turned his attention back to the computer. “If you’d rather not say, that’s fine. I really don’t know them that well. If you think about it, my brother is married to your sister. So, really, there’s as much of a connection between us as there is between the Fortunes and me.”
She might have taken offense to that remark if he hadn’t raised his brows and smiled at her in a way that sent ribbons of awareness fluttering in her stomach.
Zoe remembered the first time she’d met Joaquin. It was last year at Rachel’s wedding. She’d been the maid of honor and Joaquin had been Matteo’s best man. She guessed the special honor had been bestowed upon him because he was the oldest of his siblings. She wondered how he felt being the eldest and having three of his four younger siblings married before him. She knew about his family because she’d pumped her own sister for information. Then again, the order in which siblings married didn’t seem to bother guys.
All she knew was that she was glad she was one of the youngest of her clan because there seemed to be something in the water in Austin, too. In addition to Rachel getting married last year, her brothers Ben and Wes had meet their soul mates this year and were living their very own happily-ever-afters.
At the rate she was going she might end up being the spinster sister, or at least the last one married. Her gaze swept over Joaquin’s perfect profile and her stomach performed that somersault that was becoming all too familiar when she saw him.
“Were there any Fortunes in Miami?”
He shook his head.
“Not to my knowledge. It seems like this is bothering you a bit more than you’re admitting. Sure you don’t want to talk about it?”
As she looked into his eyes all she could think of was how much she’d love to talk to him about anything. Shoot, she’d even be happy sitting there discussing the complicated gibberish on the computer screen. Then again, she’d do more listening than talking since she knew so little about it.
“Can you keep a secret?” she asked.
He looked at her warily. “If this is something you shouldn’t be telling me, then maybe you shouldn’t.”
“No, it’s not really a secret. I mean, not one that shouldn’t be told. If it was, I wouldn’t talk about it. I guess what I was trying to ask is that you keep it between you and me. Of course, it’s not as if you’d tell anyone here. You don’t seem the type to engage in office gossip.”
He chuckled. “No, gossip isn’t really my thing.”
He had turned his full attention on her now. As he sipped his coffee, watching her over the cup, her mouth went a little dry.
She followed suit and took a sip of her coffee before speaking. “All right. So, get this. My siblings have latched on to the absurd notion that my father is somehow related to the Fortunes.”
Joaquin squinted at her, looking as confused as Zoe had felt when she’d first heard the news.
“Is he?” Joaquin asked. “It’s a huge family. There are branches all over the place. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were Fortunes in Austin.”
“There aren’t. I mean, at least there aren’t any Fortune bloodlines tied to the Robinson family. My father has made that perfectly clear. I don’t completely understand where my brothers and sisters got this notion, but I think they should drop the issue since our father has asked them to.”
“But they keep pushing?”
“Right. My brother Ben went as far as tracking down a woman named Jacqueline Fortune. He’s convinced that she is our long-lost grandmother. But get this. She had one son named Jerome—Jerome, not Gerald, mind you—and when Ben asked her about him, she told him that her son, Jerome, was dead. She said he died decades ago. But do you think that stopped Ben from moving ahead with this weird crusade? No, he just keeps pushing and pushing and hitting dead end after dead end. He thinks Jacqueline Fortune is mistaken.”
Not only did Joaquin knit his gorgeous brows, he flinched at the notion.
“What?” he said. “Wouldn’t a mother know if her son died?”
“I know, right? Apparently, Ben located Jacqueline in a memory-care unit of a nursing home. I think she is suffering from some form of dementia.”
Joaquin was a good listener and Zoe appreciated it. He drew in a breath the way people do when they’re weighing whether or not to say something.
When he didn’t speak, Zoe asked, “What?”
“I can see that you are one hundred percent convinced that your father is telling the truth. But I still don’t understand why you are asking me about the Fortunes.”
“I’m not trying to dig up more evidence, if that’s what you’re getting at.”
“No, of course not.”
Zoe shrugged. “I guess I’m just curious. But, you know, let’s just say even on the very far-flung chance my father was related to the Fortunes and for some reason he wanted to keep it from us... A—why would he hire you with your connection to that family? And, B—I mean, he’s clearly made a new life for himself and he’s asked his kids to drop it. I don’t see why they’re going against his wishes, continuing to doubt him and trying to dig up new evidence that proves he’s lying. If he says he’s not a Fortune, I think the family should respect that and leave the past in the past. What difference does it make who he used to be?”
As Joaquin sat back in his chair, his eyes darkened a shade.
“Are you asking my opinion or are those rhetorical questions?” he said.
“I’d love to hear your opinion,” Zoe said.
Joaquin took in a breath and let it out slowly, as if weighing his words. “Personally, I believe a family has a right to know their roots and where they came from, even if one person thinks he has a good reason for hiding the information. I think it’s better to get everything out into the open.”
Now there was a faraway look in Joaquin’s eyes. His expression and his words hinted that there might be something personal going on there.
“You sound like you’re speaking from experience,” she ventured.
“Me?” He shook his head. “We’re not talking about me. I’m just saying I believe it’s not right to withhold important information like that.”
For a moment he looked as if he was going to add something, but the moment came and went. Instead he said, “I also think it’s nice the way you look out for your father. Everything else aside, your dad must have done something very right to raise a daughter like you.”
Her heart did a strange little cha-cha-cha in her chest. Had Joaquin just complimented her? Maybe this thing she felt for him wasn’t hopeless, after all.
* * *
Friday morning Joaquin arrived at Cowboy Country USA, a Western-themed amusement park that had opened a year ago in Horseback Hollow, ready to meet his coworkers at the Sagebrush Pavilion inside the park.
He’d
