BACK IN HER HUSBAND'S BED

by Andrea Laurence

  Being stealthy was a whole new level of stress Annie wasn’t used to when she was playing. She had to make subtle signals to the dealer and the other player so they knew what to do, all the while also focusing on winning.

  The first few hours went well and without much help from the others. Two players were eliminated. She was so close to achieving her goal.

  Then she spied Jerry and Nate talking to one another. Their discussion paused for a moment and both turned to watch her. Both gazes—that of the man she’d pushed away and the man who’d forced her to do it—were boring into her. The sensation was unnerving. It was as though her skin had been peeled back and she was thoroughly exposed. As though if he looked hard enough, Nate would see her for the poker cheat she’d always despised.

  “Ms. Baracas?”

  Annie’s focus snapped back to the dealer. She wasn’t paying attention at all. Making a quick assessment of what she’d missed, she tossed a few chips out and tried to regain her grip on the game. It didn’t work. Despite the fidgeting and jewelry twirling, she lost a big hand. Then another.

  It wasn’t even lunchtime, but Annie could feel the tournament slipping away. It didn’t matter what cards she was given or what else was going on at the table. She started losing. Not on purpose. She knew Jerry wouldn’t stand for that and neither would her pride. And yet she watched her stack of chips dwindle away.

  The remaining players could smell the blood in the water. She was short stacked and outnumbered. She folded her current hand to give herself time to think while the others played.

  Annie was two big hands from being out of the tournament. Yes, she could still manage a dramatic comeback, but the odds were poor, even with help. The others would team up on her and drive her out of the game.

  Easing back in her chair, Annie sighed. She was just prolonging her own demise and she knew it. So did Jerry.

  She turned and caught his heated gaze from the left side of the table. He was alone, fuming and red faced as he watched. Apparently she was supposed to be doing better. Apparently she was going to be his big jackpot and meal ticket.

  To hell with Jerry. To hell with him and this game, if dealing with the devil was her price for playing. He could hang his hopes on the other guy. It looked as though he would outplay her at this rate.

  Annie scooted back up to the table with newfound enthusiasm. She was certain Jerry thought she’d been properly chastised for her performance and was ready to pick up her game. Hardly.

  She took her cards. For a woman supposedly cheating, she had absolutely nothing. Not even a pair of threes or a face card. Running her fingers down the stack of her chips, she counted and raised, betting conservatively, as she would if she had a solid hand. She signaled to her partner that she had an excellent hand. He tossed in his chips while another folded. The pot grew, the flop went down. Annie still had nothing. She could see her friend and fellow player Eli out of the corner of her eye. He kept jiggling his sunglasses. That was his tell when he had good cards. Normally, she’d sit this hand out, especially with the crap she’d been dealt. Instead, she bet again. If this was the last hand of poker she ever played, she was going down in a blaze of glory.

  The turn went down and as she hoped, she had the worst hand ever. She went all in. The remaining players folded. Eli called, they both revealed their hands and the river card was turned.

  It was time to put an end to this.

  * * *

  Nate gave up watching the tournament early. Annie wasn’t playing well, and his angry glare wasn’t helping. Despite everything that had happened between them, he wanted her to succeed. So he’d gone to his office for a few hours.

  On his desk, he found the courier’s package from her lawyer that he’d fished out earlier. The first time it had arrived, he’d laughed and phoned his attorney to throw a monkey wrench into her plans. Now, he held it with a sense of somberness and finality.

  There had been a fleeting moment this week when he’d thought he might not need this paperwork any longer. That night at the fountains when Annie had confessed to him, he’d had a glimmer of hope. Despite everything else going on, he’d started to believe that what really mattered—the two of them and how they felt about each other—might survive the rest. He’d held that tiny flame of possibility tight against his chest even as she told him she didn’t love him and was just protecting Tessa.

  But maybe he was just like a child who refused to believe the truth about Santa when he was faced with the cold, hard facts. He clung to the fantasy because he was certain Annie was lying. But why? There was no logic to her actions that he could find.

  It might have just come down to being unable to stay with the man convicting her sister, no matter how much she cared. No matter how much he cared, although he’d never voiced his feelings to her the way he should’ve.

  Nate flipped the cover page over to view the divorce paperwork. The settlement was simple—no assets to divide, no custody battles. They were each walking away with what they’d come into the marriage with, despite having no prenuptial agreement in place. Annie was technically entitled to half of what he had. She could take half of the hotel, force him to sell his home and raid his savings and retirement funds. It could be a huge hit to his finances. And yet, despite his stalling and aggravating her, all she’d wanted was her freedom.

  So he’d give it to her.

  Nate slipped the paperwork from the envelope and read over the divorce decree. It was amazing to him how one little slip of paper could dissolve not only a marriage, but all the promise and potential it had. Although he’d told her he’d refused to sign to force her here and make her suffer, he knew now that he hadn’t been ready to give up on them yet. And he didn’t want to give up now. He loved Annie. He always had—he was just too stubborn to admit it to himself before now.

  But Nate knew it was time to let it go. Annie had made it perfectly clear that she was done. If he’d fallen for her again, that was his problem, not hers.

