Game of Chance Read online

  Game of Chance

  By

  Donna Vitek

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Well, That Makes Us Even Doesn't It?

  "We both know you don't trust me."

  His words recalled last night and suddenly erected a wall between them that Kit had no idea how to breach. She dragged her gaze away from the dark intensity of his. If only she could have freed herself of all inhibition and thrown herself into his arms, she would have done so in that moment. But the behaviour of a lifetime couldn't be eradicated so easily. At last he turned away and she could breathe again, but she had never felt so lost and confused in her life.

  DONNA VITEK firmly believes that "I would probably have never learned to enjoy writing as much as I do" without the helpful influence of her husband, Richard. Silhouette readers will be pleased to know that this is her seventh Silhouette Romance.

  Dear Reader,

  Silhouette Romances is an exciting new publishing series, dedicated to bringing you the very best in contemporary romantic fiction from the very finest writers. Our stories and our heroines will give you all you want from romantic fiction.

  Also, you play an important part in our future plans for Silhouette Romances. We welcome any suggestions or comments on our books, which should be sent to the address below.

  So enjoy this book and all the wonderful romances from Silhouette. They're for you!

  Jane Nicholls

  Silhouette Books

  PO Box 177

  Dunton Green

  Sevenoaks

  Kent

  TN13 2YE

  Copyright © 1982 by Donna Vitek

  First printing 1983

  ISBN 0 340 32725 1

  For Mabel Welfare and Janet Rothrock

  Chapter One

  … The tall dark man held out a bronze hand to Katherine and the confident glint in his warm blue eyes conveyed an unmistakable warning. Her heart fluttering madly against her breastbone, Katherine gazed up at him and understanding his silent command, placed her smaller, ivory hand in his, trembling as he drew her to him. A powerful arm encircled her slender waist as he brushed a kiss against the thickness of her auburn hair. "Katherine, don't be afraid, I'll always take care of you," he murmured, his voice deep and persuasively melodious. One lean finger lifted her small chin. He lowered his dark head, smiling triumphantly as the soft curves of her body melted against the long hard line of his. Then his sensuously carved mouth covered hers and…

  "Are you going to Tahoe on vacation?" the girl in the seat next to Katherine's asked, interrupting the divine fantasy. "Or do you work there?"

  With a silent regretful sigh, Katherine Delacorte dragged herself back to reality and turned away from the plane window. Tucking a wayward wisp of gold-streaked auburn hair behind her ear, she gave the petite brunette beside her a friendly smile, despite the fact that she really would have preferred to remain lost in her daydream rather than indulge in idle chitchat with a stranger. Besides, she and the girl were the two youngest passengers on this flight to Lake Tahoe so Katherine supposed that did give the brunette and her something in common. Smoothing the skirt of her sand-colored suit, Katherine answered the inquiry. "I don't work there, but I'm not really on vacation either," she said softly, a hint of shyness in her voice and her emerald green eyes. "I'm going to spend the summer with my father."

  The brunette's perfectly arched brows lifted. "Ooh, he must be loaded if he can afford to spend a whole summer in Tahoe."

  Smiling indulgently, Katherine shook her head. "Actually, he lives there."

  "Oh, wow, really?" the brunette exclaimed, unduly impressed. "What's his name? Is he somebody?"

  "I imagine he thinks he is," Katherine answered wryly. "And I know that he's my father, at least. But I don't suppose that's exactly what you meant, is it?"

  The other girl giggled. "Not exactly. I meant is he anybody famous?"

  "Not that I know of. He just happens to live near Lake Tahoe because he runs a casino at one of the hotels."

  "Not Harrah's?" the brunette squealed, attracting the attention of most of the other passengers. "Ooh, do say that's where he works! Please! It would be just so fabulous for me to know someone who knows someone who works at Harrah's. My name is Wendi Miller and I'm a singer and I'd just absolutely die of happiness if I could get a chance to sing in one of the lounges at a famous hotel like that."

