questioned. “I don’t think I understand.”

Hailey smiled. “Well, Paz Spa offers prenatal massages. They’re specially tailored to the particular difficulties that the mother-to-be—meaning you—might be experiencing. These sessions are guaranteed to make a brand new, relaxed woman out of you instead of having you feel as if you were hauling around increasingly heavier, not to mention exceedingly uncooperative, large cargo.”

“Right now, making a new woman out of me sounds like heaven,” Ellie told her with a deep appreciative sigh. “Where do I sign up?” she asked enthusiastically.

Was she kidding, Hailey wondered. Or didn’t she know? “For you, Madam Mayor—and especially seeing that you have this marital connection to the contractor—all the sessions would be free.”

Ellie looked surprised as she shook her head, turning down the offer.

“Nonsense, absolutely not. I’m not going to take advantage of my so-called connection to the Fortune family. Besides, how is the spa going to make any money if I do something like that?” the mayor wanted to know.

“Well, I am planning to have at least a few more clients than just you,” Hailey said with a laugh. “Not to mention that if you enjoy your sessions and, more importantly, find that they really help you, maybe you can pass the word along. You know, tell your friends. Word-of-mouth is a very good way to advertise the spa,” Hailey told her.

“Oh, I’m sure the sessions will help and I can definitely spread the word about the spa,” the woman agreed.

Hailey’s eyes sparkled as she put out her hand to the mayor. “Wonderful. In that case, I believe we have ourselves a deal,” she said, enthusiastically shaking the woman’s hand.

Just then, out of the corner of her eye, Hailey saw Dillon go by. He was talking to his other cousin now. For a second, Hailey’s attention shifted to the contractor and she temporarily lost her train of thought.

The man did have a way of getting to her, even when she wasn’t expecting it, Hailey thought ruefully. She was going to have to watch that.

When she looked back at Ellie, the woman had an amused expression on her face.

“Something on your mind, Hailey?”

For a second, Hailey debated asking the question and then she decided, why not? She really didn’t have anything to lose and maybe, just maybe, there might be something to be gained.

“Well,” Hailey began cautiously in a lowered voice, “as a matter of fact, since you are married to Steven Fortune...”

“Yes?” Ellie asked, her tone nothing if not encouraging.

Hailey gathered her courage to her and forced herself to push on. Friendly though she was, this wasn’t easy for her.

“I thought that you might know what his brother’s status is.”

“I’m sure I do,” Ellie agreed. “Which brother is it?”

Idiot. Her husband’s got more than one brother.

“Dillon. The contractor who renovated this spa,” she qualified, making it sound as if it was the all-important connection rather than her own reaction to the man.

“Well, Dillon’s unattached,” Ellie told her. “But...” Her voice trailed off, sounding uncertain.

Although distant alarms went off in Hailey’s head, for some reason the mayor’s words only aroused Hailey’s curiosity even more. “But what?”

“To be honest,” Ellie confessed, “I don’t know if Dillon’s really in the market for anyone.”

That was an odd way to put it, Hailey thought. “Do you mean at the moment, or ever?”

Ellie glanced toward her brother-in-law and then sighed. That in itself wound up raising far more questions than it could possibly answer.

“I really don’t think I should be the one to answer that, Hailey,” the mayor admitted. “I’m afraid that you’re going to have to ask Dillon that question.” And then Ellie squeezed her hand. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m afraid that I’m required to mingle with the good citizens of Rambling Rose or they won’t feel as if they’ve gotten their full nickel’s worth.”

Hailey laughed as she stepped back, clearing a path for the mayor. “I had no idea you were charging admission to this.”

Ellie smiled in response. “If I did, it would be a great deal more than just a nickel,” she told Hailey, winking at her.

Left alone, Hailey caught herself intrigued by and thinking about what Ellie had just told her.

Was what the mayor said true? Was there some reason that Dillon Fortune had withdrawn from the dating field? But if that was the case, why had he kept checking his phone so often the other day when she’d been trying to give him a tour of the place? A man who wasn’t interested in interacting with potential dating candidates didn’t “half” dabble in the field. He was either in or he was out.

And if he was “in,” well then, the game was on, wasn’t it? And that in turn meant that she was going to have to buckle down and give this her all.

Hailey made up her mind.

She was well aware that she might regret this path she was contemplating taking, but she still wanted to see where it would lead her.

It was settled.

She was definitely in.

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