The Family Jewels (16 page)

She stepped into the shower and grabbed Jake's Irish Spring soap, taking a deep whiff before sliding it over her arms and stomach. It was corny, she knew, but she couldn't bring herself to stop breathing it in, letting the smell of him wash over her as the water sluiced down her back, saturated her hair, slid down the backs of her legs.

Again, she heard Jake's laughter and for a moment she pictured what it would be like if this was just a normal Saturday in her life. She and Jake waking up in each other's arms, Mike coming over to spend some time. Maybe even Clarissa would be there too. They'd be like a little family. The first real, stable family she'd ever had.

She swallowed hard at the thought and frowned at the little ache that surged in her chest.

She wanted that too much. Wanted Jake too much. And the worst part was that it all felt like it was a fingertip's distance away. Like if she reached just a little farther, it would all be okay.

She breathed deep again, letting the fresh scent of Irish Spring fill her lungs, then closed her eyes.

"I love him," she murmured the words to herself, then reached for the bottle of shampoo and squirted the pearly liquid into her hand. Sudsing up her scalp, she let out another deep breath. "I love him. But it's okay. It's going to be okay."

Or, at least, it would be okay so long as tonight went according to plan.

And if not?

She’d have to figure another way. Because she couldn't allow herself to implicate Jake. Refused to become the wedge between him and his brother and all his perfect normalness by continuing the life of a con artist.

"I'll just have to win," she told herself, and as she rinsed her hair and felt the soapy liquid pouring down her back, a new wave of determination washed over her, too. She was going to dominate this poker game.

And when it was all over?

She could finally make a play...for happiness.

G
ame time
.

As Jake pulled up to the estate, he could hear Sadie muttering softly to herself, but couldn’t quite make out what she was saying. “You good?”

Sadie sucked in a breath and blew it out in a rush, looking toward him with a stiff nod. "Yes. Just getting into character. Let's get it done."

She'd donned her Countess accent, and her whole demeanor seemed to change on a dime. Instead of looking like a ballerina, she lifted her chin a little higher, giving the impression that she was peering down from her new, loftier position. She kicked one foot out in front of her, letting it part the slit in her already short skirt to bare her leg all the way up her creamy thigh.

She looked amazing, and she’d done an amazing job covering the bruises on her neck as well. He felt confident no one would be the wiser and her disguise would hold up under even the harshest scrutiny.

He held out an arm to her and she slipped her hand in to curl around his bicep, giving it a little squeeze.

"Very nice, sir," she purred.

He barked out a laugh. "Maybe when we're done here we can leave the skirt and the accent and-"

She gasped in mock indignance and swatted him with her free hand. "Eez zat how you speak to a Countess?"

He vowed then and there that, once they got through tonight, he would show her exactly how he would speak to a Countess. Blood rushed to his groin when he thought of how her body reacted to dirty talk.

"Come on, we're going to be late," she murmured, her voice suddenly husky.

Just the little tell that her mind had been in the same gutter with his gave him the push to lead them up the short walkway to the door. The quicker they got this over with, the quicker he could get her alone and see what she was wearing under that skirt.

Unless, of course, she was as furious as he expected her to be once he put his plan into motion. Then, he might find himself on the couch for awhile.

He pushed aside his apprehension as he rapped on the door sharply. It swung open a few seconds later and one of the housekeepers he’d seen at the gala stood with her purse in hand, offering them a polite smile. "Good evening, Mr. Callahan. Mr. Hannigan is upstairs in the game room. I can show you-”

"No, no. You're clearly on your way out. We can show ourselves up."

She glanced at her watch and nodded. "I appreciate it. I have to pick my son up from baseball practice."

He tugged Sadie to the side and waved to the open door. "Please, go ahead. Have a great night."

She scurried out and down the walkway, and he closed the door behind her.

So far, it seemed like everything was going according to Hannigan's usual schedule. The house was now almost certainly devoid of servants. All he needed to do now was get Sadie entrenched in the game and then he could put back the jewelry Sadie had taken.

"You think he's got enough space here," Sadie murmured, voice dripping with sarcasm. "First time I was here I got so lost, I was about to start scouting locations to pitch a tent and forage for food."

Jake chuckled and led her toward the grand staircase to the left.

"It's a lot of space for one man," he murmured, "but I think he needs the room for his massive head."

