Million Dollar Marriage (4 page)

Holden thought maybe she was lying, but he didn’t press the issue. She was tougher
than she looked, reminding him yet again of his mother, the way she’d jumped in and
handled things without batting an eye. That calm, deliberate action. That core of
strength that didn’t show until a crisis hit.

He liked her, he realized slowly. But then, he always had. She looked up, meeting
his eyes, briskly taking the tissue from his hand. “We’d better get back downstairs.”

God, she was as shaken by Bryan’s abduction as he was. It showed in her eyes.

“No. We’ll stay here. Keep an eye on Matthew and Claudia.”

“But the sheriff…”

“Will know where to find us when he’s ready to talk to us.” He turned toward Vanessa,
who was eyeing
him oddly. “Go on down and let the family know where we are. And maybe bring Lucy
up a drink if you get a chance.” His gaze went back to Lucy’s face. It was pale, and
she looked shaky. “Brandy. Okay?”

“Sure, Holden.”

An hour later Lucinda sat in a large, cozy chair, as instructed. Holden dragged a
footstool closer and, lifting her feet, propped them on it. She smiled at him for
just a moment. Then closed her eyes, shook her head. “I shouldn’t be sleepy at a time
like this.”

“It’s the aftermath of chaos. You’re emotionally drained. I feel the same way.”

“It’s like being in limbo. I keep thinking we should be doing something…”

“I know.”

“And I can’t remember the last time I got a full night’s sleep.”

“Me neither,” Holden said. He glanced at the big double bed where Claudia and Matthew
were out cold, side by side. “I don’t imagine they’ll be getting too much, either.
Until Bryan’s home where he belongs.”

“I’ll leave a prescription. They’re going to need something.”

“Claudia might take it. Matthew won’t.”

“You’re probably right.” Lucinda closed her eyes and let her head rest against the
back of the chair.

Holden’s voice came from close by, and she realized he’d pulled his harder, less comfortable
chair closer to hers. “So what’s been keeping you up nights, Doc?”

She didn’t open her eyes. “Babies tend to come at
odd hours. And Braxton-Hicks is almost always nocturnal.”

“Braxton who?”

“False labor,” she said with a slight smile.

“Ah. Right. So it’s your patients keeping you awake nights, then.”

“Among other things.” She took a deep breath, sighed softly.

“Matthew mentioned something about a clinic you want to build.” Holden stopped, waiting
for her to fill him in if she wanted to.

She saw no reason not to fill the tense hours of waiting with conversation, so she
told him.

“The lower income women need a clinic,” she said. “Particularly the Mexican and Native
American communities. There’s just nothing for them. I see them all the time. They
wait until they’re too ill to wait any longer before they come in. Girls in their
ninth month of pregnancy, coming in for their first obstetrical exam. Or worse, waiting
until they’re in labor.” She shook her head slightly against the cushion that pillowed
it. “It’s got to change.”

“And you’re going to be the one to change it.”

She nodded. “Just as soon as I can dig up a million dollars in funding, that’s exactly
what I’m going to do.”

He was quiet for a moment. Then he said, “Why you?”

Lucinda shrugged, not even sure if his eyes were open to see it. “They’re my people.
I’m fortunate, so I have an obligation to give something back.”

“That makes some noble kind of sense, I suppose.”

“Glad you think so.” She didn’t like talking about
herself or her clinic to someone like him. It felt too much like hinting around for
a donation, so she quickly changed the subject. “What’s been keeping you awake nights,
Holden Fortune? Too many visits to the salad bar at the babe buffet?”

When he didn’t answer, she opened her eyes to see him staring at her, one eyebrow
cocked. “‘Babe buffet’?”

“Sure. I’ve heard you have a different course every night and still haven’t managed
to sample every dish in Texas.”

“Sheesh. My reputation is that bad, huh?”

“Worse,” she said.

“Well, it’ll probably surprise you to know I’m thinking about settling down. Getting
married, even.”

Her eyes popped open wider and she sat up in the chair. “You’ve got to be kidding
me.”

“Nope. I’m dead serious.”

