LITMIR.BIZ

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mood lifted. “Pops would’ve liked to hear the news.”

      “He knows, Reese. He’s overseeing our operation from up above.”

      “Yeah.”

      Reese had ridden the rodeo circuit to sustain his dream, using his winnings to help finance his venture as a wildcatter. He’d worked long and hard coming up with nothing but dry holes his first three years. The standing joke was that he couldn’t find oil in a gas station. But then his luck changed and his rigs started paying off. He became a respected oilman, hitting five straight blowouts that year, and his success continued to mount every year, his ratio of blowouts to dry holes ten to one. It hadn’t taken him long to form his own company—Parker Explorations being one of the most prosperous oil companies in Montana.

      “Thanks for the call, Garrett. I’ll be dreaming of black gold.”

      “You’re going to need it with that house you’re building.”

      Reese agreed. “Yeah, it’s a money pit, but it’ll be perfect when I’m through.”

      “Perfection has its drawbacks at times.”

      How well he knew that. At one time he’d thought he’d found the perfect woman, the perfect wife. They were to have the perfect life. Eliza had crushed that idea and left him a broken man. It had taken him a long time to dig himself out of that hole. But now he was back on top and nothing was going to stop him. He had the perfect plan for getting back at his wife.

      “Yeah, but when you get it right, there’s nothing that compares to it.”

      Two

      “Here are the books you requested, ma’am.” Ivy Woodhouse, the Fortunes’ chef, handed Eliza three cookbooks as she sat in the great room just off the kitchen. “Are you sure you don’t need my help for that special meal you’re cooking tonight?”

      Eliza glanced up at Ivy. “No, but thank you for the offer. I plan on doing this myself,” she said.

      Even if it kills me, she thought. She couldn’t risk having the cook or anyone else around when Reese came over tonight. “In fact, since my father and Patricia won’t be home this evening, why don’t you take the night off.”

      Ivy’s brows rose in surprise and she paused briefly before answering. “Thank you. Shall I set the table for you, miss?”

      “I’ll take care of it. Enjoy the night off, Ivy,” she said as the cook thanked her again and left the room.

      Eliza leaned back against the sofa, planning her dinner outside on the veranda, where no one would bother them. She remembered the chills she’d experienced last night when Reese had joined her on the hotel terrace. Most of what she’d felt had little to do with the weather. She’d been shocked and then angered by his appearance, which she believed was the exact reaction he’d wanted from her. He’d made her darn uncomfortable last night.

      Now she had the chance to return the favor. If she could make Reese uncomfortable enough, maybe the evening would end quickly. She’d be willing to endure a slight frost to get rid of Reese. His presence here in Sioux Falls made her jumpy, but having him show up at her home tonight could surely do her in.

      As luck would have it, her father and stepmother had dinner plans this evening. As for the rest of the family…hopefully they wouldn’t make an appearance, either.

      Eliza opened a cookbook and began flipping pages.

      Her father took a seat in his wide velvet-tufted wing chair, facing her. “Good morning, honey.”

      Eliza lifted her face and smiled. “Hi, Dad.”

      Nash Fortune, never one to miss a sign, sent a worried look her way. “Tired today?”

      “Not really,” she said, telling a little fib. She’d spent a restless night worrying about what Reese’s appearance in Sioux Falls might mean, and she feared the lying would only continue.

      “You worked very hard last night, Eliza. The fund-raiser was a huge success. And, as a father, I couldn’t be more proud of what you managed to accomplish.”

      “Thanks, Dad, but it wasn’t all me. I had a great deal of help and—”

      “And you’re the one with the ideas, the guts to pull it together, to make it all work, right down to the final dotting of the i’s and crossing of the t’s. I understand you’ve outdone yourself this year, bringing in more money than the museum had ever hoped.”

      “Yes, I’m happy we raised the funds they needed for the repairs.”

      “The gentleman who bid on your dinner put you over the top.”

      Eliza slammed the cookbook closed, took a deep breath, then nodded.

      “Do you know who he is? Where he’s from?”

      Eliza’s heart raced with dread and she cursed Reese for putting her in this position. Her mind fumbled around for just the right words. “Montana, I believe. He’s passing through Sioux Falls.”

      “Just passing through?” Her father scratched his head, then furrowed his brows in a gesture Eliza knew so well. When Nash Fortune wasn’t buying something, he couldn’t hide the expression on his face. His instincts were usually right on, but the man didn’t have a poker face. “Why would he donate so much money if he had no stock in Sioux Falls? No one I questioned seemed to know.”

      Eliza clenched her teeth. Her father had asked people about Reese Parker? “It’s a good tax deduction,” she said, keeping her comments noncommittal, “and a wonderful cause, Dad. Maybe he’s generous by nature.”

      He didn’t seem convinced. “I suppose. Too bad I won’t be meeting him tonight. Patricia’s been a little down lately, so I thought a romantic dinner for two at her favorite restaurant would help lift her spirits.”

      “Patricia mentioned that you wouldn’t be home tonight for dinner. I think she’s excited about some alone time with you.”

      Eliza envied the love her father and Patricia shared. He was devoted to her. And after losing Elizabeth—Eliza’s mother—early in life, he’d rebounded with a disastrous marriage to Trina Watters before finding true love again with Patricia. Eliza had once thought she’d found that same kind of love, but nothing with Reese had worked out as she’d hoped.

      Her father glanced down at the cookbook still in her lap. “So what kind of fabulous meal are you planning for tonight?”

      “Don’t say fabulous and meal in the same sentence when you’re talking about me. I’ll be lucky if I don’t poison the man.”

      Now, there’s a thought.

      Her father’s lips twitched, but he didn’t comment any further. Nash Fortune was a wonderful husband to his wife and a caring father to Eliza, but he never showed her much outward affection. She knew her father loved her, but he’d also held high expectations for all his children. Case, Creed and Eliza all did their best never to disappoint him. They’d wanted his approval as much as his love. But Blake and Skylar, her half brother and half sister, were a different matter.

      And now, with Reese Parker on the scene, the truth of her six-year secret marriage might hurt her family, disappoint her father and splash unfavorable headlines in the newspapers about the Fortune name.

      Eliza shoved that thought aside and instead focused on something else. “Was my mother a good cook?”

      Her father stared off for a moment as if reliving another time in his life. When he spoke, his voice broke with a certain reverence mingled with pain. “Your mother was good at everything she did….”

      Eliza listened carefully, noting the momentary win-some look on her father’s face. It was an expression she’d seldom witnessed.

      “Except cooking,” he finished.

      She released an amused

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