Cowboy in Disguise by Allison Leigh

Author:Allison Leigh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-03-04T14:39:52+00:00

* * *

Hallie shook her head for the third time in as many rooms. “Sorry.” She dashed her finger along the wooden cabinet that housed the flat-screen television. “This needs a better polish.”

That entire afternoon—ever since she’d left Brady’s office with Jay’s shoes—Hallie had been critical of Arabella’s work.

“I’ll polish it again,” she said and pulled out a fresh cloth. “Hallie—”

The other girl’s lips were pursed as she raised an eyebrow.

“Did I do something to upset you? Besides my subpar cleaning, I mean?” She tried a wry smile but it was met with a stony stare.

“What could possibly upset me?”

She waved her dust cloth a little helplessly. “I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking. I thought...well, yesterday, I thought you and I might become friends.”

“I don’t need friends who hide the truth about themselves from me.” Hallie looked back at the clipboard she used to mark off her inspections before releasing a room back to the front desk. “You’d better pick up the pace. You’re an hour behind.” She walked out of the room, leaving Arabella gaping.

She hurriedly applied the cloth to the offending wood, then darted out of the room after Hallie. There were only two rooms rented on this end of the floor so far, and Arabella knew the occupants were down at the pool where the marketing people were still working on filming. “It’s done,” she yelled, “and what truth am I supposed to have hidden?”

Hallie turned on her heel and marched back along the carpeted corridor. “Acting like you’re one of us when you’re really one of them!”

Arabella frowned. “I have no idea what you are even talking about.”

“Really? And here I thought you Fortunes were all supposed to be so brilliant.”

Fortunes.

It dawned on Arabella then. She’d completely forgotten about her last name. “Hallie, I’m not one of those Fortunes.” Hearing it, she couldn’t help but cringe. “I mean, I’m no different than you! I have to work for a living. Criminy, I can’t even afford to move out of the twin bedroom I’m living in at my brother’s yet because I’m so broke!”

But Hallie was obviously unconvinced. “I’d say whatever,” she drawled, “except I wouldn’t want to lose my job for being disrespectful.”

Arabella let out an impatient snort. “I’m not—”

“I’ll check back in an hour.” Hallie cut her off. “Front desk needs these rooms available. They’ve all been blocked for a wedding tomorrow.” Then she spun on her heel again and walked away.

Arabella flopped her arms at her sides. “What’s a name matter, anyway?”

But Hallie wasn’t listening and with a sigh, Arabella reentered the room. She stuffed her squishy headphones into her ears.

“...all up and gonna be someone new...”

The familiar words snuck into her head and she cursed. “I’d like to be someone new, too, buddy,” she told the deep voice singing in her ear. “Someone without the last name of Fortune!”

Then she attacked the dusting with renewed vengeance.

She was finally pushing her cart back into the floor pantry nearly an hour later when an alarm suddenly sounded and she nearly jumped out of her skin.

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