Lucky Streak by Carly Phillips Read Free Book Online Page A

thing.” He smiled at her.
    She forced a smile back.
    In other words, she was screwed. He wasn’t letting her out of his sight and she’d have no chance to contact Mike until this mess with Marshall was over. By that time, she doubted he’d ever want to hear from her again.
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    M IKE HAD BEEN CONNED . Hours later, after combing the coffee shops, restaurants and the casino of hishotel, after he’d spoken to the few remaining hotel staff who’d been on duty last night, and after he’d spent the better part of the day scouring all the places he and Amber had visited together in the hopes of running into her again, Mike had to face the truth.
    She was gone.
    He still shook his head in disbelief. He’d acted like a gullible kid, not a trained cop who knew better than to pick up a strange woman, drink enough to dull all his senses except his hormones, marry her, share the combination to his safe with her and sleep with her. In that order.
    He’d had a good buzz going, but he hadn’t been completely intoxicated. He’d thought, really believed, he’d seen something honest in her eyes and felt something real between them.
    If he was superstitious, he’d say that was the problem. He’d felt something for her, something he’d wanted to explore more deeply. And because he had, his father would say the damn curse had kicked in. He’d lost his fortune and his future love.
    If he were superstitious.
    At the moment, though, he just felt damn stupid.
    Once he got home, he’d have the resources to track Amber down. Until then, he settled for asking Jillian, back at the station in Boston, to run a check on the name Amber Rose from Vegas. A few hours later, Jillian reported back. All he knew was that there was no Amber Rose in the criminal system.Either she’d been clean until she wiped out his hotel safe or she was that good.
    Any further information would have to wait. Mike wasn’t about to explain about Amber to anyone else, a necessity if he wanted any cops in Vegas to do him the professional courtesy of digging into her past. That would mean sharing his stupidity. And he damn sure wasn’t ready to do that. Not with strangers and not with the friends he’d come to Vegas with.
    But he wasn’t finished with his wife. Not by a long shot, he thought, fingering the marriage certificate on the table. The next time he had a few days off, he’d return to Vegas and do some digging on his own. He’d find Amber, if that was her real name, and get himself a quick explanation and an even quicker divorce. But both of those things depended on his finding her.
    Unfortunately, he had to be in court first thing Monday. Amber Rose would have to wait.
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    W ITH A MBER BY HIS SIDE , Marshall used Mike’s money to buy into the game, located in a penthouse suite at an upscale hotel. As Marshall exchanged Mike’s money for chips, Amber tried to console herself with the thought that Mike had promised her that if he won at slots, half would be hers. So in reality she’d only stolen half his money. Borrowed would be a better term. But changing her words didn’t ease her guilty conscience.
    It was all Mike’s money and she hadn’t intended to take any of it. But she and her partner had an agreement. And if tonight went the way it was supposed to, she’d be able to pay Mike back every last cent and hopefully buy herself a second chance with him.
    Marshall had his slick image going tonight. He’d greased back his hair and donned a white jacket so he’d look like Andy Garcia in Ocean’s Eleven, at least in whatever mirror he viewed himself in. When Amber looked at him, she only saw a lying bastard.
    â€œSince everyone’s here, let’s get started,” Marshall said.
    Bobby Boyd, a used-car dealer from Texas with a ten-gallon hat and enough bluster for one hundred men, nodded. “Texas hold ’em, boys. No one beats