Something in her belly clenched just a little. “I…didn’t realize you were seeing anyone…special.”

“I’m not.”

“Then…then who’s this woman you’re planning to marry?”

Holden shrugged. “I haven’t decided yet.”

She frowned at him. “Excuse me?”

He sent her a look of exasperation. “My father’s will came with a catch. I can’t inherit
until I marry a—and I quote—‘woman of good reputation.”’

She tried to stifle a snort of disbelief, but it came out all the same.

“Yeah. I thought it was pretty unbelievable, too,” he said.

“Hell, Holden, what’s unbelievable is that any woman of good reputation would have
you.”

He slanted a narrow gaze on her. “I’d take offense at that remark if it wasn’t the
God’s honest truth.”

“At least you admit it.”

“So, you wouldn’t even consider it, huh?”

It was not a proposal. She knew that. It was sarcasm. But it still made her heart
do an odd little flip-flop in her chest. “Not on your life,” she replied, her tone
level.

He shrugged. “Hell, it was worth a try.” He sighed deeply, shaking his head. “So what
would I have to do to make a woman of good reputation give me a shot, do you think?”

“Oh, come on. The greatest Romeo in Texas is asking me for advice on how to win a
woman?”

“Well, yes. A real woman. I don’t need any help with bimbos, you know. Real women
are a whole other breed.”

She tilted her head to one side. “At least you’re aware there’s a difference.”

“So?”

Lucinda leaned back again. “So…you’d have to change your ways, I suppose. Promise
not to cheat. Real women, as you call them, are not fond of sharing.”

“It would be an effort, but I could give it a try.”

She rolled her eyes. “I imagine this woman you choose would have a lot of trouble
with all the others you’ve had. You know, she’d probably believe you were constantly
comparing her to them. You’d have to convince her she was…special. So special that
the
first time you were with her you forgot every other woman you ever had.”

Holden’s brows lowered. “That would be piling it on a bit, don’t you think?”

“Maybe. For you. I guess the most effective thing you could do would be to actually
love the woman, but I suppose that’s beyond your…range, as well, hmm?” He only stared
at her blankly. She sighed. “I thought so.” Then she shrugged. “I guess my best advice
to you, Holden, is to make a business arrangement with some woman. Find one you think
you might be able to stand for, uh, how long would you need to be married to inherit?”

“A year,” he said.

“A year, then. I’m sure some woman somewhere would be willing to play the part of
happy bride for a year, then let you off the hook. For the right price, I mean.”

He nodded slowly. “So you think the only way I could get a decent woman to marry me
would be to pay her?”

She shrugged. “It was just a thought.”

Soft footsteps outside made Lucinda look up. The door opened and Lily peered inside.
“Holden, Sheriff Grayhawk would like to speak to you now.”

He glanced at Lucy, then at the two in the bed. “I don’t really want to leave you
here alone,” he told her. “If they wake up again…”

“I’ll stay with her, Holden,” Lily said softly. Holden looked at her, looked at Lucy,
lifted his brows.

“We’ll be fine,” Lucinda assured him. “The sedative shouldn’t wear off for hours anyway.”

“All right. If you’re sure.”

“I am.”

Holden started for the door, then paused. “Lucy…do me a favor and don’t leave for
a while. I’d really like to continue this conversation.”

She shrugged. “If my beeper goes off, I don’t have much choice in the matter,” she
said. “But I’ll hang around as long as I can.”

“Good,” he said, looking at her oddly. “Good.” He left the room and closed the door.

“D
o you mind if I give you some unsolicited advice?” Lily asked in her soft voice.

Lucinda sat back in her place, watching Claudia and Matthew closely, though she didn’t
expect either of them to wake anytime soon. “Advice? About what?”

“About Holden.”

Lucinda blinked and quickly averted her eyes. “I don’t know what you’re—”

“I’m not blind, Lucinda. And you don’t have what I would call a…poker face.”

Lucinda shook her head slowly. “You’re imagining things, Lily.”

“Be careful with him,” she went on. “He’s trying very hard to be just like his father.
And his father was…not a nice man.”

