MEET THE FORTUNES!
Fortune of the Month: Galen Fortune Jones
Age: 34
Vital Statistics: Tall, dark and muscley, heâs a fine, upstanding rancherâand stubbornly single.
Claim to Fame: The oldest of Jeanne Marie Fortuneâs seven children and possibly the sexiest boy of the bunch.
Romantic prospects: He is currently getting married to Aurora McElroy four times a day in the Wild West Wedding stage show. You tell me!
âI keep telling you, itâs all for pretend. I canât help it if people think that âRustyâ and âLilaâ look like a real couple. Iâm just doing this to help out a friend. Aurora is like my little sister. A little sister with long red hair, big blue eyes, a little bitty waist ⦠uh ⦠The other part? Agreeing to be her fake husband for a week? Iâll admit, itâs complicated. But itâs only until her college roommate leaves town. And we are not playing house. What do you mean Iâm protesting too much? Weâve known each other forever. We are just friends. I. Am. Not. Getting. Married.â
The Fortunes Of Texas: Cowboy Country Lassoing hearts from across the pond!
Chapter One
âI need you to marry me.â
The words came out of left field.
Literally.
Galen Fortune Jones stared down at Aurora McElroy. He was pretty sure the last time heâd seen his neighbor had been a few months ago. Theyâd run into each other at the Horseback Hollow feed store. There had been no romance involved, considering that at the time heâd paid more attention to helping her daddy, Walt, load up his truck, before tending to his own business there.
Now he looked from her hand, clutching his left arm, back to her dark blue eyes. âBeg your pardon?â
She huffed, pushing a shining red ringlet out of her face. âItâs an emergency, Galen. I need a groom. Right now!â
You will marry a woman in white and be married within the month.
The words echoed inside his head and he wanted to shake it hard, just to see if something had come loose inside.
Instead, he glanced around where they were standing on a side street of Cowboy Country, USA, the Western-style theme park where just last weekâin a moment of apparent insanityâhe had agreed to be an âauthenticity consultant.â And where, just a few weeks prior to that, one of the âWild Westâ fortune-tellers had told him he would soon be hitched.
Heâd laughed it off then as nonsense for two simple reasons. One, he didnât believe in fortune-tellers, and two, heâd reached the age of thirty-four without once entertaining the idea of marrying someone.
So he looked back at Aurora and adjusted his hat. âYouâre dressed for the part,â he allowed. âIâll give you that.â
In fact, she looked downright pretty. All dolled up in an old-fashioned-looking dress with beads and lace hanging off her slender shoulders and her eyes made up to look even bigger than they already were.
She gave him a look that ought to have scorched his toes. âOf course Iâm dressed for the part.â Her hands spread a little wider. âWild West Wedding!â She raised her eyebrows, clearly waiting for some response. âThe...noon...show,â she elaborated at his blank look.
She twitched her skirt, drawing his attention. It was some sort of filmy, lacy thing about the same color as the doily his mom had had forever sitting underneath a vase in the front parlor of the house he and his four brothers and two sisters had grown up in. Sorta white. Sorta beige.
âOh, for heavenâs sake, Galen.â Aurora sounded exasperated. âThe noon show! Iâm playing Lila, the Wild West bride. But I just found out my groom, Rusty, was hauled off a little while ago to see Doc Shoemaker, because he went and fell off his horse.â She shook her head. âLord save me from city boys who think they know everything about a horse just because theyâve watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.â
Comprehension finally dawned. Maybe it would have more quickly if Galen hadnât gotten distracted thinking about that fool fortune-teller business.
âWild West Wedding,â he repeated. âThatâs the show you put on at the center of the park.â
âYes.â Looking relieved that heâd finally gotten a clue, she lifted her other hand and shoved a dog-eared script at him. âItâll take ten minutes of your time, Galen. Please.â