Her Soldier Of Fortune

“You’re enough,” he said, reaching out a hand to brush away the lone tear that tracked down her cheek. “Don’t doubt for one second that you’re enough.”

As he’d imagined, her skin felt like velvet under his callused fingertip. Her eyes drifted shut and she tipped up her face, as if she craved his touch as much as he wanted to give it to her.

He wanted more from this woman—this moment—than he’d dreamed possible. She’d fit perfectly in his arms and he could show her exactly how it felt to be with a man who appreciated what a gift she was. He let his finger trail over her cheek and trace the line of her jaw, edging down to her throat. He leaned in, so close he could smell her shampoo, something fruity and utterly feminine. A loose strand of hair brushed the back of his hand, sending shivers across his skin.

She glanced at him from beneath her lashes, but there was no hesitation in her gaze. Her liquid brown eyes held only invitation, and his entire world narrowed to the thought of kissing Bianca.

“I finished with the hay, Mommy,” EJ called from behind him.

Bianca jumped away like she’d been scalded.

“Nice work, buddy,” she said, her voice high and tight. “Want to show me that fence you fixed now?”

“Can you come, too, Mr. Nate?” EJ smiled, his face all wide-eyed innocence.

The boy trusted him. Bianca trusted him. Eddie had trusted him.

And Nate didn’t deserve any of it.

He had to put the brakes on the careening desire he felt for his best friend’s sister. She’d come to him for help. That was all he had to offer.

“Um... I...” He shook his head, trying to clear his muddled brain. “I promised a neighbor I’d help with some damage to his barn.” As excuses went, it was totally lame but also true. In this part of rural Texas, neighbors relied on each other. Nate had made the commitment before Bianca and EJ arrived. “I’ll see you later.”

The boy looked confused at his change in demeanor, but Bianca kept her gaze on the barn’s dirt floor. “Thanks for this morning,” she said softly, and he noticed her hands were clenched into fists at her sides.

“No problem.” He turned and walked out into the bright January sunlight before he changed his mind and found a reason to spend the day with his houseguests. Keeping Bianca at arm’s length was the only way he was going to survive her stay.

The only way.

* * *

She and EJ drove into town for lunch and found a surprisingly yummy Mexican restaurant open in the back of the building that housed both the grocery store and gas station. They’d shared a plate of chicken enchiladas and she’d eaten way too many of the crispy chips and tangy salsa the owner, Rosa, had brought to the table.

Lunch at a restaurant might be typical for some people, but it was a real treat for Bianca. She’d cashed the check she received from her crummy apartment deposit in San Antonio before leaving town, so she had an extra five hundred dollars to her name before her finances got precariously tight again.

She and EJ had been equally shocked at how tiny Paseo was compared to their neighborhood in San Antonio. There was something oddly comforting about making her way through a town that only stretched a few short blocks. The pace of life was clearly less rigorous in this part of the state, and everyone she met went out of their way to be welcoming, especially when she mentioned she was a family friend of the Fortunes.

Saying the name out loud almost made her giggle since there were a whole mess of very wealthy and well-known Fortunes living in different parts of Texas. Bianca might not be worldly, but even she’d heard of cosmetics mogul Kate Fortune and her famous youth serum. She’d also read headlines about British Fortunes who had ties to the royal family, and wondered how Nate and his small-town brothers felt about sharing such an illustrious last name.

But despite—or possibly because of—their humble beginnings, Nate, Jayden and Grayson were the famous Fortunes in Paseo. Particularly Grayson, of course, who was so famous he was mainly known by his first name. But all during lunch, she heard a litany of stories and compliments about the brothers and their mom.

After buying enough food at the grocery store to make several days’ worth of meals, Bianca stopped into the RV that housed the town’s public library. She logged on to their Wi-Fi to check her email, surprised to find a note from her former boss, asking if she’d be willing to make another batch of personalized gift boxes for the shop she’d gotten fired from a week ago.

“He’s got some nerve,” she muttered under her breath and promptly deleted the email.

“Man trouble?” the older woman behind the counter asked.

Bianca glanced to where EJ was positioned in front of one of the computer screens, a pair of retro-looking headphones engulfing his small head. She’d allotted twenty minutes for him to have a screen break and watch two episodes of the Elmer the Elephant cartoon he loved so dearly. Reassuring herself he was engrossed in the show, she turned to the woman.

