Vegas Heat by Fern Michaels Read Free Book Online

thought her pliable, with a sapling strength. She was proving to be a goddamn three-hundred-year-old oak that would outlast him and anyone who crossed her path.
    Simon’s foot pressed harder on the accelerator. He was being stupid, this mountain road was something he needed to respect. His foot eased up a little. He changed his mental gears. Ash and the kids. That’s what it came down to. It would always be Ash and the kids versus him. Fanny didn’t need to hit him over the head with a sledgehammer. Everything she said or did involved Ash in some way or the kids. “I can’t and I won’t accept that.”
    Simon rolled down the window before he turned on the radio. The music blasted through his head and on out the window to ricochet down the mountain. He flicked the radio off before he maneuvered the car around a murderous curve in the road.
    “We’ll just see about that. I told you the truth, Fanny, when I said I don’t like to lose.”
    He set the controls to cruise, turned the radio back on, then lowered the sound. Soft, mellow music filtered through the car.
    It was a game. It was always a game. The kind of game he and Ash used to play. As in all games, there was a winner and a loser. The secret was patience. Wait it out, Simon, he cautioned himself. You’ll win because you always win.
    Simon Thornton smiled. It was so true.

3
    Simon Thornton stood, his eyes sweeping around the comfortable office where he’d spent the major part of his life. Months ago he’d separated his life into three stages; first, his years in the military, where he’d used someone else’s identity just so he could get away from his parents and his brother Ash. The second part was heading for New York where, with his nose to the grindstone, he’d carved out a business that made him a millionaire a hundred times over. The third part was Fanny. His reason for getting up in the morning, for living, for being . The time was finally here when he could stick it to Ash once and for all. It was supposed to be the best day of his life. The day he’d separated his life he’d decided his pie was to be cut in thirds because Fanny was the final slice. Now all he had was a pie with no topping. There was no reason to get up in the morning, no goal to shoot for in the living department. As for being ... well, he was tough, he could exist with the best of them. He knew how to go through the motions. If he wasn’t happy who was going to notice? No one. Not one single person. Maybe Jerry
    He opened all the drawers in his desk, prolonging the moment when he would walk through the door and then close it. Jerry, his friend since childhood, along with all his employees, would have balloons, a cake, some champagne, and probably a present that everyone chipped in to buy. His eyes would burn when he shook hands, clapped others on the back, and then, finally, the bear hug for Jerry Thirty minutes out of his life. After that he’d head uptown to his apartment to pick up his luggage, at which point he would be completely homeless for the first time in his life.
    The urge to smash something, preferably Ash’s handsome face, was so strong that Simon clenched his fists, then stuck his hands in his pockets. He was smart enough to know anger didn’t solve anything. All he had to do was fall back and regroup. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Fanny was supposed to be here with him when he walked away for the last time to start their new life. His clenched fist hit the wall just as Jerry opened the door slightly and angled through it.
    “That bad, huh?”
    The pain in Simon’s hand matched the pain on his face. “I suspect I’ll get over it in about a hundred years.”
    “Is there anything I can do, Simon?”
    “If there was, you’d be the first person I’d ask.”
    “I feel like I did the day we cooked up that scheme for you to use my cousin’s identity I bawled for days when I realized you were finally gone. Now I’m gonna bawl for weeks, maybe months