The Heiress and the Sheriff (16 page)

“Maybe you're right to go, Gabrielle. I can't offer you anything,” he said flatly.

The breath she drew in stabbed her chest like a thousand needles. “You mean, you don't
want
to offer me anything.”

He kept his groan of frustration inside where she couldn't hear it. “You're young. Much younger than I am. You don't know who might have been in your past. There might be some guy in California waiting for you to return to him.”

Gabrielle found the courage to look at him. “If there was such a guy, it's pretty obvious I didn't get as close to him as I have to you,” she said wryly.

Wyatt closed his eyes and swallowed. The idea of another man touching her as he had made him feel absolutely
murderous. She belonged to him! All this past week he'd imagined those hundred acres as his. He'd pictured a ranch house with himself and Gabrielle in it—making love and babies.

Yet he wasn't a fool. His house in the suburbs had never been a home because it wasn't filled with love. His parents' house had rotted and crumbled because there'd been no love to keep it strong. And if Wyatt ever did have the courage to build a ranch house in its place, the structure would have to have love to be anything more than a house. Was he crazy to dare think Gabrielle could give him that love?

When minutes began to pass and he didn't reply, Gabrielle decided he'd said all he had to say on the matter.

Sighing, she rose to her feet. “I think I'll go to the kitchen for some iced tea. Would you like to go in? Or I'll bring the drinks back here.”

Her voice finally penetrated his deep thoughts. He glanced up at her as though he was surprised to see her standing. “Were you saying something about drinks?”

It wasn't like Wyatt to be distracted. But he was a man who always had a lot on his plate, she reasoned. She was just a morsel among his other problems.

“Iced tea. I'm going to the kitchen after some.” She handed him the Bible. “Would you keep that beside you until I get back?”

He accepted the partially damaged book. “What were you doing with this thing?”

She shrugged. “Praying for a miracle. Why don't you read a few verses while I go fetch the tea? There's plenty of things in there about faith and trust. And love.”

She looked so beautiful. Even in a pair of plain khaki shorts and a navy blouse, with her hair in tangled waves upon her shoulders, she was enough to turn any man's
head. And she would, he thought sickly, once she got to California.

“Yeah,” he muttered. “But would a man like me understand any of it?”

She shrugged again, then as she turned toward the house, tossed over her shoulder, “Why don't you try?”

Wyatt watched her until she disappeared into the house, then he placed the partially scorched Bible on the seat beside him. Gabrielle must believe the sacred book could tell her something. When he'd walked up on her, she'd been leafing through the pages, a frown of desperation on her face. Had she been searching for a certain passage? He realized many people had a favorite quote from the scriptures to help guide them in life.

Curious now, he picked up the Bible and quickly flipped through the brown-edged pages. As far as he could tell, no lines had been marked or highlighted. And though Wyatt wasn't an overly religious man, by any means, he attended church from time to time and knew it was a natural thing to mark verses that the preacher's sermon touched upon. The appearance of this Bible gave him the impression that it had been used for something other than church-going.

He closed it, studied the front and back, then opened the front cover. No names or dates written. No clues as to why Gabrielle had carried it all the way from California—

His gaze suddenly zeroed in on a piece of cellophane tape pressed near the edge of the inside seam. Quickly he stripped away the tape and discovered a slit had been cut through part of the covering to make a secret envelope. Certain he was on to something now, he fished inside with one finger and was rewarded when it came into contact with something. Heedless of damaging the cover any more, he ripped the slit wider and dumped the contents onto his lap.

“What in the hell?” he muttered, his hand slowly reach
ing for one of the two photos. It was a snapshot of Ryan and Cameron and their sister Miranda before she'd run away from the family. Quickly, he studied the faces, then flipped the photos over and read the names listed on the back. The second picture was of Kingston and Selena Fortune, parents of the three siblings.

His mind buzzed. Where had the photos come from? He picked up the other item that had tumbled out with the snapshots. Unfolding it, he quickly scanned the document, which appeared to be part of an insurance policy.

