0373659458 (R) (25 page)

“Uh-huh,” he said with a vigorous nod. Although Zach doubted the tyke had a clue what any of it meant. He would have, by the end of the night, however. Zach had already planned where he’d stash the stash.

His heart melted as he watched Mallory and his son, bonded as if he’d been hers from the get-go. Jeremy, too, who absolutely adored her—in large part, Zach suspected, because she encouraged him to talk about Heidi.

Same as she did with Zach, her eyes gentle as they’d lie in bed—on those rare occasions when they could pawn the spawn off on various grandparents, that is—her head propped in her hand as she listened intently...

He turned back to his task, thinking he had more blessings to count than there were candy bars in the bowl. And dogs, he thought as Landon’s Great Dane/Lab mix plopped her chin on the counter, hopeful—

“No way,” Zach muttered, and the dog sighed and slunk off to plop beside Benny beside the fireplace. It was truly insane, the way things were falling into place in ways none of them could have possibly foreseen. Although Russell had blustered for about half a minute when Mallory told him Landon wanted to stay, in the end he’d conceded—more out of gratitude than grace, it seemed to Zach. There’d be visits, of course, but it was clear the man was happy to hand off full-time responsibility for his son—not to mention a trio of dogs he’d barely tolerated—to his ex-wife and her future husband. An attitude Zach couldn’t even begin to fathom, but since he got another awesome kid out of the deal...well. Russell’s loss, he supposed.

And Mallory had already asked Adrienne about working with her at her training facility, with an eye to perhaps establishing her own one day. She’d also decided to use her fame to start a video blog of her story—struggles, triumphs and all. So her worries about rotting away out in the boonies? Not a problem.

They hadn’t set a wedding date yet. Way too early for that, they’d both agreed. In the spring, maybe. Although Dorelle—who’d gone to help Annie and AJ hand out goodies at the diner—thought they were nuts to wait. Especially since she was chomping at the bit to have three grandsons under her roof. Along with their rapidly growing menagerie. Zach hadn’t yet decided what to do with the little house next to his clinic where he and Heidi had brought home their babies, but he supposed that would fall into place, too.

The bowl full, Zach carried it out to the porch and set it on a little table, then squatted to light the huge jack-o’-lantern he and the boys had carved the night before, complete with tossing pumpkin guts at each other and the poor confused dogs barking their heads off, wondering what in the blue blazes was going on. For more years than Zach even knew, the tradition was that the houses closest to the town square handed out the candy, so the kids from the surrounding ranches and the like could have the traditional trick-or-treating experience. To keep things equitable, everybody brought candy to Annie and AJ’s diner, and they in turn distributed the loot to the participating residents in town. And every year, pumpkins for carving appeared like magic on people’s porches the Saturday before the holiday...from the Great Pumpkin, the legend went, although the adults all knew it was Granville Blake’s doing—

“Is it weird,” Mallory said behind him, “that I’m looking forward to this as much as the kids? Maybe even more?”

He turned to her, smiling at her zombie rags fluttering over several layers of clothing to keep from freezing her butt off while she doled out candy and good times.

“Not at all. I’m exactly the same way.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“You kidding? I live for holidays.”

Or had, before Heidi’s death. And now...guess that had been restored to him, too, he thought as he looked back at the quiet little street, rapidly morphing from benign to spooky as daylight gave way to flickering faces in other pumpkins, decorations bobbing eerily in the late fall breeze. A moment later, it seemed, it was dark, the full moon peeking out from behind a lone cloud. He felt Mallory’s hand slip into his.

“What’re you thinking?” she asked.

With another smile, Zach looked down into those beautiful, black-rimmed gray eyes. “That I’m so freaking happy I could pop.”

“Right answer,” she said, and he bent over to kiss her.

“I’ve never kissed a zombie before,” he whispered.

She grinned. “First time for everything.”

A second later the boys all trooped onto the porch, the older two wielding pillowcases—he wasn’t sure whether they were being optimistic or greedy—while Liam clutched the handle of an old plastic pumpkin Zach thought might’ve been his, once upon a time.

“Well, we’re off,” he said, hiking Liam up into his arms. “See you later.”

“Count on it,” Mallory said softly, and Zach stepped off his porch into the veritable horde of goblins and ghouls and ghosts swarming the block...

...as the ones that’d lived in his head for so long floated away into nothingness.

* * * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt from
FORTUNE’S SECRET HUSBAND
by Karen Rose Smith.

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Fortune's Secret Husband

by Karen Rose Smith

Chapter One

L
ucie Fortune Chesterfield was late!

