Scarlet Lady (7 page)

After Carson went to bed, Katie took a shower, washed the river water from her tangled hair, dried it, and went to bed.

But she soon found she was too tense to sleep. She’d always had trouble sleeping. Carson slept like a baby, carefree and deeply. At least he used to as a child. His room was on the other side of the house and he came and went at such odd hours, she was never sure anymore.

Her thoughts kept going back to Montana. The
Scarlet Lady
with its red bed loomed in her mind. What was she going to do? Taking his boat would solve all her problems, but could she bring herself to do the same thing to him that he’d done to Carson? Could she destroy his livelihood?

Part of her said it was business. Gambling was his business and wagering his boat was his choice.

The other part said she couldn’t do it. Even if she
had won, she’d misled him. He thought she was just some inexperienced woman, coming in to gamble. He didn’t know about her peculiar ability to remember cards, to win at poker. She’d heard that people like her were banned from casinos; their pictures circulated so they could be identified before the house lost a lot of money.

She could understand that. But this time she hadn’t used her special ability in her game with Montana. They’d only played one hand. The cards had just come her way. She’d won honestly. She knew that, but a tiny little voice in her head kept saying, “Are you sure?”

Sleep didn’t come.

She hoped that sleep didn’t come to Rhett Butler Montana either. Anyone who earned his living preying on the weaknesses of others should have trouble sleeping. Still, in all fairness, everyone who gambled wasn’t weak. To some, it was just fun. And a man could throw his money away any way he wanted, provided he could afford it. The men who ran the casinos ought not be held accountable for those who were addicted to gambling.

Katie realized that her judgment was skewed. Another peculiarity in her character was trying to see both sides of a problem. She ought to be concentrating on Carson instead of rationalizing Rhett Butler Montana’s lifestyle. But every time she closed her eyes, all she could feel were the gambler’s dark eyes, his overwhelming presence. Worse, in the darkness the breathless feeling that had filled her when he’d kissed her returned.

Damn the man!

All that was important was that she’d won, faced down the devil in black and won. She’d known he was dangerous; Carson had claimed he lulled you into betting more than you could afford. Even Cat had tried to discourage her from going there to gamble. But until she’d seen the man for herself, she hadn’t understood the power of his appeal.

A smooth talker, she’d expected. But the kiss had been a shock, and the aftereffects of that kiss still lingered. She’d been kissed before, but never like that, never a kiss that jarred her so badly that she couldn’t trust her own judgment. That’s why she’d run away. She’d come face-to-face with her own weakness.

And she’d escaped short of—of what? Being talked into playing another hand where she would lose everything? Of willingly spending the night in that red bed that seemed as much a part of Montana’s personality as his clothes?

Discovering that her winnings came to eighteen thousand dollars had been a surprise. Learning that they weren’t enough to redeem Carson’s IOUs was a disappointment. They needed ten thousand dollars more. How had her brother let this happen? She’d known he was in trouble. Why hadn’t she been able to stop him?

Because the precedent had been set by their father. When she’d been younger she’d fought for a place in the family business. She’d even studied accounting so she’d have the right background. But her traditional father had been adamant. Carson was to inherit the company. Katie would have enough money to support her
for life and the plantation would belong to the children jointly.

To keep peace in the family and to honor her father’s wishes, she’d backed down. She’d convinced herself that shipping goods up and down the Mississippi didn’t interest her as much as her work as director of finance at Sacred Heart Hospital. Through her efforts and her family connections, they’d set up an annual Halloween charity fund-raiser at Carithers’ Chance. That one event was about to get the hospital out of debt and they were attracting good doctors once more. That was important to the people along the river. And the credit was given to the Caritherses.

But Katie knew now that she should have insisted Carson let her help in the business. She wouldn’t make that mistake twice. It might be too late to save Carithers Shipping, but once the plantation was out of danger, she’d have to do something about Carson’s problem—“addiction” she finally said out loud. And that would take more money. In the wee hours of the morning she reached a decision, the only decision. There was no other. She’d go out gambling again. If she could win enough to clear their debts without claiming Montana’s boat, she’d do it.

