Million Dollar Marriage Read Online Free

would force him
     to.
    It was the perfect setting for her revelation. A lavish, no-holds-barred christening
     party for Matthew’s child, Ryan’s grandchild, Bryan Fortune. But this whole clan would
     soon find out that they had another child to celebrate. Maria’s child. James.
    And he was here to take his rightful place in the world. Her son was a Fortune. And
     he would not be denied!
    Holden Fortune was not amused. His uncle Ryan had paraded no less than a dozen “nice
     young ladies”past him tonight in a thinly veiled effort at match-making that was doomed to failure.
     He’d just introduced yet another; a petite little thing that reminded Holden of a
     mouse. Holden’s brisk greeting had sent her skittering off in search of someone friendlier.
     Uncle Ryan was scowling at him in a fairly good impersonation of Heston’s scowling
     at Brynner in The Ten Commandments.
    “I don’t understand you, Holden. We all know you like women—”
    “Ever the king of understatement,” Holden remarked dryly, taking another sip of bourbon
     and branch.
    “So, what’s the problem? Every girl I’ve brought over here has been attractive, and
     nice and—”
    “I don’t want attractive and nice, Uncle Ryan. I want drop-dead gorgeous and very, very naughty. Especially tonight. ‘Nice’ just isn’t gonna cut it tonight.”
    Around him were more people than he’d seen at the last cattlemen’s convention. Two-thirds
     of them family. All the colorful Mexican rugs had been rolled back and the double
     patio doors thrown wide. The crowd spilled out into the courtyard where Rosita had
     piled food on tables and Matthew manned the barbecue pit. The smells were damned mouthwatering.
     Yet Holden had no appetite.
    “You’re going to have to stop this,” Ryan ordered in his head-honcho tone.
    “Stop what?”
    “You know damned well what. Holden you are not your father. You don’t need to go through life tryingto live up to his reputation as a playboy. You can settle down, find a good woman,
     make a life—”
    “Yeah, dear ol’ Daddy made sure I would, didn’t he? Went so far as to write it into
     an ironclad will that I can’t inherit my fair share until I do.”
    Ryan nodded solemnly. “And just why do you think my brother did that, Holden?”
    Holden shrugged. “Because he was a bastard?”
    Ryan lowered his head quickly, probably to hide a hint of amusement. “I like to think
     my brother realized the error of his ways, in the end. I like to think he wrote those
     conditions into his will so his firstborn son wouldn’t make the same mistakes he did.”
    Holden sighed deeply and shook his head. “Therein lies the problem, Uncle Ryan. If
     I marry some decent woman, I will be doing just that. Repeating my father’s mistakes.
     Ruining a good woman’s life by tying her to me. For God’s sake, look at my mother.”
    Ryan did. He glanced up, scanned the crowd. Holden followed his gaze and found Mary
     Ellen Fortune standing alone, a drink in her hand, staring up at the portrait of her
     dead husband. Fifty-six, and still a knockout. She’d kept her figure. Her red hair
     didn’t have a streak of gray in it, and since Cameron’s death, she’d even had it cut
     into a more modern style that bobbed just above her shoulders and moved when she did.
    “She was wasted on him,” Holden said. “He made her miserable. And I wouldn’t want
     to follow in his footsteps by making some other good woman equally unhappy. Unfortunately,
     unless I do, I don’t inherit a dime.”
    Ryan looked back at Holden again. “Your lawyers…”
    “I spoke to them an hour ago. It’s over. The judge upheld the will as is. No more
     appeals, no more contesting it. It’s over.”
    Ryan sighed deeply. “I’m sorry, Holden.”
    “Yeah. So am I.” Holden took a long pull from his glass.
    “But just because your father was a womanizing louse, doesn’t mean you have to be.”
    “Too late, Uncle Ryan. I already am.” He glanced