“I was working in an upscale retail boutique before we came to Paseo. The woman who’d owned the store for years sold it six months ago, and the new owner wouldn’t allow any flexibility in my schedule to take care of my son.”

“Big city folks,” the woman said, spitting out each word like venom.

“I guess,” Bianca agreed, not bothering to mention that she was, in fact, born and raised in San Antonio. “I had a great babysitter for EJ. A woman who lived around the corner from the store ran a small day care out of her home. EJ loves her, but he got a bad case of the flu right before Christmas, so I had to take time off work. I had vacation hours banked, but the owner said I couldn’t use them during the holidays. I offered to come in on the weekends and afternoons when I could hire a sitter to be with him at the apartment, but he wouldn’t budge.”

The librarian rolled her eyes. “So much for ‘lean in.’”

Bianca felt a grin split her face that this woman had heard of the popular movement.

“I stayed home and raised my two kids,” the woman offered. “They’re twenty-eight and thirty now. My daughter works as an attorney in some hoity-toity law firm in Houston. She just had her second baby, and I went down there to stay for a couple weeks. She was answering phone calls from one of the senior partners in the hospital. They barely honored her maternity leave, and that’s a law. The stress moms are under these days is crazy. It’s not right.”

Bianca felt a lump of emotion clog her throat at this stranger’s sympathy. Her own mom lived in San Antonio, but when Bianca had swallowed her pride and called to ask for help during EJ’s illness, Jennifer Shaw had lectured her about how she shouldn’t have taken on more than she could handle in the first place. As if Bianca had had a choice about working since Brett deserted them. She certainly hadn’t seen one cent of child support from her ex-husband.

“So does the man want to hire you back?” the librarian asked.

“Not exactly,” Bianca admitted. “I like to sew and do crafty stuff, so I spent evenings making specialized gift boxes for the store, celebrating birthdays and other occasions. I knew they sold well, but apparently they were more popular than I realized. He sold out and has customers asking for them. He wants to put in an order.”

“Congratulations.”

Bianca shrugged. “With what he paid me, I barely covered the money I spent on materials, although he sold them for almost triple the cost. I mainly did it to have something to keep me occupied at night after EJ went to bed.”

“Seems like you could use a boyfriend for that,” the woman said with a cheeky grin.

“Oh.” Bianca pressed a hand to her chest as an image of spending a quiet night at home with Nate popped into her head. “I don’t really date.”

“You’re young,” the librarian said, pointing a finger at Bianca. “I tell my daughter she needs to schedule regular date nights with her husband.”

Bianca swallowed. “I don’t have a husband.”

“But that blush tells me you’ve got someone who’s caught your eye. No one would blame you if it was one of Deborah Fortune’s boys. Those three are far too handsome for their own good.” She tapped a finger against her chin. “Although Jayden got married last year to a lovely girl.”

“Ariana,” Bianca confirmed. “They’re traveling while she researches a book.” It felt strange to talk about Nate’s brother and sister-in-law as if she knew them.

“Well, that’s the great thing about triplets.” The woman laughed. “We still have two of them up for grabs.” She pushed away from the counter and reached up to one of the bookshelves behind her. “I’ve got something that might come in handy for you.”

Bianca was half afraid the woman would pull out a book on spicing up a single mom’s sex life, but instead she handed Bianca a thin paperback titled Starting a Business That Stands Out.

“I ordered this when Steph Renner decided she was going to start selling her jewelry on Etsy. She’s got a steady revenue stream going now, and I’m sure she’d be willing to give you some tips if you want.”

“But I don’t have anything to sell.”

“Sure you do,” the woman countered. “If those gift boxes can sell in a boutique, they can sell online. You could create a business and still be at home with your boy.”

Bianca sucked in a breath. She’d never thought of her boxes as a viable business, but why not? If it would give her more time with EJ, she’d try anything. For the first time since she’d gotten fired, hope bloomed in her chest. Maybe she really could get her life back on track here in Paseo.

She stood and impulsively wrapped her arms around the older woman’s shoulders. “Thank you,” she whispered, “for listening and for the idea.”