Lucinda’s brows went up. “You knew him well, then?”

“Cameron? I knew him. Thirty years ago when I first came here to work for the family.
He and Ryan—they couldn’t have been more different. Cameron used women and threw them
away.”

Lucinda tilted her head, facing Lily squarely. “And you think Holden is the same way?”

“I think Holden has reached a crossroads. Time will tell which path he chooses. But
right now, he’s dangerous,
Lucinda. Particularly to a woman who might be…vulnerable to him.”

Lucinda lifted her brows. “Well, I certainly don’t fall into that category.”

With a gentle smile, Lily said, “Good. He can’t hurt you, then.”

Taking a deep breath, thinking twice before she spoke and then deciding she had no
reason not to, Lucinda said, “I thought it was Ryan you fell in love with way back
then.”

“It was.”

“Then why do I get the feeling it was Cameron who broke your heart?”

Lily’s eyes widened slightly before she averted them. Lucinda’s beeper went off in
her pocket and she grabbed for it quickly, shut it off, and looked toward the couple
in the bed. But the sound hadn’t pierced their drug-induced sleep. Glancing down at
the beeper, she saw a familiar number on the digital readout.

“It’s the hospital. I have to go. They wouldn’t be calling if it wasn’t an emergency.”

Lily nodded. And she looked almost…relieved. “Go ahead. I’ll be fine here.” Lucinda
glanced worriedly at Matthew and Claudia. “If you’re concerned,” Lily went on, “then
send Ryan up on your way out.”

She nodded. “All right. I’ll do that. Tell Holden…” She paused as Lily’s brows went
up. “Never mind,” Lucinda said, and she hurried out of the room.

It was a crazy thought. An utterly ridiculous idea. Ludicrous. But Holden couldn’t
get it out of his mind. It lingered there. Even while his mother was opening
up the doors to admit Sam Waterman, a private security consultant Uncle Ryan had used
before. Even while Sheriff Wyatt Grayhawk filled Sam in and the two of them concluded
their questioning of the guests and gave the last of them the okay to leave. Even
while the local cops were checking the trunks and back seats of the cars one by one
before letting them pass out through the front gates.

As soon as the sheriff and Sam finished questioning him, Holden headed back upstairs
to Matthew and Claudia’s room. But when he burst through the door, he saw Uncle Ryan
standing near the window, Lily wrapped in his arms.

They looked up when he entered, and Holden could see the tear tracks on Lily’s face.
Less evident, but still visible, was the worry in his uncle Ryan’s. “How are they
doing?” Holden asked, glancing toward the bed.

“Resting. I hate to think about what will happen when they wake.” Ryan shook his head.
Holden nodded in full agreement and took another look around the room.

“She had to go back to the hospital,” Lily said.

He glanced at her sharply. “Who?”

Lily just scowled at him. “You know perfectly well who. Lucinda Brightwater.”

“Oh. Her.” Holden averted his eyes. He disliked Lily’s opinion of him, though he did
nothing to discourage it. She seemed to agree with his own conclusion that he was
too much like his old man to be trusted. Especially with nice girls…like Lucy.

“Has the sheriff learned anything new?” Ryan asked.

“No, not yet.” Holden looked at his cousin Matthew as he began to stir. “It’s still
so soon. Look, something’s going to turn up.”

Matthew’s eyes opened. He looked around, disoriented, blinking. Then he closed his
eyes tight again. “Oh, God, Bryan…”

“It’s all right, Matthew.” Lily rushed to the bedside.

“It’s not all right. God, my son—” Matthew sat up in the bed, his head in his hands.

Holden went to him. Moving Lily gently aside, he took Matthew by the shoulders. “Listen
up, cousin.”

When Matthew didn’t respond, Holden gave him a shake. Lily started to protest but
Ryan held up a hand and she went still. “Dammit, Matthew, listen to me. You have to
pull yourself together. Look around here. Look at your wife, for God’s sake.”

Matthew looked sideways at Claudia. She lay curled in the fetal position, her eyes
moving rapidly beneath lightly closed lids, her hair mussed, her breathing uneven
and jerky.

