Gambler's Folly (Bookstrand Publishing Romance)

by Mellie E. Miller

  “After the tailor has come and gone. You can’t be trusted to behave.”

  Sputtering in exasperation, Karianna couldn’t even stamp her foot, so she just stood and fumed while she waited. Quite some time later, the door admitted the seamstress, a blonde woman slightly older than Karianna. She seemed not at all astounded by Kari’s predicament, and Karianna supposed that, if she regularly worked for Mr. Leone, she’d probably seen it all by now.

  “Hi, Karianna,” she began. “You can call me Lea. Mr. Leone tells me you need some new things pretty quickly. So, once I get some measurements, I can bring up some things off the rack.”

  “Well, I had a few things in my previous room you could bring down. They should be fine for the next little while.”

  “Oh, no. Those are in the bin. Mr. Leone was quite insistent. In a day or two, I’ll have the first of your tailored clothes. He said to make only a few for now, as you’re starting a training program which will alter your shape a little.”

  Still firmly secured, Kari could only cooperate with the whole thing. In a few minutes Lea had finished, taking measurements Karianna never dreamed of, especially for just a few things.

  “Well, you have lovely long legs, sweetie, but I’ll bet you have trouble buying trousers with an 86cm inseam.”

  “I never really worried about it.”

  “Someone will be in shortly with a couple changes of clothes, and to get you out of that contraption. See you later.”

  Shortly was another half hour. A young woman, about nineteen, brought in a selection of underclothes, a dressing gown, a couple blouses, two skirts, and a pair of trousers. She also had some slippers and two pairs of dressy sandals.

  “This should keep you for today,” she told Kari. “We’ll have a few new items tomorrow.”

  Kari thought she was leaving, but she opened the door for two of Mr. Leone’s men. They nodded to the girl and then came over to release her from the restraints. Though they didn’t say a word, or give her more than a cursory glance, she somehow felt more than naked, with two male strangers so close to her. Restraints removed, they backed to the door, nodded, and left.

  Alone and unrestrained for the first time in at least two hours, Kari quickly dressed. She wasn’t normally overly modest, but her recent experiences had changed her perspective a bit.

  She had been ready for dinner before this whole thing started, and was hoping for something to eat. Walking across to the small refrigerator, she was disappointed to find only mineral water and zero-calorie drinks. Surely he wouldn’t leave her to starve.

  Just as she was considering trying the live plants as a salad, someone new came through the door. “Sorry I took so long to get here,” he said. An older, slightly stoop-shouldered gentleman around sixty, he carried a medical kit.

  “Who are you?” Kari asked nervously.

  “Oh, I’m Dr. Kelsey, MD and nutritionist. Mr. Leone wanted me to give you an exam and advise him on your diet.”

  “Well, I’ve never had any health issues. Why do I need a diet specialist?”

  “Just a precaution, my dear. He said you were going to be doing some rigorous physical training, and wanted to make sure you had no problems. When did you last eat?”

  “Lunchtime. I was getting ready for dinner when Mr. Leone brought me here.”

  “It’s nearly 2300h now, so this should be fine,” he told her, taking out a tourniquet and the other items he would need to draw three vials of blood.

  So with blood drawn, basic physical exam and medical history finished, the good doctor said he’d have some dinner sent up for her. “I’ll have a nutrition plan for you tomorrow. I don’t expect it to be unusual, or particularly restrictive, so don’t worry.”

  Dr. Kelsey was as good as his word. The meal wasn’t large, but between the stress of the evening and the late hour, it was sufficient. Karianna ate quickly, drank the coffee which came with the meal, and found she was completely worn out.

  Sliding in between ivory silk sheets and selecting her comfort level on the bed, she turned on the ambient sound to help her drift off. The lights dimmed to candlelight as she got comfortable on the bed, and then slowly winked out.

  Chapter 3

  Karianna had no idea what time it was when she woke up, but once awake and dressed, she looked for a way to escape her pretty prison cell. Being underground, there were no windows, and the only door was the one into the corridor. Damn! Where was the dumbwaiter you always saw in the films? Maybe something small and heavy over the head of the next person in the door.

