Her brows narrowed shrewdly. “Do you suppose it has anything to do with Joanna thinking that she isn’t smart enough for you?”
“Not smart enough for me?” Ryder was enraged. “That does it! You’re fired, Madison!”
“I am not. Calm down, Ryder. I didn’t say Joanna wasn’t smart enough for you, I said she thinks she isn’t. She’s made a lot of jokes about being your idiot former assistant, but I never thought she was serious about the idiot part. Till now.”
Ryder swallowed hard, his eyes widening.
“You didn’t actually call her an idiot, did you, Ryder? You wouldn’t say anything so cruel, not when she’d suffered such a terrible head injury in that car accident.”
Ryder stared at her. “When did Joanna’s accident and injuries become common office knowledge?”
“It’s not, but she’s mentioned it to me a couple times. Maybe she knew I wouldn’t call her an idiot,” Madison added severely.
Ryder jumped to his feet and began to pace the office. He’d acquired the pacing habit from Joanna and found it tension reducing. Right now tension was fast building within him, and pacing wasn’t helping at all. Not as he remembered…
“I think you might be on to something, Madison.”
“So you did say it?” Madison glared at him. “Why, you’d fit in with the men in my family with your tactless, thoughtless, inexcusable male arrogance!”
“God, I’d forgotten all about what I said. I mean, it was irrelevant. I was just sounding off.” Ryder groaned. “I never even knew about her accident back then. But taken in context, Joanna could think—Of course, she would think…” His voice trailed off as he started for the door.
“If you plan to rush out there and apologize to Joanna for calling her an idiot, don’t expect an instant yes to your next proposal.” Madison’s words stopped him cold.
“Why not?” Ryder demanded impatiently. “If I’ve identified and rectified the problem areas to the satisfaction of both parties, then a favorable result is to be anticipated.”
“Maybe in a business merger.” Madison sniffed disdainfully. “But if you ask Joanna to marry you immediately after apologizing, she’ll assume you’re proposing out of a sense of guilt, and refuse. What woman with any pride wouldn’t? And a woman’s pride is as strong and worthy and valid as a man’s,” she added, daring him to refute her declaration.
Ryder didn’t. “I know. What I don’t know is how to get past her pride,” he admitted dejectedly.
Perhaps he had been humbled or saddened enough to quell Madison’s sense of outrage. Whatever, her expression visibly softened. “I’m currently having a brainstorm, if you’d care to hear it,” she said in her usual can-do tone.
“At this point what have I got to lose?”
“Exactly.” Madison nodded. “As you well know, Joanna worships her sister, Julia. She would rather be tortured than to cause her sister and brother-in-law any pain. Or embarrassment. I suggest you play that card. Team up with the sister. How about a party where the Fortunes announce your engagement to Joanna, you produce the ring in front of everybody and slip it on her finger? Do you think Joanna would make her beloved sister—now a Fortune herself—look foolish by publicly refuting your announcement right then and there in front of everybody? Of course not. She’d play along. So there you are, engaged. It’ll be up to you to get her to the altar, of course, but you can do it. After all, you’ll be operating from a position of strength.”
“The Ambush Theory!” Ryder loved the plan. “Well done, Madison. You’ve taken a classic business technique and applied it to life. Those classes you took at Dartmouth definitely paid off. You’re a credit to your professors.”
“Tell that to my family,” Madison said darkly. “They think I should be socializing like a postdeb airhead trying to trap a husband, instead of climbing the corporate ladder of success.”
“That would be a true waste of talent,” Ryder said, meaning it. “With a few modifications, I think this plan will work. I want to thank you in advance, Madison.”
“I confess to a selfish motive in all this, Ryder. Since I’ve hitched my career wagon to your star, so to speak, I want to see you with a wife who’ll make you happy and be supportive of your dedication to Fortune’s Design. A wife who isn’t demonic to the employees, who understands the pressures and demands of building a company. If you were to end up with a narcissistic socialite or a paranoid witch, everybody in Fortune’s Design would be adversely affected, including me. Joanna fits the bill.”
“Yes, she does.” Ryder smiled. “Your self-serving interests are duly noted, Madison. And definitely appreciated.”