What did any of this mean? Had his worst nightmare just become true? Had Gabrielle been playing him for a sucker all this time?

W
hen Gabrielle returned to the courtyard, Wyatt was still seated on the swing, waiting for her.

“Here's the tea,” she announced. Then with little more than mild curiosity, she nodded at the items on his lap. “What's that?”

Wyatt took the glass from her offered hand, and she sat back down beside him as though nothing had changed since she'd left a few moments ago. He looked at her with shock and disbelief.

“You tell
me,
” he said. “I found it in your Bible.”

Her brows slowly lifted as her gaze fell from his accusing face down to the photos and the folded piece of heavy paper.

“In my Bible? But…there wasn't anything in my Bible,” she argued. “I leafed through it over and over. I even held it upside down and shook it, hoping a card or something might be stuck between the pages. I couldn't find anything.”

“Well, I did. They were hidden between the cover and inside paper liner. Take a look.”

Uneasy now, Gabrielle set her glass of tea aside and reached for one of the photos. After studying it, she said in a confused voice, “I don't think I know these people.”

“Hmm. Well, those two people are Ryan's mother and father,” he said dryly. “What about this one?”

She took the other photo and carefully scanned the fea
tures of the three people standing together. “I'm not sure. But I believe the man in the middle resembles Ryan. If it is, he must have been little more than a teenager here.”

“It is Ryan. You don't know the other two?”

She shook her head, then suddenly her eyes popped wide open. “Wyatt! What were photos of the Fortunes doing in my Bible?”

“You tell me,” he repeated.

Once again she shook her head in bewilderment. “But I have no idea! Do you think I knew the Fortunes before I lost my memory?”

His lips spread to a thin line. “None of them recognized you when you arrived here,” he pointed out.

Her mind began to whirl with all sorts of questions and implications. Yet she could remember nothing. “Is that something else you found with the pictures?” she asked, gesturing toward the paper on his lap.

Without saying a word, he handed her the document. Gabrielle opened it and quickly scanned the information. It didn't make sense to her. These things must somehow be connected to her. But how?

“I…I don't understand any of this. Who is Miranda Fortune? Why would I have a part of the woman's insurance policy?”

Wyatt felt cold as his gaze met hers. “You really are good, Gabrielle. You must have come from an acting family to have this much talent.”

Her jaw dropped as she realized where his suggestion was leading. “You think I'm acting?” she practically shrieked. “You believe I really know about all of this?”

“It came from your Bible, didn't it?”

She looked down at the damaged book. It had traveled with her all the way from California for some reason. The photos and insurance document had to be the purpose.

“Let's go in the house,” he said roughly. “I want the Fortunes to see all of this. They think you've been innocent all this time. Now they can see for themselves that you were up to something. Why don't you tell me what it was, and save yourself the embarrassment of confessing in front of them.”

She jumped to her feet and glared at him. “I have nothing to confess! I have no memory! I can't tell you why I had any of these things, but I know it wasn't for sinister reasons! But you obviously believe otherwise,” she added sickly.

With the photos and document in one hand, he rose from the love seat and gripped her arm. They entered the house through the glass doors off the great room. Ryan, Lily and Mary Ellen were sitting on the couch having a glass of wine. The three of them looked up with mild surprise as Wyatt led Gabrielle over to them.

Ryan quickly spotted the dark look on Wyatt's face and rose to his feet. “What's wrong?”

“I'm not sure, Ryan. I thought maybe you or some of your family might be able to put this little puzzle together.” He handed Ryan the photos and paper. “I found these in a secret compartment in Gabrielle's Bible. She says she didn't know they were there, or anything else about them.”

Ryan took one look at the pictures and gasped. The two women behind them quickly rose to their feet. “What is it, darling?” Lily asked.

“I'm not sure,” he answered in a voice that was suddenly quivering with excitement. “This is…Miranda. Little Miranda. My sister.” He handed the photos to the two women, then unfolded the insurance policy. “Oh, God, this is her. The date she was born. Her name. Everything. The policy was dated a few years ago—but this is proof! Proof Miranda is still alive!”

