Cara sipped her champagne and watched Jack.
âI found a deck of cards,â she said as she took the bottle over and poured him another drink. âWhy donât we play a hand or two of poker?â
His gaze swung toward her.
âI know youâre used to winning,â she said, âbut youâve never played me. Iâll try not to embarrass you though.â
Jack couldnât resist a challenge. âWhat are the stakes?â he asked, and her heart soared. Sheâd intrigued him enough to shake him from his brooding.
âIf I win, you take me to some awful touristy thing that Iâd love, but you hate.â
He almost grinned, she was certain. âAnd if I win?â
Cara shrugged. âWe go somewhere you want instead.â
âDoesnât sound like much incentive,â he said, taking a sip of the champagne.
His eyes narrowed, his gaze slipping over her body. Any second and he would know the effect he was having on her.
âI have a better idea,â he said as his eyes met hers again.
âWhatâs that?â
âWe play for the clothes on our backs. Or we donât play at all.â
BAD BLOOD
A powerful dynasty, where secrets and scandal never sleep!
THE DYNASTY Eight siblings, blessed with wealth, but denied the one thing they wantedâa fatherâs love.
A family destroyed by one manâs thirst for power.
THE SECRETS Haunted by their past and driven to succeed, the Wolfes scattered to the far corners of the globe.
But secrets never sleep and scandal is starting to stir â¦
THE POWER Now the Wolfe brothers are back, stronger than ever, but hiding hearts as hard as granite.
Itâs said that even the blackest of souls can be healed by the purest of loveâ¦
But can the dynasty rise again?
LYNN RAYE HARRIS read her first Mills & Boon>® romance when her grandmother carted home a box from a yard sale. She didnât know she wanted to be a writer then, but she definitely knew she wanted to marry a sheikh or a prince and live the glamorous life she read about in the pages. Instead she married a military man, and moved around the world. These days she makes her home in North Alabama, with her handsome husband and two crazy cats. Writing for Harlequin is a dream come true. You can visit her at www.lynnrayeharris.com.
Many thanks to Sarah, Caitlin, Abby, Robyn,
Janette, Jennie, and Kate for making this project so much fun to work on! The only thing that could have made it more fun was if weâd had a writersâ retreat somewhere tropical while we worked. Maybe next timeâ¦
CARA TAYLOR wiped sweaty hands against the tight satin of her skirt, hoping she didnât leave an imprint. Tonight was the night. The biggest night of her career as a croupier thus far, and sheâd just been dealt a blow she wasnât sure she could recover from.
Bobby wanted her to throw the game. Cara took a deep breath to steady herself. She could do this. She had to do this. The men who would arrive at her table in just a few minutes were some of the wealthiest, most daring men in the world. In many ways, though they made her job possible, she loathed them. They were accustomed to waging millions of dollars on one turn of the cards, and just as accustomed to losing as they were winning. This was childâs play for them.
Did it matter if she was the instrument of their losses tonight? Not one of them would go home poor. Not one of them understood what it was like to lose everything they had, to fight and struggle for survival on a daily basis.
Cara knew. Sheâd been fighting to save her family since Hurricane Katrina blew through New Orleans over five years ago and devastated their home. And not only their home; Katrina had also blown away the diaphanous veil obscuring her fatherâs dark secrets. With her fatherâs betrayal and her motherâs subsequent breakdown, it had been Caraâs responsibility as the oldest to make sure her family was safe and well. It had taken a long time and a lot of workânot to mention putting her own dreams on holdâbut sheâd gotten them back on their feet.
Tonight, she finally had a chance to put financial worries behind them for good. She would set Mama up with enough money to make sure the house was paid for and the exorbitant insurance premiums covered. Since the hurricane, insurance companies had raised their rates through the roof. And Mama didnât want to move farther inland.
Though it often frustrated Cara, she also understood it in a perverse way: New Orleans was home. Mama had been born and raised there, and she couldnât leave it. Nor, it seemed, could Caraâs sister, Evie. She chewed the inside of her lip. If not for Evie staying home to help Mama and their little brother, Remy, Cara wouldnât be here. And since she was here, she owed it to them all to do everything she could to secure their future.
After tonight, Remy would continue to have the specialized care he needed, which was the most important consideration of all. The bonus Bobby had promised her when sheâd agreed to come to Nice for the opening of his new casino would finally enable her to achieve all the goals sheâd had when sheâd left home.