A Scandalous Melody by Linda Conrad Read Free Book Online

at Chase’s request and poured a small amount into a glass, offering to let Chase decide if it was to his taste.
    But Chase shook his head. “Give the lady the choice.” He turned to her as the waiter offered her the glass. “You’re the aristocrat. You know much more about wine than I ever will, I’m sure.”
    Kate tried the wine and silently nodded at the waiter to pour and then leave the bottle. It looked as if Chase wasn’t going to miss any opportunity to embarrass her tonight. Well, she could take it.
    She would take much more than embarrassment from him. But what exactly was it that he wanted—or expected?
    Who was this Chase Severin? What had he become in the ten years since he’d left town?
    Chase rejected the menus when the waiter offered them. Instead he knew exactly what he wanted. He ordered crawfish pie, red beans and rice and jambalaya for both of them. They were all typical Cajun dishes, but she’d heard that Kizzy’s served the very best in the world.
    It made her wonder if the place’s fame had reached Chase’s ears in…wherever he’d been living.
    â€œUh…” she began hesitantly. “You know where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing for the last ten years. But I was wondering…”
    â€œIf the rumors were true?” he cut in. “If I had earned my fortune by gambling?”
    â€œNo…I mean…sort of. I was just curious to know what you’ve been doing all this time.”
    He leaned back in the booth, stretched his legs and crossed his ankles under the table. The candlelight made it difficult to see his expression clearly. But she could feel the heat of his gaze—right through her clothes.
    â€œI am a gambler, Kate. I’d say most of my life has been spent in one gamble or another.”
    He let that thought hang in the air for a few moments. Did he mean that he’d taken a gamble on her years ago? A gamble that he felt he’d lost? She sensed the pink sting of a blush crawling up her neck.
    â€œAfter I left…or was escorted out of…Bayou City,” he began again, “I hitched a ride to New Orleans. Found my way into a backroom poker game or two until I had enough for a real stake. Then I made my way to Las Vegas.”
    He stopped and took a sip of water, ignoring hiswine. “I turned pro, hit a couple of major pots and eventually won a casino in a high-stakes private game.”
    â€œA whole casino? Wow.”
    He chuckled. “Yeah, it was pretty wow for a twenty-one-year-old kid. I quit playing and decided to limit all my gambling to the business end of the casino.”
    â€œYou must’ve done fairly well with it,” she murmured as she took a sip from her wineglass.
    â€œYou could say that. After a couple of years, I doubled down and bought another house, then a few more in Reno and Atlantic City.”
    â€œSo that’s what you do now? You own casinos all over the country?” He was rich enough to make Kate nervous.
    â€œCasinos, hotels, resorts, restaurants. A few of them I acquired in payment of bad debts. Most I bought for pennies on the dollar and turned them around.”
    â€œWell, it’ll cost you a pretty penny to put the mill to rights, if that’s your newest gamble.”
    â€œI’ve got a pretty penny, chère. In fact, I’ve just inherited enough pennies to make your beautiful head swim.”
    â€œInherited? Not from your father. He hasn’t died?”
    Chase shook his head. “No, not my father. It turns out that I have a whole respected family on my mother’s side. My grandmother died recently, and I was one of the main beneficiaries to her rather vast fortune.”
    â€œOh, cher, ” she said, genuinely happy for him. “I didn’t know you had any family except for your father.”
    â€œNeither did I. Funny how things in life can turn around so suddenly, isn’t