Their Million-Dollar Night

He also couldn’t compromise her job. He made a quick call to Hayden and asked that Roxy’s job be changed, explaining very little to his friend, but then Hayden was a man known for being quick-witted. “I’ll be taking her out of the casino tomorrow for the day.”

“Don’t allow my business to get in the way of your personal plans,” Hayden said.

“You are the one who extolled her virtues.”

“That’s right. I did, but I didn’t count on your interest interfering with my business.”

“I won’t.”

Max hung up the phone then dialed the front desk and asked for Roxy, knowing that even though it was almost midnight she’d be available. Everyone was always available to him in Vegas. To be truthful, wherever he traveled he was seldom turned down. He waited while he was connected to her.

“Hello?”

Her voice was soft and sweet, husky with fatigue, and he knew that if he were a nicer man, he’d just hang up and let her get some sleep. But he wasn’t feeling particularly nice tonight.

“It’s Max.”

“Did you decide what time you wanted to start in the morning?” she asked, her tone warming a little.

Gambling was no longer the reason he was in Vegas. But he knew he’d have to keep that to himself a while longer. “No. I’m going back to the high-stakes room tonight. I need you there.”

She hesitated and he wondered if she’d tell him no. “Oh, sure, Max. Only, I went home so it’ll take me at least a half hour to get back to the casino.”

“Why aren’t you staying at the hotel?” he asked. He’d assumed she’d get a room while he was there. That was what his usual host, Jack, did.

“Hayden didn’t ask me to. Actually, it never occurred to me you’d need me in the middle of the night.”

If she only knew how much he needed her.

“Pack a bag when you come back,” he said.

“For what?”

“To stay here until I leave.”

“I’m not sure my job covers—”

He didn’t want to discuss the fact that her job description had changed. “I’ll cover it.”

“Max, are you okay?” she asked.

Her voice sounded sweet, but he heard the underlying pique. She didn’t like to take orders. And for the first time since he’d met her he had a glimpse into the fact that she was more than a pretty, smiling hostess. Her annoyance wasn’t unexpected because most people didn’t like to be told what to do. But Max had found the easiest way to get what he wanted was to do just that.

“Fine. I’ll see you in the lobby in thirty minutes.”

“It may take me longer than that.”

“Why?”

“I have to shower and then pack an overnight case.”

“What were you doing?” he asked. Jealousy pricked the back of his mind. Had she been with a man? He was her job.

And he was the one who was thinking this could be something more than gambler and hostess. He hoped he didn’t turn out like his father, desperately seeing a relationship where there wasn’t one.

He rubbed the back of his neck. It wasn’t personal, he reminded himself. But he knew that the reminder came too late. He felt something for Roxy whether he wanted to or not.

“Working out.”

“What about your injury?”

She hesitated and he knew that she wasn’t at peace with it yet. Was it recent?

“It’s fine.”

But something in her voice said it wasn’t. “You never said what type of injury it was.”

“I’m not going to, either. I’ll meet you in the hotel lobby in an hour, okay?”

“Why won’t you answer me?”

“Because it’s private and personal. Isn’t there something in your life you don’t talk about?”

There was a lot, but he had always had a knack for getting people to open up. It was one of the reasons he was so good at takeovers. He could find out exactly the qualm the other CEO had and reassure them that he’d take care of it.

“Max?”

“Yes, I have things I don’t discuss. But I’m asking about an injury, not asking you to bare your soul.”

“I wish that were true, but my injury changed who I am.”

He wished he was with her so he could read her expressive eyes instead of having to rely on the phone line to figure this out. Not being able to dance must be tied to her sense of self. He’d met dancers before. Knew that they’d usually spent their entire life practicing. Living at the dance studio and keeping their bodies in top shape.

“Tell me about it,” he invited.

She said nothing. The silence lengthened, but he knew she was still there. She was waiting him out, trying to see if he’d simply give up and hang up. But Max had made patience a priority when he was ten years old and had never forgotten it. His impatience at age ten had cost him time with his father. Something that had been rare in his childhood, and he’d never forgotten that had he waited an extra thirty minutes he could have gone on an extended weekend with his dad instead of spending time at the arcade with his boarding school pals. Nowadays he could wait for days—even weeks—for what he wanted.

