that included all her brothers and sisters. With their busy lives taking them in all directions her whole family wasn’t often together. But this particular photo had been taken at their parents’ twenty-fifth wedding anniversary and everyone, including Charlotte and Gerald, looked happy. Yet that had been eleven years ago, long before anyone knew about Gerald’s hidden identity or his affairs.
A year ago, her older brother, Ben, had been instrumental in uncovering the truth. Their forceful father, one of the most famous tech moguls in the world, wasn’t really Gerald Robinson. He was Jerome Fortune, a member of the famous Fortune family. As if that wasn’t enough of a stunner, during the investigation, Ben had found a thirty-three-year-old illegitimate son of Gerald’s named Keaton Whitfield living in London.
Since that time, their newly discovered half brother had moved to Austin and started building a rapport with all his siblings. Sophie had to admit she liked Keaton and didn’t begrudge his place in the family. Yet the whole revelation of her father’s other life had shaken her to the core.
All at once she’d had to accept the fact that her father had never been the man she’d believed him to be. And as for her mother, who could possibly know why Charlotte had hung around for all these years? It sure as heck wasn’t for love as Olivia had suggested.
Face it, Sophie, your parents are phonies and so are you! The only reason you have an important position at Robinson Tech, or anything else for that matter, is because of your name. It certainly hasn’t come from your brains, or beauty, or hard work. The sooner you realize the truth, the better off you’ll be.
Disgusted with the degrading voice in her head, she put the photo back and squeezed her eyes shut.
If her parents were shams, then their marriage was even more of a joke, Sophie miserably concluded. So what did that make their children? Mere symbols of a fake love? Moreover, what did it make Sophie?
Her lips pressed into a determined line, Sophie looked over at the clothes she’d tossed onto the bed. In one aspect, Olivia had been correct. The outside of her wasn’t nearly as important as the inside. Yes, she wanted to look just as attractive as her sisters and all the other beautiful women of Austin. But she also wanted everyone to see she was more than just the youngest child of a famous and wealthy family. And she was hardly a fool for wanting the same genuine sort of love that her siblings Ben, Wes, Graham, Rachel and Zoe had found, she thought.
By Valentine’s Day, Thom was going to see she was worthy of him. And then everything she’d ever wanted in her life was going to fall into place.
“They make a nice-looking couple. The office heartthrob and the boss’s daughter. Can you think of a more perfect pairing than that?”
“Yeah, about a million of them,” Mason muttered under his breath.
“What did you say?”
Mason forced his gaze away from Sophie and Thom, who were sitting together at the far end of a long utility table. In the past year he could count on one hand the times he’d seen Thom taking midafternoon coffee in the second floor breakroom. Which could only mean that Sophie had gone to work on her plan and persuaded him to join her.
Mason looked over at the platinum-haired woman sitting next to him. Nadine had been working in the programming department for many years, long before Mason had ever taken a job at Robinson Tech. Divorced and somewhere in her forties, she pushed the envelope of the company’s dress code, but her flamboyant appearance belied her shrewd mind. Even though Mason had graduated in the top half of his college class, he didn’t possess half the knowledge about programming that Nadine held in that sassy head of hers.
“I said they’re all wrong for each other. Totally wrong.”
Nadine turned a frown on Mason. “You don’t say? How did you come to that conclusion?”
Mason squeezed the foam cup of cold coffee so hard it nearly collapsed in his hand. “It should be obvious,” he said. “Everyone in this building knows he’s a player.”
Nadine shrugged. “So? Maybe that doesn’t bother Sophie. Besides, when I called them a couple I didn’t mean it literally. Geez, Mason, lighten up. The two of them are merely having coffee together. Not discussing their marriage vows.”
If Nadine had heard Sophie talking last night about snaring Mr. Right, she wouldn’t be making light of the situation. Couldn’t Nadine see how Sophie was leaning her head toward Thom’s and smiling at him like he was the last male on earth? It was more than obvious that she was on a serious mission to catch Thom Nichols. And what was even clearer was that Mason couldn’t just sit around and watch himself lose the lady of his dreams to a no-good womanizer.
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Mason muttered as he studied Sophie from the corner of his eye. Today she was wearing a short black dress that resembled a sweater. The fabric outlined her petite curves while black suede boots with chunky heels fit snugly around her shapely calves. A pink-and-black printed scarf hung around her neck, as did dangling jet bead earrings. She looked more than lovely, he decided. She looked downright sexy. And the fact that it was Thom who, at the moment, was receiving her undivided attention clawed jealously at Mason.
“Why, Mason Montgomery, I do believe I hear a green streak in your voice,” Nadine declared. “Are you interested in Sophie Robinson?”
“Fortune Robinson,” he corrected. “Remember? The family discovered they’re actually a part of Kate Fortune’s bunch. You know—the famous cosmetic heiress.”
Nadine nodded. “I remember about a year ago when the news came out about Gerald. But I keep forgetting about the kids tacking on the Fortune name.” Pausing, she clicked her tongue. “Poor little Sophie. She’s such a sweet girl. It must’ve been hard on her—learning all that scandalous stuff about her father.”
Mason could hardly imagine how it would feel to learn your father was actually someone you never knew. His own dad was a hard working pipeline technician for a gas and oil company in San Antonio. Hadley Montgomery had always been a strong anchor for Mason and his two older brothers. Finding out he’d had a secret life would shake the very ground Mason walked on.
“I imagine Sophie and her siblings have tried to keep a stiff upper lip through all of it,” Mason replied. “After all, they can’t help what their father has done.”
Mason suddenly heard Sophie’s light laugh at the far end of the table. The happy sound cut straight through him and he wondered if he was destined to become a fool over women. It hadn’t been that long ago that Melody had broken his heart by deserting him for another man. He was an idiot for thinking things could be different with Sophie. She was already so besotted with Thom Nichols it was like she was wearing blinders.
Nadine’s shrewd chuckle momentarily distracted him. “Well, the revelation about Gerald most likely made all the siblings richer than they were already. Can you imagine how it must feel to have that sort of wealth? They’ll never have to worry about paying a utility bill or wondering if they can afford to eat more than macaroni and cheese for supper.”
Along with her crush on Thom Nichols, Sophie’s wealth was one more wall standing between them. But Mason was determined to knock down those obstacles and clear the path for a chance with her.
“Sophie might be filthy rich, but she’s not a snob. She works very hard.”
Nadine