The few modifications in Madison’s plan involved not directly involving Julia and Michael Fortune in the ambush engagement. From observing the sisters together, Ryder knew that Joanna’s sisterly devotion was returned in full measure. Julia would never countenance ambushing Joanna with anything, no matter how well-intentioned the cause.
Guilt was a factor, too. He simply couldn’t face telling Julia Fortune that he’d called her adored, brave little sister an idiot. It didn’t matter that he had never meant for his words to be taken to heart; he’d been the idiot for ever uttering them.
Remembering how he had railed at Joanna made him cringe. If Julia and Michael knew he had wounded her so, Ryder had no doubts they would loathe him. And rightfully so. He would keep them in the dark along with Joanna, still counting on his brand-new fiancée’s unwillingness to embarrass her Fortune relatives in front of all their Fortune relatives by publicly calling the engagement announcement a hoax.
Which meant he needed another Fortune ally to stage the scene. And who else would he ask but Aunt Kate? She could understand and accept that sometimes one said things in a temper, things which were not meant to be taken seriously. Or literally.
Ryder made an appointment to visit his great-aunt at her mansion one warm summer afternoon, where he confessed his thoughtless insults, his regrets and his plan.
Kate was understanding, although she did offer some advice against careless, caustic venting, which Ryder solemnly promised to heed. Sterling Foster was present at the meeting, observing and listening in silence with a poker face that revealed none of his thoughts.
“We’ll have a big family picnic here on Labor Day,” Kate enthused. “That will give us time to plan the party and for everybody to arrange their schedules to attend. We’ll want as many here as possible to celebrate our announcement.”
“Our announcement,” Sterling repeated, speaking at last. “So you consider yourself a full-fledged coconspirator in the lad’s scheme, Kate?”
“It’s all in the name of love, Sterling.” Kate smiled. “Remember another bogus engagement several years ago that resulted in a wonderful marriage?”
“Aunt Kate, I can’t thank you enough.” Ryder breathed a heartfelt sigh of relief. “You’ve come through for me again and I—”
“You are thanking me, Ryder. By succeeding in business and falling in love,” Kate said, patting his hand. “I believe we have another Fortune success story here, don’t we, Sterling? Congratulations are definitely in order.” Beaming, Kate lifted her glass of chilled Chardonnay. “To Ryder and Joanna and Fortune’s Design.”
“Congratulations are premature at this point, Kate,” warned Sterling. “Furthermore, overconfidence can lead to carelessness. I suggest we postpone this toast until the wedding is a done deal and Fortune’s Design breaks even.”
“You sound like a lawyer, Sterling, not a fond great-uncle,” Kate chided him.
Ryder thought Sterling sounded most of all like a dire pessimist, and he didn’t dare let himself succumb to that view. Better to direct his energy to making Aunt Kate’s rosy outlook for the future come true.
“Both are going to happen, Aunt Kate,” he promised earnestly.
“I have no doubts, my dear. I have great faith in you.”
Since the party was to be held at the Fortune estate, Kate offered Kelly’s servic
es to plan it all.
As soon as she mentioned Kelly’s name, Ryder sensed something was wrong. “Aunt Kate, you didn’t sound like yourself just now,” Ryder said bluntly. “What’s going on?”
“Oh, heavens, Ryder, I’m sorry,” Kate responded. “No, I’m not sick, dear. I’m just upset about Kelly. She’s pregnant. I empathize with the girl, I really do…” Her voice trailed off.
Was Chad Fortune the father of Kelly’s baby, and how was she coping with the situation? Ryder wondered, as he went to meet the young woman after his visit with Kate and Sterling. Would asking her be considered an invasion of her privacy?
Although their discussion centered solely on plans for the Labor Day Ambush/Engagement Party—Kelly was enthusiastic and very helpful—Ryder decided he would be remiss if he failed to at least acknowledge her condition.
“If there is anything I can do to help you and the, uh, the baby, please give me a call, Kelly,” he murmured as he rose to leave.
Uncertain and uncomfortable, he pressed his business card into her hand. Was that too impersonal? Or too intrusive? He wished Joanna were here to lend a more empathetic touch. She dealt so well with people.