  Katherine grimaced apologetically. "Sorry to disappoint you but my father doesn't work there. He runs the casino in a much smaller hotel—Cedars."

  "Oh, but I've heard of that, too," Wendi informed her, gesturing excitedly. "Cedars is a pretty exclusive little place, isn't it? I think most of the big names in show biz have played there at one time or another so I wouldn't mind singing in one of the lounges there either."

  Katherine smiled politely. "How long have you been singing professionally?"

  "Five years. Since I was twenty." Wendi laughed humorlessly. "But you wouldn't believe some of the dives I've had to work in. You know, the kind of places where the customers are so stoned they wouldn't care if you were yodeling. It hasn't been a lot of fun, I can tell you."

  "Then why do you keep doing it?"

  A bitter little smile hardened Wendi's features. "I'm twenty-five and all I've ever done is sing. I wouldn't know what else to do if I quit now. Besides, I know if I could just get a little lucky, I could really make it big and that's what I'm aiming for. I'd do anything to be a superstar."

  "I hope you make it then," Katherine said sincerely, feeling oddly more mature at age twenty-one than Wendi was at twenty-five. And she knew she was definitely more realistic. "I hope you don't mind me saying this, but don't you think it's a bit risky to come to Tahoe just on the hopes of getting work at one of the lounges? Wouldn't it have been better to let your agent arrange a booking?"

  "My agent! Ha! That's a laugh," Wendi snapped with a derisive snort. "That worthless son of a… Well, never mind what he is. Just let me say that he's the reason I've been singing in dives for the past five years. So last week, I finally decided to dump him. I'll find my own bookings now and will probably do a better job of it than he ever did. As I said, I'd be willing to do anything to get just one big break."

  Not doubting that for a moment, Katherine nodded. "I wish you good luck, then, if singing means that much to you."

  "I need more than just luck, though," Wendi said, leaning closer to Katherine and eyeing her speculatively. "If only I knew someone at one of the hotels, someone like your father, who could introduce me to the right people. Why, he might even know the person who books the entertainment at Harrah's and of course, he knows whoever does it at Cedars. He's exactly the kind of connection I need," she added suggestively.

  Katherine refused to take the hint, though she realized her father wouldn't mind if she chose to introduce Wendi to him. In fact, he might enjoy it and as Katherine recalled all the other young women like Wendi she had seen him with over the years, her dread of the coming summer at Tahoe rushed back from the recesses of her mind where she had managed to push it with her daydreams. She sighed inwardly. Every year it was like this. While her mother, stepfather, and half-sister and brothers spent the summer together in Baltimore, she was shipped here to Nevada to spend two and a half long months with a man she hardly knew and one for whom she felt little real respect, despite the fact that he was her father. This year she had tried her best to escape coming. It had been worth it to her to sign up fo
r both summer semesters at college to avoid the trip but even that little ploy hadn't succeeded. Since Brice Delacorte footed the bill for her college education, he had informed her he wouldn't pay the tuition for summer school because he wanted her to spend the two and a half months with him, as usual.

  Katherine had never figured out why he was so eager to have her with him every year. In all the summers since she was four years old, he had never paid very much attention to her. While she stayed in his house in the hills above Lake Tahoe, she had received more affection from his long-suffering housekeeper, Mallie, than she had ever received from him. It was a mystery to her why he hadn't simply forgotten all about her after deserting her mother and her when she was only three. She almost wished he had. Then her stepfather could have adopted her and she would have really felt a part of her mother's second family all these years instead of seeing herself as something of an outsider. But Brice had never been willing to relinquish his claim on her and, to his credit, he had always helped support her financially, if in no other discernible way.

  He was an irrepressible gambler and a lovable rogue. Katherine's mother could now say this without any bitterness but Katherine couldn't find it in her heart to be so magnanimous. Though she supposed she loved her father, she neither liked nor respected his lifestyle. And she wasn't about to introduce him to Wendi so the two of them could use each other for a few weeks, then forget each other existed.

