Barbara Boswell - Stand-In Bride

Julia nodded her understanding. Everybody who worked for the company knew that Nate Fortune was fiercely competitive with his older brother, Jake, and that the brothers’ relationship had long been strained as a result. Sadly, their mother’s death had driven them further apart, rather than bringing them closer in mourning.

The sudden death of Kate Fortune, the seventy-one-year-old matriarch, had impacted sharply on everybody connected to either the Fortune family or the company. In the public arena, Kate’s unexpected death and the subsequent reorganization of the company had caused stock prices to tip alarmingly, and privately, the Fortunes were devastated by their loss.

Julia had learned some of the details from newspapers, some from employee gossip and a few from the various Fortunes who passed through her office on their way to Michael’s.

She knew that Kate had been flying one of the family planes solo in Brazil when it crashed and burned in the rain forest. The charred remains of the wreckage had yielded one body, naturally presumed to be the pilot, Kate Fortune.

As someone intimately acquainted with the stunning grief resulting from sudden death, Julia understood exactly how the members of the Fortune family must’ve felt upon hearing that terrible news. How they still must be feeling as they struggled to reconcile themselves to life without Kate.

“I had the pleasure of meeting your grandmother several times when she came to your office,” Julia said quietly. “She was a delightful person, so warm and witty and dynamic. And what a memory she had! I think she knew the names of everybody who worked for the company, and she always had time to say something nice to us.”

“That was my grandmother, all right.” Michael smiled in reminiscence. “I, uh, I got the card you sent right after she…was lost. I appreciated the note you wrote, but I don’t think I ever thanked you for it.”

“I didn’t expect you to, I just wanted to tell you how much I admired her,” Julia murmured. “You must miss her terribly.”

“I don’t let myself dwell on it,” Michael said curtly, uncomfortable at the turn their conversation had taken. “Keeping busy is the best antidote for…” He cleared his throat and shrugged. “For…” He couldn’t bring himself to say the word.

“Grief.” Julia supplied it for him. Her heart swelled with sympathy. “Yes, work does help.”

She wasn’t about to add that talking about the lost loved one helped even more. Obviously, Michael’s style of mourning forbade such an open display of emotion. “I guess working has helped everybody in your family cope,” she added softly.

“That’s true. But unfortunately for my uncle Jake, he is currently facing another crisis that has nothing to do with losing Grandmother.”

Though Michael was rarely this forthcoming, it was a relief to talk about things that had been roiling in his mind for weeks. He felt secure in confiding in Julia. She had a proven track record of loyalty to the company and to the Fortunes.

“I’ve heard from my cousins that Jake’s marriage to Erica is on shaky ground. Their girls, Caroline and Natalie and the twins, are worried sick about their parents. Apparently, Jake’s schedule and his demands are finally taking their toll on Erica, and to make matters worse, she is suffering from a major case of the empty-nest syndrome.”

“Many women have a difficult time adjusting when their children grow up and leave home,” Julia said sympathetically.

“Not my mother. She was only too happy to have her nest all to herself. But Erica is feeling her years without them. Plus she’s spouting all this midlife-crisis stuff about not fulfilling her career ambitions, blaming Uncle Jake for her decision to drop out of college to marry him and stay home to raise children. Like he put a loaded gun to her head and made her do it!” Michael’s disparaging laugh made it very clear whose side he was on in this particular Fortune war.

“Has your aunt Erica ever considered going back to college?” Julia’s psychologist leanings made it impossible for her not to offer help. “Lots of people return to complete their education these days. I’ve read about grandparents in their seventies going for their degrees.”

“Maybe you should give Erica this pep talk,” Michael suggested drolly. “She’s fifty-two, old and fading by her standards, but still full of zest by yours.”

Julia visualized Erica Fortune, who’d always struck her as the quintessential expensively kept, country-club-executive wife. Erica was an elegant blond beauty whose classic looks were ageless. She was married to one of the wealthiest men in the state. She was a mother and grandmother, with strong and healthy progeny.

“It’s hard to imagine a woman with so much not being happy,” Julia murmured.

Michael’s lips curved into a sardonic smile. “Surely you’ve heard the famous maxim, ‘money doesn’t buy happiness’? Not to mention that other old chesnut, ‘there’s more to life than money.’ Of course, all that is heresy to my mother, who staunchly holds the opposing view.”

“There are maxims and chesnuts for that viewpoint, too. How about ‘money isn’t everything, but it sure is far ahead of whatever is in second place’?” Julia cast him a quick, bright smile.

Michael felt queerly disoriented, as if he’d been cast out of time, out of place. For one dizzying moment, he scarcely recognized the young woman at his side. He was accustomed to the calmly bland, impassive mask Julia wore at the office. But when her face was alight and lively, as it was now, she was stunningly pretty!

As if of their own volition, his eyes traveled over her, taking in the sight of her small, firmly rounded breasts bobbing softly as she ran. He realized for the first time that her office clothes were not only loose fitting, they were a downright disguise, hiding a very shapely figure. Nor did those modest, below-the-knee skirts and sensible shoes she wore to work encourage anyone to glance at her legs.

Tonight, Michael’s gaze fixated on them, as if making up for lost time. She was only of average height, about five foot four, but her legs were long and sleek and very well shaped. He stared at the bare smooth skin of her thighs and heat flooded him.

Sweat beaded his forehead and his pulses pounded. He fell several paces behind her, but that tactical retreat only gave him a clear view of the shapely curves of her buttocks. Gulping for air, he began to conjugate Spanish verbs in his head as a very necessary diversion.

When Julia realized he’d stopped running, she paused and turned, looking back at him. By that time, Michael had his unexpected and thoroughly unwelcome lusty impulses under control.

“Leg cramp,” he explained briskly, catching up to her. Well, it wasn’t too far off.

For a while, they ran side by side in a not uncomfortable silence.

Then he said, “Julia?”

“Yes?”

“I apologize for what my uncle said to you today. After Uncle Jake lets off steam, he puts the incident behind him. I hope you can forget it, too.”

“I won’t give it another thought,” Julia promised. “You seem to get along with your uncle most of the time,” she added hesitantly. She hoped she didn’t seem presumptuous, making observations about Fortune family dynamics.

“I’ve always gotten along okay with Uncle Jake, even though he blows up at me from time to time.” Michael shrugged. “He can be demanding and controlling, but I know where he’s coming from.” He smiled wryly. “I think I’m coming from the same place.”

His flash of self-awareness surprised Julia. She tried and failed to suppress a grin.

Michael noticed. “So you agree that Jake and I are cut from the same cloth, hmm?”