LITMIR.BIZ

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his jeans. Just lowered them and—did it. It hurt at first, and then the pain eased, and it was all over.

      But…it couldn’t be. Surely there was more to sex than…than that.

      Holden lay on top of her, very still, breathing deeply and steadily. Lucinda shook him. “Holden?” He didn’t respond and tears welled up in her eyes. “Holden, please…”

      He grumbled and rolled off her. A glance at his face made her realize that he was out cold, and no amount of shaking or pleading would wake him up. She dragged the stained sheet out from under him, wrapped herself in it, snatched up her clothes and ran into the bathroom attached to his bedroom, slamming the door behind her. It had been awful. Embarrassing, humiliating, and awful.

      She cried for a few minutes. Then told herself to stop it. She’d wanted this. And…and it was worth it. Maybe. After all, being Holden Fortune’s girlfriend was all she’d dreamed about for a long time now. Well, almost all. She dreamed about being a doctor, too, ever since her mom died five years ago. Now, one of those dreams…had come true. Taking a breath, sighing deeply, she dried her tears, and turned on the water. By the time she got herself cleaned up and dressed, she was feeling a little bit better about what had happened between her and Holden tonight. There had been no tenderness…but that was only because he’d been drinking. Tomorrow, everything would be different. Tomorrow…

      She crept back into the bedroom and bent over him to plant a gentle kiss on his cheek. “I love you, Holden Fortune,” she whispered. “I’ll love you forever.” Then she hurried through the huge house, back to the front door, all without meeting anyone, and drove home floating on a cloud. So what if it was a rather dark, ominous-looking cloud? It would look brighter tomorrow.

      Holden didn’t call in the morning to offer her a ride to school. She’d expected him to, but she battled the disappointment by telling herself he might be sick from all that liquor and was maybe just sleeping it off.

      But when she got off the bus at school, she looked up to see Holden’s shiny red Corvette pulling in. Both doors opened at once. Holden hopped out of one door, smiling. Tiffany Lambert came out the other door. They met in the front, and Holden put his arm around her.

      Lucinda just stood there on the sidewalk, staring until there was too much moisture in her eyes to see through as the two of them walked toward her, arm in arm. She couldn’t move. The pain in her chest was too big, choking her. She could barely even breathe.

      “Hey, Lucy,” Holden said.

      Lucinda blinked the stinging tears from her eyes. She wanted to run. But instead she just stood there and said, “Hi.”

      “Thanks for the ride home last night. You really pulled my fat out of the fire.”

      “No problem,” she managed to choke out.

      “I hope I wasn’t an idiot.”

      She only frowned at him, not sure what to say, how to act.

      “I mean, I was pretty wasted. I don’t remember a damn thing after getting into the car.”

      She blinked, and rasped, “You…you don’t?”

      “Total blackout,” he said. “Anyway, thanks. If you ever need a favor, you know who to ask, okay?”

      She lowered her head as fresh tears came flooding from nowhere. “Yeah. Sure.”

      “Come on, Holden. You promised me a doughnut in the cafeteria before homeroom,” Tiffany teased in that voice of hers that could make even the most mundane statement sound like a come-on. And then the two walked away.

      Just walked away.

      Lucinda ran for the nearest girls’ room, where she threw up. Then she just sank down onto the floor, pulled her knees to her chest, and cried.

      She was still there when the school nurse came looking an hour later. She spent the rest of that day at home in bed, wondering if she would ever recover from the mess Holden Fortune had made of her heart.

      It was several weeks later when she realized the damage Holden had done had not been to her heart alone. When she collapsed in agonizing pain and was rushed to the hospital, bleeding uncontrollably. When she awoke from emergency surgery, sore and groggy and confused. When the doctor told her the pregnancy had been ectopic—that the fetus had been growing in her fallopian tube, and the tube had ruptured. That one of her ovaries had had to be removed to save her life. That her chances of conceiving a child in the future were cut in half.

      She lay there in the hospital bed, in pain, afraid, and for the most part, alone. Oh, her father was there, but he’d been distant since her mother had died. He asked no questions, demanded no explanations. Just stayed by her side, looking heartbroken.

      And all the while, Lucinda thought, Holden was out there somewhere, driving around in his expensive car with his pretty girlfriend, spending his father’s money as if there were no tomorrow. That night with him had changed her life forever. But he was so wrapped up in himself that he didn’t even know it. He didn’t even remember….

      She would hate Holden Fortune for as long as she lived.

      One

      The Fortune Family’s Double Crown Ranch, June 1999

      Everyone was here for the party. Holden, looking angry about something—and without a woman on his arm for once. He must really be out of sorts. Matthew and Claudia, beaming with pride over their child. And why not? Bryan Fortune was lucky, born into billions, with half the county here to celebrate his christening. Even that snooty OB-GYN who’d delivered him was here. Lucinda whatever her name was.

      Maria Cassidy used the back door. “The servants’ entrance,” though the phony Fortune family would never be heard referring to it that way. It was how they thought of it, though. Oh, they put on a good show. But that’s all it was. A show. The way the Fortune men had used Maria’s mother, Lily, and then tossed her aside was proof of that. The way Ryan Fortune was still using her. But Ryan’s guise as the kindly patriarch didn’t fool Maria. Nor did his claim to be madly in love with her mother. If he’d loved her, he would never have dumped her thirty years ago, leaving her alone and pregnant.

      He’d fathered Maria’s brother, Cole. Him, or that philandering brother of his, Cameron. Maria couldn’t be certain. Her mother refused to say exactly what had happened when she’d worked in the Fortunes’ household as a girl. She hadn’t told anyone, not even Ryan, whom she’d “found again” after thirty years. None of the Fortunes knew about the crown-shaped birthmark Maria’s brother bore, identifying him clearly as one of their own. And Cole said he didn’t care.

      But Maria cared. Part of the Fortunes’ wealth rightfully belonged to her family. To her mother for years of suffering and silence. To her brother who’d been denied his share. Cameron and Ryan Fortune were to blame, she was certain, for her family being cut out. But Cameron was already dead, and burning in hell if there was any justice in the world. And Ryan…he would soon be in a hell of his own, a hell of Maria’s creation. And his whole rich family would be there with him.

      Maria clutched the tiny bundle in her arms closer, jiggling him gently as she slipped past the kitchen unnoticed. Little James was blessedly quiet. Good. She didn’t want to spoil her surprise by giving it away too soon. In the kitchen, that witch housekeeper, Rosita Perez, made enough noise to cover any James might make anyway. Barking orders to the staff as if she were one of the Fortunes. She’d never liked Maria. Always acted superior, even though she was just a glorified maid. Chief cook and bottle washer to the great Fortune clan. Had been forever, even thirty years ago when Maria’s mother had worked in this very house, in that very kitchen. And one year ago, when Maria had done the same.

      Just like her mother, Maria had managed to sleep with a couple of Fortune males. Unlike her mother, she’d had a motive…to bear a Fortune child of her own and claim what her entire family should have claimed long ago. A fair share. And though Maria’s attempts had been unsuccessful at first, she’d

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