of her red cowboy boots to his. “Your boots aren’t even scuffed.”
“They’re new,” he argued.
“That’s the point,” she agreed.
Cisco rocked back on his heels. To Delaney’s surprise, instead of looking offended at her comments, he seemed to enjoy her remarks. “Are all the Fortunes as opinionated as you?” he asked, his smile now genuine.
“I’m sorry,” she said, surprised to realize she was. Delaney was a positive person, always wanting to see the best in people. She didn’t normally give grief to someone she’d just met. “I don’t mean to get all up in your face. My mom tells me I seem restless. Maybe that’s making me a little prickly.”
Cisco stifled a groan as he watched her take a sip of lemonade, her soft pink mouth pressing against the straw. Delaney Fortune Jones could get all up in his face anytime she wanted, he realized with a start. It was strange. Gabriella had been right—the petite blonde in front of him wasn’t his usual type. He couldn’t deny she was attractive, but it was definitely in a more wholesome way than he was used to. She wore a floral-patterned dress with a wide leather belt cinched around her tiny waist. The collar of the colorful fabric was ruffled and soft, giving him tiny glimpses of the pale skin at the base of her throat. She wore red cowboy boots but even with the heel on them, she was almost six inches shorter than him. A tiny, adorable package of a woman with her long blond braid draped over her shoulder and clear blue eyes. She looked like the kind of woman you took home for Sunday dinner, not wined and dined the way he was used to.
He knew his sister would have his head if he made any wrong moves with Delaney but he couldn’t seem to walk away. He told himself it was because he needed to reel in a Fortune for his job with Moore Entertainment. That was simpler than examining any other possibility.
“I don’t mind prickly.” He took a slow pull on his beer and let his eyes wander up and down her petite figure. “Especially not when the lady in question is as pretty as you.”
To his surprise, she poked him in the chest with one slender finger. “Don’t do that. Don’t try to smooth-talk me, Cisco Mendoza. You might be God’s gift to women but that doesn’t mean I’m practicing your particular brand of religion.”
His mouth dropped open in shock for a moment before he managed to snap it shut again. He rubbed the center of his chest and placed his beer bottle on a nearby table. It was only his second drink, but maybe the alcohol was hitting him harder than he thought. Never in his life had Cisco had a problem charming a woman. Even when he was a boy, his brothers would be angry with him for sweet-talking himself out of class assignments. The fact was Cisco had a way with the ladies, and he didn’t mind exploiting that gift when it suited him. But now he needed to get in Delaney Fortune Jones’s good graces and was making a total mess of the conversation.
He decided his only choice was to lay the truth on the line and go from there. “You are pretty,” he began, holding his hands up, palms forward, when she narrowed her eyes. Even if Delaney was immune to his charm, her natural beauty couldn’t be ignored. “But the fact is I need a Fortune. The kind with a capital F. And I need one yesterday.”
She waved toward her parents’ back patio. “There are plenty to choose from. Why is a Fortune so important to you?”
“I’m working on a business deal,” he said, giving her the truth even if it wasn’t the whole story. “I can’t share details yet, but we need investors. My bosses know I have a connection to the Fortune family through Gabriella.”
“The Fortune Jones family,” Delaney clarified. “There’s a big difference.”
“How big?”
“A-lot-of-zeros big.”
He tried not to look shocked but must have failed, because she chuckled. “James Marshall Fortune, my mother’s long-lost brother, tried to give her money, but she returned it. We Jones kids had a totally normal life here in Horseback Hollow. My dad is the best. He works hard and made sacrifices for his family, but no one in my branch of the family has the money of the Red Rock or Atlanta Fortunes. We took the Fortune name to honor my mom and her connection to her relatives, not to cash in on their wealth.”
“That’s...honorable,” Cisco told her, suddenly wishing he had done a bit more research into the Fortunes of Horseback Hollow before making promises to Cowboy Country.
“But if you need a Fortune for a meeting, I might be able to make some time in my schedule. Jude is definitely out because of calving season, even if Gabi asked him for the favor. I’m not sure any of my other siblings would be up for it. You’d be stuck with me.”
He studied her but she seemed to be sincere. “I’d be grateful.”
“I have conditions.” Delaney gave him a wide grin.
He couldn’t help but return her smile. It was infectious. “Lay them on me, cielo.”
“I want you to get your boots dirty.”
It was his turn to narrow his eyes. “What does that mean exactly?”
“Spend time with me out here. Our home is a working ranch.” She did a small twirl as her hands waved toward the expanse of fields behind the house and the large barn to one side. “I want to put you through the paces to see if you can handle what it means to be a Fortune Jones.”
The crisp, summery scent of her wafted over him as she moved. He wasn’t sure if it was her perfume or shampoo, but it made his senses reel. Cisco felt himself drifting closer to Delaney, as if pulled by an invisible thread of curiosity. She was so different from any woman he’d met before, completely authentic and pure, as if she was untainted by life. It was also obvious she loved life on the ranch. While he tried to live by his own code of right and wrong, the deals he brokered often left him walking a moral tightrope. It had been years since Cisco had felt anything close to innocent. He found that quality in Delaney intensely attractive.
But this was business, he reminded himself.
As if to drive home the point, his sister suddenly appeared at Delaney’s side.
“What are you two talking about so intently?” she asked with a bright smile for Delaney and a warning glance at Cisco.
“Delaney is going to teach me how to be a real cowboy,” Cisco told his sister.
He expected her to laugh or make a joke about how he wouldn’t be able to handle it, but she stepped forward and gave him a hug. “I think it’s a great idea.” She turned to Delaney. “It’s about time he broke a sweat in someplace other than a fancy gym.”
“You wound me,” Cisco said with a laugh. “For your information, there are plenty of times I’ve broken a sweat outside of a gym.”
Gabriella rolled her eyes when he winked. “Don’t go there, big brother.” She linked her arm in Delaney’s. “Let’s join the others. The desserts are going fast, Delaney. There’s a brownie with your name on it.”
Cisco followed the two women back toward the rest of the guests, although he realized he would have been happy to keep Delaney all to himself for a while longer. Apparently he’d have more time to spend with her as he met her criteria for taking the meeting with the executives from Cowboy Country. He just had to come up with a plan to hold them off in the meantime.