  Pulling a pen from his coat pocket, Nate smoothed out the paperwork on the desk and signed his name on the dotted line. That done, he slipped the platinum wedding band from his finger and took a deep breath. It was as if a burden was taken off his shoulders. He’d carried this marriage on his own for far too long.

  He slipped the papers back into the envelope and radioed someone to take it to Annie’s suite. He didn’t want the papers sitting near him any longer than they needed to be. He might be tempted to tear them up or run them through his shredder.

  For a moment, Nate considered calling Gabe and seeing if he was up for a night on the town when the tournament was done. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d gone out. His own hotel had a club frequented by the Hollywood elite where he could commandeer the VIP suite, gather a crowd of people and lose himself in the hedonism of the town he’d lived in his entire life. A couple drinks and a couple willing ladies might be just what he needed to put this mess behind him.

  He eyed his cell phone and then with a sigh, Nate let reality creep back in. That was the last thing he needed. Instead, he pulled out some business papers and returned to the work of running his casino.

  * * *

  It was over. Finally.

  She hadn’t won, but that was fine with her because she didn’t want to give Jerry the satisfaction of taking the tournament. Until today, she’d done well enough without his help, although now he was going to walk away with two-thirds of her winnings. It was a small price to pay if Tessa was safe. Perhaps he wouldn’t bother either of them again if he thought Annie didn’t have the chops to make it to the final table in another tournament.

  She’d completed a couple interviews and gone through the motions of wrapping up her tournament. It was the typical process, but this time she couldn’t bear it. The lights and the cameras and the questions were just too much for her to take. One reporter had e
ven had the audacity to ask her about her marriage to Nate and if it had contributed to her choking today. It took everything she had to maintain composure and not take out her aggravation on the blonde.

  She just wanted to get back to Miami. She had no idea what she would do once she got there, but anywhere was better than here.

  She wasn’t a fool, though. As badly as she wanted away, Annie asked casino security to escort her to her room and waited for someone to be available. She’d made that mistake once, but even Jerry wasn’t dumb enough to pull a stunt with one of Gabe’s guys with her. The guard saw her safely inside and waited until she’d securely bolted the lock and thanked him through the door.

  Once inside, Annie headed straight to her bedroom to pack. If she was quick, she could catch a late-afternoon flight and get out of town before Nate or Jerry could come looking for her. Right now, she couldn’t deal with either of them. Her only hope was that Tessa was smart enough to do the same once she made bail.

  Annie grabbed her bag from the closet and swung it up onto the bed. It wasn’t until then that she noticed the tan envelope lying on the comforter. Her name was written on it in Nate’s neat penmanship.

  She held the envelope in her hand for a moment before she could work up the nerve to open it. When her nail slipped under the flap, it popped open to reveal the familiar papers stapled to the blue binding of legal documents. Her gaze ran over the first few words of the page, her heart sinking deeper into her chest with each letter.

  Decree of Divorce.

  She jumped to the bottom of the page, where she found Nate’s signature awaiting her own.

  She’d expected to feel happy or at least relieved. This was what she’d wanted. What she’d practically sold her soul for. And yet tears immediately began welling in her eyes at the sight of his scrawled name.

  Annie flopped onto the bed and let the papers slip from her fingers to the floor. This was what she’d thought she’d wanted for the past three years, but for once, achieving her goals didn’t give her the adrenaline high she lived for. She felt awful. Her stomach ached with dread, her chest was tight with a pain she hadn’t felt since...since she’d made herself walk away three years ago.

  Then, she’d lied to herself and said she didn’t really love him. Convinced herself that marriage was the terrible institution her mother had always ranted against. It had been enough then to propel her fast and far away from the temptation of Nathan Reed.

  It took months, but eventually she’d believed it and the pain faded. At least until she lay in her cold, lonely bed and the truth crept in.

  But Annie didn’t want to lie anymore. Not to herself and not to Nate. She wanted to be with him. If that meant being married, she would be married. Their relationship was wonderful and special and she didn’t want to throw it away again because of that bastard casino manager or her own irrational fears of commitment.

  A knock sounded and she heard Nate call her name. Annie’s heart soared as she raced to the door. This was her chance. She wanted to tell him everything. To confess her every sin and beg him to forgive her.

  Flipping the locks as quickly as she could, Annie flung open the door. Nate was nowhere to be found. Instead, Eddie was there with a digital voice recorder in his hand. He hit the stop button with a smile.

  She needed to run. To slam the door shut and call security. Her second of hesitation cost her the opportunity. She only had long enough to register the sharp pain to her head and the sudden blackness that followed.

  Thirteen

  Nate knocked twice without a response before he used his master key to open the door to Annie’s suite. He shouldn’t abuse his powers this way, but he frankly didn’t care anymore. He needed to talk to her. He’d come back downstairs after she was eliminated, but she was nowhere to be found. She hadn’t checked out of the hotel yet, so he’d come here.

  He was discouraged to find the room mostly dark except for a light in the bedroom. There were no signs of life in the suite. “Annie?” he called out before approaching the bedroom door, easing it open with his hand. There was no answer.

