His Last Gamble (18 page)

And again Charmaine felt her mouth drop open in surprise and had to snap it shut before anyone noticed.

Of course Payne knew Lucy's favourite drink, but why was he making it sound as if he barely knew her?

And then it hit her. It must be for her benefit!

When Jo-Jo had asked him for an extra invite for Charmaine's sister, he'd probably thought nothing of it. But during the night
he
must have spotted Lucy, saw they were together and quickly added up two and two. Which put him in a mighty fix. How embarrassing to find that the woman you'd just proposed to was the sister of a former lover!

Had he somehow managed to get Lucy alone for a few minutes during the night and asked her to pretend they'd never had an affair? Well, he could have. Several times the two sisters had been parted for a while. And if he had, how had Lucy reacted? Surely it would have broken her heart all over again. She'd come here to try and get him back, only to have him tell her he wanted to marry her sister instead!

She'd be devastated.

Charmaine looked at Lucy as she accepted the cocktail from Payne. She didn't look in the least devastated. In fact she still had that slightly wary, stiffly-embarrassed look on her face.

Ah, but then, Lucy was a superb actress, she reminded herself. Perhaps her pride had come to her rescue, forcing her to act as if she didn't care. She'd probably told Payne that she was just here to top up her tan before taking on Hollywood. Yes, something of that sort. It was just the sort of thing Lucy would do.

Her heart ached for her sister, and when Payne, with a long look at Charmaine, excused himself to go and see whether or not a French Count, who was having a remarkable run of
luck
was still riding high, she heaved a sigh of relief.

‘Lucy, we need to talk,' she said urgently. But Lucy wasn't listening. Instead she seemed to be staring across the room at somebody.

‘What? Oh, yes, later, Sis, OK? There's someone I must see.'

‘Lucy, are you all right?' Charmaine asked, reaching out to grab her arm and prevent her from taking off.

Startled, Lucy turned to look at her with eyes that Charmaine would have sworn looked genuinely bewildered.

‘What do you mean, am I all right? Of course. You're the one who looks shattered,' Lucy observed.

Charmaine shrugged helplessly. It was no use. If her sister was determined to pretend that nothing was wrong, then Charmaine knew from past experience that she would never dissuade her.

But she just couldn't let her go, not while Lucy must be secretly hating her. She had to explain how it had all happened.

‘About Payne,' Charmaine began determinedly.

And Lucy's face immediately stiffened.

So I was right, Charmaine thought miserably. This is all an act. Inside she's hurting. I can tell.

‘Oh, Payne,' Lucy said, and smiled stiffly. ‘Yes, that is a bit embarrassing, isn't it,' she
agreed,
making Charmaine gape all over again. ‘But he's a sport, isn't he?' Lucy swept on, once again looking over her shoulder to the other side of the room. ‘And if he's not going to hold a grudge, then that's more than I could have hoped for. Look, Sis, I've just got to see this man. I'll find you later, OK?'

And with that, Lucy pulled away and was quickly lost in the crowd.

But Charmaine wasn't fooled. There wasn't someone she was anxious to see—no man she needed to talk to. She just wanted to find a ladies room where she could cry her eyes out and collect herself.

Charmaine bit her lip and turned blindly away. So much for protecting her sister. So much for not stabbing her in the back. All that soul searching and self denial was for nothing.

For the past day and night she'd been carefully holding herself back from thinking about Payne's proposal. About what it might, about what it surely must, mean.

After all, no man asked a woman to marry him lightly. But neither had Payne actually said he loved her. Not in so many words. Not in a way that left her in no doubt.

But still he'd proposed. She'd been so busy thinking about how impossible it was because of Lucy that, now that her sister was finally aware of what was happening, it left her free to fully realise how wonderful it all was.

Payne wanted to marry her! Her,
Charmaine
Reece. Not Lucy, not Jinx, not any of the other fascinating, beautiful, intelligent women of his past.

And now . . . now that Lucy knew, what was holding her back from accepting? It was what she wanted to do. If she was going to be brutally honest with herself—and now was probably a good time to be brutally honest—she wanted to marry Payne Lacey more than anything else in the world.