“I’m not going to go away.”

“Yes, you will, Max. I can’t do this right now. I’m just your hostess. I’m not willing to be your vacation fling. That thing you did in Vegas that has to stay here because it’s a dirty little secret.”

He cursed under his breath. “You know nothing about the type of man I am if you think that I’d pursue a woman just to have a tawdry thrill to bandy about in the boardroom.”

“You’re right. I don’t know you.”

“Come to the casino with me tonight. Let me show you the man I am.”

She agreed and hung up the phone. Max left his suite and headed for the busy casino floor, hoping that by surrounding himself with people he could dull his need for Roxy.

It didn’t work.

Roxy had three dresses and four approved pant-suits that Hayden had sent to her to wear for this assignment. But they weren’t her style and she hated the feeling she got when she put them on—as if she was pretending to be someone she wasn’t.

She took the pants from one of the suits and paired them with her favorite silk halter top. She now had to wear flats instead of heels, and she hated that. Grabbing her overnight bag, she left her house without a backward glance.

She drove the same car she’d had since she’d made headliner. It was a sweet BMW Land Shark convertible. And for the first time in a really long time she didn’t have that sinking feeling in her stomach that stemmed from things lost. Instead she put the top down and let the cool summer air whip her hair around her head. She pumped up the music on the stereo, slipping in her favorite Dave Matthews CD when she couldn’t find a song she liked on the radio.

She sang at the top of her lungs to “Ants Marching” and refused to let her mind dwell on the joy that had come from…a man. It had come from Max.

His phone call. She never slept at night. No one knew that. His call had rescued her from tortured hours of trying to force herself to sleep. Trying to close her eyes and not see images of Alan’s face. Or worse, images of herself on stage performing the way she used to before the audience gasped in horror seeing her bright red scars.

Her foot slipped off the gas. Why had she let her mind go down this path?

She pulled into the parking lot of the casino and parked, but couldn’t make herself get out of the car. Suddenly everything was there. Every emotion and fear that she’d been running from, every damned thing she’d thought she’d left at her small house was in that car with her.

She put her head forward on the steering wheel and tried to recapture the joy, but it was gone. Dave Matthews kept singing, but now she felt that bittersweet emotion that came from hearing something happy when all you felt was sad.

She switched off the radio and forced herself from the car. She put the top up and locked the doors before walking toward the shimmering lights of the Chimera. The ultimate illusion, she reminded herself. She’d learned early on that illusion wasn’t bad. And the Chimera offered her an illusion of herself that she easily embraced.

She forced herself into the lobby, a smile firmly in place. She could do this. In fact, she had done this every minute since she’d come awake in the hospital. She’d learned that most people were fooled by a smile and a quick assurance, because most people didn’t like to dwell on things like her attack.

“Roxy.”

She stopped and looked at Max. He held a cigar loosely in his left hand and watched her with eyes that seemed troubled. He looked sophisticated and urban. The trappings of success fell easily on his shoulders and in the glittering crowds of Vegas she saw him for what he really was.

There was no illusion in Max Williams. There was only a solid core that made her realize he was the real McCoy. He was successful and sophisticated. She crossed to him and stood, unable to think of what to do next.

Then she remembered the old Roxy, the one who’d been so bold in life. What would she have done? She’d have wrapped herself around his arm and said something flirty. No matter what she felt inside.

“Roxy?”

She shook her head to clear it. She needed to get her emotions under control. Hayden was counting on her to make sure that Max stayed in the hotel and gambled. And she didn’t want to let her friend down. “Sorry, Max. Let’s hit the tables.”

“Not yet,” he said, cupping his hand under her elbow and leading her out of the hotel and into the lushly landscaped gardens. There was a box-hedge maze that was illuminated by the light of the moon and subtle horticulture lighting.

