Книга - Dealing Her Final Card

Dealing Her Final Card
JENNIE LUCAS


‘If my card is higher you’ll belong to me, obeying my every whim for as long as I desire.’ As Bree Dalton hears the icy words of Russian Prince Vladimir Xendzov, the man whose ring she once wore and whose life she once ruined, she nervously accepts the biggest wager of her life. Her body for a million dollars. Bree knows better than to doubt the steely ruthlessness of this man.With everything to lose, and the weight of Vladimir’s gaze upon her, she will have to play the best she’s ever played – or run the risk of losing herself completely…‘Wonderful, enthralling and superb for any romantics at heart. Already on to my second read!’ – Arpita, 63, Essex







“Sorry, Bree,” Vladimir said casually, and he tossed his card on the table.

Bree stared down at the King of Diamonds.

Her mind went blank. Then a tremble went through her, starting at her toes and shaking her body as she looked up at Vladimir, her eyes wide and uncomprehending.

“You … you’ve …” Bree couldn’t speak the words.

“I’ve won.” Vladimir looked at her, his blue eyes electric with dislike. He rose from his chair, all six feet four inches of him, and said coldly, “You have ten minutes to pack. I will collect my winnings in the lobby.”

As she gaped up at him he walked around the table to stand over her, so close she could feel the warmth of his body. He leaned over, his face inches from hers.

“I’ve waited a long time for this,” he said softly. “But now, at last, Bree Dalton …” his lips slid into a hard, sensual smile “… you are mine.”




PRINCES UNTAMED


Only the most innocent touch can melt their ice-cold hearts

Introducing the notoriously ruthless and devilishly sexy Princes Kasimir and Vladimir Xendzov: two brothers torn apart by the past, bitter rivals in the present.

Vladimir’s enemy is most definitely in his sight—he can’t take his eyes off her! But she’s played her final card … and he knows he’s going to win.

DEALING HER FINAL CARD

February 2013

Kasimir will consume everything in his path on his road to revenge … even if the obstacle standing in his way is five feet five inches of pure desire.

A REPUTATION FOR REVENGE

March 2013




About the Author


JENNIE LUCAS grew up dreaming about faraway lands. At fifteen, hungry for experience beyond the borders of her small Idaho city, she went to a Connecticut boarding school on scholarship. She took her first solo trip to Europe at sixteen, then put off college and travelled around the US, supporting herself with jobs as diverse as gas station cashier and newspaper advertising assistant.

At twenty-two she met the man who would be her husband. After their marriage she graduated from Kent State with a degree in English. Seven years after she started writing she got the magical call from London that turned her into a published author.

Since then life has been hectic, with a new writing career, a sexy husband and two small children, but she’s having a wonderful (albeit sleepless) time. She loves immersing herself in dramatic, glamorous, passionate stories. Maybe she can’t physically travel to Morocco or Spain right now, but for a few hours a day, while her children are sleeping, she can be there in her books.

Jennie loves to hear from her readers. You can visit her website at www.jennielucas.com, or drop her a note at jennie@jennielucas.com

Recent titles by the same author:

TO LOVE, HONOUR AND BETRAY

A NIGHT OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY

RECKLESS NIGHT IN RIO

THE VIRGIN’S CHOICE

Did you know these are also available as eBooks?

Visit www.millsandboon.co.uk




Dealing Her Final Card

Jennie Lucas

















www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)




CHAPTER ONE


“BREE, wake up!”

A hand roughly shook Bree Dalton awake. Startled, she sat up with a gasp, blinking in the darkness.

Her younger sister was sitting on the edge of the bed. Tears sparkled on Josie’s pale cheeks in the moonlight.

“What’s happened?” Bree dropped her bare feet to the tile floor, ready to run, ready to fight anyone who had made her baby sister cry. “What’s wrong?”

Josie took a deep breath.

“I really messed up this time.” She wiped her eyes. “But before you freak out, I want you to know it’s going to be fine. I know how to fix it.”

Rather than be comforted by this statement, Bree felt deepening fear. Her twenty-two-year-old sister, six years younger than Bree, had a knack for getting into trouble. And she was wearing the short, sexy dress of a Hale Ka’nani cocktail waitress instead of their gray housekeeping smock.

“Were you working at the bar?” Bree demanded.

“Still worried about some man hitting on me?” Josie barked a bitter laugh. “I wish that was the problem.”

“What is it, then?”

Josie ran a hand over her eyes. “I’m tired, Bree,” she whispered. “You gave up everything to take care of me. When I was twelve, I needed that, but now I am so tired of being your burden—”

“I’ve never thought of you that way,” Bree said, stung.

Josie looked at her clasped hands. “I thought this was my chance to pay off those debts, so we could go back to the Mainland. I’ve been practicing in secret. I thought I knew how to play. How to win.”

A chill went down Bree’s spine.

“You gambled?” she said numbly.

“It fell into my lap.” Josie exhaled, visibly shivering in the warm Hawaiian night. “I’d finished cleaning the wedding reception in the ballroom when I ran into Mr. Hudson. He offered to pay me overtime if I’d serve drinks at his private poker game at midnight. I knew you’d say no, but I thought, just this once …”

“I told you not to trust him!”

“I’m sorry,” Josie cried. “When he invited me to join them at the table, I couldn’t say no!”

Bree clawed back her long blond hair. “What happened?”

“I won,” Josie said defiantly. Then she swallowed. “At least I did for a while. Then I started losing. First I lost the chips I’d won, then I lost our grocery money, and then …”

Cold understanding went through Bree. She finished dully, “Then Mr. Hudson kindly offered to loan you whatever you needed.”

Josie’s mouth fell open. “How did you know?”

Because Bree knew bullies like Greg Hudson and how they tried to gain the upper hand. She’d met his type before, long ago, in the life she’d given up ten years ago—before she’d fallen in love, and her life had fallen apart. Before the man she loved had betrayed her, leaving her to the sheriff and the wolves—orphaned and penniless at eighteen, with a heartbroken twelve-year-old sister.

But oh, yes. Bree knew Greg Hudson’s type. She closed her eyes, feeling sick as she thought of the hotel manager’s hard eyes above his jovial smile, of his cheerful Hawaiian shirt that barely covered his fat belly. The resort manager had slept with many of his female employees, particularly amongst the lower-paid housekeeping staff. In the two months since the Dalton sisters had arrived in Hawaii, Bree had wondered more than once why he’d gone to such trouble to hire them from Seattle. He claimed the girls had been recommended by their employment agency, but that didn’t ring true. Surely there were many people looking for jobs here in Honolulu.

Josie had laughed at her, teasing her for being “gloomy and doomy,” but as Bree had scrubbed the bathrooms and floors of the lavish resort, she’d tried to solve the puzzle in her mind, and her bad feeling only grew. Especially when their boss made it clear over the past few weeks that he was interested in Josie. And made it equally clear the one he really wanted was Bree.

But of course Josie, with her innocent, trusting spirit, never noticed evil around her. She didn’t fully understand why Bree had given up gambling, and insisted they work only low-wage jobs for the ten years since their father died, keeping them under the radar of unscrupulous, dangerous men. Josie didn’t know how wicked the world could be.

Bree did.

“Gambling doesn’t pay.” She kept her voice calm. “You should know that by now.”

“You’re wrong. It does!” Josie said angrily. “We had plenty of money ten years ago.” She turned and looked wistfully at the window, toward the moonlit Hawaiian night. “And I thought if I could just be more like you and Dad …”

“You were using us as role models? Have you lost your mind?” Bree exploded. “I’ve spent the last decade trying to give you a different life!”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Josie cried. “What you’ve sacrificed for me?”

Bree took a deep breath. “It wasn’t just for you.” Her throat ached as she rose to her feet. “How much money did you lose tonight?”

For a moment, her sister didn’t answer. Outside, Bree heard the distant plaintive call of seabirds as Josie stared mutinously at the floor, arms folded. When she finally spoke, her voice was barely audible.

“A hundred.”