  Well, maybe not, since the first person to enter was room service with food. Of course, the girl was scared half to death when she saw Kari standing behind the door, brandishing a table lamp.

  The second person to come in was Dr. Kelsey with her diet plan. He’d been somewhat shaken by the lamp, too. Sooner or later, someone she wanted to cosh would come in. But after seeing the doctor, the tailor with a couple new outfits, and room service again, she was left alone right up to lunchtime.

  By this time, she was nearly afraid to hide by the door, for fear of decking some innocent who was just trying to help. So the next time she heard the door, she was a little late getting to it. One of Mr. Leone’s bodyguards came through and had just enough time to divert the lamp from its trajectory before being hit in the face.

  “Restraints,” she heard Mr. Leone say, as the lamp shattered on the corner of an end table and fell to the floor. Once more, after a brief struggle, she was restrained. Dismissing the two guards, he came, apple in hand, and stood in front of her, shaking his head.

  “Cara, why do you do these things? I was only coming to see if you had everything you need, and to perhaps talk about what I had planned for you. But discussing anything with you restrained is a little awkward, don’t you think?”

  “Why am I here? And why won’t you let me go? I don’t have any money to give you and I don’t have any family with money either. So if you’re thinking of ransom, there is none,” Kari said.

  Finishing a bite of apple, he said, “You are here, Karianna, because your ex-husband lost a bet he shouldn’t have made, in order to clear other debts he owed to me amounting to over M1,000,000. And you are here, not for ransom, but to keep you safe.”

  “Ex-husband?” Kari asked, confused. “I have no ex-husband, only Trae.”

  “Who is, I’m afraid, an ex-husband now. Once he lost you to me, your marriage was dissolved and you became mine. By tomorrow, the paperwork will have cleared and it will all be legally binding.”

  “Dissolved? How is it dissolved? I signed no divorce papers. Besides, I have a ticket, with passage back to Earth. You can’t keep me here.” The sound from the apple was beginning to be annoying.

  “First, you have no passage. The tickets were among the first items to go. And on Gambler’s Folly, things can be done a little more expediently, for obvious reasons. Once Trae signed the papers relinquishing all interest in you, the paperwork was filed with the court. Since you were relinquished to pay a debt, all interest was transferred to me, to do with as I will. Therefore, you will soon be Karianna Leone, my wife.”

  “I will be what?” Kari shouted. “Your wife? We were never married. I didn’t agree to any such thing.”

  “Please, cara mia, calm down. These things happen. It’s best just to accept the situation, for better or worse. And it’s not forever. I’ve filed for a two-year irrevocable contract only, to keep you safe. So after two years, if the contract is not renewed by both parties, you will be free.”

  “But what about now?” Kari asked.

  “This is why I wanted to talk to you, before you created a scene. It would be so much easier if we could sit down over lunch and have a friendly conversation. In fact, I will discuss this no longer. Tomorrow maybe you’ll be in a better mood.”

  Once again, after he left, his two men came in to release her and she was alone. Most of the day she napped off and on, occasionally watching the news on the viewer. One item in p
articular caught her attention.

  “Early this morning, the body of a man in his late thirties was found outside the spaceport near the capitol city of Speranza. Identified as Trae O’Brien, the man held a boarding pass for passage to Earth. Police think he was trying to escape a large debt owed to the prince of the underworld, Damiano Leone, owner of the casino chain Stella d’Oro. They are still collecting evidence related to the death.”

  Trae was dead? And the news suggested murder. After all Leone’s talk of clearing his debts, after winning her from Trae, he’d had him killed anyway. Bastard! In a blind fury, Karianna destroyed everything at hand. Lamps, goblets, glass-topped table, it all crashed into small, tinkling splinters of glass.

  The noise from her destruction must have alerted someone. Soon, the door opened once again, to admit Mr. Leone and his guards. Kari threw a decanter at his head, which he caught and set back on a surviving end table.

  “Restraints,” he said once again.

