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retrieving his own, but the enormity of what was about
to happen couldn’t be ignored.
    She truly hoped Hazard didn’t detect her nervousness and
change his mind.
    If she changed her mind, she felt confident that he wouldn’t
press the issue. If anything, he’d likely be relieved of the burden she’d
placed on him. But she wasn’t going to back out.
    Crossing the street to the lovely, privately owned hotel and
spa adjacent to the Truth or Dare Club and Casino, Morgan appreciated the way
Hazard had placed his hand at the small of her back in order to draw her into the
warmth of his body.
    He wore a long coat reminiscent of Morpheus’ from The
Matrix and he simply radiated heat. The coat smelled like Hazard, a man’s
cologne and faintly of the bar they’d just left.
    “Hazard, how is it that the club and this town maintains its
reputation for anonymity? I’d think the press or paparazzi would be chomping at
the bit to come here. Dare is like a mini-Vegas with small-town appeal.”
    “We have our own press and news station. Paparazzi aren’t
welcome. For the most part, visitors come to lay low and avoid being featured
on gossip TV shows or the internet.”
    “What about cellphones and mini-video cams?”
    “Visitors and residents tend to keep them tucked away or
close at hand for emergencies only. Sometimes things are leaked, but nothing major
so far.”
    “And the police force?” she asked, fascinated with all
things Dare.
    “Is second to none, with a knowledgeable CSI unit, ME and
advanced investigative techniques,” he answered. “Chief of Police Sawyer
Hamilton came to us after getting burned out with the Feds.”
    “Feds…as in the FBI?”
    “That’d be right. He’s an excellent cop. Crime around here
tends to be petty, but when something bad goes down, there’s no one with better
instincts than Sawyer.”
    “It must be nice for those like yourself to have a place you
can come to get away from all the media attention. They can be brutal and
invasive. Alex is used to the limelight, but I always felt awkward. Whenever
someone asked about my so-called romance with Timothy, I’d say it was none of
their business and walk away.”
    “That didn’t go over well, I take?”
    “Like a lead weight. I’d end up coming off like a snob or an
emotionless bitch.”
    “You’re not a bitch, baby.”
    “Thank you, but when we met, you thought it.”
    They’d made it across the street safely. Hazard halted,
bringing Avery around to face him. “Not once did I think you were a bitch. We
spoke for five minutes.”
    “You looked at me funny afterward.”
    “I was trying to figure you out. Sometimes first impressions
are wrong and I recognized you were under enormous stress.”
    “Be honest. What was your first impression of me?”
    Hazard stood there for a second, his eyes combing over her
face and hair and coat. Despite the fact that she was all buttoned up, the
gleam in his eyes told her that he hadn’t forgotten what she was wearing.
    “At first, I saw you as Alexander Grant’s sensible sister,”
he answered after he’d looked his fill. “Then I met your ex and imagined you’d
make an excellent first lady of Kentucky if that ever came to be. You were so
good at handling the crisis with your dad that I thought you’d be incredible at
it handling the interests of an entire state.”
    A slice of pain pierced her heart. Not because Hazard was
being callous, but because he’d seen only the image she’d once projected on a
daily basis. He’d studied her so fiercely and closely when they’d touched
hands, she thought for sure he saw the person she longed to be.
    While her father was in the Senate, she had to put up a
façade of professional reserve and restrain her natural sense of curiosity.
Very few knew that she liked country music and rock and roll and collected
albums from vintage music shops or that she had a particular fondness for
dancing and singing around her apartment nude.
    Now that she