Her laughter spread over him like a blanket and he clutched her arm tighter. They were both doing a fair job of making light of this whole thing, but he could feel the tension swelling between them with every passing second. He was getting to the final chapter in a years’-long tome. His meeting with Rafe had gone better than he’d hoped and they already set the email trap. If things went right tonight, he was one final step away from avenging his father and Sadie was one step closer to a better life.

"Show time," she muttered through the side of her mouth as they reached the top of the stairs and turned down the hall toward the poker room.

He cleared his mind of everything but the task at hand and ran over the plan one last time. Get in, lounge around, chat and get the drinks flowing. Sadie was going to be pushing various cocktails she'd tried in her travels, and acting as bartender whenever she got the opportunity. It would take a strong man to deny a woman who looked like that when she offered him a beverage, or anything else, for that matter.

Once the game got under way and the conversation and liquor started flowing, she was going to lose a few spectacularly large pots before slowly but surely starting to get her mojo back. Right in the midst of the merriment, she was going to ask him to get her purse from the car. He’d slip away and do his part. Then, he'd return to the game, they'd stick in for another hour or two…at which point, the part of the plan he hadn’t shared with her would take effect.

Because there was no way Sadie was leaving Hannigan’s with less than a hundred grand in her pocket to start her new life with, even if he had to lose it to her himself. Sure, she would argue with him about it later and try to give the money back, but he'd deal with that when the time came.

What was the saying? Better to ask forgiveness than permission?

"Countess! I didn’t know you were coming tonight." They hadn't even stepped through the poker room door before Alistair was striding toward them, eyeing Sadie up and down, his gaze lingering long enough on her breasts that Jake's fists went tense.

He took a steadying breath and forced a tight smile. “Hannigan.”

"Callahan," Alistair said with a nod. "Glad to see you came back for more. We were worried you'd had enough." He looked to the other men at the table for his laugh and they obliged him quickly.

Jake smiled and shrugged. "Not yet. Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, but I feel like that’s about to change. I brought a good luck charm."

He quickly introduced "The Countess" to the other men around the table, and then drew out a chair for her to sit in. Jake could feel Sadie’s tension as Alistair eyed her contemplatively.

“I was disappointed that you disappeared so quickly the night of the gala, Countess. I would love to have spent more time with you. I hope I didn’t leave you feeling neglected?”

“Not at all,” Sadie said with a winning smile. “I wasn’t feeling myself. Jet lag, I’m afraid. But I do so appreciate you allowing me into your beautiful home to play cards. Jake had said it would be all right?”

“More than all right,” Alistair said with an oily smile. “I didn’t know Hold ‘Em was big in Bavaria.”

“Not very, but it’s huge in Vegas. And I love Vegas.”

She and Hannigan shared a commiserating glance as she took her seat.

“Can I freshen anyone’s drink while I’m still up?” Jake asked. Several of the men, including Alistair, held out their glasses.

As he poured from a crystal decanter, Sadie worked her magic, charming every last one of the bastards with her irresistible charisma. By the time the chatter slowed and the cards were flying again, Jake was pretty sure any one of them would have left their wives for her if she only asked them to.

On one hand, it was a great start. But on the other? He fucking hated it. A few of the guys were harmless enough, but Alistair and a man who he’d introduced as his lawyer were both leering at her in a way that made Jake’s skin crawl.

He managed to keep it on lockdown, though, and soon they were in a comfortable rhythm. Playing a hand or two, which Sadie inevitably lost, before one of them would get up and make more drinks.

She’d just lost her fourth decent-sized hand, pushing an eight thousand dollar pot over to Hannigan, when the deal came back around to her again.

“Put up your blinds, gentlemen,” she said with a grin.

As she shuffled, Jake watched from the corner of his eye. He had enough confidence in her that he didn’t expect to see any suspicious moves, but it was hard to take his eyes off her. She handled the cards beautifully, riffling them into a high and even bridge before tossing them in the air one by one to land neatly in front of each player.

She had dealt him a pocket pair of deuces, and when she raised, he re-raised. To her credit, she didn’t flinch or even send him a questioning glance. The lawyer called, and she followed suit.