“She’s gonna need you, Matthew. She’s gonna need you solid and strong. This thing
could take some time, and it’s gonna be rough on her. You go falling apart, and she’ll
never get through it, you understand me?”

Matthew lifted his head slowly, eyeing Holden. “Yeah. I understand.”

“No more smashing glass or swinging shotguns around like a lunatic, then.”

Matthew nodded. “What the hell do you suggest I do instead?”

“Wait,” Holden said. “Your father has Waterman
and Grayhawk turning over every rock. The FBI is going to be getting involved, as
well. There’s not a damn thing any of us can do beyond what’s already being done.
At least not until the kidnappers make contact again to set up an exchange.”

Matthew looked toward his father. Ryan nodded. “He’s right, son. I know it’s hard
to take, but Holden is absolutely right.”

Finally, with a sigh, Matthew nodded. “Jeez, I’m dizzy. What the hell did Lucinda
give me?”

“She didn’t say,” Holden told him. “I’ll ask her when I see her.”

Matthew’s brows went up. “You’re seeing her?”

“You got a problem with that, cousin?”

Matthew shook his head. “If she’s smart, she’ll get as far away from the Fortunes
as she can. You included.”

“Well, let’s hope she’s not quite as smart as she seems, then.” Holden turned to Ryan.
“Is there anything more I can do here?”

Ryan shook his head. “You’ve been a great deal of help today, Holden. Sometimes…sometimes
I think you take after your mother far more than you do your father. And when you
do, I’m glad of it.”

“I’ll drive Mother home, then.”

“I think she plans to say here tonight,” Lily said.

“Fine. If you need me, call the house. If I’m out, leave a message. I’ll check in
often.”

Ryan nodded, and Holden left.

Getting into his car, he pulled out of the drive, and headed straight into Red Rock.
Red Rock General Hospital was only a few minutes away, and that was where he was bound.
Because until he followed this
insane idea that he’d come up with earlier to its conclusion…it wasn’t going to leave
him alone.

Lucinda was running, the newborn cradled in her arms. The tiny bit of a thing fit
in the palms of her hands easily. Three pounds, two ounces. The nurses were running
beside her, the baby’s father bringing up the rear. There had been no time to prepare,
no warning. The girl had been giving birth even as Lucinda arrived. Before any background
information could be obtained.

The neonatal resident, Dr. Edward Greene, came running from the other direction.

“Condition?” he shouted.

“Critical. She’s barely breathing!”

Greene took the baby from Lucinda’s arms like the second runner in a relay race. He
turned and raced up the hall toward the neonatal intensive care unit. Lucinda stood
there and watched him go. The adrenaline in her blood dropped drastically, and she
braced her arms against the nearest wall, nearly sagging to the floor. Holding back
the tears was choking her. She wasn’t supposed to get this involved… Wasn’t supposed
to feel this strongly—

“Hey…hey, hold on…”

A pair of strong hands clasped her waist from behind. Holden Fortune’s voice surrounded
her. She managed to stiffen her knees, stand up straight, swallow the tears, and turn
to face him.

“Jeez, you look awful.”

“That baby looked worse. Did you see…?”

Holden nodded, sending a grim glance in the direction Dr. Greene had run with the
child. “Will it live?”

Lucinda shook her head. “I don’t know.”

Holden looked down into her eyes. “What happened?”

There were shouts and crying from a room a few doors down, and Lucinda blinked herself
back to reality. “Can I tell you about it later? I need to talk to the mother right
now.”

“Not a job I imagine you’re looking forward to.”

“No. It’s not.”

“I’ll be here when you come out,” he said.

Now why should those words give her a surge of comfort? She wasn’t sure. She only
knew that knowing he would be there after this ordeal, knowing someone would be there,
made her feel just a tiny bit better.

Holden watched Lucy’s face across the table in the hospital cafeteria as she sipped
stale coffee and poured her stress out. She cared. Doctors weren’t supposed to, he
thought, at least not to this degree, but he didn’t think she could help herself.