  Ignoring Wendi's expectant stare, Katherine turned away to gaze down at the wisps of fluffy white clouds through which the plane was now descending. Suddenly, the cloud band dissipated and as the plane turned in its approach to the airfield, the view below made Katherine's eyes widen in appreciation as it had never failed to do. At least her father didn't manage a casino in Las Vegas or Reno, she thought wryly, gazing in awe at the panoramic view of Lake Tahoe. Much as she hated to come here on general principle, she had to admit it had to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. The dark sapphire lake was nestled in a basin of the Sierra Nevada mountains right on the Nevada-California border.

  Pine and cedar forests covered the slopes surrounding the jewel-clear waters and cottages and hotels with finger-like piers perched on the rocky shoreline. As always, Katherine tried to imagine how exquisite it would be in Tahoe in the winter with snow covering the ski terrain that was now, in early June, acre after acre of green meadow-land sprinkled with yellow and white wildflowers. Snow-covered and in the frosty-clean mountain air, she knew it had to be beautiful and sometimes she wished her father would ask her to spend a Christmas here instead of expecting her to spend the whole summer every year with him.

  The landing went smoothly and soon Katherine was in the terminal waiting for her luggage. But just as she saw her two blue suitcases start around on the wide conveyor belt, Wendi Miller claimed her attention.

  "Well, I'm off to find myself the cheapest hotel room around," the older girl said too cheerily. "Then, I suppose I'll just have to start making the rounds, trying to get someone to book me in one of the lounges. It would be nice though if I just knew somebody here," she added expectantly and when Katherine only ignored the obvious hint again, she shrugged. "I just wanted to say good-bye."

  Katherine smiled, feeling a certain pity for the girl though not enough to set her up with her father. "It was nice talking to you," she said politely instead. "I hope you get lucky and find a job right away."

  "Well, I'll certainly try my best to see that I do," Wendi said, her voice taking on a hard edge. There was something almost manipulative in her eyes when she gave Katherine a half-smile. "What's your name anyway? When we talked on the plane, I told you mine, but you never told me yours."

  Obligingly, Katherine introduced herself.

  "Well, see you around, Kathy Delacorte," Wendi said airily, tossing up a small hand weighted down with at least one ring on every finger. "Maybe I'll just show up at Cedars one day soon and see how you're doing. Bye-bye now."

  As the older girl strolled off across the terminal, her hips swaying provocatively, Katherine smiled slightly to herself, knowing Wendi had only wanted to know her name because of her father. If she did come to find her at Cedars, it wouldn't be to renew their slight acquaintance. She would come hoping to meet and impress Brice Delacorte so that he might use whatever influence he had to get her booked in a lounge in one of the hotels.

  With a soft resigned sigh, Katherine turned back to the ever-moving belt and waited for her luggage to come around again. After retrieving her two suitcases, she hurried away to catch the courtesy bus that would take her to Cedars. There were several other passengers besides Katherine but she managed to find a seat to herself left of the aisle where she could sit by the window, though the scenery during the first part of the ride didn't exactly thrill her. As soon as the highway crossed the state line into Nevada, the casinos cropped up and since Katherine had never gambled in her life nor did she plan to, these establishments caused her no excitement. Neither did the lake's south shore with its high-rise hotels, those concrete-and-glass monoliths, which in her opinion marred the natural alpine beauty surrounding them. Yet, she sat by the window because she knew what came after the main highway was left behind. A narrow secondary road wound its way north along the lake through virgin stands of pine and cedar, overlooking the clear azure waters glimmering in the mid-afternoon sunlight. As if she were seeing the lake and the snow capped Sierras towering above it for the first time, Katherine gazed out her window, enthralled by the bewitching loveliness. When the bus turned off the narrow winding road onto a cedar-lined drive that descended down to the shore, however, Katherine heaved a regretful sigh. Even the sight of the gracious old Cedars Hotel bordered by the vibrant green grass of the nine-hole golf course didn't lift her spirits. Though the sprawling, cream-colored wooden building with its wide wrap-around verandas and second- and third-story balconies created an impression of pristine charm on the exterior, the interior was not so aesthetically lovely.