  The room was empty, the bed made. There was no luggage in the closet, no makeup on the bathroom counter. Annie was already gone.

  Frustrated, he turned and headed back through the room, pausing only when he saw the tip of something white sticking out from under the bedspread. Kneeling down, Nate pulled out the pack of papers, recognizing them immediately.

  It was the same divorce papers he’d signed and left for her. It had broken a part of him to write his name on the line, but he’d done it because it was what she wanted. Perhaps she’d left the papers for him, knowing he’d come here looking for her. Nice parting gift.

  His gaze traveled over the page, his brain not registering a key piece of information for a few moments. When he saw it, his heart leaped into his throat with excitement.

  Annie’s signature line was blank.

  Despite what she’d said, there was hope. She did love him or she wouldn’t have left the papers she’d fought so hard for behind.

  Crumpling the pages in his hand, Nate turned and marched out of the room. He didn’t know where Annie had gone, but this time he wouldn’t let her get away. He’d track her to the ends of the earth if he had to.

  He blazed through the casino, noticing no one and nothing but the path to the restricted area. His heart felt lighter with every step, the situation less grim as the elevator ascended to his suite.

  When the elevator doors opened, Nate came to a sudden stop on the landing. He was surprised to find Gabe restraining a visibly pissed-off Tessa in his office. He knew she’d been released on bail that morning, but he certainly hadn’t expected her to return so quickly to the scene of the crime.

  “Where is my sister?” Her pale skin was bright red with anger. It looked odd against the fiery auburn of her hair.

  “I have no idea. Annie apparently left the hotel after she was eliminated from the tournament. She’s probably flying over Mississippi by now.”

  “She didn’t leave, and she isn’t answering her phone. That’s not like her.” Her blue eyes, so much like Annie’s it made Nate’s chest ache, widened with newfound fear. She tugged at Gabe’s grip but this time the head of security let her go. “Jerry. He told me he would do something to her if I mentioned his involvement to the police. I didn’t say anything, though. I knew I couldn’t trust him.”

  “Jerry who?” Nate knew Tessa couldn’t possibly be talking about the only Jerry he knew. He was in his seventies with a heart condition. There was no way he’d hurt a hair on Annie’s head, and if he tried, the stress would probably kill him. Annie never bent easily to anyone’s will.

  “Casino manager Jerry. He masterminded this whole thing. The bastard set me up so he could blackmail her into taking my place.”

  Nate had to take a moment to wrap his head around the idea of his grandfather’s friend as a crook. “Take your place? Was she involved the whole time?”

  “No, of course not. Don’t you know Annie at all? She didn’t get hauled into it until yesterday. It’s all my fault.”

  The realization hit low to his gut. Yesterday. Everything had changed yesterday after Tessa was eliminated. If Annie had been forced into taking Tessa’s place...that was why she’d left. Why she’d said it didn’t matter how she felt about him because it didn’t change anything. And he’d turned around and signed the divorce papers. He’d fallen for her bluff and now she was in danger.

  “Would he hurt her?”

  Tessa bit her lip and nodded. “Both Jerry and Eddie have guns. They never got physical with me, but the threat was always there. If they feel like their plan has fallen apart, they just might do anything.”

  The loud beep of Nate’s cell phone chirped at his hip. He pressed the radio button and yelled, “Not now,” into the receiver. It didn’t m
atter who it was or what was wrong at the casino. Right now, only Annie and her safety mattered.

  “Yes, now.” It was Jerry’s demanding voice that echoed in the room. “Turn your radio to channel five.”

  Channel five was almost never used, and when it was, it was for private conversations. Nate clicked over. “I’m here.”

  “You and your wife have ruined all my plans and owe me a lot of money to make up for what I’ve lost. But I’m giving you a chance to fix it. You’re going to come to my hotel suite with a duffel bag filled with ten million dollars. You’re going to come alone and you’re not going to involve the police or hotel security.”

  Nate looked quickly to Gabe, who nodded in encouragement, staying silent. “And why, exactly, would I do that, Jerry?”

  The old man chuckled over the static of the walkie-talkie connection. “There’s an envelope on your desk. Open it.”

  Nate crossed the room to his desk and found the unmarked envelope setting on his blotter. It hadn’t been there earlier. Inside, he found Annie’s wedding ring. “If you hurt her...” he began, but didn’t get to finish his threat.

  “I don’t intend to hurt her as long as you do what I say. I intend to get my money and set her free. You’ve got one hour. And remember, I’m monitoring the in-house communications system. If so much as a whisper about this comes up, Annie’s dead.”

  The connection ended. Nate dropped the phone and the ring to the desk, bracing his hands on the wood to help him keep control of his anger.

  “He didn’t count on me being here,” Gabe said. “We have the advantage.”

  “What do we do?” Tessa asked.

  “We’re going to do what he asked. I want you to stay here,” he said to Tessa, then turned to Gabe. “We’ll have one of your guys sit with her up here. I want you to come with me.”

  “What do you need me to do?” Gabe was at his side in an instant, his years of strategic military experience finally being put to good use.