Bree felt relief so fierce she almost cried. She’d been so afraid it would be worse. Reaching out, she gave her sister’s shoulder a squeeze. “It’ll be all right.” She exhaled in relief. “Our budget will be tight, but we’ll just eat a little more rice and beans this month.” Wiping her eyes, she tried to smile. “Let this be a good lesson …”

But Josie hadn’t moved from the end of the bed. She looked up, her face pale.

“A hundred thousand, Bree,” she whispered. “I owe Mr. Hudson a hundred thousand dollars.”

For a second, Bree couldn’t understand the words. Lingering tears of relief burned her eyes like acid as she stared at her sister.

A hundred thousand dollars.

Turning away, Bree started to pace, compulsively twisting a long tendril of blond hair into a tight ringlet around her finger as she struggled to make sense of all her worst fears coming true. She tried to control her shaking hands. Tried desperately to think of a way out.

“But I told you, you don’t have to worry!” Josie blurted out. “I have a plan.”

Bree stopped abruptly. “What is it?”

“I’m going to sell the land.”

Her eyes went wide as she stared at her sister.

“There’s no choice now. Even you must see that,” Josie argued, blinking fast as she clasped her hands tightly in her lap. “We’ll sell it, pay off the debt, and then pay off those men who are after us. You’ll finally be free—”

“That land is in trust.” Bree’s voice was hard. “You don’t get possession until you’re twenty-five or married. So put it out of your mind.”

Josie shook her head desperately. “But I know how I could—”

“You can’t,” she said coldly. “And even if you could, I wouldn’t let you. Dad put that land into an unbreakable trust for a reason.”

“Because he thought I was helpless to take care of myself.”

“Because from the day you were born, you’ve had a knack for trusting people and believing the best of them.”

“You mean I’m stupid and naive.”

Controlling herself, Bree clenched her hands at her sides.

“It’s a good quality, Josie,” she said quietly. “I wish I had more of it.”

And it was true. Josie had always put concern for others over her own safety and well-being. As a chubby girl of five, she’d once wandered out of their Alaskan cabin into the snow, hoping to find their neighbor’s cat, which had disappeared the day before. Eleven-year-old Bree had searched their rural street with their panicked father and half a dozen neighbors for hours, until they’d finally found her, lost in the forest, dazed and half-frozen.

Josie had nearly died that day, for the sake of a cat that was found later, snug and warm in a nearby barn.

Bree took a deep breath. Her little sister’s heart was as big as the world. It was why she needed someone not nearly so kind or innocent to protect her. “Are they still playing?”

“Yes,” Josie said in a small voice.

“Who’s at the table?”

“Mr. Hudson and a few owners. Texas Big-Hat, Silicon Valley, Belgian Bob,” she said, using the housekeeping staff’s nicknames for the villa owners. Her eyes narrowed. “And one more man I didn’t recognize. Handsome. Arrogant. He kicked me out of the game.” She scowled. “The others would’ve let me stay longer—”

“You would have just lost more,” Bree said coldly. Turning away, she went behind her closet door and yanked off her oversized sleep shirt, pulling on a bra and then a snug black T-shirt. “We’d owe a million dollars now, instead of just a hundred thousand.”

“It might as well be a million, for all our chance of paying,” Josie grumbled. “For all the good it will do them if I don’t sell that land. They can’t get blood out of a stone!”

Bree pulled on her skinny dark jeans over her slim legs. “And what do you think will happen when you don’t pay?”

“Mr. Hudson will make me scrub his floors for free?” she replied weakly.

Coming around the closet door, Bree stared at her in disbelief. “Scrub his floors?”

“What else can he do?”

Bree turned away, muttering to herself. Josie didn’t understand the situation she was dealing with. How could she? Bree had made it her mission in life to protect her from knowing.

She’d hoped they would find peace in Hawaii, three thousand miles away from the ice and snow of Alaska. She’d prayed she would find her own peace, and finally stop dreaming of the blue-eyed, dark-haired man she’d once loved. But it hadn’t worked. Every night, she still felt Vladimir’s arms around her, still heard his low, sensual voice. I love you, Breanna. She still saw the brightness of his eyes as he held up a sparkling diamond beneath the Christmas tree. Will you marry me?

Ugh. Furiously, Bree pushed the memory away. No wonder she still hated Christmas. Let other women go home to their turkeys and children and brightly lit trees. To Bree, yesterday had been just another workday. She never let herself remember that one magical Christmas night when she was eighteen, when she’d wanted to change her life to be worthy of Vladimir’s love. The night she’d promised herself that she would never—for any reason—gamble or cheat or lie again. Even though he’d left her, she’d kept that promise.

Until now. She reached into the back of her closet, pulling out her black boots with the sharp stiletto heels.

“Bree?” Josie said anxiously.

Not answering, Bree sat down heavily on the bed. Putting her feet into her boots, she zipped up the backs. It was the first time she’d worn these stiletto boots since she was a rebellious teenager with a flexible conscience and a greedy heart. It took Bree back to the woman she’d never thought she would be again. The woman she’d have to be tonight to save her sister. She glanced at the illuminated red letters of the clock. Three in the morning. A perfect time to start.

“Please, you don’t have to do this,” her sister whimpered. Her voice choked as she whispered helplessly, “I have a plan.”

Ignoring the guilt and anguish in her sister’s voice, Bree rose to her feet. “Stay here.” Squaring her shoulders, she severed the connection between her brain and her pounding heart. Emotion would only be a liability from here on out. “I’ll take care of it.”

“No! It’s my fault, Bree, and I can fix it. Listen. On Christmas Eve, I met a man who told me how …”

But Bree didn’t wait to hear whatever cockamamy sob story someone might have fed her softhearted sister this time. She grabbed her black leather motorcycle jacket and headed for the door.

“Bree, wait!”

She didn’t look back. She walked out of the tiny apartment and went down the open-air hallway to the moss-covered, crumbling concrete steps of the aging building where all the Hale Ka’nani Resort’s staff lived.

It’s just like riding a bike, Bree told herself fiercely as she raced down the steps. Even after ten years away from the game, she could win at poker. She could.

Warm trade winds blew against her cold skin. Pulling on her black leather jacket, she went down the illuminated paths of the five-star resort toward the beautiful, brand-new buildings used by wealthy tourists and the even wealthier villa owners, clustered around the edge of a private, white-sand beach.

My heart is cold, she repeated to herself. I feel nothing.

The moon was full over the Pacific, leaving a ghostly trail across the black water. Palm trees swayed in the warmth of the Hawaiian breeze. She heard the distant call of night birds, smelled the exotic scent of fruit and spice mingling with the salt of the sea.

Above her, dark silhouettes of tall, slender palm trees swayed in a violet sky twinkling with stars. Even with the bright full moon, the night seemed black to her, wide and endless as the sea. She followed the illuminated path around the deserted pool between the beach and the main lobby. As she grew closer to the beach, she heard the sound of the surf build to a roar.

The open-air bar was nearly empty beneath its long thatched roof. Hanging lights swayed in the breeze over a few drunk tourists and cuddling honeymooners. Bree nodded at the tired-eyed bartender, then went past the bar into a connecting hall that led to the private rooms reserved for the villa owners and their guests. Where rich men brought their cheap mistresses and played private, illegal games.

Opening the door, Bree stumbled in her stiletto boots.

Clenching her hands at her sides, she took a deep breath and told her heart to be a lump of ice. Cold. Cold. Cold. She had no feelings of any kind. Poker was easy. By the time she was fourteen, she’d been fleecing tourists in Alaskan ports. And she’d learned the best way not to show emotion was not to feel it in the first place.

Never play with your heart, kiddo. Only a sucker plays with his heart. Even if you win, you lose.

Her father had said those words to her a million times growing up, but she’d still had to learn the hard way. Once, she’d played with all her heart. And lost—everything.

Don’t think about it. But in spite of her best efforts, the memory brought a chill of fear. She’d been so determined to leave that life behind. What if she’d forgotten how to play? What if she’d lost her gift? What if she couldn’t lure the men in, convince them to let her ante up without money, and get the cards she needed—or bluff them into believing she had?