“Where are we going?” she asked. She hung on to her illusion of happy Vegas girl by a thread.

“Somewhere quiet.”

“Why?” she asked, closing her eyes as she inhaled the aromatic scent of his cigar mingled with the scent of jasmine. For a moment she felt as if she were somewhere else. Someone else. But who?

He stopped and trailed his fingers up her bare arm, leaving gooseflesh in their path. She shivered, opening her eyes and looking into his clear gray gaze.

He was watching her with an intensity that made her hyperaware of herself. Of her femininity and his masculinity. Of the elemental differences between the two of them. She put her hand on his biceps and felt the solid strength in him.

This was a man who could handle everything life threw at him. She wondered if she could learn how he did it. If she could figure out what made him tick and use that knowledge to help herself. Yeah, right, she thought. The main reason she wanted to know what made him tick was that she wanted to know him.

Wanted to lean up and kiss him. To see if the fire in his eyes would be matched in his embrace. To taste his kiss and see if it would be as exciting as she knew it would be. But he was still a stranger, and she was wary of letting any man too close too quickly.

He ran his finger down the line of her cheek and traced it over her lower lip. “We are out here because I want us to be. And you are supposed to cater to my every need.”

His every need. “I’m not sure what you’re insinuating. But I’ve never been that type of girl.”

“I know that. I’m not insinuating anything. I don’t want you to be my hostess, Roxy.”

She swallowed. “Okay.”

“I want to be free to spend my time with you. To take you out of the hotel and away from the gaming room.”

She didn’t know what to say. She only knew that this job had lasted only one day, and she had no desire to go back to dealing. She was going to be out on the streets. She’d have to sell her car.

“I want us to get to know each other,” Max said.

She shook her head. She’d have to find another job. “I’m not ready to date.”

“Yes, you are,” he said. His breath brushed against her face and she leaned into his body, wanting to kiss him. Wanting to feel his lips on hers and see if it would be the intense experience she sensed it would be. She realized that she was falling for the Vegas fantasy. Rich man, beautiful woman, whirlwind romance.

She pulled back, turning away from him and walking toward a bench a few feet away. “You’re too bossy.”

He didn’t follow her, just stood in the middle of the path, taking a draw on his cigar and watching her with enigmatic eyes that saw too much. “I’m used to being in charge.”

“This isn’t your boardroom and I’m not one of your employees.”

“No, you’re not. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to take control.”

Max was pushing and he knew it so he backed off. He really did want Roxy by his side, and not just here in Vegas. She was the right woman at the right time. He needed a fiancée and, well, she fit the bill.

Even as the words echoed in his mind, he knew he was walking on thin ice. She wasn’t just an accessory he could pick up in Vegas and return with to Vancouver.

“Come with me to the casino. You can be my lucky charm, and then I’ll take you to breakfast and we can discuss this further.”

“I’ve never been anyone’s lucky charm,” she said.

“Maybe you just didn’t realize it,” he said, steering them through the crowded casino floor toward the high-stakes poker area in the back. Now he hardly noticed her slight limp.

“I think I’d know if I was lucky.”

“Maybe your luck is with things you take for granted,” he said, knowing that his luck came from making things happen. From never sitting and waiting but getting up and taking action.

She stopped walking. “I think you might be right. I mean, I wanted to win the lottery but didn’t. I wanted to keep on dancing and can’t.”

“I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.”

She shook her head, shaking her honey-colored hair against her shoulders. Her hair looked like silk in the casino lighting, and he knew he should be concentrating on her words but instead just wanted to bury his hands in her hair and hold her head still for a soul-deep kiss.

“I just realized that I am lucky in a million little ways,” she said.

He took a deep breath and reached for the concentration that he was known for. Then he took her by the wrist and led her away from the noise and the crowds to an alcove tucked away in the corridor. “What are those things?”

She bit her lower lip and his concentration almost flew out the window. What would her mouth taste like?

“It will sound silly,” she said.

“I just called you my lucky charm, I think we’re already into silly.”