  “Liar! All lies to make me cooperative. You never meant for him to live through the night after he left. You bastard!”

  With Karianna once again restrained, Mr. Leone approached her shaking his head. “If you like restraints so much, simply ask. You needn’t try to kill Marco or Paolo every time they enter the room.” Seeing the news on the viewer he added, “Cara, I’m so sorry the news has upset you. Trust me when I say I had nothing to do with it.”

  “Liar! Who else would have done it? First you take away everything he has, and then you take his life.”

  “Karianna, where do you suppose he got the ticket for Earth?”

  “How should I know?” she replied angrily.

  “Well, he had no money and nothing to sell or pawn. He’d lost everything he owned, including his ticket. I was not the only one he owed money and I knew it. I bought him the ticket, with the instruction never to return to Gambler’s Folly.”

  “Really. And why would you do that?” she asked.

  “To save his life. He was a bright young man. If he could have quit gambling, he could have made something of himself. But now…”

  “But now, what?”

  “Now he’ll never have the chance I tried to give him. At least you were spared, cara mia. And that is one reason I brought you here. With him alive, you were a pawn to be used in this game. Once he signed away his rights, you, at least, were safe. Especially with me. Few are foolish enough to anger me.”

  “You really expect me to believe you had nothing to do with Trae’s death,” Karianna said skeptically.

  “I am a man of my word. In my business, I have to be. I cleared his debts with me and gave him a way out. The fact it didn’t work is nothing to do with me. I swear it.”

  Still angry, not believing what Mr. Leone told her, she did what first came to mind. “Bastard! Liar! I hate you!” she shouted and spat in his face.

  Both bodyguards stepped forward, but he waved them off. Ever so carefully, he removed a handkerchief from his pocket and dried his face. Once he’d replaced it, he stepped closer to Kari and quietly said, “Never will you do that again, cara. Do you understand? Never.”

  “Yeah? And why not? It’s what you deserve.”

  “This behavior will stop, Karianna, and it will stop now. I understand you are upset, but you will stop. And if you ever spit in my face again, I will leave welts on your back with my belt. Capisce?”

  “You wouldn’t dare,” she challenged.

  “You think not?”

  “I think not. You’re a bully and if it weren’t for your hired muscle over here, you’d never have made it to where you are today—head bully of the underworld. You say you’ll leave welts, but not without help from your muscle over there.”

  “Cara, cara, you are so silly,” Damiano said. Removing his jacket, he laid it across the back of the sofa. Tie removed, sleeves rolled up, he walked back over to Karianna, another apple in hand.

  “Would you like to retract anything you’ve said, cara? We don’t have to do this. I’m willing to accept your apology, considering the circumstances.”

  In answer, Karianna gave him a hateful look and spit in his face again, just to make her point. Putting his apple down, he dried his face.

  “Very well,” Damiano said. Walking around her, he released one hand and twisted it behind her. The other one swiftly followed and then they were both restrained behind her back. Releasing her ankles, he blocked the kick she aimed at him.

  “Now, since you want to fight,” he said, as he released her hands again, “go ahead.”

  She whirled around and aimed her fist at his face, missing as he leaned back just enough. Her kick was blocked expertly and several other attempts were deflected or missed reaching him altogether. Pretty soon she was tiring and her strikes were further and further from the mark.

  “So, cara, have you finished?” he asked quietly. She threw one more punch at him, but instead of blocking it to the side, Damiano caught her arm in midpunch and did something she didn’t understand, which left her completely under his control. Arm behind her, wrist painfully bent and locked, he forced her over the back of an easy chair.

  “Now, Karianna, have I made my point?” he asked as he held her there, motionless, for several moments.

  “Yes, Mr. Leone. Point taken.”

  Damiano pulled her to her feet, pushed her around to the front of it, and shoved her down to sit facing him. Looking up into the twin pools of darkness of his eyes, she saw his shirt wasn’t even wrinkled. Not one drop of sweat, not one hair out of place.

