When beautiful lady gambler Lainie Conrad’s husband, Seaton, is murdered, she sets out for revenge. Lainie is certain that cardsharp Rutherford Tolliver is guilty, but she has to find a way to prove it—and when she does, she’s not about to let her own little ol’ arrest get in the way!
U.S. Deputy Marshal Nick Foster catches up with her, determined to get to the bottom of why she walked out on him months earlier. There’s a high bounty on Lainie’s head for a murder she didn’t commit, so Nick has no choice but to arrest her for her own protection—and to keep his heart safe, as well.
But Lainie has bought in to a high stakes poker tournament in Denver, Colorado, and nothing will keep her from facing the scheming Tolliver across the poker table in a final showdown that pits skill against skill and trickery against vengeance. She escapes from Nick once more and runs to Denver. She must keep her vow to her murdered husband, for only then will she be free to find love again.
EXCERPT
April 10, 1883
Pine Tree Buttes, Wyoming Territory
Lainie looked up when
the outer door opened, hoping it was Nick despite the terse words she’d last
spoken, but what she heard was Rutherford Tolliver’s smooth-as-silk voice
asking the jailer if he could have a few minutes alone with her.
“I’ll see if she’s up
for visitors. Wait here.” Layton appeared in the doorway, averting his eyes.
“Miss Lainie? Are you decent? There’s a man here who says he knows you. He
wants to talk to you.”
Ford would gloat that
she was behind bars, but she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of being
turned away. Fortifying herself to face Ford, she said, “Thank you, Layton.
Please show him in.” Prisoner or not, she would receive Rutherford Tolliver as
befitted a lady of her upbringing.
Lainie continued the
Patience game spread on her table, purposely ignoring Ford, although able to
observe him peripherally. The familiar hollow emptiness, the cold loathing she harbored
toward him, knotted in her stomach.
Ford watched her for
a minute or more before he spoke. “I remember the first time I saw you. It was
Madrid. I followed you to Venice, so I could meet you in person. You were the
most stunningly beautiful and fascinating woman I’d ever seen. You still are. Age
cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety. Other women cloy the
appetites they feed, but she makes hungry where most she satisfies.” Ford
fell quiet again. “You’re even more beautiful behind bars, if that’s possible.
There’s something sensual and appealing about a captive woman. She’s trapped.
Vulnerable. Totally at a man’s mercy.” He studied the unlit cigar he held
between his fingers. “Helpless.”
Lainie sensed more
than saw his dark, predatory gaze upon her. Continuing with her card game, she
let the seconds tick off. Satisfied she was in control, and her voice was
steady, she raised her head, and met his lusting scrutiny and smirking
confidence straight on with her own self-assured smile.
“I am no more
helpless than Cleopatra. Making assumptions without a basis upon which to draw
will lead to your ruin.”
He clipped one end of
the cigar, clamped the uncut end between his lips, then struck a match, and
held the flame to the end as he puffed. When the end glowed to his liking, he
said, “Too bad you’re going to miss the game.”
Years of gambling had
taught her to conceal her emotions, mask her thoughts, and present an impassive
exterior. Even so, it took all of her fortitude to access those skills right
then. The hate she harbored for Rutherford Tolliver swirled inside her like
thick gray tendrils of phantom smoke, wrapping around her heart and choking her
with remembered pain and loss.
She’d sacrificed so
much since Seaton’s death; she feared she couldn’t maintain the physical and
emotional vigilance needed to keep her vendetta alive much longer. She wanted
her life back. She was so close now, but one misstep, her world, her hopes and
dreams, would crash around her. Determination pushed her courage past the sick
churning in her stomach. This was a game she would not lose—not the one she now
played with Tolliver nor the one in Denver. Gathering the cards into a neat
stack, Lainie left her little table and faced the demon that lived in her nightmares.
“Even if I do miss
the tournament, there will be other games.” She lied. This was a
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the game of the century, and they both knew it.
He drew on the cigar,
exhaling sweet blue smoke that hung in the still air. “Not like this one.
Thirty hours of straight poker. Thirty players by special invitation. Thirty
thousand-dollar entry fee. And one winner.”
He took a step
closer, his gaze boring into her with the intent to intimidate in his gloating
that she was behind bars, and he wasn’t. She wanted to look away, but she
forced herself to meet him stare for stare, grateful that the sinister gleam in
his eyes wasn’t the last thing Seaton had seen before he died.
“What do you want,
Ford? Surely, you’re here for more than the puerile pleasure of seeing me in
jail.”
He lowered his voice.
“I know what happened in Charlotte. I can guarantee a verdict of not guilty to
the Saunderson murder. I can get you out of this mess, Lainie. I was in that
poker game, remember? All you need to do is throw-in with me.”
Gambling with Love is available on Amazon - Digital | Print | KindleUnlimited
Until we meet again,
Kaye Spencer
www.kayespencer.com
2 comments:
I love Western romance. Gambling with Love sounds like my kind of book, Kaye.
Thanks for sharing your story with us. :)
Thank you, Tina. (It's hit and miss with me being able to comment on Blogger.) I appreciate your comments on each of my posts, even when I can't reply to you.
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