Kelly’s face was a smooth mask, although she was unable to conceal the pain that flickered in her eyes. “Thank you, but I’m fine,” she said quietly.
“One more thing, and if this is none of my business, please feel free to say so.” Ryder paused uneasily at the door. “Is the father my cousin Chad?”
Kelly nodded her head but volunteered no further information. Ryder felt totally out of his element dealing with such a delicate matter. He understood the young woman’s desire for privacy, yet was unable to simply walk away without trying to do something.
“Kelly, would you like me to talk to Chad about…things?” he offered. Ryder tried to envision such a conversation with his cousin and frowned. Beating Chad the Cad to a bloody pulp seemed so much more satisfying and effective.
“No!” Kelly exclaimed, as if she could read his mind. “Thank you for your concern, Ryder, but I—I’m handling this in my own way.”
“I understand,” said Ryder, though he wasn’t sure he did. She looked so young and defenseless. He couldn’t just leave her to her fate, especially when she was being so helpful in aiding him with his!
“Kelly, you don’t have to face this alone, you know,” he blurted. “We can rally some of the Fortune cousins to use their clout to make Chad do the right thing.”
“Please don’t!” Kelly’s voice was firm and resolute. “Promise me that you won’t do or say anything, especially not to Chad, Ryder.”
“So I promised I wouldn’t say or do anything and I left,” Ryder said, recounting his conversation with Kelly later that evening to Joanna, as they walked hand in hand along a well-lit path that followed the dark, fast-flowing waters of the Mississsippi River. “I still wonder if I shouldn’t get a cabal of Fortunes together and—”
“Break Chad’s kneecaps? Put a financial lien on everything he owns?” Joanna shook her head. “I think you should respect Kelly’s wishes, Ryder. It seems to me that what you’d consider help, she might consider interference.”
She stood on tiptoe to place a quick kiss on his cheek. “But it’s wonderfully sweet of you to be so concerned about Kelly and her baby, Ryder.”
“Wonderfully sweet,” repeated Ryder, sucking in his cheeks. “There was a time when I would’ve jumped off a bridge if a woman had described me that way. But not when you say it.”
He put his arm around Joanna’s shoulders, drawing her close. “So you’ll come to Aunt Kate’s Labor Day picnic with me? She’s really enthused about it. And of course Michael and Julia and the children will be there, along with as many other family members who can make it.”
Ryder was pleased with his cover story, that the picnic was strictly a Kate-inspired holiday get-together for the clan. Joanna wasn’t suspicious in the least.
“I’d love to go,” Joanna said, slipping her arm around his waist. “I always have a good time at Kate’s parties.”
“Hard to believe that we never met at any of them over the years,” Ryder mused aloud.
“Well, you were out of the country for nearly ten years, and for a long time I wasn’t around much, either,” she reminded him. “And even though we were both at Kate’s eightieth birthday party, we weren’t there at the same time.”
“You’d left early for a date before I arrived.” Ryder frowned. They’d discussed Kate’s party and how they had failed to even glimpse each other there. “Well, I’m your date for Labor Day, Miss Chandler,” he added possessively.
“You’re my date every night, Ryder,” she affirmed.
“Then let’s make it official, Joanna. Let’s make it every night for the rest of our lives. Marry me, Joanna.”
“Ryder, things are so good between us just the way they are,” she said softly. “Why can’t we keep it this way? We don’t have to get married to—”
“All right, never mind,” Ryder said, cutting in, not caring to hear her standard rejection speech. “Forget I even mentioned it.”
At least he wasn’t swamped with the frustration and gloom that normally followed his rebuffed marriage proposals to Joanna. Now he had a plan to implement his dream. He silently thanked the unlikely triumvirate of Madison Worth, Aunt Kate and Kelly Sinclair. And began to think about the requisite engagement ring he would produce at the picnic.
“You’ve never taken off your amethyst ring, and it’s the only ring you ever wear,” he said in what he hoped wasn’t too odd a non sequitur. He lifted her hand to look at the unimpressive gem on her right hand.