“Did you mean it?” she asked.

“Yes.”

She smiled at him then and her expression was so…tender that his heart almost broke. “That wasn’t silly, Max. It was very sweet.”

“Ah, hell, God save me from being sweet. You’re supposed to look at me and think, What a sexy guy. Not a sweet man.” But he liked that she thought of him that way. No one had ever seen him in that light before. They’d called him ruthless, determined and successful, but never sweet.

“Can’t you be both?”

“I don’t know, can I?” he counted.

He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. Her words—that she wasn’t ready to date—echoed in his mind as he held her. Hell, neither was he, but holding her soothed that bit of loneliness that had been echoing through his soul.

“I’m not sure this is on the approved list of acceptable activities between a VIP and his hostess.”

“Your boss is one of my best friends, so I think I know how to make this right.”

“For you?”

He realized again that he was moving too fast. Her comment still ticked him off because he’d always been the kind of man that others respected. “No, Roxy, for you and when you know me better I’ll expect an apology for that.”

“I’m sorry. I’m much better at light social talk, or performing up on the stage where I can’t say the wrong things.”

“You didn’t say the wrong thing.”

“Yes, I did. I offended you.”

“I get offended daily.”

“How?”

“Usually from investors of rival companies. Or the board of directors of a company that I want to take over. Sometimes from my second in command, but he says that’s to keep my ego in check.”

“He’s your friend, then?”

Max thought about Duke and nodded. “Yes. He saved my life once.”

“Did you repay him?” she asked, with a shrewdness he wished she didn’t have.

“Of course I did. I couldn’t let that kind of debt languish.”

“Have you ever let any debt languish?”

“No, I haven’t. I like to keep things even,” he said lightly because he knew that he really preferred to keep the balance tipped toward him. To make sure that he was the one who did just a bit more in a relationship.

“But you’re bossy. So I’m guessing that you like to be in charge all the time.”

He shrugged his shoulder. “What can I say? I run an international conglomerate. I have to lean toward the type-A personality.”

“Just in business?”

He shook his head, uncomfortable pursuing this topic. “You were going to tell me what you were lucky at.”

“I was?”

“Yes, you were.”

“Is that an order?”

She was sassing him. And he liked it, but he gave her a quelling stare. One that always made the office staff jump through hoops for him.

“I’m not intimidated,” she said. “But I will tell you what I’m lucky at….”

She paused and he waited for her to continue.

“I’m lucky in being alive. Now, if I can just remember how to live.”

Three

Max played for four hours straight, insisting Roxy stay close by. She enjoyed being with him but the combined cigarette and cigar smoke was giving her a headache.

“I need to step outside for a few minutes. Breathe some fresh air.”

Max nodded. “I’m going to play one more hand and then we’ll go get some breakfast.”

Since it was almost six o’clock, it would be an early breakfast but she didn’t mind. She doubted that he’d only play one more hand.

Most of the men she’d dated had been gamblers. She’d met them all in a casino, and they never left any table or game after just one more hand or roll.

Six months time had made a huge difference in how she spent her days. Normally she would have been arriving at the casino about now and heading to the rehearsal hall for an intense dance workout and review of the previous night’s show.

Instead, she was fetching drinks and keeping a man who didn’t need the incentive in the casino. She hadn’t felt this lost since she’d turned eighteen and realized that she no longer had a place to stay at the group home in which she’d lived. Two months left until high-school graduation, and she’d been on her own.

“Rox?”

She glanced over her shoulder and saw Tawny and Glenda crossing the casino, heading toward the rehearsal hall. Glad to see her old friends, she tried to smile. This feeling of envy, jealousy and embarrassment was exactly why she’d been avoiding them. They were still doing something she no longer could, and she felt a weird combination of envy, jealousy and some joy every time they visited her.

“Hey, girls. How’s the show?” she asked. Both of them were still fit and pretty. Roxy looked at them and didn’t feel the same sense of belonging as she used to. She shifted her weight, trying to feel as if she could still fit in if she wanted to.

