Scarlet Lady Read Online Free Page B

look and made her body feel like it wanted to go there with him.
    “Are you all right?” he asked again.
    “Yes, fine.” She glanced around, hoping for another door. There was only an oversized porthole over the toilet. She peered out into the storm and wished she’d never come on board. “I’m coming.” Quickly she peeled off her wet panty hose, then glanced around for a place to deposit them. She’d lost her purse somewhere. There was no wastebasket. The only drawer was filled with soap … and condoms.
    He was still outside the door. “As captain of the
Scarlet Lady
, I’ve never had to break down my bathroom door to rescue a winner before.”
    Frantically, she pushed the hose to the back of the drawer and closed it, then sat down on the edge of the tub, dried her legs, and donned the black socks. Theycame up to her knees. “You ought to see me now, Cat,” she said, thinking how horrified her secretary would be to see the ruin of her creation.
    A second knock sent her scurrying out the door, straight into an intimate scene that stopped her in her tracks. A small round table had been covered with a white cloth. On it sat a pot of coffee, a platter of sandwiches, and the red purse she’d hung across her shoulders. Beside the purse was a stack of beautiful green bills and an unopened deck of cards.
    “My purse.”
    “It got caught on the rail.”
    “And my money,” she said in a whisper of awe. “In cash?”
    Montana took an unlit cigar from his mouth and allowed that half-mocking smile to return to his lips.
    “Most people prefer it, though I suggest you exchange it for a check. It’ll be safer that way.”
    Katie could hardly contain her excitement. She wanted to count the money, but she couldn’t let him know how important it was.
    “Sit down,” he said, pulling out one of the wrought-iron bistro chairs from the table.
    She looked around hesitantly for a moment, then followed his directions. Though the storm seemed to be lessening, diminishing the danger of a crash, she knew she was caught up in a more intense situation inside Montana’s suite. They were headed for a collision. Having coffee would fill the time and she’d have the table between them.
    “I’ll take mine with cream and artificial sweetener,” she said.
    Cream and artificial sweetener? A contradiction. Much like the lady he was looking at, he was deciding. Montana poured the coffee, adding the requested ingredients, and handed her a cup.
    As she sipped the hot beverage she tried not to look at the bed. It seemed to loom larger and larger every time she did. She also avoided looking at the stack of money. Instead, she focused on the unopened deck of cards. Did he actually plan to continue their gambling?
    Luck had been in her corner so far, but now she needed a way out, a way to get off the boat and plan her next move. Another casino, perhaps. In the casino, the presence of the other players somehow would act to defuse the powerful effect he had on her. Here, Katie wasn’t certain she could concentrate. She needed money, but it didn’t have to be Montana’s money, she reasoned. He was too dangerous to her peace of mind. No, she decided firmly. It was Montana who’d taken Carson’s money. It was Montana who’d give it back. Getting even, wasn’t that what he’d called it?
    She looked up at the man across the table from her. He seemed amused, almost smug, as if he knew all her secrets. But he couldn’t know who she really was or why she was here. She’d never been to the casino. She’d never even been down the river to Silver City, Louisiana, before. And she’d certainly never gone out dressed in a way that made her very appearance an open invitation to intimacy.
She’d tell him who she was—eventually. But for now she’d remain anonymous
.
    “You know I let you win,” he said. “I think you owe me a rematch for my money.”
    She frowned. “Let me win? I don’t think so, Mr. Montana.”
    “But you’re not sure,