This wasn't the response Wyatt had been expecting from the older man. “What do you think Gabrielle was doing with these things? Why was she coming here to the ranch with them?”

Ryan glanced up from the paper. His hands were trembling, and there was an incredulous smile on his face as he looked at Gabrielle. “You must be her daughter, honey! You must be my niece!” He tossed the paper down on the coffee table, then came around to Gabrielle and took her face in both his hands. “Let me look at you—
really
look at you. Why didn't I see it before?”

A few steps away, Mary Ellen carefully studied the photos. “This is the three of you,” she agreed. “Cameron, Ryan and Miranda. My goodness, this was taken years ago!”

Ryan said, “I'm trying to remember how Miranda looked before she went away, and now I'm sure.” His smile broadened as he looked from Wyatt's shocked face back to Miranda's bemused one. “Yes. You have her features. You can't remember her? Or tell us where she is?”

Gabrielle's expression was pitifully blank and regretful. Ryan dropped his hands from her face and sighed with disappointment.

“I'm so sorry, Ryan. I can't. Are you certain about all of this?” she asked hoarsely. “I mean…I can't believe I'm a Fortune.”

“I don't believe it!” Wyatt practically growled.

Gabrielle couldn't look at him. His doubts and accusations were simply too much for her heart to handle.

“Wyatt, I know it's your job to be suspicious, but this is one time you're wrong.” Ryan said, walking over to the telephone. “I'm going to call the rest of the family here to the house. I can't wait to tell them we've got a new blood relative!”

Wyatt threw up his hands in a gesture of helpless disgust.

Certain her legs had turned to rubber, Gabrielle said weakly, “I think I'd better sit down.”

She sank into the nearest armchair. Lily filled another goblet of wine and carried it over to Gabrielle. “Here, honey, drink this. You must be feeling pretty shocked right now. It isn't every day a girl learns she's an heiress.”

Gabrielle darted a doubtful glance at Wyatt, who was now pacing around the large room like an angry mountain lion. Obviously he believed she was some sort of con artist. That she'd deliberately hidden the information about the Fortunes in the Bible to somehow use against them. The idea crushed her. Yet she could see how the whole thing would look suspicious. And Wyatt was every inch a lawman.

“Ryan can't be sure about me. I might have had those documents for some other reason,” Gabrielle said.

Mary Ellen shook her head as she came to stand just behind Lily. “Now that Ryan has put the notion in my head, you do favor Miranda. Especially if I think of her without all that lipstick and makeup she wore.”

“You knew Miranda Fortune?” Gabrielle asked her.

“Yes. We were neighbors back then.”

“I've never heard any of you speak of the woman. I didn't realize there was a missing sister in the family.”

Mary Ellen waved her hand dismissively. “We don't speak of Miranda much. She left so long ago. And there have been so many other pressing problems for the family here of late. When Cameron died in the car crash, we were all hoping Miranda would hear about it and come to the funeral. Both Ryan and Cameron had feared their sister had met with foul play. But from the looks of that insurance policy, she was alive a few years ago.”

Across the room, Ryan hung up the telephone, then
turned to the others. “They'll all be here in a few minutes,” he said happily. “In the meantime, I think we should have Rosita put some champagne on ice and bring out the best dishes for supper. This calls for a celebration!”

Glad to see her fiancé finally smiling with good news for a change, Lily went over and linked her arm through his. “That's a wonderful idea, Ryan. Would you like me to go to the kitchen and tell her?”

He bent his head and kissed her cheek. “If you don't mind.”

“I'll be right back,” she promised him.

Lily left for the kitchen. Wyatt stopped his pacing and walked over to the older man. “Ryan, this family has been in a hell of a mess here lately. Don't you think you're jumping the gun with an impromptu celebration? For all we know, Gabrielle could have come here trying to extort money from you.”

“Hell, Wyatt! Does that beautiful woman look like she could harm a fly? She wouldn't do that to any of us!”

Wyatt turned hard, unyielding eyes on Gabrielle's pale face. “Sofia's good looks haven't kept her from dealing you plenty of misery.”