“You remind me of my daughter,” the woman said, patting Bianca’s cheek. “You’re a good girl.”

“Mommy, Elmer ended.” EJ pulled off his headphones. “Can I watch another?”

“Not today, buddy.” Bianca tightened her grip on the book in her hands. “But I’m sure we’ll be back to the library to visit...”

She glanced at the woman who said, “My name’s Susan.”

“I’m Bianca. Nice to meet you.” She took EJ’s hand. “We’ll come back and visit Susan because Mommy’s going to start making the gift boxes again. I’ll need to order supplies online.”

Susan smiled. “I’ve expanded my hours now that my husband’s retired. He and I need a little space to keep our marriage happy. I’m open ten to two Monday through Thursday and from nine to four on Saturdays.”

“Well, then, I’m grateful for your happy marriage,” Bianca said and led EJ out of the RV.

She drove back from town feeling happier than she had in ages and couldn’t wait to share with Nate her plan for a new business venture. Not that she wouldn’t still pull her weight around the ranch, but the idea of having an actual career was so exciting after all the speed bumps she’d hit in the past two years.

It was nearly six before Nate’s big silver truck pulled down the driveway again. Bianca had started to think she’d really scared him away after that scene in the barn.

Had she imagined the desire in his eyes and the way he was leaning in as if to kiss her? The only man she’d been with was her ex-husband and he hadn’t been interested in her sexually since she’d gotten pregnant. So maybe she was that out of practice in reading the signs of attraction. Or perhaps she was projecting her own lust onto Nate because every time he looked at her it felt like her skin burst into flames and sparks danced across her stomach.

She’d honestly thought motherhood had sucked all the woman out of her. She hadn’t felt a yearning like she did for Nate in—well, she’d never felt anything like it.

But if he truly saw her as only Eddie’s little sister, where did that leave her? She wasn’t exactly going to throw herself at him and risk losing the second chance she had in Paseo. That didn’t stop her heart from racing as she heard the truck door slam shut.

Chapter Four

“Mr. Nate is home,” EJ shouted, jumping up from where he sat coloring at the kitchen table. He ran down the hall and a moment later reappeared, holding tight to Nate’s hand as he peppered the handsome rancher with questions about his day.

“Something smells great in here,” Nate said, his smile making Bianca’s heart beat even faster.

“It’s dinner,” she said. “I hope you like stir-fry.”

He chuckled. “I like anything I don’t have to cook. Do I have time to take care of a couple things in the barn? The day got away from me.”

“I can help,” EJ told him, tugging on his hand.

“Sure,” Bianca said. “When would you like to eat?”

“Twenty minutes?”

“I’ll have it ready.”

“Mommy’s making fried rice,” EJ announced. “Even the vegetables taste good.”

“I can’t wait to try it.”

“It’s nothing special,” Bianca said quickly. “An easy midweek meal.”

Nate studied her for a moment, then said in his deep, rumbling voice, “It’s special.”

He and EJ headed for the barn. Bianca adjusted the stove’s temperature to low, set the small farmhouse table with three place settings, then impulsively ran upstairs and dabbed a light coat of gloss on her lips. She pulled her hair out of its ponytail and ran a brush through it as she studied her reflection in the mirror over the bathroom sink.

Was it too much to leave it down? Did she look like she was trying too hard? Of course she was trying too hard. Any woman in her right mind would try to impress a man like Nate. She grabbed a jeweled clip out of her toiletries bag and fastened it at the back of her head, figuring hair half up and half down was a good compromise. She was trying but not too hard, if that was an option.

She hurried back downstairs just as Nate and EJ returned to the house. EJ was still talking a mile a minute, but Nate paused in the doorway to the kitchen, his eyes darkening as he took her in. Clearly he appreciated the small effort she’d made. Feeling like a teenage girl again, she gave her hair a gentle toss over one shoulder, gratified when his lips parted and he simply stared at her.

“Hi,” she said, her voice a little breathless.

“Hi,” he answered, removing his Stetson and setting it on the kitchen counter.

They stared at each other for several seconds until EJ shouted, “I’m hungry, Mommy.”

“Wash your hands,” she told him, quickly moving to the stove.

“Would you like something to drink with dinner?” Nate rubbed a hand against the back of his neck. “Not sure there’s any wine in the house, but I’ve got beer.”