If she failed at this, then … Bree felt a flash of sweat on her forehead. Running for the Mainland might be their only option. Or, since they had no money or credit cards and it was doubtful they’d even make it to the airport before they were caught, swimming for the Mainland.

She exhaled, forcing her body to calm down and her heart to slow. It’s just poker, she told herself firmly. Your heart is cold. You feel nothing.

Bree went all the way down the long, air-conditioned hall. A large man weighing perhaps three hundred pounds sat at a polished oak door.

She forced a crooked smile in his direction. “Hey, Kai.”

The enormous security guard nodded with a single jerk of his chins. “What you doing here, Bree? Saw your sister take off. She sick or something?”

“Something like that.”

“You working in her place?” Kai frowned, looking over her dark, tight jeans, her black leather jacket and black stiletto boots. “Where’s the uniform?”

“This is my outfit.” Her voice was cool as she stared him down. “For poker.”

“Oh.” His round, friendly face looked confused. “Well. Okay. Go in, then.”

“Thanks.” Forcing the ice in her voice to fully infuse her heart, she pushed open the door.

The private room for the villa residents had a cavernous ceiling and no windows. The walls were soundproofed with thick red fabric that swooped from a center point on the ceiling. The effect made the room glamorous and cozy and claustrophobic all at once. To Bree, it felt like entering the tent of a sheikh’s harem. But as she approached the wealthy men who were playing at the single large table, if there was a stab of fear down her spine, she didn’t feel it.

She’d succeeded. She’d turned off her heart.

There were no women players. The only females in the room stood in a circle behind the men, smiling with hawkish red lips, wearing low-cut, tight silk gowns. At the table, she saw the dealer, Chris—what was his last name?—whose eyes widened with surprise when he saw her.

The four players at the table were Greg Hudson and three owners she recognized: a Belgian land developer, a long-mustached oil man from Texas and a short, bald tycoon from Silicon Valley. But where was the arrogant stranger Josie had mentioned? Had he already quit the game?

Whatever. It was time to play.

In her black leather jacket and jeans, Bree pushed through the venomous, overdressed women. Without a word, she sat down at one of the two empty seats at the table around the dealer, beside Greg Hudson.

“Deal me in,” she said coolly.

The men blinked, staring at her in shock that was almost comical. One of the men snorted a laugh. Another frowned. “Another cocktail waitress?” one scoffed.

“Actually,” Bree said with a grin, “I’m with the housekeeping staff, and so was my sister.”

The men glanced at each other uncertainly.

“Well, well. Bree Dalton.” Greg Hudson licked his lips, looking at her with beady eyes in his florid, sweaty face. “So. Did you bring the hundred thousand dollars your sister owes me?”

“You know we don’t have that kind of money.”

“Then I’ll send my men to take it out of her hide.”

Bree’s knees shook beneath the table, but she did not feel fear. Her body might feel whatever it liked, but she’d disconnected it from her heart. Crossing her legs, she leaned back in her chair. “I will play for her debt.”

“You!” He snorted. “What will you wager? This game has a five-thousand-dollar buy-in. You could scrub the bathrooms of the entire Hale Ka’nani Resort for years and not have that kind of money.”

“I offer a trade.”

“You have nothing of value.”

“I have myself.”

Her boss stared at her, then licked his lips. “You mean—”

“Yes. I mean you could have me in bed.” She looked at him steadily, feeling nothing. Her skin felt cold, her heart as frozen as the blue iceberg that sank the Titanic. “You wanted me, Mr. Hudson. Here I am.”

There was a low whistle, an intake of breath around the room.

Bree slowly gazed around the table. She had everyone’s complete attention. Without flinching, she let her gaze taunt each man in turn, all of them larger, older and more powerful than she could ever be. “Who will take the gamble?”

“Well now.” Looking her over, the Texas oil baron thoughtfully tilted back his cowboy hat. “This game just got a lot more interesting.”

In the corner of her eye, she saw a dark, hulking shadow come around the table. A man sat down in the empty chair on the other side of the dealer, and Bree instantly turned to him with languid eyes. “Allow me to join your game, and I could be yours….”

Bree’s voice choked off midsentence as she sucked in her breath.

She knew those cold blue eyes. The high cheekbones, sharp as a razor blade. The strong jaw that proclaimed ruthless, almost thuggish strength. So powerful, so darkly handsome, so sensual.

So impossible.

“No,” she whispered. Not after ten years. Not here. “It can’t be.”

Vladimir Xendzov’s eyes narrowed with recognition, and then she felt the rush of his sudden searing hatred like fire.

“Have you met Prince Vladimir?” Greg Hudson purred.

“Prince?” Bree choked out. She was unable to look away from Vladimir’s face, the face of the man she’d dreamed about unwillingly for the past ten years.

His cruel, sensual lips curved as he leaned back in his chair.

“Miss Dalton,” he drawled. “I didn’t know you were in Hawaii. And gambling. What a pleasant surprise.”

His low, husky voice, so close to her, so real, caused a shiver across her skin. She stared at him in shock.

Her one lost love. Not a ghost. Not a dream. But here, at the Hale Ka’nani Resort, not six feet away from her.

“So what’s on offer? Your body, is it?” Vladimir’s words were cold, even sardonic. “What a charming prize that would be, though hardly exclusive. Shared by thousands, I should imagine.”

And just like that, the ice around her heart exploded into a million glass splinters. She sucked in her breath.

Vladimir Xendzov had made her love him with all the reckless passion of an innocent, untamed heart. He’d made her a better person—and then he’d destroyed her. Her lips parted. “Vladimir.”

He stiffened. “Your Highness will do.”

She didn’t realize she’d spoken his name aloud. Glancing to the right and left, she matched his sardonic tone. “So you’re using your title now.”

His blue eyes burned through her. “It is mine by right.”

She knew it was true. His great-grandfather had been one of the last great princes of Russia, before he’d died fighting the Red Army in Siberia, after sending his wife and baby son to safety in Alaskan exile. As a poverty-stricken child, Vladimir had been mocked with the title at school. When he was twenty-five, he’d told her that he never intended to use the title, that it still felt like a mockery, an honor he hadn’t earned—and was worthless, anyway.

But apparently, now, he’d found a use for it.

“You didn’t always think so,” Bree said.

“I am no longer the boy you once knew,” he said coldly.

She swallowed. Ten years ago, she’d thought Vladimir was the last honest man on earth. She’d loved him enough to give up the wicked skills that made her special. When he’d held her tight on a cold Alaskan night and begged her to be his bride, it had been the happiest night of her life. Then he’d ruthlessly deserted her the next morning, before she could tell him the truth. When she needed him most, he’d stabbed her in the back. Some prince. “What are you doing here?”

His lip curled. Without answering her, he turned away. “The table is full,” he said to the other players. “We do not want her.”

“Speak for yourself,” one of them muttered, looking at Bree.

Looking around, she jolted in her chair. She’d forgotten the other men were there, looking at her like hungry wolves at a raw mutton chop. The beautiful, sexily dressed women standing in a circle behind them were glaring as if they would like to tear her limb from limb. Perhaps she’d taken her act a little too far.

Feel nothing, she ordered her shivering heart. I have ice for a heart. She looked away from the large, powerful men and sharp-taloned women. They couldn’t hurt her. The only man who’d ever been able to really hurt her was Vladimir. And what more could he do, that he hadn’t done already?

One thing, a cold voice whispered. Ten years ago, he’d taken her heart and soul.

But not her virginity.

And he never would, she told herself fiercely. Bree didn’t know what Vladimir Xendzov was doing in Honolulu, but she didn’t care. He was ancient history. All that mattered now was protecting Josie.

To save her little sister, Bree would play cards with the devil himself.

With an intake of breath, she lifted her chin, ignoring Vladimir as she looked around the table. “It is for this first game only that I offer my body. If I lose, the winner will get me, along with all the money in the pot. But if I win—” when I win, she amended silently “—I will only bet money. Until I possess the entire amount of my sister’s debt.”

