she opted for something that stayed on neutral territory to warm up the conversation.
“What did you decide about the Cowboy Country trip?” she asked. “Are you going?”
“Actually, I think I will.”
“Really? Are you just trying to get Steffi-Anne off your back? The woman doesn’t like to take no for an answer, does she? You’d think it was her own personal party.”
“I don’t know about that,” he said. “But I have family in Horseback Hollow and I figured it would be a good chance to visit. But instead of riding the bus with everyone and staying with the group on Thursday, I think I’ll drive down on my own and stay with my dad. I’ll miss the dinner Thursday evening, but I’ll catch up with everyone Friday.”
“That’s right. You lived in Horseback Hollow before you moved here, didn’t you?”
“I’m from Miami, originally. I only lived there for a few months to be with my family before I moved here. Horseback Hollow was a little too sleepy for me.”
He had a point. It probably was dull when compared to Miami. Even Austin had a different feel than South Florida. Granted, there was a lot more going on in Austin than in Horseback Hollow; Austin was edgy while Miami had more of a sultry, sexy feel.
Yes, sexy, sultry, like Joaquin Mendoza. With those brown bedroom eyes, he could’ve been the poster boy for everything that was exciting about Miami. She was certainly glad he’d brought that excitement into her world.
Her stomach fluttered.
Yes, she was very glad he was here now. Maybe if he continued to help with projects like this website, her father would find a permanent position for him after Joaquin had completed his temporary assignment. Then he could move here full-time.
“How do you like Austin?” she asked.
He shrugged, but just barely because his full concentration seemed to be focused on the computer screen.
“So far, so good.”
Okay, that was a little noncommittal. His expression and body language were a little aloof. And he’d given a closed answer.
Maybe she should move on to another topic?
Horseback Hollow was too sleepy for him. He’d gone there to be closer to his family. She liked that. Family was everything to her, even if her siblings could be a little overbearing sometimes.
Like the way her older brother Ben had been harping on the fact that several members of the illustrious Fortune family lived in Horseback Hollow. He was obsessed with the Fortunes and the absurd notion that their own father was related to them. Between Ben and her sister Rachel who lived in Horseback Hollow, they’d managed to get their sisters and brothers on the bandwagon, too. It was causing a lot of strain with their father, who insisted there wasn’t a drop of Fortune blood in his veins.
Even though Zoe was firmly on her father’s side and respected his word that he wasn’t related to the distinguished clan, she still thought it would be interesting to see what Joaquin had to say about them.
“So you know the Fortune family, don’t you?” Zoe asked. “I mean you have a connection to them, right?”
He looked at her for a moment as if he were trying to read her.
“It’s a huge clan, but I do know some of them since my brother Cisco is married to Delaney Fortune Jones, and my sister, Gabriella, is married to Jude Fortune Jones. But, honestly, I haven’t spent much time around them. Why do you ask?”
Her stomach clenched and she suddenly regretted bringing up the subject. Still, she had, so she felt as if she owed him some sort of explanation.
“The Fortune name has been bandied about quite a bit these days among my family.”
“Really? How come?”
Zoe sighed. “It’s a long, complicated story.”
Joaquin 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