“Not the same without you,” Glenda said. “Roger has been really mean lately. One small slip-up and he reams you a new one.”

“Well it’s his butt on the carpet if the show isn’t good,” Roxy said. Roger’s temper was legendary, but he usually only exploded if the chorus was loafing. And she couldn’t imagine Glenda or Tawny loafing. They took dancing as seriously as she did…had.

“I didn’t see you at the blackjack tables earlier. I hoped that meant you’d be backstage,” Tawny said.

“Not yet. I still have a few more surgeries before I’ll be ready.” But that wasn’t the truth. She’d never dance again. The combination of the strenuous show moves and the weight of some of the headdresses they wore would be too much for her body. The doctor had told her after her last surgery that dancing in Vegas was out. A showgirl no more.

“Get well soon, girl,” Glenda said, giving her a hug before the two women moved on.

Roxy leaned back against the wall for a second. She really wanted to sink into it and become invisible. Then she remembered she was in public and straightened up, forcing herself to head for the exit.

The warm touch of a man’s hand on her back startled her. She jumped a little. But she knew that touch. The feel of that palm had been embedded in her memory already. She glanced back at Max.

“You okay?”

“Fine,” she said.

He rubbed his hand down her arm, linking their fingers together, and led her away from the casino floor and out of the hotel. “Who were those women?”

“Friends of mine,” she said.

“Dancers?”

She nodded. She wasn’t ready to talk about that part of her life. Not that he was probing into it. She knew her reaction had a lot more to do with the fact that she didn’t know how to deal with seeing her best friends than any question Max asked. “Where are we going?”

“For breakfast. I think I mentioned we’d eat after I finished that hand.”

She flushed a little, remembering she hadn’t thought he’d really get up and leave the table after one hand.

“Uh-oh, what’s that look?”

“What look?”

“That sheepish one.”

“I didn’t think you’d actually leave after one hand.”

“I’m a man of my word,” he said, pulling her to a stop in the middle of the path.

She tipped her head back to stare into his eyes. He patiently let her look at him and she sighed deep inside realizing that she’d never met a man like Max before. She doubted she ever would again. He was solid through and through. He wasn’t part of the illusion of Vegas.

“Sorry. Most gamblers can’t leave.”

“I really just do it for fun and to relax.”

His fun had a much higher price tag on it than hers did. She could have bought a new house with some of the jackpots that were won and lost while Max played cards.

“Tell me about your job,” she said.

“Later. We have to get moving to make our breakfast.”

“Are we leaving the hotel?”

He nodded, steering her down the path that led to Hayden’s private garage.

“We have some really nice—”

He held up his hand. “I know. I’ve already talked to Hayden about moving you to be someone else’s hostess.”

“You did?” she asked. She couldn’t believe his gall. Did he think he owned the world?

“Now don’t get mad.”

“Too late. Do you think that you own me? I’m not sure that you listened when I said I don’t work for you.”

“I heard that. That’s why I spoke to Hayden. I have other plans for you and I, Roxy.”

She shook her head. “Maybe I don’t want to be a part of them.”

He didn’t force her closer, but she felt surrounded by him. “I’m not like this normally, but there is something about you that draws me.”

“Lust?”

“Yes,” he said with a devilish grin. “But more than that. If you don’t feel the same, then say the word and this ends here.”

“What is this?” she asked, unwilling to admit that she found him attractive. She knew he was out of her league.

“I have no idea, but I don’t want to let you go. I want to spend the next day with you, exploring the attraction between us.”

His words combined with the fire in his eyes melted her resistance. She knew that this was going to lead to heartache. They were so different. But she wanted to spend more time with him.

Santa Barbara, California, was perfect for his needs. Roxy was quiet as he drove them to the private airport and his waiting Learjet.

“Okay, where are we going?”

“For breakfast on the beach. I want to watch the day begin with you.”

He could tell by her expression that she was overwhelmed and that pleased him. He’d been overwhelmed by a need to be with her ever since they’d met.

“The sun rises in Vegas, too,” she said vaguely.