Fortune's June Bride (Mills & Boon Cherish) (The Fortunes of Texas: Cowboy Country, Book 6) (3 page)

“Pretty much the same way it felt not knowing they existed. I know it’s been important to my mom finding out about her birth family. The fact that both Josephine and James and their other brother, John, are all loaded is beside the point. But to me, it just means more cousins around the dinner table.” He gave her a sideways look. “You’re not one of those folks who got all het up about the royalty thing, are you?”

She shrugged and shook her head, even though it was a lie. She’d been just as fascinated as every other person in Horseback Hollow when their one-horse town first brushed up against royalty. “I ran into Quinn and Amelia Drummond the other day outside of the Hollows Cantina. They had little Clementine Rose with them. She’s a doll.”

“I guess so. Haven’t given the baby much thought.”

She tsked. “Just like a man.”

“What?”
He frowned. “I know my new cousin had her in January. And I know things sure got interesting around these parts last year when the media found out
Lady Amelia
was pregnant.”

That was certainly true. A person hadn’t been able to get through town without running into one of the reporters camping out everywhere trying to get a shot of Lady Amelia and her rancher lover.

“Besides that,” he continued, “it’s like I said. Another person around the dinner table.” He shot her a grin. “Only the little munchkin is sitting in a high chair with strained peas all over her face.”

She smiled. “Still, I’d think it would feel pretty strange,” she said.

“Ending up with a passel of cousins?”

“Finding out I have more family than just Mama and Daddy.”

Galen shot her another glance. His grin died. “I still think about your brother,” he said quietly. “About Mark.”

“Me, too.” She was glad they’d reached the end of the block and gestured. “Casting is back this way.” She turned the corner and walked even more quickly down the street. She didn’t want to talk about Mark. Didn’t want to think about him, actually.

Maybe that made her the worst sister in the history of the world, but she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to forgive her big brother for dying the way he had. For leaving her parents so broken it had taken them a decade before they were managing to find a little joy in life again.

In silence, she passed the Olde Tyme Photography studio, where guests could dress up in vintage clothing to have their portraits done, and went through another wooden gate, this one manned by a uniformed security guard.

“Afternoon, Tom,” she greeted as they passed from the nineteenth-century cowboy town back into the very modern present of steel and glass and asphalt.

Thanks to the park’s clever designers, neither the stark building housing Cowboy Country’s business offices nor the large employee parking lot were visible to Cowboy Country guests.

Excruciatingly aware of Galen following close on her heels, she went inside the office building and made her way back to the casting office.

“Hi, Diane,” she greeted the sleek, black-haired young woman sitting at the main desk in front of a half dozen hard chairs, most of which were occupied by people clutching comp cards in one hand and job applications in the other. “Have you gotten any word yet on how Joey Newsome is doing?”

Diane shook her head, barely looking at Aurora because she was too busy visually devouring Galen. “Who are
you
?” she asked in her throaty voice.

“Cowboy Country’s authenticity consultant. Galen Fortune Jones,” Aurora said abruptly. In her dealings with the casting department so far, she knew that Diane used to work at a modeling agency located in Chicago, where Moore Entertainment’s corporate headquarters was located.

Undoubtedly, the woman was stripping Galen down in her mind to chaps and nothing else.

Then Aurora wished she’d left off the “Fortune” part, because Diane’s eyes seemed to grow even more interested, if such a feat were possible.

“Galen
Fortune
Jones,” she purred, rising slowly from her desk, putting Aurora in mind of a cobra rising from her nest. “I’ve been learning
lots
about the Fortunes.” She actually put her slender hand on Galen’s shoulder and circled around him, giving every inch of him a closer look.

And while it made Aurora’s nerves itch as though they’d been dipped into fire ants,
he
didn’t seem to be bothered one little bit.

“I’m more Jones than Fortune,” he drawled. He’d removed his cowboy hat the second they’d entered the building, and he gave Diane the same crooked smile that used to have cheerleaders and bookworms alike swooning back when Aurora was a high school freshman and he and her brother were the senior football stars. “Haven’t seen you around Horseback Hollow. I’d have remembered if I had.”

Diane laughed, low in her throat. “I drive over from Vicker’s Corners,” she said, as if doing anything else was insane. “Offers a little more civilization for my tastes.”