As she spoke, her heart started to resume a normal beat. Bluffing, playing card games, was home to her. She’d learned poker when her father had pulled her up to their table in Anchorage and taught her at the tender age of four. By six, shortly after her mother had died two months after giving birth to Josie, Bree was a child prodigy accompanying her father to games—and, when he saw how much money she could make, his partner in crime.

Leaning forward, she looked at each man in turn, ignoring the death stares of the women behind them. “What is your answer?”

“We are here to play poker,” another man complained. “Not for hookers.”

Bree twirled her long blond hair slowly around one of her slender fingers and looked through her lashes at the Silicon Valley tycoon. “You don’t recognize me, do you, Mr. McNamara?”

“Should I?”

She gave him a smile. “I guess not. But you knew my father, Black Jack Dalton.” She paused. “Have you enjoyed the painting you paid him to steal from the archives of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles? When did you learn it was a fake?”

The Silicon Valley tycoon stiffened.

“And Mr. Vanderwald—” she turned to the gray-haired, overweight man sitting beside her boss “—twelve years ago you were nearly wiped out, weren’t you? Investing in an Alaskan oil well that never existed.”

The Belgian land developer scowled. “How the devil did you—”

“You thought my father conned you. But it was my idea. It was me,” she whispered, lowering her eyelashes as she ran her hand down the softly worn leather of her black motorcycle jacket. “It was all me.”

“You,” the fat man breathed, staring at her.

She was doing well. Then, from the corner of her eye, she felt Vladimir’s sardonic gaze. It hit her cheek and the side of her neck like a blast of ice. Her heart skidded with the effort it took to ignore him. He was the one man who’d ever really known her. The mark she’d stupidly let see behind her mask. She felt his hatred. Felt his scorn.

Fine. She felt the same about him. Let him hate her. His hatred bounced off the thickening ice of her scorn for him. She’d thought he was so perfect and noble. She’d killed herself trying to be worthy. But when he’d learned the truth about her past, he’d deserted her, without giving her a chance to explain.

So much for his honor. So much for his love.

Bree’s lips twisted. Turning away, she gave the rest of the men a sensual smile. “Win this first hand, and you’ll have me at your mercy. You’ll get your revenge. Humiliate me completely. Take my body, and make your last memory of me one of your own pleasure.” She gave a soft sigh, allowing her lips to part. “My skills at cards are nothing compared to what I can do to you in bed. I’ve learned the art of seduction. You have no idea,” she whispered, “what I can do to you. A single hour with me will change your life.”

Her act was one hundred percent fraud, of course. She, know the art of seduction? What a joke. She’d have no clue what she’d do with a man in bed. Since Vladimir, she’d been very careful never to let any man close to her. At twenty-eight, she was a virgin. But she did know how to bluff.

The men were riveted.

“I’m in,” Greg Hudson croaked.

“And me.”

“I accept.”

“Yes.”

As the men at the table agreed, Bree would have been frightened by all the looks of lust and desire and rage, if she hadn’t frozen her heart against emotion.

But the last set of ice-blue eyes held no lust. No desire for domination. Just pure, cold understanding. As if Vladimir alone could see through all her tricks to the scared woman beneath.

“As you wish,” he said softly. He gave a cold smile. “Let’s play.”

His low, sensual voice slid through her body. When she looked into Vladimir’s eyes, fear pierced her armor. Pierced her heart. She wanted to leap up and run from his knowing gaze, to keep running and never stop. It took every ounce of her willpower to remain in the chair.

Clutching her jacket around her for warmth, she wrenched her gaze away, gripping the black leather so no one could see that her hands were shaking. “Then let’s begin.”

At Greg Hudson’s nod, Chris the dealer dealt the cards. Ignoring the spiteful whispers and daggered glances of the trophy girls, Bree stared at her cards, facedown on the table.

She couldn’t let herself think what would happen if she lost. Couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to let any of these angry, fat, ugly men take their revenge on her virginal body through rough sex.

But even more awful would be having Vladimir win. Giving her virginity to the man who’d once broken her completely? She couldn’t survive it. Not from him.

Just win, she ordered herself. All she had to do was take this first hand, and her virginity would no longer be on offer. It would be a long night of poker trying to win a hundred thousand dollars. But this was the most important hand.

Closing her eyes, she silently prayed. Then she picked up the cards. Careful not to let any of the players see them, she looked at them.

It took every ounce of her skill not to gasp.

Three kings. She had three kings, along with a four and a queen. Three kings. She nearly wept with relief. It was as if fate had decided she was gambling for the right reasons and deserved to win.

Unless it was more than fate …

She looked up through her lashes toward the young dealer. Could he be helping her? Chris was about Josie’s age, and he’d come twice to their apartment for dinner. He wasn’t exactly a close friend, but he’d spoken many times with irritation about Greg Hudson’s poor management skills. “You would do a better job of running this resort, Bree,” he’d grumbled, and she’d agreed with a smile. “But who wouldn’t?”

Now, catching her eye, the young dealer gave her a wink and a smile.

Sucking in her breath, Bree looked away before anyone noticed. Her eyes accidentally fell on Vladimir’s. His eyebrows lowered, and she gulped, looking back down at her cards, hastily making her expression blank. Had he seen? Could he guess?

The dealer turned to his left. “Your Highness?”

Because of his placement at the table, Vladimir was the first one required to add a bet to the pile of chips already in the middle of the table from the ante. “Raise.”

Raise? Bree looked up in surprise. He was looking straight at her as he said, “Five thousand.”

Texas Big-Hat cursed and threw his cards on the table. “Fold.”

“Call,” Silicon Valley said, matching Vladimir’s bet.

“Call,” Mr. Vanderwald puffed, a bead of sweat dripping down his forehead.

“Call,” Greg Hudson said.

All eyes turned to Bree.

“She’s already all in,” Greg Hudson said dismissively. “There’s nothing more she can wager.”

He was right, she thought with a pang. She couldn’t match Vladimir’s raise, and that meant even if she won the hand, she couldn’t win anything beyond the twenty-five thousand dollars’ worth of chips currently in the center. What a waste of three kings …

Bree suddenly smiled. “I call.”

“Call?” Greg Hudson hooted. “You have an extra five thousand dollars hidden in the back pocket of those jeans?”

She stretched back her shoulders and felt the eyes of the men linger on the shape of her breasts beneath her black T-shirt. “I can match the bet in other ways. Instead of just an hour in bed, I’ll offer an entire night.” She tilted back her head, allowing her long blond hair to tumble provocatively down her shoulders. “Many chances. Multiple positions. As fast or slow or hard as you like it, all night long, and each time better than the last. Against the wall. Bent over the bed. In my mouth.”

She felt like a total fool. She hoped she sounded like a woman who knew what she was talking about, not a scared virgin whose idea of lovemaking was vague at best, based only on movies and novels. But as she looked at each man at the table they seemed captivated. She exhaled. Her mask was holding. She was convincing them. Even Chris the dealer looked entranced.

Vladimir alone seemed completely unaffected. Bored, even. His lips twisted with scorn. And his eyes—

His blue eyes saw straight through her. A hot blush burned her cheeks as she said to him, “Do you agree my bet is commensurate with your five thousand dollar raise?”

“No,” Vladimir said coldly. “That is not a call.”

Her heart sank. “You …”

He gave her a calm smile. “That is an additional raise.”

“A … a raise?” she echoed uncertainly.

“Obviously. Let us say … your added services are equivalent to an additional five thousand dollars? Yes. A full night with you would surely be worth that.” He lifted a dark eyebrow. “Would you not agree?”

“Five thousand more?” Greg Hudson’s voice hit a false note. Catching himself, he shifted uncomfortably in his chair and snickered, “Fine with me. I’m half raised already.”

“Good,” Vladimir said softly, never looking away from Bree. “So we are in agreement.”

Bree’s brow furrowed as she tried to read his expression. What on earth was he doing?

Trying to help her? Or giving her more rope to hang herself with?

Repressing her inner tumult, she stared him down. In for a penny … She lifted her chin. “If it’s worth five more, then why not ten more?”

