Helen Lacey – A Fortunes Of Texas Christmas (страница 1)
OOH-LA-LA! A FRENCH FORTUNE!
The Yuletide season brings something très magnifique to Austin, Texas, in the form of sexy French entrepreneur Amersen Beaudin. The sexy but standoffish playboy has zero interest in meeting his newly discovered Fortune relatives, least of all the man who is his biological father. But when matriarch Kate Fortune dangles an all-too-attractive business proposition, he is too intrigued to stay away. And once he meets Kate’s beautiful gardener, Robin Harbin, he starts to rethink his holiday plans...
A spicy affair with the blonde, blue-eyed Texan is now at the top of Amersen’s wish list. But all Robin wants for Christmas is the flirty Parisian’s heart and soul. Can she convince him that love—and family—can lead to a joyeux Noël?
Fortune of the Month: Amersen Beaudin (Shh! Nobody knows he’s a Fortune!)
Age: 25
Vital statistics: The sexy Frenchman has blue eyes, tousled brown hair and that certain je ne sais quoi.
Claim to fame: He is a renowned winemaker, a brash blogger and the toast of Paris.
Romantic prospects: His reputation with the ladies is legendary. Just don’t ask him for a commitment.
“Nothing has gone according to plan since I arrived in Austin. When Kate Fortune asked me here to consult on a business venture, I figured I would be in and out in twenty-four hours. But I hadn’t counted on Robin, Kate’s landscape gardener. From the moment I saw her, I was...
“Robin would never believe that Paris’s enfant terrible is actually one of Jerome Fortune’s bastard children. And as far as I am concerned, she does not need to know. Up next: a brief but dazzling affaire de coeur. By the time Christmas comes, I will be far across the sea. But can I romance fair Robin and then leave her behind?”
* * *
The Fortunes of Texas:
A Fortunes of Texas Christmas
Helen Lacey
HELEN LACEY grew up reading
For Dawn and Ray.
Good neighbors, great friends.
Contents
Amersen Beaudin hated flying.
Despite the fact that he’d racked up more frequent-flyer miles in the past five years than most people did in a lifetime, not even the luxurious private jet he was currently seated in was enough to change his opinion. Still, he thought as he stretched out his legs and sipped on a twenty-five-year-old scotch, this was definitely better than traveling coach. Not that he’d done that for several years. He closed his eyes and thought about what he was about to walk into once he landed in Austin.
Fortunes.
More than he’d ever wanted to meet. Or know.
But ninetysomething matriarch and business icon Kate Fortune had requested his presence, and she wasn’t an easy woman to refuse. And plus, he was curious. Despite everything. Despite knowing he was opening the book on the past. And despite recently finding out he had Fortune blood coursing through his veins. But since he had no intention of ever accepting the notion that he was a Fortune, Amersen figured he’d meet with Kate, listen to what she had to say and then decide if he wanted any more involvement with Texas, with Austin or with anyone named Fortune.
Kate’s call a couple of weeks earlier had come from left field. A business proposition, she’d said. Something that was worth discussing in person and not over the telephone. And no mention of anything personal. No mention of the fact that he was Jerome Fortune’s—aka Gerald Robinson’s—son. Illegitimate son. But not really his son, since Amersen did not consider Gerald Robinson to be his father. He had a father, and a damned good one, back in Paris. Nothing would change that. Not the notion that he was actually one of several children sired and abandoned by computer giant Gerald Robinson—a man who’d faked his own death years earlier and had been outed as the philandering Jerome Fortune less than two years ago. Blood didn’t make someone a parent. Love and commitment did. And Amersen had that back in Paris. With his mother, Suzette, his stepfather, Luc Beaudin, and his younger sister, Claire, he had all the family he needed.
This trip was merely out of curiosity and respect. Kate Fortune was a highly successful woman, and even though she was no longer the CEO, she was still considered the powerhouse behind Fortune Cosmetics and many other business ventures. And since Kate hadn’t mentioned anything about him being Gerald’s son, Amersen suspected her request for a meeting was about something else altogether.
At least, that was what he hoped. It had been hard enough ignoring emails and shutting down telephone calls from two of his half brothers over the past few months. Keaton Fortune Whitfield and Ben Fortune Robinson had made it clear they wanted to meet him, but Amersen had held back. Finding out he was Gerald Robinson/Jerome Fortune’s unwanted son was one thing. Embracing the knowledge he had enough siblings to form a soccer team was something else. Gerald had eight children from his long marriage to Charlotte Prendergast Robinson, plus several out of wedlock with other women, including his mother, who had been the au pair to the Fortune children twenty-six years ago. Which made Gerald a womanizing, cheating, no-good bastard.
And definitely not someone Amersen wanted in his life.
That decided, he’d meet with Kate Fortune, listen to her proposition and then head straight back to Paris, where he belonged. With any luck, Keaton Fortune Whitfield and Ben Fortune Robinson wouldn’t even know he’d touched down on their turf. Maybe he’d meet them one day. But not now. He didn’t want anything derailing his life.
The last few years had been good ones, during which he’d worked tirelessly to achieve all that he had. The blog he’d started in college, called The Real Paris, had earned him something of a celebrity status, along with some notoriety and labels such as opinionated, ruthless and arrogant. But he could live with the labels. He was grateful for the trajectory it had taken him on and the opportunities it offered in its wake. Like Noir, the nightclub he’d built from the ground up in an abandoned warehouse in the heart of the city over five years earlier, when he was twenty. The place had taken on a life force of its own and was now frequented by the Parisian elite and countless international celebrities. Noir was upscale, high-end and definitely the place to see and be seen in Paris. It became a money machine, and he’d quickly invested the first million he’d made in a winery and was now exporting product around the globe.
Yes, life was good for Amersen Beaudin. And he wasn’t about to do anything to change that.
And that included getting too involved with the Fortune family.
By the time the jet landed at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and he was through customs, it was nearly three o’clock in the afternoon. There was a limo and driver waiting for him, compliments of Kate Fortune, and then he was on the freeway and heading to her ranch. The driver took a left off the main road, headed toward a set of gates that had a sign saying Sterling’s Fortune, then turned down a long driveway. As Amersen looked out toward the pastures dotted with horses and cattle, he couldn’t help but be impressed. As far as homes went, this one looked as though it belonged on the front page of a lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-famous magazine. And probably had, he figured, considering who Kate Fortune was.
The limo pulled up outside the large house, and he got out before the driver had a chance to come around to the back of the vehicle. He was used to limos and flagrant displays of wealth but still liked to do things his own way. Sure, he was rich. And in his own country he had established a reputation and racked up a considerable bank balance and real estate portfolio. But he drove his own car and tied his own shoes.
He shrugged off all thoughts of Paris for the moment and told the driver to wait for him so he could take the car back to his hotel downtown when his meeting with Kate Fortune was over. The driver agreed, and Amersen quickly headed up the pathway toward the front door.