She loved him.

Oh, his lifestyle bemused her, and his cavalier attitude to luck and money still unnerved her. But after their talk at the picnic, even this failed to seriously worry her. Besides, if Payne lost all his money tomorrow on some reckless gamble, she could still support them both. Because of
Jonniee
she was a wealthy woman in her own right, and would always have the means of supporting herself.

No, only the thought of Lucy's pain had stopped her from seriously thinking about his proposal of marriage. But now Lucy knew.

Yes, she knew, but would she get over it?

Part of her was sure that she would. Nothing kept Lucy down forever. But then there was that overdose. Obviously Payne meant more to her than any of her other conquests.

Oh it was all so impossible she thought, wanting to scream and cry. For the last few weeks she felt as if she had been living her life on a rollercoaster—up and down, he loves me,
he
loves me not, I love him, no I don't. Yes I can, no I can't. It was enough to drive her to the brink of insanity.

And now . . . Just what did she do now? Go to her sister? Or go to the man she loved and wanted and who had proposed to her?

She didn't know. She couldn't seem to think. She felt paralysed with uncertainty and torn in half.

And then suddenly, she heard Payne's voice. ‘Ladies and Gentlemen.'

He was obviously speaking over a microphone, and she half expected him to be stood on a dais somewhere, so she almost jumped when he appeared at her side. ‘I hope you're all enjoying the evening's entertainment.'

The crowds began to quieten, some coming in from the other gaming tables to listen to his speech, others too engrossed to care.

Without quite realising it, Payne put a hand on her back and began leading her to one of the roulette tables, still talking into the microphone in his other hand.

‘As you're aware, there's been some high-stakes gambling going on tonight, but so far, I think, the bank is safe.'

There were cheers and laughter at this, and a growing sense of anticipation. Clearly Payne Lacey was not the man to make announcements without reason. Something big was in the offing.

‘I
want to thank you all for making this celebration of my ownership a night to remember. And, in honour of this occasion, I'd like to make a bet myself.'

Suddenly the air became filled with tension as people began to realise that something quite extraordinary was happening. It was common knowledge that Payne never gambled in his own casino. Charmaine felt her own heart begin to pound as she was swept along on the current of anticipation. Looking around she caught glimpses of faces in the crowd—Jo-Jo looking puzzled, Jinx looking angry. Max and Lucy standing together looking intrigued. Everyone was wondering the same thing.

What was going on?

‘This bet is going to be the biggest gamble of my life. Who knows, depending on its outcome, maybe even the last,' Payne said, and there were gasps all around. Because when a legendary gambler like Payne Lacey talked like this, everyone listened.

Someone had once said that the only time Payne Lacey bluffed, was when he was playing poker. Never when he was playing for real.

‘Jack, clear the table and spin the wheel,' Payne said to the roulette croupier who quickly did as he was told. Those who'd been playing didn't even look chagrined at having their game hijacked like this. They, also, were too caught up in the unfolding drama.

Charmaine was glad to have Payne's arm
around
her. She'd never been the centre of so much attention before. It felt as if the whole world was looking at them.

And, oh, how proud it made her feel to be the woman on his arm!

‘The bet is a simple one,' Payne continued, never raising his voice or sounding unduly excited, but dominating the room and everyone in it, nevertheless. ‘This incredibly beautiful young lady by my side is going to call it. Black or red.'

By now you could hear a pin drop. Even the hardened gamblers in the other rooms had sensed something spectacular going on and had come in to watch. For the first and last time in its history, not even the sound of a fruit machine broke the quiet of the Palace's interior.

‘If she wins, the entire house is hers,' Payne said, and there was a moment of stunned awe, followed by a whispering surge of disbelief.

Charmaine blinked. What? What was he saying? The house was probably worth tens of millions tonight. Was he mad. Was he . . ..

‘And if I win,' Payne said, suddenly turning from the amazed crowd and holding her eyes with his own, ‘then Miss Charmaine Reece will become Mrs Payne Lacey.'

