Exotic Affairs(73)

As the old man made a gesture of frustration, Caroline visibly wilted.

‘Daddy…’

Luiz could actually feel her wariness as she placed a hand on the sleeve of her father’s tux in an attempt to make him listen to reason.

No chance, Luiz judged. The man was half crazed with gambling fever. Once it hit there was no quick cure. Sir Edward could not give up now, even if he lost the very shirt from his back, and more.

It was the ‘more’ Luiz wanted.

After an initial start of surprise, then a guilty glance over his shoulder, Sir Edward Newbury turned petulant, and, with a tersely uttered sentence, shrugged off his daughter’s hand so he could place another stack of chips on the table. All Caroline could do was stand and watch as five thousand pounds sterling hovered in the balance between a ball landing on black or on red.

Black. Sir Edward lost again.

Again Caroline attempted to stop him. Again her pleas were petulantly thrust aside. Only this time Luiz found his hands clenching into tight fists at his sides when he caught the briefest glint of telling moisture touching lovely eyes. It was sheer hopelessness that sent them on a hunting scan of the crowded casino, as if searching for help where none would ever be found.

Then, without any warning, she suddenly glanced up at the control room, those incredible eyes homing directly in on him with such unerring accuracy that he caught his breath.

So did Vito. ‘Jeez,’ he breathed.

Luiz did not so much as move a single muscle. He knew she couldn’t see him; he knew the glass did not allow her to. Yet…

His skin began to prickle, a fine tremor of response rippling through his whole body on a moment’s complete loss of himself as he stared straight into those beautiful, bright tear-washed eyes. His throat had locked; his heart was straining against a sudden fierce tightening across his breastplate. Then her soft mouth gave a tremulous quiver in a wretched display of absolute despair—and his whole body was suddenly bathed in a fine layer of static electricity.

That mouth. That small, lush, sensual mouth—

‘He won,’ Vito murmured quietly beside him.

From the corner of his eye Luiz caught Sir Edward Newbury’s response as he punched the air with a triumphant fist. But his attention remained fixed on Caroline, who was just standing there watching, with a dullness that said winning was as bad as losing to her.

Abruptly he turned away. ‘I’m going down,’ he told Vito. ‘Make sure everything is ready for when we leave here.’

And neither his voice nor his body language gave away any hint of the burst of blistering emotion he had just been put through before he strode away.

‘Yes!’ On a soft burst of exultation, Sir Edward Newbury turned and scooped his daughter into his arms. ‘Two wins on the trot! We’ve hit a winning streak, my darling! A couple more like this and we’ll be flying high!’

But he was already high. The wild glint burning in his eyes was frightening. ‘Please, Daddy,’ Caroline pleaded. ‘Stop now while you’re ahead. This is—’

Madness, she had been going to say, but he brusquely cut her off. ‘Don’t be a killjoy, Caro. This is our lucky night, can’t you see that?’ Letting her go, he twisted back to the table as the croupier was about to slide his winnings over to him. ‘Let them ride,’ he instructed, and Caroline had to look on helplessly as every penny he had won was instantly waged on one feckless spin of a roulette wheel.

A crowd had started to gather around the table, their excited murmurs dying to a hush as the wheel began to spin. Caroline stopped breathing, her tongue cleaving to the roof of her paper-dry mouth as she watched that small ivory ball perform its tantalising dance with fate.

Inside she was angry—furious, even. But she had been reared never to make scenes in public. And the fact that he knew it was a weapon her father was more than happy to use against her. It was the nature of his weakness to rely on her good behaviour while he behaved appallingly.

So much for sincere promises, she derided as she watched through glazed eyes as the wheel began to slow. So much for weeks and months and years of careful vigilance, when she’d learned that trusting anything he said was a way to look disaster in the face.

She was tired of it, wearied with fighting the fight at the expense of everything else in her life. And she had a horrible feeling that this time she was not going to be able to forgive him for doing this to her yet again.

But for now all she could do was look on, feeling helpless, locked inside her own worst nightmare in the one place in this world her nightmares could be guaranteed free reign. This place, this hotel—this wretched casino. All she needed now was for Luiz Vazquez to materialise in front of her and the nightmare would be complete.