  Without enthusiasm, Katherine left the bus, collected her luggage and went inside, wishing as always that the entrance foyer decorated with lush red carpet, gold-embossed wallpaper and heavy, dark furniture wasn't marred by the inevitable slot machines that lined the walls. Even in mid-afternoon, nearly every machine was being played and Katherine tried not to notice some of the avaricious expressions so evident on some of the players' faces as she made her way to the long mahogany registration desk. The clerk in attendance was a stranger to her, but when she informed him she was Brice Delacorte's daughter, he was happy to take her luggage for safekeeping.

  With a resolute stiffening of her shoulders she crossed the small, quiet lobby and entered the vast noisy confines of the casino. She wrinkled her nose unconsciously at the smoke-filled air. To the sound of clinking ice in innumerable glasses, she threaded her way between the green baize-topped keno, blackjack, and baccarat tables, taking care not to be trod on by any of the chattering gamblers who thronged around them. At the carved mahogany door of her father's office suite, she paused a moment, her hand on the ornate brass knob as she looked back across the casino, a perplexed expression flitting across her delicate features. What in the world could be so fascinating in watching a small ball spin round and round on a roulette wheel? She simply couldn't understand gambling's appeal.

  In the gold-carpeted outer office, the receptionist behind a chrome and hardwood desk was new to Katherine, too, but once again the name Delacorte gained her speedy access to the private secretary's office.

  "No, don't buzz Jess," Katherine whispered conspiratorially to the receptionist. Gently turning the brass doorknob, she raised a silencing finger to her lips as she softly added, "I want to surprise her."

  Jess Whitney, Brice's secretary for the past ten years, didn't look up from the papers on her teakwood desk as Katherine quietly opened the door and stepped into the richly paneled office with plush ivory carpet and kelly green velvet drapes pulled open at the wide windows. For a moment, Katherine stared sile
ntly at the only woman who had shared any kind of lasting personal relationship with her father since he had ended his marriage. And to Katherine's dismay, the first thought that came to her mind was that Jess was far too good for him. In her late thirties, with shoulder-length strawberry blonde hair and a slender, youthful figure, she was attractive, yet there was something more than mere prettiness in her face. She had character and warmth, which she displayed immediately when she glanced up and found Katherine hovering in the doorway.

  "Kit, we didn't know exactly what day to expect you," she said softly, though a gleam of excitement shone in her dark brown eyes. She stood and hurried from behind her desk to give Katherine a light hug and a genuinely affectionate kiss. "It's so good to see you, though I'm surprised I recognized you with your lovely long hair all done up on your nape that way. I mean, you look beautiful but older than you did last year."

  "I decided it was time to change my image," Katherine said wryly, smiling up at the taller woman. "I was tired of looking like I was thirteen."

  "Well, you've succeeded. Now you look at least sixteen," Jess said, smiling teasingly when Katherine wrinkled her nose. "No, really, you've become a beautiful young woman. Brice is going to be so surprised when he sees how much you've matured since last year."

  Katherine's smile faded slightly. She doubted her father would have noticed if she had arrived in Tahoe in diapers, shaking a baby rattle. But she didn't even attempt to express that opinion to Jess, who would only insist that it wasn't true. For such an intelligent woman, she was pathetically blind to Brice's weaknesses and Katherine could only hope she would never be that unrealistically in love with any man. She wished Jess weren't either, even if it was her own father whom the woman loved. Jess was one of those genuinely good people who deserved all the best life had to offer—a secure existence, a couple of children, and a husband who loved and appreciated her for what she was. She would never find that sort of safe, sane life with Brice Delacorte and no one knew that better than Katherine.