Aurora hid a sudden smile, for there was
nothing
more certain to turn off Galen Jones than to compare Horseback Hollow unfavorably against its nearest neighbor, Vicker’s Corners.

“Well,” Galen settled his hat back in place, even though they were indoors. “Always have said there is no accountin’ for taste.” His easy tone took the insult out of the words, even though Aurora was certain he meant each one. Then he looked at Aurora. “I’d better head back out there. I’ve only got a few more hours before I need to get back to my place. I’ve got chores piling up by the minute and I don’t have anyone to help me around the place right now like your daddy has you.”

“Okay.” She rubbed her hands down the sides of her dress, wishing she had even a tenth of Diane’s confidence. “Thanks again for helping out today.” She glanced at the other woman. “He filled in for Joey so we didn’t have to cancel the show.”

Diane’s red lips curved. “The hero rides to the rescue in more ways than one.”

Galen looked uncomfortable. “Yeah, well.” He glanced at the applicants sitting in the chairs who’d been following their exchange like viewers at a tennis match. “See you around, Aurora.” He pulled open the office door. “Might grab a root beer at the Foaming Barrel later if you’re interested.”

She had to struggle not to look surprised, much less too interested. “Sure.”

But the door was already swinging shut after his departure.

“
That
was a fine specimen of cowboy,” Diane breathed.

Aurora couldn’t get overly annoyed with the other woman for that, since she happened to agree.

But oohing and ahhing over Galen Jones hadn’t gotten her anywhere when she’d been fourteen to his eighteen, and it wasn’t going to get her anywhere now.

“So,” she addressed Diane once more, “about Joey’s part. Any chance you can find a temporary replacement for the rest of the shows today?”

The one guy sitting in the chairs perked up visibly.

Aurora could have told him not to bother. “Rusty” was written for a specific physical type and the hopeful applicant was about half the size he needed to be.

Diane returned to her desk and flipped open a folder. “I’ve been through all the performers on file.” With Galen out of the room, she was all business. “We’ve got two who fit the type, but neither can ride a horse.” She shook her head a little. “Casting shows for Coaster World’s other locations is a lot easier than casting here,” she murmured, tapping the end of her pen against the desk. She glanced at Aurora. “You can dance, right? Tap, ballet, that sort of thing?”

The question seemed to come out of nowhere. “Yes.” She’d listed all of her skills on her application months earlier, well before Cowboy Country had opened to the public, even though they’d been learned as a little girl taking lessons over in Vicker’s Corners. She’d also listed the few college parts she’d been able to play before she’d had to leave school after Mark died. “So, about Rusty’s part?”

Diane lifted her shoulders and tossed down the pen. “If Joey’s not back in the saddle tomorrow or the next day, it’s possible we can bring in someone from another location,” she said. “But that’ll take some time.”

“Which means, what?”

“Without a Rusty, there’s no
Wild West Wedding
,” Diane said with another shrug. “No worries, though.” She picked up her phone and punched a few numbers. “Yeah, this is Diane in casting. Let me talk to Phillip.”

Aurora winced, knowing she was calling Phillip Dubois, the production head.

Diane tucked the receiver in her shoulder and looked back at Aurora again. “I hear
Outlaw Shootout
will be set to go by the end of this week. It’ll replace
Wedding
, and in the meantime we’ll fill in—”

“—replace
Wedding
!”

Diane lifted her hand, speaking into the phone again. “Hi, Phil. We’re going to need to pull
Wild West Wedding
from the sched—” Her jaw dropped when Aurora’s fingers slammed down on the phone hook. “
Excuse
me?”

Aurora retracted her hand, flushing. “You can’t just cancel the show.”

Diane gave her a pitying look. “Stuff happens, hon.”

“But Joey might well be back in the saddle, as you say, tomorrow.”

“That doesn’t solve the problem for three more shows today.” Diane started dialing again.

“Please don’t,” Aurora begged.

Diane sighed loudly and looked up through her lashes at her. “Why?”

“The show means so much to, uh, to so many people,” she said weakly. “We’ve got one of the largest casts in all of Cowboy Country’s productions.” The only shows with more parts were the
Sunday Go to Meeting House
with their choir show and the
How the West Was Won Saloon Show
, both of which were musicals.