But she’d do it somewhere else.

She’d barely managed to escape Montana’s magnetism tonight. A second encounter could be fatal. Next time she might not get away unscathed. In the morning, she’d accompany Carson to the
Scarlet Lady
, but she’d avoid Montana by waiting in the car. With her close by, Carson wouldn’t dare gamble.

The sun was already turning the night sky from black to a mottled gray when sheer exhaustion overtook her and she finally closed her eyes. It was almost lunchtime when Katie woke and discovered that for the first time in a very long time, Mary Katherine Carithers had overslept.

And that Carson and the money were gone.

She dressed quickly and dashed downstairs and around the house to the garage. Carson’s car was gone.

And so was hers.

Calling Cat proved useless. She wasn’t home, or if she was, she wasn’t answering. Katie grew angrier by the moment. If everything she’d been through went for nothing, she was going to disown her brother. Yes, she’d always been his champion, but enough was enough. At the rate he was going, Carithers’ Chance would be changed into a casino and they’d be reduced to living on a houseboat on the river.

On a normal Sunday, she’d go to church, then on to the hospital finance office, where she’d put in a few hours of work. Today, she was stuck at the house. Of course, she could call Montana and tell him …

Tell him what? Don’t let my brother gamble the money I won from you? Suppose Carson hadn’t gone on board Montana’s boat? Suppose he’d gone somewhere else? No one was going to listen to her pleas. Gambling was their business and Carson had money.

Unless … She went to the phone and called the police.

“Police department. What is the nature of your emergency?”

“My brother is missing.”

“Your name please.” The operator went on as if she’d said the same words a thousand times.

Katie gave her name and address and that of her brother.

“Oh, yes. Carson Carithers,” she repeated. “And how long has he been missing?”

Since—since this morning.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am. Mr. Carithers is an adult and he’s only been gone a few hours. Unless you have reason to suspect foul play, we can’t file a report for twenty-four hours. Please call us back if he doesn’t turn up.”

With that the operator hung up. Katie let out a breath of despair. She would never get the police’s help. Not in time. Lunchtime came and went.

Katie paced. Finally, swallowing her pride, she dialed the office of the
Scarlet Lady
. “Mr. Montana, please?”

“He’s out of the office for the afternoon,” the receptionist said. “May I take a message?”

She declined. If Montana was gone, nothing could be done about Carson anyway. She had to believe that he’d made good on his promise to turn his life around. Katie brewed some iced tea and wandered out onto the veranda. But all the empty flower urns brought back memories of begonias and roses and the other blossoms her mother had once grown in such profusion. But that was before. Before her parents had been killed in that fateful plane crash over the Okefenokee. Before the last of the Carithers fortune began its steady downward spiral.

Mid-afternoon came.

Still no Carson. What was taking him so long? When he finally got back, she intended to give him a tongue-lashing for not calling. No, not a tongue-lashing, an out-and-out screaming fit of anger was what she’d give him. From now on there would be no more excusing Carson for his carelessness. He was almost thirty years old. “I’m sorry” and a hangdog look wouldn’t be acceptable anymore.

When she heard the sound of a car drive up to the house and stop, Katie dashed toward the front door and flung it open. “Where have you been?”

The man standing on the porch was a gambler, but he wasn’t Carson Carithers. Even wearing faded jeans and a New Orleans Saints T-shirt, Rhett Butler Montana was still formidable. But this time he was as startled as Katie.

“You,” she said in disbelief.

He leaned against the door frame and studied her, then let his lips curve into an amused smile. “Well, well. So Katherine Carithers is the lady in red.”

“Where’s my brother?”

“Your brother?”

“Yes, my brother, Carson. He went to see you this morning.”

“I haven’t seen your brother, Katherine.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Believe me. I haven’t seen him for over a week. I can honestly say that if I never see another member of the Carithers family, it will be all right with me.”

Katie was beginning to have a very bad feeling in the
pit of her stomach. She was also beginning to believe the man, something she couldn’t allow herself to do.