Ryan glared at him. “You would have to bring that up. Let's not talk about that…woman. I don't want to spoil the evening.”

“I don't want to spoil your evening or anything else,” Wyatt assured him. “I just want you to be prepared when all of this turns out to be fraud.”

Ryan shot him a glance. “I believe you're the one who needs to get prepared to accept the fact that Gabrielle is really one of us.”

By the time Dallas, Maggie, Matthew and Zane had arrived, the great room resembled a rowdy family reunion. The pictures and the document were passed from one rel
ative to the next. While they were inspected and discussed, Ryan explained to Gabrielle how Miranda had left home at the age of seventeen.

With her attention still captured by Ryan Fortune, who was sitting in an armchair directly across from her, Gabrielle said, “But she wasn't of age, Ryan. I'm surprised your father allowed it. From all you've told me about Kingston Fortune, he sounded like a hard and strict man.”

Ryan nodded, his expression full of wry fondness. “He was very strict with his two sons—he demanded and expected a lot out of Cameron and me. But Miranda was the apple of Kingston's eye. He gave her anything she wanted. And the more he gave, the more she took. She went wild. I can't think of any better way to describe my sister's behavior back then. Anyway, after she left the ranch, Dad couldn't stand it. He went all the way to California after her. But he was never able to track her down. Losing her broke his heart.”

Gabrielle found it difficult to imagine a girl so young wanting to leave her home and family. Even then the Fortunes must have been rich. Miranda had siblings, a mother and father, and anything else she might have wanted. Yet she left it all. For what and why?

“A movie star,” Gabrielle repeated, weighing the words, wondering about the woman whom Ryan believed was her mother. “Do you think that dream is really what pushed her to leave Texas? Did she ever write or contact any of you?”

“Shortly after she left, we received one postcard. It was postmarked Nevada, and there was nothing written on it to explain what she was really doing or where she was staying.”

Gabrielle pressed her hand against her forehead. A dull throb was beginning to build behind her eyes. She hoped
it didn't grow into a full-fledged headache before the night was over.

Matthew came to stand near his father's chair. The young doctor looked at Gabrielle. “You're not going to catch the flight you had booked for tomorrow, are you?”

Gabrielle glanced from the two Fortune men to Wyatt, who was seated in an armchair directly to her right. “I…I haven't thought that far ahead,” she told Matthew. “This is all such a shock.”

“Of course she isn't going to leave,” Ryan spoke up.

“Gabrielle has found her home.”

Her home!
She'd made this her temporary home, but never had she imagined she might truly belong here as a member of the Fortune family. The whole thing was beyond her wildest dreams. But then, she'd had those photos and the paper with Miranda's name.

“I can tell you right now, Gabrielle isn't going on a plane to anywhere until we get to the bottom of this,” Wyatt spoke up, making all heads swivel toward him. “If Gabrielle can't remember why she had your personal family items in her possession, then you don't know what the hell she was up to!”

“Wyatt! What is the matter with you?” Matthew exclaimed. “Gabrielle hasn't attempted to hurt anyone while she's been here. Or take anything from us. Can't you give her the benefit of the doubt?”

Gabrielle might not have tried to hurt anyone, Wyatt thought, but she had. Right now, he felt as if his world had been torn apart. In spite of her suspicious arrival on the Double Crown, he was gradually finding himself trusting her more and more. She was the first woman in years who'd made him think of trying to have a family of his own. And she was the only woman who'd made him stop and wonder if Marilyn's leaving might have been a forced disappear
ance rather than a desertion. But now he had to wonder if he'd been made a fool of all over again by a smooth little gold digger.

“Wyatt is looking at this whole situation from a sheriff's point of view,” Ryan told his son. “If you were in his shoes you'd have to do the same thing.” Pausing, he directed his gaze at Wyatt. “But that doesn't mean I agree with you.”

Wyatt threw up his hands. “Look, you're all simply assuming Gabrielle is your relative. The daughter of a sister who's been gone from the family for thirty years. You need some sort of concrete proof. Something more than a couple of old photos.”