Diane made a face. She replaced the receiver and folded her hands together, leaning across the desk toward Aurora. “You found yourself a Rusty for the noon show,” she advised. “Get him to finish out the day. After that, we’ll see.”

Aurora nodded quickly. “Thanks, Diane.”

The other woman shooed her away with a flick of her fingers before looking at the applicants waiting in her chairs. “You,” she barked at the middle-aged woman sitting closest to her. “Can you yodel?”

Aurora quickly ducked out of the office while the applicant was still stammering.

Being cast as Lila was one of the brightest spots in Aurora’s life right now. If that meant somehow talking Galen into repeating his part in the role of Rusty three more times that day, she was going to do it.

Even if it meant offering to take care of his ranch chores herself!

Chapter Three

“N
o way.”

It had taken her a solid hour, but Aurora had finally found Galen out by the Twin Rattlers.

The roller coaster was the premier attraction at Cowboy Country, and after a start plagued with mechanical difficulties, it was now running perfectly. The line that wound like a serpentine around the base of the behemoth attested to its popularity.

“No way,” he said again. “I agreed to play Rusty once, and that was enough for me.”

“Galen,
please
. If you don’t, they’re going to cancel the rest of today’s shows.”

“And what happens if Joey’s not back tomorrow? Or the next day?”

“Diane says they can probably bring in a performer from another one of their locations.”

“Probably.” He gave her a steady look. “That’s not a certainty.”

“No,” she agreed unwillingly. She absolutely didn’t want to share with him just how easily the management could supplant one production with another. “It’s not a certainty.” Her hands latched onto his forearm. “But you did a
really
good job as Rusty,” she said quickly. “And it wasn’t as awful as you thought it would be, was it?”

His gaze flickered over her hands. “I’ve got other responsibilities, too, kiddo,” he said almost gently.

“I’ll help,” she promised even more quickly, letting go of him. She hadn’t even realized she’d grabbed him like that. But now her palms felt all warm and tingly. “You know I’m a good ranch hand. One of me is equal or better to two of someone else,” she added. “Daddy’s always telling people that. You know he is.”

“Why is it up to you to find a replacement for this Joey fella?”

“It isn’t,” she admitted. There was an entire production team, headed up by Phillip Dubois. And he wouldn’t care any more than Diane did
which
show ran in
Wedding
’s time slots, as long as something did. She chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment. “I’m helping to pay for Mama and Daddy’s cruise with the money I’m earning here,” she finally admitted.

It was true. But it wasn’t the only reason why keeping
Wild West Wedding
going was so important to her.

Somehow, she just couldn’t bring herself to admit to him that being in those four performances every day was about the only thing she looked forward to these days. It would make her sound about as piddlin’ pathetic as she’d been feeling until the role of Lila came along.

He exhaled and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Well, hell, Aurora.”

Relief swept through her. She very nearly grabbed him again, but managed not to. “You’ll do it, then?”

He nodded, though he didn’t look any too happy about it. “I’ll do it for
today
,” he cautioned.

“Today will do,” she said quickly. “Today will do just fine. And, uh, I meant it. About helping you out at your place. Whatever you need, I’m your girl. I can get Daddy to drop me by, or once they go on their trip, I’ll be able to use the ranch truck.”

His eyes sharpened a little. “You don’t have your own transportation?”

She cursed her nervous blathering. “Until I started working here, I didn’t really need my own vehicle, did I? I mean, it’s not like I do much of anything besides helping out at home.”

Galen eyed her. Her long red hair was pinned into a knot at the back of her head. She wore a pretty white dress that left her knees bare, and a pair of brown, blue-stitched boots that reached halfway up her calves. And even though he
had
heard Walt McElroy extoll the prowess of his only remaining offspring when it came to ranch work, right now the only thing Galen could imagine Aurora doing was clutching a bunch of daisies in her hands, dancing through some field.

He shook off the wholly ridiculous—and unwelcome—fancifulness.

“You’ve got enough work over at your place,” he said gruffly. “Just consider today my contribution to your folks’ vacation. It’s been too long since they had some fun. And, you know, if you ever need a ride or something, just give a shout.” He had to come to Cowboy Country anyway, at least until Caitlyn Moore, who’d been the one to hire him, decided his job was no longer needed.

“Thanks, Galen.” She brushed her hands down the sides of her dress in the way he was beginning to recognize as nervousness. “They’ll probably add some to your paycheck, too,” she added brightly. “Every little bit helps for that rainy day, right?”