“Don’t lie to me,” she said in a low, desperate voice. “The money in the safe is gone.”

The catch in her voice was almost imperceptible, but Montana heard it. In spite of her calm facade, he knew she was bordering on hysteria. He’d had enough angry encounters with women to know how to deal with them calmly, but something about Katherine Carithers had set him off last night and facing her in the daylight didn’t lessen the impact.

But having his honesty questioned was one thing he didn’t tolerate. His reputation for being straight with his customers was legendary. And he expected the same in return.

“Where is he?” she demanded. “I sent him to pay you. He left here with eighteen thousand dollars. He was to pick up his IOUs and bring them back to me.”

Montana gave a disbelieving laugh. “Let me see if I have this straight. You gave your brother, a gambler, the eighteen thousand dollars you won from me? My money was to pay off the IOUs I hold. What kind of thinking is that?”

“What do you mean,
your
money? I won it—fair and square.”

There was nothing light about his laugh then, or uncertain. “I don’t think so,” he said. “I still haven’t figured out how you managed to cheat at blackjack, but I know how you won at poker.”

Katie gritted her teeth. It was worry over Carson that made her bristle, that kept her from discussing the
problem in her normal logical way of handling a crisis. “You’re accusing me of cheating? I don’t have to listen to this.”

“Oh, but you do, darling. I’m on to you. And while we’re putting everything on the table, I think you’ll agree that under the circumstances, you can forget about claiming my boat. It stays right where it is. And I’m willing to forget filing charges if you return the cash.”

“Filing charges?” She’d had a royal flush. Her hole card had been the queen. She’d beaten Montana and she wouldn’t be treated like some criminal. Of course, it was likely her hasty exit made him question her. She wanted to lash out at him, tell him it had been his bed and his touch that sent her swimming in the darkness. If he hadn’t kissed her, she wouldn’t have bolted. But he had and she did.

And that’s why he was here. Somehow he’d found out who she was and he’d come here to weasel out of the bet with some trumped-up charges.

“What do you mean, filing charges? I won. I won the bet and your boat. You’re just trying to get out of paying off. Is that what you did to Carson when you enticed him to put up the house as a wager?”

Was that possible? she wondered. Could he have somehow goaded her brother into making foolish bets as Carson had said? Well, she’d gotten even. She’d won Montana’s boat and a lot of his money. If she hadn’t panicked and run, Carson would have had more than enough money to settle his debts. Then something else occurred to her. If she won, the pot was to have been
doubled. Montana owed her more money
and
the
Scarlet Lady
.

Rhett Butler Montana didn’t deserve her charity. He’d come here to threaten her. So much for having a good conscience. She’d just take his casino and sell it. That should wipe the slate of debts clean and leave a nice chunk of change for repairs around the plantation. All she had to do was force this bandit to pay off.

Collecting a gambling debt wasn’t the kind of credit and collecting she normally dealt with, but the same procedure ought to work as well on IOUs as it did on corporate accounts.

Katie pushed up the sleeves of her sweatshirt and gave her outlaw adversary a predatory smile. “Do come in, Mr. Montana. And let’s talk about paying off gambling debts. About you paying off—double or nothing as I recall.”

That stopped him cold. He swallowed his retort, reminding himself that he was here because of Mac. Mac, not the lady in red, nor the fact that she’d cheated and run out on him. She—the woman he was honor bound to help—was also the woman whose dishonesty might have cost him everything he owned. The woman who was accusing him of doing something to her brother. The woman who’d kept him awake most of the night.

She led him through the foyer and into an office that must have been a showplace once. But faded squares on the wallpaper were clear evidence that the furnishings were being sold, probably to pay off debts.

The Caritherses were in deep financial trouble and he’d been sent here to help bail them out, and he had to
convince her to let him do so. He had the feeling that she was too proud to accept the help of an outsider, particularly one she didn’t know. This had to be between the two of them. For Montana, it was a matter of pride and punishment. Still, he’d been beaten by a woman gambler who cheated and he had no intention of letting her off the hook so easily. She thought he was here about the bet, he’d just let her think that for now.