“A beer would be great. Thank you.”

With Nate’s big presence in the kitchen, the space felt smaller—more intimate. It felt like a real family dinner, something simple but an activity Bianca had always craved. She loved the normalcy of it.

“This is a real treat,” Nate said as he sat down at the table.

“It’s the least I can do,” she told him and dished out a generous amount of rice and chicken onto his plate.

“EJ told me you went to town today. Paseo must seem like a speck on the map compared to what you’re used to in San Antonio.”

“It’s a nice change,” she said, taking a seat across the table from him.

“Really?” He took a long pull on his beer. “Your brother liked to say that Paseo was a half-a-horse town because there wasn’t enough room for a full horse.”

She smiled. “He made the worst jokes.”

“He cracked himself up every time, though.” Nate forked up a big bite of chicken. “This is unbelievable,” he said after swallowing. “It’s like real Chinese food.”

“I can’t tell if that’s actually a compliment,” Bianca said with a laugh.

“It’s amazing,” he clarified. “Best I’ve ever had.”

“Mommy’s a good cook,” EJ announced. “Even though she couldn’t find the targreron.” He stumbled over the last word.

“I’d planned to roast the chicken,” she explained when Nate threw her a questioning look. “But they didn’t have tarragon at the local market and there’s none in your spice cabinet. Stir-fry was my backup plan.”

“Hold that thought,” Nate said, and pushed back from the table. He walked into the hallway, where Bianca could hear him rummaging through a closet.

“Found it,” he announced, and returned with a small camo knapsack rolled tight. “I don’t know if the spices are still fresh, but we have tarragon.”

“That’s the care package I sent to Eddie on his final deployment.” She frowned. “No, that’s the second one I sent. He wrote and told me he lost the first, but I couldn’t find the material I’d used for it so I made that knapsack out of a camo vest I bought at a local thrift store. I forgot that I’d included tarragon along with the basic spices. Eddie loved the licorice flavor.”

Nate put the sack down on the kitchen table, looking a little sheepish. “Eddie was the envy of all of us with these little tubes of spices.” He unrolled the sack to reveal a row of test tubes, each filled and labeled with a different type of spice. Bianca had gotten the idea for it after Eddie’d complained so bitterly about the bland navy food. “Turns out one of the guys from the squadron had taken the first one you sent. He ended up returning it but not before Eddie had asked you for another. He gave the second package to me for my birthday.” He ran his fingers over the labels on the front of each tube. “It was my most prized possession when we were deployed.”

“Really?”

Nate nodded. “I’m not a picky eater, but it gets old when every meal starts to taste the same week after week. These spices were a reminder of home, and that somebody cared.”

Conflicting emotions unfurled in Bianca’s chest, happiness at knowing her gift had meant something to her brother tinged with the familiar ache of missing him.

“You should sell those, too, Mommy.” EJ looked at her matter-of-factly. “If Uncle Eddie and Mr. Nate liked them so much, other soldiers would, too.”

“That’s a heck of an idea, buddy,” Bianca murmured, staring at her son in wide-eyed wonder. As they were driving back to the ranch, she’d told EJ about her conversation with Susan the librarian. That was the thing about being a family of two. EJ might be only four, but he was Bianca’s constant companion and often her first sounding board. She tried not to burden him with her stresses, but he’d been as excited as she was at the prospect of a business that would allow her to work from home.

“What else are you selling?” Nate looked confused.

“I haven’t had a chance to tell you about my visit with Susan at the library,” she said.

“I’m done, Mommy,” EJ interrupted, shoveling the last bite of food into his mouth. “Can I go out to the pasture and see if the horses are still eating their hay?”

She let out a small laugh. “Mr. Nate and I have barely started eating. How can you be done already?”

“I was chewing while you talked,” EJ answered with a shrug. “I chew fast.”

“You do everything fast.” Bianca used her napkin to wipe a stray piece of rice from EJ’s chin. “Are you sure you don’t want to sit here and visit with Mr. Nate while he eats?”

“Nope. I want to visit the horses.”

She glanced at Nate, who nodded. “Take your plate and glass over to the sink first,” she told her son, who scrambled off his seat to obey.

She took another bite as EJ ran from the room.