“Right,” he said wryly.

He glanced around the area. There were at least fifty people lined up for the Twin Rattlers. He’d only jotted down two items for his daily report for Caitlyn. It was a huge improvement over the pages-long reports he’d started out with only a week earlier.

Caitlyn had wanted to make the park everything that her father, Alden Moore—a huge John Wayne fan—had ever dreamed of creating, and Galen was beginning to think Caitlyn might just pull it off. Considering she’d been summarily handed the job to get the place up and running when her daddy had some health troubles, Galen had to give her a lot of credit. She’d also lassoed one of Galen’s new cousins, Brodie Fortune Hayes, along the way.

“Everything seems to be turning up roses these days, doesn’t it?”

Aurora’s words seemed to echo his own thoughts and before he knew it, “Want to grab that root beer?” came out of his mouth.

She smiled. And he realized that when she did, it seemed to show all over her entire person. From her eyes that seemed even brighter a blue, to her toes, which she went up on a little. “That sounds great.”

“You always were a good kid.” He wasn’t sure what made him say the words. Except that, maybe, he was noticing the way the sunlight was shining through her dress, outlining the slender figure underneath. “Even Mark used to say so.”

Her smile dimmed a little. Not on her lips.

But in her eyes.

“That’s me,” she said in a tone he couldn’t quite read. “The good kid.” She gestured at the line of people waiting for the roller coaster as they left it behind. “Have you ridden it yet?”

“Nah.”

“You like roller coasters, though, don’t you?” She gave him a sideways look. “Every time the fair came through when we were kids, you and my brother were all over the thrill rides.”

He took her arm briefly as they stepped up onto the boardwalk, continuing down Main Street. Unlike other redheads Galen knew, the only freckles on Aurora that he could see were a few spots across her nose. The rest of her seemed to be a smooth, creamy gold.

What he could see, anyway.

He shoved his hand into his pocket, reminding himself not to ponder too long or too well about what he
couldn’t
see.

He’d never had trouble with the opposite sex, but since he had no intention of joining the passel of folks in his family taking the marriage bit between their teeth, he didn’t tend to get involved with women who were right there under their noses.

In a small town, things got complicated in a hurry when a person did that. Wondering too hard what all delights Aurora McElroy hid beneath that pretty dress was a sure way to invite those kinds of complications.

And he liked things just fine the way they were.

“I don’t think I’m much of one for loop-the-loops anymore,” he said. “I’m a whole lot older than I used to be.”

She snorted softly. “Please. You’re thirty-four. Same age—”

“As Mark would have been,” he finished when she broke off.

Her lips twisted. “Yes.” She fell silent for a moment, watching a little girl nearby purchase a huge yellow helium balloon from one of the street vendors. “It’s strange,” she finally said, once the girl dashed off with the balloon bobbing in the air after her, “the more I don’t want to think about him, the more I seem to dwell on him.”

He couldn’t help himself. He slid his hand against the back of her slender neck. “I’ve got six brothers and sisters. I can’t imagine losing one of them.” Particularly in such a senseless way as getting behind the wheel of a big-ass pickup truck when he was three sheets to the wind drunk. “Maybe talking more about him will help the dwelling.”

She exhaled loudly and shook her head as though she was shaking off a bothersome fly. “He died a long time ago.” She pointed. “Looks like the lunch rush has hit the Foaming Barrel.”

Sure enough, a line extended from the popular concession stand and Aurora had tugged her locket watch out from inside her sundress. “I don’t think we’ve got time to wait before we need to get set for the next show. Rain check?”

“Sure.”

She gave him that winning, whole-body smile again and started walking back the way they’d come.

Galen settled his hat down harder on his head and shoved his hands back into his pockets and away from...complications. Then he followed Aurora as she made her way from Main Street to the backstage area once again.

The space around the costume trailer was considerably busier now than it had been earlier. A half dozen leggy women were sitting on top of the picnic table, looking like a rainbow, dressed as they were in their colorful ruffled saloon-girl getups. Frank—handlebar mustache already in place—was hanging over one buxom girl in particular. She looked a lot more receptive to him than Aurora had earlier.

Galen followed Aurora into the trailer. It was now crowded not only with the racks of clothes and props he’d already seen, but bodies in various stages of undress, as well.

