Enthralled by Ann Cristy Read Free Book Online

Everything she said came out sounding self-righteous. She was
attacking him and enjoying it, she mused to herself, bewildered by her
reactions to him. Why didn't she stop?
    "I don't see you as a
nun, Sister Terese Ellen, " he said, ignoring her startled gasp
    He took her arm
without another word and led her to one of the gambling tables where he stopped
and looked down at her, a muscle tensing in his jaw. "This is a baccarat
table, Sister. I'm
going to play. You may watch or wander—or play." He dropped a roll of
bills in her hand, then sat down in one of the chairs.
    A dozen questions
crowded Teel's tongue, but there were too many people looking at her already.
She didn't relish a verbal confrontation with Chazz in this posh public place.
    She wandered away,
the money clutched in her fist. Nothing interested her until she came to the
black-jack table. She remembered playing twenty-one with her father when she
was a child, but they had played for matches. She sat down at an empty place
and plunked down a bill that the croupier changed immediately into chips. When
he looked at her, his head inclined, she nodded. The fast deal mystified her.
She was glad when she lost and could rise from the chair, shaking her head when
the croupier gave her a questioning look.
    She sighed and wandered
aimlessly, startled when a glass of white wine was pushed under her nose. She
looked up at a medium-tall man with thinning hair and shook her head.
    "Are you
sure?" he asked. "Well then, would you like to play roulette with me?
You might bring me luck."
    Teel shook her head, her smile
cold. "No thank you. I'm with someone."
    The balding man took her arm,
his thin hands surprisingly strong. "Oh, come along and play," he
insisted.
    Suddenly Chazz loomed large at
Teel's side.
    "Walk while you still
have two unbroken legs," he bit out, his smile grim. The balding man
melted away.
    Teel faced Chazz, the silver
cast to his skin and the light in his amber eyes clues to his fury. Her own
anger rose hot in her throat. "You didn't have to come on like the mob's
leading hit man," she accused him.
    "Should I
have let that cheap shill strong-arm you to the roulette table?" He bit
through the words as though he were chewing steel.
    "I thought you only went
to places that wouldn't have cheap shills," she pointed out, her chin
thrust forward.
    "You said that, I didn't." He took her arm, swallowed the
contents of his glass and led her toward what seemed to be a night club with
music for dancing and a small floor show. "I need a drink," he said.
    "You just had one."
Teel tried to pry his fingers from her arm as they followed a maitre d' to a
table.
    "With you I
seem to drink more." His mouth was close to her ear as he transferred his
grip to her waist.
    "Is that possible?"
she countered. "When Elise and Clare and the others were aboard you were
always blitzed," she said baldly.
    "Sister, how you talk!" Chazz seated her and ordered a double
Irish whiskey, raising his black brows when Teel insisted on Perrier and lime.
The waiter informed her they were out of Perrier. Teel frowned as Chazz shot
her a mocking grin.
    "Then I'll have
Gerolsteiner Sprudel please—with lime." She explained that it was a German
charge water.
    "Oh Lord." Chazz
regarded her in exasperated amusement. "It wouldn't hurt you to have a
drink, you know." He lit one of his ever-present cheroots.
    "And it
wouldn't hurt you not to have one." Teel looked away toward the comedy act
that was just beginning on the stage. She had thought she had seen and heard
bawdy material, but this show brought home to her with terrific force that she
was just a babe in arms. In minutes her face was flushed with embarrassment.
    She had no idea that Chazz had
hitched his chair closer to hers until he spoke directly in her ear.
"Forgive me. I was stupid to bring you here. Shall we leave? I forgot how
bad these sometimes are."
    The thought of
walking through all those laughing people, perhaps drawing attention