“He’s sure taken to ranch life,” Nate said, humor lacing his tone.

“It’s okay for him to be out there by himself?” Bianca asked. “I kept him close to me this afternoon. Horses aren’t really my thing.”

Nate nodded. “He’ll be fine, and I’ll check on him when we’re finished. This truly is the best food I’ve had in ages.”

“I’m glad you like it. I’ve got meals planned through the weekend.”

“You don’t have to cook for me.”

“I want to,” she told him honestly. “I like sharing a meal, and it’s the least I can do to thank you for letting us stay here.”

“You don’t owe me—”

She held up a hand. “I do, Nate. I want to pull my weight around the ranch. EJ’s not the only one who can help.”

“I appreciate that. Tell me more about your visit to the library.”

“It started because I got an email from the man I used to work for.” She grimaced, then added, “The one who fired me.”

To her surprise, Nate didn’t look shocked at the news. “EJ told me you lost your job because of him.”

His words were a sharp stab to her chest. “I didn’t realize he understood that.” She sighed. “I guess I didn’t do as good of a job hiding it as I thought. The bottom line is, EJ was sick and the shop owner didn’t like that I took time off work to be with him.”

“Of course you took time off. You’re his mother.”

She smiled at his matter-of-fact tone. “You sound a lot like Susan at the library. I’m starting to think I could get used to small-town life.”

“It doesn’t take a million people living in a place to understand what really matters.”

“Sometimes all it takes is one,” she agreed. “Especially for a mother. Anyway, the boutique owner is upset because he’s sold out of the birthday and special occasion gift boxes I made to sell in the store. Susan suggested I look into starting my own business, maybe something online like Etsy or supplying them to other shops around the state.” She tapped a finger against her cheek. “I might even focus on gifts for military families to send overseas. I could add the little spice packs to the mix. They weren’t difficult to put together and if they were so popular—”

“You can’t understand unless you’ve lived on a carrier for months at a time.” Nate grinned, as if remembering. “What about those shampoo bars? Or the homemade lip balm? Whenever a package came for Eddie, we all hung around to see what he’d gotten. He’d show off whatever you sent, mainly to make the rest of us jealous.”

“Really?” Pride bubbled up inside her at the thought. She’d missed her older brother so much when he was away and had taken to creating products she thought he could use to keep from getting lonely. “I figured Eddie and his navy buddies thought I was just a silly girl with too much time on her hands.”

“He did get some major grief when you went through your boy band phase.”

“Oh, my gosh.” Bianca covered her face with her hands. “I forgot about that. I used to cut out pictures of all the celebrities I was crushing on and send collages to Eddie. I’d spray them with perfume.”

“A lot of it,” Nate said with a chuckle. “It amazed me your letters arrived still scented, like they’d been dipped in a vat of perfume.”

“The funniest part was Eddie used to write me back like he knew stuff about the guys in the photos.”

“That’s because he did,” Nate explained. “Whenever we were in a place with internet access, he’d troll the gossip sites so he’d have something to add to his letters to you.”

Bianca’s heart pinged in her chest. She could just imagine her bad-to-the-bone brother, who favored pounding heavy metal music, doing research on the latest boy band craze to make her happy.

“I miss him so much,” she whispered.

“I know.” Nate reached across the table and took her hand. “He’d be proud of the woman you’ve become, Busy Bee. You’re a great mother, and I’m glad Susan gave you the idea of starting your own business. You’re smart and creative and I bet you can make a success of anything you set your mind to.”

Tears sprang to her eyes as she pushed away from the table, making a show of clearing plates. Gripping the edge of the counter in front of the sink, she blinked and tried to pull herself together. A few kind words and Nate had all but reduced her to a puddle on the floor. But how long had it been since anyone believed in her?

Even in the best of times during their relationship, Brett had brushed off her creativity as nothing more than a waste of time and money. Her mother, too, complained about Bianca’s crafting supplies taking up too much space in their small apartment when she’d still lived at home.

She’d had no idea that Eddie had so much invested in the care packages she’d sent him. Her brother loved her and would have done anything for her, but he’d been a consummate career military man—the strong and silent type. He’d always been the one to take care of her. Bianca had never had a reason to believe she could truly make something of herself.