“Premature,” she was saying. “At least nine weeks, maybe more. And his mother never
saw a doctor until she was in the final stages of labor. The baby was crowning when
I got to her. No neonatal specialist in sight. We had to call Greene in from home,
and even then he was almost too late.”

Holden nodded, saying nothing. Just letting her talk it out.

“The baby didn’t breathe. We had to bag her to get her started, and then she was barely
getting enough oxygen into her bloodstream to keep her lips from turning blue. Their
lungs aren’t fully developed at this stage. If the mother had come in earlier, we
could have
given her a shot to help that along, maybe even stopped the labor altogether.”

“So why didn’t she?”

Lucy closed her eyes. “She figured the less time she spent here, the less it would
cost her.” She sighed. “She started screaming when she saw that baby, so tiny, so
limp, and just as blue as… She kept saying she’d have come sooner if she’d known…
See, that’s just it. A lot of these women don’t know. They don’t know the first thing
about prenatal care and the risks they’re running by not getting it. They need education…and
once they have it, they need a place to go where they can get the care they need at
low or no cost. Otherwise, the education will be useless.”

Holden nodded, seeing now why this clinic idea of hers meant so much to her. “You’ve
had one hell of a day of it today, haven’t you, Lucy?”

She met his eyes. “I’m probably boring you to tears with all this. And it’s not as
if you haven’t had a hellish day yourself.”

“I don’t think you could bore me if you tried. But I do think we could both use a
little diversion.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Such as?”

“A movie? You name it.”

She lowered her head. “I’m too exhausted for that.”

“Well, you have to eat, don’t you?”

She nodded, sighing, knowing this was a bad idea.

“Don’t tell me you intend to do it here.” Holden glanced down at his cup. “Judging
by their coffee, I’d say that would be a bad decision.” He sucked in a breath. “We
could, uh, go to my place.”

“That orgy den you keep in San Antonio? Not on your life.”

He gave his head a quick shake. “You do have an expressive way with words. But I wasn’t
talking about the apartment. I need to stick close to home tonight. So I was referring
to the house on the Double Crown.”

“The mansion where you grew up, you mean.”

He nodded. “I, uh, don’t take women there. As a rule. In fact, you’d be the first.
Since high school, at least.”

She lifted her brows. “Am I supposed to feel flattered?”

“You’re supposed to feel reassured. If I meant to add you to my, uh, babe buffet menu,
I’d certainly be trying to get you back to the orgy den, wouldn’t I?”

“I’m really too tired to follow your logic.”

“So come to the house. We’ll get something to eat and relax for a little while. The
mayhem will be waiting for us when we get back, I promise.”

“Unfortunately,” she said, “I’m also too tired to put up much of a fight. So, sure,
why not?”

“Great. And, uh, thanks for the tip.” He sent her a wink. “About you being too tired
to put up much of a fight, that is.” He made a wolfish face, and she felt herself
smile.

It was a small enough thing. But it meant something to her just then. She hadn’t imagined
anything could have made her smile tonight. Children—there was nothing she loved more.
Yet today she’d seen one snatched from his home and another forced into the world
too soon. And she couldn’t be certain either of them would survive.

They took both cars, which was the only logical
thing to do. Either one of them could be called away at any moment. At any rate, a
half hour later, Lucinda stood outside the huge, stately house, two miles from Ryan’s.
It was still vivid white. Every window still had a balcony. And the two-story front
porch still had columns that reached from bottom to top.

The place hadn’t changed since that night so long ago. It was as if not a day had
passed. And just as then, it didn’t look as if anyone else was around.

“Come on, it’s not as imposing as it looks.”

She didn’t remind him that she’d been here before.

Holden took her arm and led her up the steps, across the porch, past its pillars,
and through the double front doors. The inside was just as impressive as before, though
not quite the same. The furnishings had changed and the color schemes were lighter
now.

Holden just kept tugging her along as she swung her head trying to take it all in.
Finally he was moving outside again, through glass doors onto a redwood patio that
spread wide and enveloped a kidney-shaped pool.