Fortune's Christmas Baby (Fortunes of Texas)

And would’ve kicked him in the head on their way out the door, he was certain.

His family would love Stella. They weren’t going to like what he’d done, however.

And they weren’t going to be happy about Lizzie, either. They’d see her as another Molly, at least at first. And he couldn’t blame them. Or maybe a Kelly. After Kelly, everyone was leery. The experience with Austin’s wife had cost them all. Changed them all.

God, what had he done?

Ramifications closed in on him. He could just hear it now, him telling his family he’d impregnated a woman he’d only known a couple of weeks. A woman so far out of their normal social circle that if he hadn’t been posing as Nolan Forte she’d never even have gotten close to him.

He’d have to tell them about his alter ego.

He could lose everything he held most dear—his time with the band and his family’s respect, too.

But he’d gained something from which he could not walk away.

That little life over there. She was connected to him for all eternity.

She was going to need so much...deserved so much more. “I’m going to open a bank account,” he told her. “In her name with you as trustee.” He named a sum, a weekend’s excursion to him, as starting money. “But until I can work that out...” He handed her a wad of cash that he’d pulled from his wallet. Safety cash in the event something catastrophic happened while he was on the road. “That’s just what I can access immediately,” he told her.

“No.” Lizzie’s tone was so sharp Stella stirred, started to cry. Her eyes blinked open and shut again almost immediately as Lizzie rocked and crooned to her. When the baby was sleeping soundly again, Lizzie looked over at Nolan.

“I’m not taking your money,” she told him. “If you want to set up something for Stella for later, a college fund or something, I can’t stop you. But I will not be beholden to you financially.”

He wasn’t going to “own” her, he translated, feeling stupid standing there holding his wad of cash.

And because of all the talks they’d had the year before, her lack of desire to ever even play the lottery because she didn’t want to take a chance on winning money and having it change her life, he understood.

No one else would believe him, though. They’d think she was working him. That the amount he’d named hadn’t been enough.

He put his cash away, but he was still opening the account as soon as he got home. It was the right thing to do. All money wasn’t dirty. And all people with it weren’t ruled by it. His big, boisterous, argumentative and inarguably loving family was proof of that.

“I can’t just walk away, Lizzie.”

Her shrug, the way she pulled the baby even closer, prepared him for her response. “You did it once, Nolan, I’m sure you can manage a second time. I have your number now. I can call if I run into some kind of world-ending financial emergency.”

Cruelty wasn’t her way.

Which told him she was scared.

Thing was, he completely understood. Commiserated.

He was pretty terrified himself.

He just couldn’t give her what she wanted. He couldn’t walk out of her life and leave her alone with Stella.

Whether she deserved it or not.

Chapter Ten

She was going to have to do something. Come up with a plan. Short of changing her identity and leaving the country. The only way she’d have the means to do that would be if she actually took some of the money Nolan Fortune was throwing around.

He’d offered her more, for starters, liquid in an account immediately, than she’d make in a year of teaching full-time. More than she’d probably ever manage to save, let alone be able to give away like he was, while Stella was growing up.

I can’t just walk away, Lizzie...

She wanted him out of her living room and her snarky comment hadn’t worked to that end. He was still sitting there, watching her and Stella like they were the last meal on earth.

Didn’t he have enough already? His family. His fortune. His Fortune family... The thought struck her almost hysterically.