Charmaine felt the room abruptly recede and sway around them, then come once more sharply back into focus.

‘No, Payne,' she heard herself whisper. ‘You
can't.
I can't.' It was madness. Insanity.

But Payne was already reaching for the white ball and with a simple toss of his fingers, threw it expertly into the spinning wheel.

‘Red or Black?' he said, looking at her calmly. And she felt an undeniable compulsion to go along with this. For the first time ever, she thought she understood his affinity for taking a chance.

And yet, she fought it. You couldn't just decide the rest of your life like this. Could you? And yet—why not? Just a few minutes ago, she was torn by indecision, wracked with conflicting desires. Why not let Lady Luck decide for her?

‘Black,' she heard someone say.

And since everybody else was holding their breath, it must have been herself.

Payne didn't even turn to watch the roulette wheel, although everybody else watched it in fascination.

Lucy, who'd pushed her way to the front, stared first at her sister then at Payne then at the wheel in utter stupefaction.

But Charmaine couldn't take her eyes from Payne. Could she really let fate decide for her? Could she really just toss her heart and the rest of her life to the whim of chance and expect . . .

‘It's red!'

Jack, the croupier, called out the result, and from all around them came the sound of
sudden
thunderous applause.

Charmaine went hot, then cold. She felt him raise her hand and when she looked down, the beautiful sapphire and diamond ring was on her finger.

‘I never renege on a bet,' Payne said, raising her hand to his lips and kissing her knuckles tenderly. But his eyes were like steel when they met hers. ‘And I won't let you, either,' he warned her silkily.

CHAPTER TWELVE

When she awoke the next morning, the ring felt heavy and alien on her finger, and yet she simply couldn't make herself take it off. Every time she tried, her heart rebelled. Instead, she rolled over in bed and stared blankly at the wall. She had just one more day and night in Barbados then she and the rest of the gang were due to fly back to England.

Would she be with them?

She still didn't know the answer to that, one near-sleepless night later. Eventually sheer exhaustion had caused her to doze, but if her subconscious had been tackling the problem without her, it didn't seem in any hurry to let her know what it had concluded!

With a weary sigh, she eventually dragged herself out of bed, showered and pulled on a
pearl
grey all-in-one jump suit with a huge zipper up the front, one of Jo-Jo's postmodernist creations. She rolled the sleeves back to her elbows in a workman-like gesture and simply pulled her hair back in a ponytail, securing it with a silver scrunchie. She didn't even bother to add make-up.

On anyone else the stark outfit would have looked drably industrial, but with her skin now a richly glowing honey in colour, and with her feminine curves lending the almost shapeless garment dips and hollows in all the right places, she looked unknowingly and incredibly sexy.

She walked next door and tapped on the door, and a moment later her sister's groggy voice called out for her to come in.

Lucy's hotel room was an exact replica of her own, done in slightly differing shades, and as she walked to the French windows to draw back the curtains, Lucy burrowed out from beneath the bedclothes.

‘What time is it?' she demanded sleepily.

Charmaine had no idea. ‘Shall I make you some coffee?' she asked solicitously. Lucy had never been a morning person, and besides that, she'd probably been hitting the Champagne cocktails rather heavily last night, after Payne's bombshell.

And who could blame her?

‘Huh? Yeah, sure,' Lucy muttered, sitting up and rubbing her hands briskly over her
face,
in an attempt to wake up.

Charmaine returned with the coffee and sat perched on the edge of the bed. ‘Lucy about last night,' she began quietly. ‘I had no idea he was going to do that.'

Lucy grimaced and blew on her coffee, and took a tentative sip. ‘Well, he always did know how to make a grand stand play,' she said, then glanced speculatively across her coffee cup at Charmaine. ‘But I must say, I didn't think it was your sort of thing.'

Neither did I, until it was happening, Charmaine thought wryly. Because there was no getting around it—Payne's public proposal and outrageous gamble had made her feel nothing if not alive. And extra special. And terrified out of her mind.