She laid out the flop, three cards face up on the table. His hand didn’t improve any, but he hadn’t wanted or expected it to. He fired five thousand dollars into the pot, which only seemed to light a competitive fire under the lawyer, because he called instantly.

This time Sadie sent Jake a smile, but her eyes had narrowed slightly. He’d barely begun and already she was onto him.

Jake stayed in all the way to the river, padding the pot to the tune of twelve grand, before finally folding. As he’d expected, Sadie won that hand with a set of queens, handily besting the lawyer’s two pair. Hannigan wasn’t in that hand, so he cheered her on and congratulated her when she raked in the pot.

She won three more hands by pure luck, even when the deal was no longer hers, and Jake made sure he was contributing to her collection with each hand. Slowly but surely, she began to amass a growing pile of chips as the drinks continued to flow.

“Jake, would you be so kind as to retrieve my purse?” Sadie asked, her gaze locking with his for a brief moment. It was a little earlier than he’d expected, but she was probably anxious to stop taking his money. “I’d like to powder my nose and seem to have forgotten it in the car.”

He’d known it was coming, but his gut clenched at her words and for some inane reason, it was on the tip of his tongue to ask her to join him. Or tell her that he recalled seeing it in the foyer of her house when he’d picked her up. Something about leaving her here in the lion’s den, even for a few minutes, didn’t sit well with him.

She noted his hesitance and shot him a pointed look. He was being silly. Things were going exactly according to plan…or, his plan, at least. Everyone was mellow, the men were tipsy and it seemed like the perfect time to step away and take care of business.

In fact, things were going so well, if they stayed on pace, it wouldn’t be long before he could get Sadie out of there and back into his arms.

Yep, another hour, maybe less, and they’d be home free…

* * *

“
K
ings full
?” Hannigan shook his head and tossed his losing hand in the muck. “Take it down. You’re on fire tonight, Countess.”

Although his words sounded jovial enough, his smile was a little tighter than before and Sadie made a mental note to fold the next few hands.

“The card gods are smiling on me today.” She pushed back her chair and stood. “Now, I’m about to make my infamously delicious Rusty Nail. Would anyone like one?”

At the chorus of affirmatives, she made her way over to the wet bar and began lining up fresh glasses, blocking out the male chatter behind her.

Last she’d taken a quick mental count, she’d estimated about sixty-five thousand dollars in chips sitting in front of her. She could barely contain her relief. That would pay the rent for a year and leave her enough cash leftover to keep a good chunk in the bank in case Clarissa’s health took a turn. Maybe they could take some cooking classes together or she could enroll her sister in some college courses in the fall. The future was wide open, and the ember of hope that had been burning in her heart bloomed to a full-fledged flame.

They were actually going to be okay. Great, even, and who knew? This time next year, Clarissa could be back at home and cancer-free and she could have a career that she didn’t have to hide from the world.

And maybe even someone to share her happiness with…

She shoved that thought away as she measured out some Drambuie into each glass. Even if things went off without a hitch, Jake’s work wasn’t done.

He had one goal in life, and he hadn’t accomplished it yet. Odds were, after tonight, he’d be back at it with the same single-minded determination that he’d had for the past seven years. She had to start preparing mentally, or his pulling away was going to knock her flat on her ass just when she was starting to feel like happiness was on the horizon.

“Hey there.”

Alistair’s voice sounded in her ear and she froze as an icy trickle of dread ran through her.

“Hello,” she murmured, shooting him a quick smile over her shoulder before turning back to face the bar. “Did you come to lend a hand? I’m almost done, so if you wait one second you can take over these three and I’ll get the rest.”

She was rambling. She knew it, but he was so close that his hot, whiskey-meets-garlic breath washed over her neck and she could barely suppress her revulsion. She needed to focus on the positive. If Alistair was here and engaged with her that meant that the coast was clear for Jake to take care of business.

“I can be your errand boy, if you like,” Hannigan agreed. “As long as I get to stay and watch you work.”

She plucked the top off the ice bucket and scooped a few cubes into each glass. “I appreciate it.”

"You know, you really do look fantastic in that skirt."

"Thank you," she said, swallowing hard. The other men were talking sports in the background and were clearly unaware of the exchange between the two of them. She wet her dry lips and tried to think of something else to busy her hands with. She didn’t want to turn around, but Alistair didn't give her an option. He gripped her hip and spun her to face him.