It was her own fault. She’d forgotten her phone and had to run back to the Austin, Texas, apartment she was subletting to retrieve it. In a rush now on her way out again, after disembarking from the elevator in the lobby, she stopped cold.

Was she seeing things? Was that Chase Parker leaving the building? Not possible. Just because he still invaded her dreams—

The doorman stood at his counter and she ran to him and pointed to the departing tall, broad-shouldered man whose Stetson was tilted at an angle she thought she recognized.

The doorman did a double take. “Lady Lucie, I thought you’d left.”

Irving hadn’t been at his station when she’d rushed back in for her phone. “I forgot something and had to return to my apartment. Do you know who that man is?”

Lucie was very used to doormen and chauffeurs and pomp and circumstance. Born in England and living on the Chesterfield Estate, she was considered “almost” royalty. Her mother’s adopted father had been an earl. Her own father had been knighted. In England and the United States, her family was sometimes hounded and followed by paparazzi searching for that money shot. After the scandal her sister had become involved in, Lucie was more than aware of her actions and couldn’t just run into the street chasing a tall Texan who resembled a ghost from her foolish past, a ghost so secret not even her family had known all the details about her association with him.

Irving, in his fifties and balding, turned red to his scalp as he reached out to the shelf under the counter and retrieved a business card.

“I’m so sorry, Lady Lucie. I saw you the first time and assumed you’d left for the morning.”

She’d been following a routine. Each morning after breakfast, she’d been scouting out properties for an office for the Fortune Foundation, which was planning to open a branch in Austin.

Irv, as he preferred to be called, went on to explain further as he handed her the business card. “The gentleman gave me this and said he’d be back later.”

Lucie read the card aloud in a low tone. “Chase Parker—” There were two numbers listed.

At the idea of Chase being in close proximity, she felt a tremble race through her. At seventeen, she’d been on a youth trip to Scotland. And then...

She had to forget about Chase Parker, ghost or not, and concentrate on this trip to visit her relatives in Texas. She had agreed to help the Fortune Foundation set up a branch in Austin for the benefit of children there.

“What do you want me to do if he comes back again?” Irv asked.

She fingered the card in her hand. What did Chase want with her now? He obviously knew she was here. Why hadn’t he called first? Should
she
phone
him
?

No. He’d forgotten about her easily. The past was in the past. If he had a reason to see her, she’d find out soon enough what that was.

Answering Irv’s question, she said, “If I’m in, buzz me just as you do with everyone else.”

“As you say, Lady Lucie. There is one other thing—”

She really had to be going, but Irv looked worried about something, so she waited.

“That reporter’s been out there again from the news station. I saw him yesterday afternoon, but he was gone until you got back.”

“As long as he stays outside, there’s really nothing we can do about him.”

“I don’t want him accosting you as you leave,” Irv maintained, “or as you return. You know, we can always arrange for your driver to pick you up in the garage instead of at the front entrance.”

“He’d soon catch on to that because he knows I’m usually out and about. I’ll deal with him if I have to, Irv. Please, don’t worry about me.”

“But I do,” Irv said with a boyish smile. “Somebody has to. With your relatives living in Horseback Hollow, you need somebody to worry about you here.”

Everyone thought they knew her family’s history—from the articles in the tabloids and in the more respectable media. Irv was right, though. Her relatives were in Horseback Hollow about five hours away.

“I have friends here, too. In fact, I’m supposed to be meeting them for brunch. So I really need to be going. Barry is waiting to drive me. You have a good day.”

“You, too, m’lady.”

The temperature in Austin, Texas, in March was around sixty during the day and went to a low of forty at night. Lucie had chosen a grass-green suit for this brunch, a professional look, since she would be visiting office spaces with a real estate agent afterward. The three-quarter-length sleeves of her jacket were perfect for the weather.

As she pushed her straight brown hair over her shoulder and stepped from the car, she checked the sky. All blue, not a cloud in sight.

Thanking Barry, telling him she’d text him when she finished brunch, she headed for the restaurant that her friends had chosen for this get-together. It was a bit of an elite location. Cavette’s catered to a crowd that didn’t have to worry what they spent on brunch, lunch or a late dinner. No paparazzi were allowed inside, and there was a security guard stationed in the restaurant who would react quickly if he had to. Celebrities in the area who often stopped in at Cavette’s were assured of their privacy and a backdoor exit should they need it.

The restaurant was tastefully decorated with lots of real greenery. Lucie stopped briefly at the hostess’s desk but spotted her friends at a table against the wall. Ella Thomas had recently returned from her honeymoon with Ben Fortune Robinson. Vivian Blair was engaged to Ben’s twin brother, Wes. Ella spotted Lucie first.