The corners of Vladimir’s mouth lifted. “Yes, indeed. Why not?” He looked around the table. “Miss Dalton has raised the wager by ten thousand dollars.”

To her shock, one by one the men agreed to her supposed “raise,” except for the Belgian, who folded with an unintelligible curse.

And just like that—oh, merciful heavens—there was suddenly a pile of chips at the center of the table worth seventy-five thousand dollars.

She looked at each man as they discarded cards and got new ones from the dealer.

Don’t play the hand, her father had always said. Play the man.

She forced herself to look across the table at Vladimir. His face was inscrutable as he discarded a card and got a new one. When she’d played him ten years ago, he’d had a tight style of play. He did not bluff, he did not overbet—the exact opposite of Bree’s strategy.

He lifted his eyes to hers, and against her will, her heart turned over in her chest. His handsome face revealed nothing. The poverty of his homesteading Alaskan childhood, so different from hers, had pushed him to create a billion-dollar business across the world, primarily in metals and diamonds. He was so ruthless he had cut his own younger brother out of their partnership right before a multimillion-dollar deal. It was said Vladimir Xendzov had molten gold in his veins and a flinty diamond instead of a heart. That he wasn’t flesh and blood.

But if Bree closed her eyes, she could still remember their last night together, when they’d almost made love on a bearskin rug beneath the Christmas tree. She could remember the heat and searing pleasure of his lips against her skin in the deep hush of that cold winter’s night.

I love you, Breanna. As I’ve never loved anyone.

No one else had ever called Bree by her full name. Not like that. Now, as they looked at each other across the poker table, they were two enemies with battle lines drawn. Everything she’d ever thought him to be was a dream. All that was left was a savagely handsome man with hard blue eyes and an emotionless face.

She turned away. Greg Hudson and the Silicon Valley tycoon were far easier to read. She watched her boss get three new cards, saw the sweat on his face and the way he licked his thick, rubbery lips as he stared down at his hand. Hudson had nothing. A pair of twos, maybe.

She looked at Silicon Valley. His lips were tight, his eyes irritated as he stared down moodily at his cards. He was probably already thinking about the twenty thousand dollars he’d wagered in the pot. She hid a smile.

“Miss Dalton?” Chris the dealer said. Stone-faced, she handed in the four of spades. Waited. And got back …

A queen.

She forced herself not to react, not even to breathe. Three kings and two queens. A full house.

It was an almost unbeatable hand. Careful not to meet Vladimir’s eyes, she placed her cards facedown on the table. How she wished she could raise again! If only she had more to offer, she could have finished off her sister’s debt right now—with a single hand!

Don’t be greedy, she ordered herself. Seventy-five thousand dollars was plenty. Once she had it safely in her possession, the offer of her body—and unbeknownst to the men, her virginity—would be off the table.

But still. A full house. Her heart filled with regret.

“Raise,” Vladimir said.

She looked up with a frown. Why would he raise now?

His eyes met hers. “Fifteen thousand.”

“Fold.” With a growl, Silicon Valley tossed his cards on the table. “Damn you.”

Greg Hudson nervously wiped his forehead. For several seconds, he stared at his cards. Then he said in a small voice, “Call.”

They all looked at her. Bree hesitated. She wanted to match Vladimir’s raise. Yearned to. She had an amazing hand, and the amount now in the pot was even more than her sister’s debt. But without anything more to offer, she was already all in. Even if she won, she wouldn’t get the additional amount.

If only she had something more to offer!

“Well?” Vladimir’s eyes met hers. “Will you call? Perhaps,” he said in a sardonic voice, “you wish to raise your offer to an entire weekend of your charms?”

Bree stared at him in shock. A weekend?

She didn’t know why he was helping her—or if he thought he could hurt her. But with this hand, it didn’t matter. She was going to win.

“Great idea,” she said coolly. “I’ll match your raise with a full weekend of my—how did you put it? My charms?”

Vladimir’s lips turned up slightly at the edges, though his eyes revealed nothing.

Heart pounding, she waited for Greg Hudson to object. But he didn’t even look up. He just kept staring at his own cards, chewing on his lower lip.

It was time to reveal cards. Vladimir, based on his position at the table, went first. Slowly, he turned over his cards. He had two pairs—sevens and nines.

Relief flooded through Bree, making her body almost limp. She hadn’t realized until that moment how scared she’d been that even with her completely unbeatable hand, Vladimir might find a way to beat her.

Greg Hudson’s cards, on the other hand, were a foregone conclusion. He muttered a curse as he revealed a pair of threes.

Blinking back tears, Bree turned over her cards to reveal her full house, the three kings and two queens. There was a smattering of applause, exclamations and cursing across the room. She nearly wept as she reached for the pile of chips at the center of the table.

She’d saved Josie.

She’d won.

Bree’s legs trembled beneath her as she rose unsteadily to her feet, swaying in her high-heeled stiletto boots. She pushed the bulk of the chips toward Greg Hudson, keeping only a handful for herself. “This pays my sister’s debt completely, yes? We are free of you now?”

“Free?” Greg Hudson glared at her, then his piggy eyes narrowed. “Yes, you’re free. In fact, I want you and your sister off this property tonight.”

“You’re firing us?” Her jaw dropped. “For what cause?”

“I don’t need one,” he said coldly.

She stiffened. She hadn’t seen that coming. She should have. A small-minded man like her boss would never stand being beaten in a card game by a female employee. He’d already resented her for weeks, for the respect she’d quickly gained from the staff, and all the notes she’d left in the suggestion box, listing possible ways to improve his management of the resort.

“Fine.” She grabbed her handful of chips and glared at him. “Then I’ll tell you what I should have written up in the suggestion box weeks ago. This resort is a mess. You’re being overcharged by your vendors, half your employees are stealing from you and the other half are ready to quit. You couldn’t manage your way out of a paper bag!”

Mr. Hudson’s face went apoplectic. “You—”

She barely heard him as he cursed at her. These extra chips, worth thousands of dollars, would give both Dalton girls a new start—buy them a plane trip back to the Mainland, first and last months’ rent on a new apartment, and a little something extra to save for emergencies. And she would go someplace where she’d be sure she never, ever saw Vladimir Xendzov again. “I’ll just cash in these chips, collect our last paychecks, and we’ll be on our way.”

“Wait, Miss Dalton,” Vladimir said from behind her in a low, husky voice.

Her body obeyed, without asking her brain. Slowly, she turned. She couldn’t help herself.

He was sitting calmly at the table, looking up at her with heavily lidded eyes. “I wish to play one more game with you.”

Nervousness rose in her belly, but she tossed her head. “So desperate to win your money back? Are times so tough for billionaires these days?”

He smiled, and it did not meet his eyes. “A game for just the two of us. Winner take all.”

“Why would I do that?”

Vladimir indicated his own entire pile of chips. “For this.”

The blood rushed from her head, making her dizzy. “All of that?” she gasped.

He gave her a single nod.

Greg Hudson made a noise like a squeak. Sweat was showing through his tropical cotton shirt as he, along with everyone in the room, stared at the pile of chips. “But Prince Vladimir—Your Highness—that’s a million dollars,” he stammered.

“So it is,” he replied mildly, as if the amount were nothing at all—and to Vladimir, it probably wasn’t.

A single bead of sweat broke out between Bree’s breasts. “And what would you want from me?”

His blue eyes seared right through her. “If I win,” he said quietly, “you would be mine. For as long as I want you.”

As long as he wanted her? “That would make me your … your slave.”

Vladimir gave her a cold smile. “It is a wager I offer. You. For a million dollars.”

“But that’s—”

“Make your choice. Play me or go.”

She swallowed, hearing a roar of blood in her ears.

“You can’t just buy her!” her ex-boss brayed.

“That’s up to Miss Dalton,” Vladimir said. He turned his laserlike gaze on Bree. “So?”

Though there were ten other people in the room, it was so quiet she could have heard a pin drop. All eyes were on her.

A million dollars. The choice she made in this moment would determine the rest of her life—and Josie’s. They could pay off their father’s old debts to unsavory men, the ones that had kept them in virtual hiding for the past ten years. Josie would be free to go to college—any college she wanted. And Bree could start her own little B and B by the sea.