Maybe it was the hick in him, but he couldn’t help doing a double take at one young woman, only realizing belatedly that she wasn’t quite naked. The nude-colored bodysuit she wore just made her look like it as she stepped into a flaming red ruffled dress. She obviously had no problem not stepping behind the changing screen that was situated at one end of the trailer.

He realized he was sweating a little as he reached for Rusty’s shirt and tie where he’d left them hanging, until he saw Aurora step safely behind the screen and he breathed a little easier.

Until a moment later when her white sundress was flung up to drape over the top of the changing screen and his temperature seemed to shoot up several notches.

He grabbed Rusty’s white hat and brushed past several bodies, clomping down the trailer steps. Out in the open, he pulled in a long breath and exchanged his T-shirt for Rusty’s button-down once again.

“Galen Jones, I
thought
that was you.” One of the saloon girls had left the picnic table and was sashaying toward him in frilly peacock blue. Her hair was a pile of blond curls down the back of her head. “Serena Morris!” She patted her hand against her tightly fitted bodice, smiling widely. “Don’t tell me you don’t remember me. I’ll be crushed forever.”

“Serena?” He squinted at her face. Then couldn’t help but laugh. “Last I saw you, you were—”

“—nine years old and mad as hops that my folks were moving us to Missouri.” She propped her hand on her shapely hip and grinned. “You look just the same.”

He spread his hands wryly. “And here I thought the last two and a half decades might’ve made some difference.”

She laughed. “What can I say? A girl never forgets her first kiss. You’ll always be nine years old in my eyes.” Her humorous gaze looked past him and Galen realized Aurora had come up behind him. “You’re the new Lila,” she greeted, sticking out her hand. “I’ve been hearing what a great job you’ve been doing.”

Aurora warily took the other woman’s hand, returning the greeting. “Aurora McElroy,” she offered, watching Galen from the corner of her eye.

He
was watching the other woman with nothing but pleasure on his face.

“And you,” she hurriedly focused elsewhere, “are obviously in the saloon show.”

“Serena,” the other woman offered, moving her hip up and down. “This is how the West was won,” she added, smiling mischievously. She glanced back at Galen. “Galen and I were quite the item once upon a time.”

“Yeah. Fourth-grade time,” he drawled. His hand slipped up Aurora’s spine in a seemingly absentminded way. “Serena used to live in Horseback Hollow,” he provided. “They moved away a long time ago.”

“Don’t remind me just how long.” Serena ran her hands down her hourglass sides. “Getting harder every year to fit into these costumes.”

“You look spectacular,” Aurora said truthfully. The woman had enviable curves to spare.

“Well, after two kids, I guess I can be glad I am even competing with the likes of them.” She tossed her feathered headdress in the direction of the other saloon girls. “They’re still so young they’re wet behind the ears.” She focused again on Aurora. “You’re from right here in Horseback Hollow, aren’t you?”

Aurora nodded. She was finding it hard to think of much of anything other than the feel of Galen’s hand still resting lightly against the small of her back. “Born and raised,” she managed. “Did you move back here just to work at Cowboy Country?”

“Transferred here from the Coaster World in St. Louis,” Serena said. “I was with the dance corps there for years. But after my divorce last year, I figured it’d be easier raising my two boys in small-town USA.” She looked back at Galen again. “We should get together. Catch up on old times.”

Aurora could feel her jaw tightening, which was beyond ridiculous. It was none of her business who or what Galen went out with. But she also didn’t want to stand there, with
his
hand on her back, while he made the plans. It was too eerily reminiscent of her brief college career when she’d been with Anthony.

So she pulled out the locket watch that had once belonged to her maternal grandmother and glanced blindly at the time before snapping the locket shut. “I’ll leave you two to catch up,” she said brightly, edging away from them. “I need to, ah, grab Frank for a minute before the show starts. Nice meeting you, Serena.”

She barely stayed long enough to hear Serena’s “you, too” before she hurried over toward Frank Richter where he was holding court among the other saloon girls. She wanted to talk to
him
about as much as she wanted a spike puncturing a hole in her head, but his was the only name that had come to her mind, so she was stuck.

She stopped next to him. “We should get moving.”

He sent her a careless smile. “We’ve got a few minutes yet. And Cammie here was telling me all about herself.”