He sang straight for the next three hours. Then, while the fireworks that shot off into the night sky during the finale were still flickering into nothing, everyone involved in the show gathered inside Roja where, they all learned, Norman had been found and taken unresistingly into custody.
There was coffee. Champagne. There was toast and jars of strawberry jam and fried chicken Arabella knew could only have been prepared by Louella herself.
Mostly, there were kisses and lots and lots of hugs as Jay officially introduced her to Michael Devane. “He’s the one who managed to pull together this whole show in a matter of days,” Jay explained. “Found the guys in the band. The singers. All of it.”
Even as tired as she was, Arabella couldn’t help staring. “You’d never performed together before?”
Devane clapped Jay on the shoulders. “Started rehearsals two days ago in a sound studio in California. And we did pretty damn well, considering everything.” He looked at his watch. “But now I’d better check on things for tomorrow’s show.”
“That’d be today’s show,” Brady said, throwing himself down into a chair nearby. “At least we can count on it being less exciting than this one was.” He rubbed his fingers through his hair. “God knows how much worse it could have been if Norman had been really trying to burn things down.”
Arabella pressed her head against Jay’s shoulder as she glanced across the restaurant to where Mariana—her blond bun atypically askew—sat at a table with Jason and his aunt Petunia. “There won’t be any charges against Jason, will there? He was genuinely shocked that his grandfather had his badge.”
“I doubt there will be charges.” That came from Kane, who looked as tired as Brady when he joined their table. “I can’t speak for everyone, but I know I’m not interested in hanging the kid on a peg because his grandpa’s got it in for the Fortunes.”
“From everything Brady said, it sounds like he blames them—us—for losing his wife,” Arabella said.
Nicole set down the coffeepot she’d been carrying around to refill cups and perched on the edge of the booth next to her sister Megan. Both Nicole and Mariana had been in the restaurant when the police apprehended Norman. “He kept calling Mariana his wife when Detective Teas took him away. He’s always liked hanging around her, but obviously he’d become fixated.”
“His meds.” Jay shook his head. “Now we all can see why Petunia was so worried about him and his meds.”
“He’ll get the help he needs with that now,” Callum said, sliding onto the table, because that was the only place left. He stuck out his hand toward Jay. “And thanks to you, we’ve got the help we need now, too.”
Jay smiled faintly and shook the man’s hand. “It was nothing.”
Callum snorted and so did a lot of others. “The revenue from tonight alone should put us back in the black. In fact, it was so successful they’re going to play two more shows over the weekend, so what happens tomorrow and Sunday needs to stay in your pock—”
But Jay was already shaking his head. “Now you know that Norman’s been behind all of the mishaps around the hotel, you’ll have bargaining power again with the insurance company, too. But after making sure the crew’s paid, the Rambling Rose concert revenue is all yours.” He smiled down at Arabella. “I’m already getting everything I need out of the deal.”
“I’ve got just one question for you,” Brady said, sounding pugnacious. “When’s the wedding?”
Arabella raised her eyebrows at him and waggled her finger with the ring on it. “When’s yours, Brady,” she shot right back at him.
“That’s actually a good question.” Megan bumped her sister’s shoulder. “You and Collin are the only ones who’ve made it legal. But you’ve still got a honeymoon to take. When’s he getting his next leave of service?”
Nicole smiled brilliantly. “He’s getting transferred stateside. Should be here in the next several weeks.”
Kane sat forward and held up his fingers and started ticking them off. “So who’ve we got? Grace and Wiley. Me and Layla. Megan and Mark.” He nodded at Brady. “You and Harper. Even Dillon and Hailey need to get the deed done. S’pose there’s a discount wedding service to get us all hitched at once?”
None of them even noticed when Arabella and Jay started creeping out of the restaurant.
“There you go,” Megan said on a laugh. “Always looking for efficiency. But that would finish us all up in the marital department, wouldn’t it?”
“Not if you count Josh and Brian—”
The restaurant door closed on Kane’s voice and Arabella looked up at Jay. “Now what do we do?”
“We’re in a hotel with a couple floors of empty rooms that were never even touched by water damage and that group in there will never find us. What do you think?”
She was tired right down to her bones but she laughed delightedly and wound her arms around his shoulders. “I think I’m very glad we know where the master keys are kept.”
I think you should know that...
...the future is ours.
And it was.
Catch up with the rest of The Fortunes of Texas: The Hotel Fortune
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Her Texas New Year’s Wish by Michelle Major
Their Second-Time Valentine by Helen Lacey
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Available now wherever Harlequin books and ebooks are sold!
Keep reading for an excerpt from Wildflower Season by Michelle Major.