They’d no longer have to hide or be afraid.

They’d be free.

“What is the game?” she said weakly. “Poker?”

“Let’s keep it easy. Leave it to fate. One card.”

Her eyes widened. “One …”

His gorgeous face and chilly blue eyes revealed nothing as his sensual lips curved. “Are you feeling lucky, Miss Dalton?”

Was she feeling lucky?

Taking a million dollars from Vladimir would be more than sweet revenge. It would be justice for how he’d coldly abandoned her when she’d needed him most. He’d destroyed ten years of her life. She could take this one thing from him. A new life for her and Josie.

But risk being Vladimir’s slave—forever? The thought made her body turn to ice. It was too much to risk on a random card from the deck.

Unless … it wasn’t so random.

She looked sideways beneath her lashes at Chris, the dealer. He lowered his head, his expression serious. Was that a nod? Did she have a sympathetic ally? She closed her eyes.

How much was she willing to risk on a single card?

Are you feeling lucky, Miss Dalton?

Bree exhaled. She’d just won a hundred thousand dollars in a single game. She slowly opened her eyes. So, yes, she felt lucky. She sat back down at the table.

“I accept your terms,” she stated emphatically.

Vladimir’s smile widened. “So to be clear. If my card is higher, you’ll belong to me, obeying my every whim, for as long as I desire.”

“Yes,” she said, glancing again at Chris. “And if mine is higher, you will give me every chip on that table.”

“Agreed.” Vladimir lifted a dark eyebrow. “Ace card high?”

“Yes.”

They stared at each other, and Bree again forgot there was anyone else in the room. Until someone coughed behind her, and she jumped, realizing she’d been holding her breath.

Vladimir turned to the dealer. “Shuffle the deck.”

Bree put the chips she’d won in the last game into a little pile and pushed them aside. “I will select my own card.”

Her opponent looked amused. “I would expect no less.”

They both turned to Chris, who visibly gulped. Shuffling carefully, with all eyes upon him, he fanned out the facedown cards. He turned them toward Bree, who made her selection, then toward Vladimir, who did the same.

Holding her breath, Bree slowly turned her card over.

The king of hearts.

She’d drawn the king of hearts! She’d won!

She gasped aloud, no longer able to control her emotions. Flipping her card onto the table to reveal the suit, she covered her face with her palms and sobbed with joy. After ten years, fate had brought the untouchable Vladimir Xendzov into her hands, to give her justice at last. Parting her hands, she lifted her gaze, waiting for the sweetness of the moment when he turned over his own losing card, and his face fell as he realized he’d lost and she’d won.

Vladimir looked down at his card. For an instant, his hard expression didn’t change.

Then he looked up at her and smiled. A real smile that reached his eyes.

It was an ice pick through her heart.

“Sorry, Bree,” he said casually, and tossed his card onto the table.

She stared down at the ace of diamonds.

Her mind went blank. Then a tremble went through her, starting at her toes and moving up her body as she looked at Vladimir, her eyes wide and uncomprehending. She dimly heard Greg Hudson’s annoyed curse and the other men’s cheers, heard the women’s snide laughter—except for the woman directly behind Vladimir, who seemed to be crying.

“You—you’ve …” Bree couldn’t speak the words.

“I’ve won.” Vladimir looked at her, his blue eyes electric with dislike. He rose from his chair, all six feet four inches of him, and said coldly, “You have ten minutes to pack. I will collect my winnings in the lobby.” As she gaped at him, he walked around the table to stand over her, so close she could feel the warmth of his body. He leaned nearer, his face inches from hers.

“I’ve waited a long time for this,” he said softly. “But now, at last, Bree Dalton—” his lips slid into a hard, sensual smile “—you are mine.”




CHAPTER TWO


BREE’S heart stopped in her chest.

As Vladimir turned away, she struggled to wake up from this bad dream. She looked down at her overturned card on the table. The king of hearts looked back at her. Bree should have won. She was supposed to win. Her brain whirled in confusion.

“Wake up,” she whispered to herself. But it wasn’t a dream.

She’d just sold herself. Forever. To the only man she hated.

Blinking, she looked up tearfully at the young dealer, who she’d thought was her ally. Chris just shook his head. “Wow,” he said in awe. “That was a really stupid bet.”

Bree gripped the edge of the table with trembling hands. Staggering to her feet, she turned on Vladimir savagely. “You cheated!”

From the doorway, he whirled back to face her. “Cheated?”

He went straight toward her, and the crowds parted for him, falling back from his powerful presence and his expression of fury. He looked as cold as a marble statue, like an ancient tsar of perfect masculine beauty, of despotic strength and ruthless cruelty. He reached for her, and she backed away, terrified of the look in his eyes.

Vladimir dropped his hands. His posture relaxed and his voice became a sardonic drawl. “You are the one who cheats, my dear. And you’d best hurry.” He glanced at his platinum watch. “You now only have—nine minutes to pack before I collect my prize.”

She gasped aloud. His prize?

Her body—her soul!

Turning without another word, Vladimir stalked out the door with a warrior’s easy, deadly grace. Everyone in the room, Bree included, remained silent until the door closed behind him. Then the crowd around her burst into noise, and Bree’s knees went weak. She leaned her trembling hands against the table. Her ex-boss was yelling something in her ear: “Nine minutes is too long. I want you out of the Hale Ka’nani in five!”

Greg Hudson looked as if he were dying to slap her across the face. But she knew he couldn’t touch her. Not now. Not ever.

She was Vladimir Xendzov’s property now.

How could she have been so stupid? How?

Bree had never hated herself so much as she did in that moment. She rubbed her eyes, hard. She’d thought she could save her hapless baby sister from the perils of gambling. Instead, she’d proved herself more stupidly naive than Josie had ever been.

The warm, close air in the red-curtained, windowless room suddenly choked her. Pushing past the annoyed blonde who’d stood behind Vladimir’s chair, Bree ran for the exit, past a startled Kai who was guarding the door. She rushed down the hall, past the deserted outdoor bar, into the dark night.

She ran up the hill, trying to focus on the feel of the path beneath her feet, on the hard rhythm of her breathing. But she was counting down her freedom in minutes. Eight. Seven and a half. Seven.

Her right foot stumbled and she slowed to a walk, her breath a rasp in her throat. The moon glowed above her as she reached the apartment building she shared with her sister.

Bree shivered as a warm breeze blew against her clammy skin. Rushing up the open-air stairs of the aged, moss-covered structure, she shook with fear. He would take everything from her. Everything.

She’d been stupid. So stupid. He’d set his trap and she’d walked right into it. And now Josie would be left alone, with no one to watch out for her.

Bree started to reach for the doorknob, then stopped. Her body shook as she remembered the poker chips she’d been so proud to win—all of which she’d left behind. With a choked sob, she covered her face with her hands. How would she ever explain this disaster to Josie?

The door abruptly opened.

“There you are,” Josie said. “I saw you come up the path. Did you manage to …?” But her sister’s hopeful voice choked off when she saw Bree’s face. “Oh,” she whispered. “You … you lost?”

Josie spoke the words as if they were impossible. As if she’d never once thought such a thing could happen. Bree had never lost big like this before—ever. Even tonight, she would have won, if she hadn’t allowed Vladimir to tempt her into one last game. Her hands clenched at her sides. She didn’t know who she hated more at this moment—him or herself.

Him. Definitely him.

“What happened?” Josie breathed.

“The stranger was Vladimir,” Bree said through dry lips. “The man who kicked you out of the game was Vladimir Xendzov.”

Josie stared at her blankly. But of course—she’d been only twelve when their father had died, and Bree had set her sights on the twenty-five-year-old businessman with a small mining company, who’d returned to Alaska to try to buy back his family’s land. She’d hoped to con him out of enough cash to pay off the dangerous men who’d tracked them down and were demanding repayment of the money Black Jack and Bree had once stolen.