“It was my mom’s ring that was given to her by her parents on her sixteenth birthday,” Joanna said, gazing at the ring. “Every time I look at it, I think of her.”
“It’s a beautiful ring,” Ryder said quietly, brushing his lips over her fingers.
His plans for the engagement ring fell into place. A simple elegant diamond, a ring that she would treasure, that she would never take off. A ring that would make her think of him and how much she loved him every time she looked at it.
“I can’t believe Mommy and Daddy flew to Minneapolis just to come to Aunt Kate’s Labor Day picnic.” Charlotte sipped a diet soda as she talked to Ryder and Joanna on Kate Fortune’s spacious, well-tended green lawn. “Do you think they’re really here to spy on me?”
“Absolutely.” Ryder grinned. “News of your party-girl reputation finally reached them in Arizona, and they rushed up here to cramp your style, Charlotte.”
“Which they’re definitely doing,” grumbled Charlotte. “I missed the big summer wrap-up extravaganza at Surf City this weekend ’cause the parents are here and we have to spend quality time with them.”
“Well, we enjoyed the family dinner and the play last night, Charlotte,” Ryder said rather sanctimoniously. “Didn’t we, Joanna?”
Joanna nodded her head. She’d been invited to accompany James and Sylvia Rutherford Fortune with Ryder, Matthew and Charlotte everywhere they’d gone this weekend. To lunches and dinners, to the movies and the theater, shopping and the museum. She liked Ryder’s parents and didn’t agree with Charlotte’s gripe that they were two of the most boring people on the planet. It was too bad that spoiled, immature Charlotte didn’t realize how very lucky she was that her parents were alive and well.
“Your folks are great,” Joanna told Ryder.
James and Sylvia had been so warm and welcoming to her, insisting that she join them, taking an interest in her, offering her advice on all manner of things. Joanna enjoyed the proxy parental attention that Charlotte and Matthew considered to be annoying interference. Ryder had claimed that not long ago, he too would’ve complained, but he’d mellowed these days. He appreciated that his parents cared.
Only Kate, Sterling, and Kelly knew that Ryder’s parents were actually here because his engagement to Joanna was to be announced at the picnic. They’d all taken an oath of secrecy, although Jame
s and Sylvia Fortune believed the surprise announcement was to be their oldest son’s romantic gesture to his bride-to-be…not a public ambush because he couldn’t get her to say yes any other way.
Today the Fortune mansion was swarming with Fortunes and assorted guests enjoying the warmth of the picture-perfect sunny day on the official last weekend of summer. The estate bordered the clear waters of Lake Travis, providing swimming and boating fun for all age groups. There was a kidney-shaped pool for those who preferred water warmer than the bracing temperature of the lake, and the tennis courts were in use for a series of Fortune vs. Fortune matches and rematches.
Dinner—steaks, fish, as well as the traditional hot dogs and hamburgers—had already been served and consumed when Kate took center stage on the wide patio.
“Before we have dessert, there is a very important announcement to be made. Ryder…” Kate nodded at him, and he came to stand beside his great-aunt.
They exchanged sly smiles, and Kate gave his hand an encouraging squeeze.
Brandishing a velvet ring box, Ryder proceeded to announce his engagement to Joanna Chandler.
“Joanna? Where are you, sweetheart? Come on over here and put this on your finger to make it official.” After his momentous proclamation, Ryder scanned the multitude of Fortunes gathered before him for a glimpse of Joanna.
Joanna had moved from the patio to the grass, carrying her baby niece, Noelle, in her arms. For a few moments she stood frozen with shock as the clapping and cheers and congratulatory wishes surrounded her. A fussy, teething Noelle gnawed her tiny fist and drooled, far more occupied with her sore gums than the commotion around her.
“Aunt Joanna, can we be flower girls in the wedding?” A thrilled young Grace rushed over with her two smaller sisters trailing faithfully in her wake. “Can we all be in it, even Noelle? I could carry her and the flowers.”
“I think Noelle is way too young to be in a wedding, Gracie.” Michael Fortune joined his daughters at Joanna’s side. Baby Noelle made a leap into her father’s arms, making them all laugh. Even Joanna.