  “Cara mia, that was a warning. I know you are upset, so I let you off lightly. Next time, I will not,” he told her, adjusting his tie and putting on his jacket. Apple regained, he took a bite and chewed thoughtfully for a moment. “I hope you have this out of your system, because you have a lot to do in the next few days and weeks. I am a patient man, but you push too far. There will be no more, cara. Do you understand?”

  Still in shock, she nodded her head. She was stunned by the ease with which a beating could have been accomplished. She had seriously underestimated the man.

  “Yes, Mr. Leone. I understand. I don’t believe you, and my opinion of you hasn’t changed, but I understand,” she acknowledged.

  “Good. We’ll go now and let you have time to calm down. Tomorrow we’ll talk about your future with me.”

  * * * *

  “Damiano,” Marco began as they walked back to the office, “is this a wise move? She could be used as a lever against you as well.”

  “Don’t worry, Marco. It’s just a business arrangement, a convenience to save her life. Once our current troubles are finished, she can have an apartment of her own, if she wishes, until the contract ends. Besides, she is a beautiful woman, no? And she shows no fear, though she knows my reputation. Such a woman, Marco. Perhaps she’ll begin to love me after a while.”

  “Beautiful, yes, and strong. But I still think you are playing a very dangerous game, Damiano. Especially with what we have going now, everything coming to a head. Be very careful, amico.”

  “Have you ever known me to be otherwise?”

  Chapter 4

  Karianna managed to sleep, in spite of the circumstances. A particularly raucous noise woke her in the early hours of the morning. Looking around groggily, she finally located the phone. It was the front desk with her 0630 wake up call. Wake-up call? Yes, madam, they informed her. Mr. Leone had left a wake-up call with them.

  Now she was awake and irritated. Why in the world did she need to be awake at this hour of morning? But since she was, she got comfortably dressed and wondered how to order some coffee. She needn’t have wondered. Just about fifteen minutes later, she was startled when the door opened to let in the wondrous smell of coffee, fresh bread, and jam.

  “Doesn’t anyone knock around here?” she asked the room service girl, irritably.

  “Sorry, madam,” the girl apologized. “Shall I make a note of it?”

  “Whatever,” Karianna said.


  “Is there anything else, madam?”

  “No, thank you. This is fine.”

  After the girl left, Karianna poured a cup of rich, black coffee, and tore off a piece of the fresh hot bread, spreading a bit of the jam on it. The jam was unfamiliar but wonderfully sweet and spicy. Hungrily, she finished what was on the tray. She took another cup of coffee over to the sofa and curled up to relax, wondering what her day would be like.

  She must have drifted off after she finished her coffee. The chuckle behind her slowly cut through the fog, as she tried to figure out where she was.

  “So sleepy, cara. But come, it’s time you met your trainer.”

  Angry again, Karianna glared at Mr. Leone and asked, “Doesn’t anyone around this damned place know how to knock on the door?”

  “But, Kari, why should I knock on my own door? As for everyone else, when I’m here, I prefer they just come in, do what they have to do and leave me alone. If I don’t want to be disturbed, I leave word.”

  “So where’s this trainer?” Karianna asked. Mr. Leone was the only one in the suite with her.

  “He’s in the gym, cara. Where else? Come.”

  “Sit. Stay,” Karianna added.

  “Sit, stay, what?” Mr. Leone asked, confused.

  “Never mind. Let’s just go.”

  First time out of the room since arriving, Karianna followed Mr. Leone down a hallway to another identical door on the same side of the hall. White polished marble gleamed on the floor of the richly decorated foyer. Crossing through several equally dazzling rooms, they finally reached a private gym which would have done a health club justice.

  Leaning comfortably against a weight machine, the tall, blond, and blue-eyed young man straightened as they approached. In appearance, he was the exact opposite of Mr. Leone. The two men shook hands before she was introduced.

  “Cara, let me introduce to you Carl, my trainer and now yours. Carl, meet my lovely wife, Karianna. We’re not trying for anything radical, just a bit of toning and conditioning. It’s nearly beach time and you know what that means for the ladies.”