She’d fallen for Vladimir instead. And Christmas night, when he’d proposed to her, she’d decided to tell him everything. But his brother told him first—and by then, it was in the newspapers. Without a word, he’d abruptly left Alaska, leaving eighteen-year-old Bree and her sister threatened by dangerous men—as well as the sheriff, who’d wanted to toss Bree into jail and Josie into foster care. So they’d thrown everything into their beat-up old car in the middle of the night, and headed south. For the past ten years, they’d never stopped running.

“You lost? At poker?” Josie repeated, dazed. Her eyes suddenly welled up with tears. “This is all my fault.”

“It’s not your fault,” Bree said tightly.

“Of course it is!”

Josie was clearly miserable. Looking at her little sister’s tearful face, Bree came to a sudden decision. She grabbed her duffel bag.

“Pack,” she said tersely.

Josie didn’t move. Her expression was bewildered. “Where are we going?”

Bree stuffed her passport into her bag, and any clean clothes she could reach. “Airport. You have two minutes.”

“Oh, my God,” Josie breathed, staring at her. “You want to run. What on earth did you lose?”

“Move!” Bree barked.

Jumping, her sister turned and grabbed her knapsack. A scant hundred seconds later, Bree was pulling on her hand and yanking her toward the door.

“Hurry.” She flung open the door. “We’ll get our last paychecks and—”

Vladimir stood across the open-air hallway. His broad-shouldered, powerful body leaned casually against the wall in the shadows.

“Going somewhere?” he murmured silkily.

Bree stopped short, staring up in shock. Behind her, Josie ran into her back with a surprised yelp.

He lifted a dark eyebrow and gave Bree a cold smile. “I had a feeling you would attempt to cheat me. But I admit I’m disappointed. Some part of me had hoped you might have changed over the last ten years.”

Other hulking shadows appeared on the stairs. He hadn’t come alone.

Desperately, Bree tossed her head and glared at him defiantly. “How do you know I wasn’t just hurrying to be on time to meet you in the lobby?”

Vladimir’s smile became caustic. “Hurrying to meet me? No. Ten years ago you could barely be on time for anything. You’d have been late to my funeral.”

“Oh, I’d be early for your funeral, believe me! Holding flowers and red balloons!”

His blue eyes gleamed as he came toward her in the shadows. She felt Josie quivering behind her, so as he reached for her, Bree forced herself not to flinch or back away.

“People don’t change,” he said softly. He pulled the duffel bag from her shoulder. Unzipping it, he turned away from her, and she exhaled. Then, as he went through the bag, she glared at him.

“What do you think I have in there—a rifle or something? Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s rude to go through other people’s stuff?”

“A woman like you doesn’t need a rifle. You have all the feminine weapons you need. Beauty. Seduction. Deceit.” Vladimir gazed at her with eyes dark as a midnight sea. His handsome, chiseled face seemed made of granite. “A pity your charms don’t work on me.”

As she looked at him, her throat tightened. She whispered, “If you despise me so much, just let me go. Easier for you. Easier for everyone.”

His lips curved. “Is that the final item on your checklist?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’ve tried running, insulting me, accusing me of cheating, and now you’re reasoning with me.” Zipping up the bag, he pushed it back into her arms and looked at her coldly. “What’s next—begging for mercy?”

She held the bag over her heart like a shield. “Would it work?” she breathed. “If I begged you—on my knees—would you let me go?”

Reaching out, Vladimir cupped her cheek. He looked down at her almost tenderly. “No.”

She jerked her chin away. “I hate you!”

Vladimir gave a low, bitter laugh. “So you did have a checklist. It’s fascinating, really, how little you’ve changed.”

If only that were true, Bree thought. She didn’t have a plan. She was going on pure instinct. Ten years of living a scrupulously honest life, of scraping to get by on minimum-wage jobs, and taking care of her sister, had left Bree’s old skills of sleight of hand and deception laughably out-of-date. She was rusty. She was clumsy and awkward.

And Vladimir made it worse. He brought out her weakness. She couldn’t hide her feelings, even though she knew it would be to her advantage to cloak her hatred. But he’d long ago learned the secret ways past the guarded walls of her heart.

“You can’t be serious about making me your slave forever!” she snapped.

“What?” Josie gasped, clinging to her arm.

Vladimir’s eyes were hard in the moonlight. “You made the bet. Now you will honor it.”

“You tricked me!”

He gave her a lazy smile. “You thought that dealer was going to stick his neck out for you, didn’t you? But men don’t sacrifice themselves for women anymore. Not even for pretty ones.” He moved closer to her, leaning his head down to her ear. “I know all your tells, Bree,” he whispered. “And soon … I will know every last secret of your body.”

Bree felt the warmth of his breath on her neck, felt the brush of his lips against the tender flesh of her earlobe. Prickles raced through her, making her hair stand on end as he towered over her. She felt tiny and feminine compared to his powerful masculine strength, and against her will, she licked her lips as a shiver went down her body.

Vladimir straightened, and his eyes glittered like an arctic sea. “This time, you will fulfill your promises.”

He made a small movement with his hand, and the three shadows on the stairs came forward, toward the bare light outside their apartment. Vladimir strode down the steps without looking back, leaving his three bodyguards to corral the two Dalton sisters and escort them down the concrete staircase.

Two luxury vehicles waited in the dimly lit parking lot. The first was a black SUV with tinted windows. The second … Bree’s feet slowed.

“Bree!”

Hearing her sister’s panicked voice behind her, she turned around and saw the bodyguards pushing Josie into the backseat of the SUV.

Bree clenched her hands as she went forward. “Let her go!”

Vladimir grabbed her arm. “You’re coming with me.”

“I won’t be separated from her!”

He looked at her, his face hard and oh, so handsome in the moonlight. “My Lamborghini only has two seats.” When she didn’t move, he said with exaggerated patience, “They will be right behind us.”

Glancing at the SUV parked behind the Lamborghini, Bree saw her sister settled in the backseat as the bodyguards climbed in beside her. Bree ground her teeth. “Why should I trust you?”

“You have no choice.”

He reached for her hand, but she ripped it away. “Don’t touch me!”

Vladimir narrowed his eyes. “I was merely trying to be courteous. Clearly a waste.” He thrust his thumb toward the door of the bright red Lamborghini. “Get in.”

Opening the door, Bree climbed inside the car and took a deep breath of the soft leather seats’ scent. Fast cars had once been her father’s favorite indulgence, back when they’d been conning rich criminals across the West, and Black Jack had been spending money even faster than they made it. By the time her father died of lung cancer, only debts were left. But the smell of the car reminded her of the time when her father had been her hero and their mattresses had been stuffed with money—literally. Unwillingly, Bree ran her hand over the smooth leather.

“Nice car,” she said grudgingly.

With a sudden low laugh, Vladimir started the engine. “It gets me where I need to go.”

At the sound of that laugh, she sucked in her breath.

His laugh …

She’d first heard it at a party in Anchorage, when Vladimir Xendzov was just a mark, half owner of a fledgling mining company, who had come to Alaska looking to buy the land her father had left in an ironclad trust for Josie, then just twelve years old. Bree had been hoping she could distract Vladimir from the legal facts long enough to disappear with his money. Instead, when their eyes met across the room, she’d been electrified. He’d grabbed an extra flute of champagne and come toward her.

“I know who you are,” he’d said.

She’d hid the nervous flutter in her belly. “You do?”

He gave her a wicked smile. “The woman who’s coming home with me tonight.”

For an instant, she’d caught her breath. Then she’d laughed in his face. “Does that line usually work?”

He’d looked surprised, then he’d joined her laughter with his own low baritone. “Yes,” he’d said almost sheepishly. “In fact, it always does.” He’d held out his hand with a grin. “Let’s try this again. I’m Vladimir.”

Now, as his eyes met hers, his expression was like stone. He yanked hard on the wheel of the Lamborghini, pulling the car away from the curb with a squeal of tires. Bree glanced behind them, and saw her sister’s SUV was indeed following them. She exhaled.

She had to think of a way to get out of this prison sentence. She looked at the passing lights of Honolulu. The city sparkled, even in the dead of night.

Deals can always be made. Her father’s words came back to her. Just figure out what a man wants most. And find a way to give it to him—or make him think you will.

But what could a man like Vladimir possibly want, that he didn’t already have?

He was frequently in the business news—and nearly as often in the tabloids. He was the sole owner of Xendzov Mining OAO, with operations on six continents. His company was one of the leading producers of gold, platinum and diamonds around the world. He was famous for his workaholic ways, for his lavish lifestyle, and most of all for the ruthless way he crushed his competition—most spectacularly his own brother, who’d once been part-owner of the company before Vladimir had forced him out, the same day he’d abandoned Bree in Alaska. For ten years, the two brothers’ brutal, internecine battles had caused them both to lose millions of dollars, tarnishing both their reputations.

Ala Moana Boulevard was deserted as they drove away from Waikiki, heading toward downtown. Along the wide dark beach across the street, palm trees stretched up into the violet sky. They passed Ala Moana Center, which was filled with shops such as Prada, Fendi and Louis Vuitton—brands that Bree had once worn as a teenage poker player, but which as a hotel housekeeper she couldn’t remotely afford. Vladimir could probably buy out the entire mall without flinching, she thought. Just as he’d bought her.

Bree rolled down her window to breathe the warm night air. “So tell me,” she said casually. “What brings you to Honolulu?”

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “Don’t.”

“What?”

“Play whatever angle you’re hoping to use against me.”

“I wasn’t …”

“I can hear the purr in your voice.” His voice was sardonic. “It’s the same one you used at the poker table, whipping the male players into a frenzy by offering your body as the prize.”

Anger rushed through her, but she took a deep breath. He was right—that wasn’t exactly her proudest moment. She looked down at her hands, clenched in her lap. “I was desperate. I had nothing else to offer.”

“You weren’t desperate when you played that last card against me. Your sister’s debt was already paid. You could have walked away.”

Tears burned the backs of her eyes. “You don’t understand. We are in debt—”

“Fascinating.” His voice dripped sarcasm.

Didn’t he have even the slightest bit of humanity, even a sliver of a flesh-and-blood heart? Her throat ached as she looked away. “I can’t believe I ever loved you.”

“Loved?” Changing gears as they sped down the boulevard, he gave a hard laugh. “It’s tacky to bring that up. Even for you.”

Ahead of them, she saw the towering cruise ships parked like floating hotels at the pier. She blinked fast, her heart aching. She wished both she and Josie were on one of those ships, headed to Japan—or anywhere away from Vladimir Xendzov. She swallowed against the razor blade in her throat. “You can’t be serious about taking me to bed.”

“The deal was made.”

“What kind of man accepts a woman’s body as a prize in a card game?”

“What kind of woman offers herself?”

She gritted her teeth and blinked fast, staring at the Aloha Tower and the cruise ships. Without warning, Vladimir suddenly veered the Lamborghini to the right.

Glancing behind them, Bree saw the SUV with her sister continuing straight down the Nimitz Highway, a different direction from the Lamborghini. She turned to him with a gasp.

“Where are you taking my sister?”

Vladimir pressed down more firmly on the gas, zooming at illegal speeds through the eerily empty streets of downtown Honolulu in the hours before dawn. “You should be more concerned about where I am taking you.”

“You can’t separate me from Josie!”

“And yet I have,” he drawled.

“Take me back!”

“Your sister has nothing to do with this,” he said coldly. “She did not wager her body.”

Bree cursed at him with the eloquence of Black Jack Dalton himself, but Vladimir only glanced at her with narrowed eyes. “You have no power over me, Bree. Not anymore.”

“No!” Desperate, she looked around for a handy police car—anything! But the road was empty, desolate in the darkest part of night before dawn. “I won’t let you do this!”

“You’ll soon learn to obey me.”

She gasped in desperate fury. Then she did the only thing she could think of to make him stop the car. Reaching between the seats, she grabbed the hand brake and yanked upwards with all her might.

Bree’s neck jerked back and tires squealed as the fast-moving car spun out of control.

As if in slow motion, she looked at Vladimir. She heard his low gasp, saw him fight the steering wheel, gripping until his knuckles were white. As the car spun in a hard circle, the colored lights of the city swirled around them, then shook in chaos when they bumped up over a curb. Bree screamed, throwing her hands in front of her face as the car plummeted toward a skyscraper of glass and steel.

The red Lamborghini abruptly pulled to a stop.

With a gulp, Bree slowly opened her eyes. When she saw how close they had come to hitting the office building, she sucked in her breath. Dazed, she reached her hand through the car’s open window toward the plate glass window, just inches away, literally close enough for her to touch. If Vladimir weren’t such a capable driver … If the car had gone a little more to the right …

They’d have crashed through the lobby of the skyscraper in an explosion of glass.

Her reckless desperation to save her sister had very nearly killed them both. Bree was afraid to look at him. She coughed, eyes watering from the cloud of dust that rose from the car’s tires. She slowly turned.

Vladimir’s silhouette was framed by a Gothic cathedral of stone and stained glass on the other side of the street. A fitting background for the dark avenging angel now glaring at her in deathly fury.

“The airport.” His breathing was still heavy, his blue eyes shooting daggers of rage. “My men are taking your sister to the airport, damn you. Do you think I would hurt her?”

Heart in her throat, Bree looked back at him. “How would I know?”

He stared at her for a long moment. “You,” he said coldly, “are the only one who’s put her at risk. You, Bree.”

As he restarted the car and drove down the curb, back onto the deserted road, a chill went down her spine.

Was he right?

She put her hand against her hot forehead. She’d spent ten years protecting her sister with all her heart, but from the moment she’d seen Vladimir, her every instinct was wrong. Every choice she made seemed to end in disaster. Maybe Josie was better off without her. “Your men will take her straight to the airport? Do you promise?”

“I promise nothing. Believe me or don’t.”

Bree’s body still shook as they drove out of downtown, eventually leaving the city behind, heading north into the green-shadowed mountains at the center of the island. As they drove through the darkly green hills of Oahu, moonlight illuminated the low-slung clouds kissing the earth. She finally looked at him.

“Josie doesn’t have any money for a plane ticket,” she said in a small voice.

“My men will escort her onto one of my private jets, and she’ll be taken back to the Mainland. A bodyguard already procured her last paycheck from the hotel. And yours, since you no longer need money.”

Bree’s mouth fell open. “I don’t need money? Are you crazy?”

“You are my possession now. I will provide you with everything I feel you require.”

“Oh,” she said in a small voice. She bit her lip. “So you mean you’ll feed me and house me? Like … like your pet?”

His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “A pet would imply affection. You are more like … a serf.”

“A serf?” she gasped.

“Just as my ancestors once had in Russia.” He looked at her. “For the rest of your life, you will work for me, Bree. For free. You will never be paid, or allowed to leave. Your only reason for living will be to serve me and give me pleasure.”

Bree swallowed.

“Oh,” she whispered. Good to know where she stood. Setting her jaw, she looked out at the spectacular vista of sharp hills on either side of the Pali Highway, then closed her eyes. At least Josie was free, Bree thought. At least she’d done one thing right before she disappeared forever….

Her eyes flew open. No. She sat up straight in her seat. She wasn’t going to give up so easily. She’d find a way to escape her fate. She would!

She folded her arms, glaring at him. “Where do you intend to hide me, Vladimir? Because I hardly think your shareholders would approve of slavery. Or kidnapping.”

“Kidnapping!” Vladimir spoke a low, guttural word in Russian that was almost certainly a curse. “After so many years of lies, do you even know how to tell the truth?”

“What else would you call it when you—”

“You had the money to pay your sister’s debt. You were free to leave. But you chose to gamble out of pure greed. And now you’re too much of a coward to admit you lost.” He turned to her, his blue eyes like ice in the moonlight. “I let your sister go because you’re the one I want to punish, Bree. Only you.” He gave a slow, cold smile. “And I will.”




CHAPTER THREE


VLADIMIR watched a tumult of emotions cross Bree’s beautiful face. Rage. Fury. Grief. And most of all helplessness.





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