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arm and gave her a quick kiss, so she knew they’d won.
    Ben placed an equal amount of chips next to the one Deacon had set out.
    “Let it ride,” Deacon said.
    She leaned back against him and asked, “What’s that mean?”
    “Just that we’re going to let our luck keep running.”
    “Does it work that way?”
    “Sometimes.”
    “Isn’t that risky?”
    “No guts, no glory,” he said.
    The wheel spun again and they won a second time. Kylie knew their luck couldn’t last, so she grabbed the chips before Deacon could let his bet ride again. “I think I understand the game now.”
    “What’s the matter?”
    “Nothing. I just don’t want to owe you five hundred dollars.”
    “I would never take money from you.”
    “I don’t want you to lose. You’re lucky in things, Deacon. I’m not.”
    Deacon turned to Mandetti. “Can you give us a moment?”
    “Sure. I want to watch Ben here for a few more minutes, and then I’m going to talk to the blackjack dealers.”
    Deacon took Kylie’s elbow and led her across the room. There was a doorway marked Private, which he opened with a key card. The hallway was quiet and elegantly decorated. Everything around Deacon was first-class, she thought. She was uncomfortably aware that she’d carved a different kind of life for herself and wondered for a moment if Deacon would have been interested in her away from this vacationland.
    “Where are we going?”
    “To my office. I want to talk to you away from the crowd and the bells.”
    “About what?”
    “About luck.”
    “What about it?”
    “Only that you have to make luck, otherwise you’re liable to end up a bitter and lonely person.”
    “I think that’s putting a lot of pressure on luck.”
    “I don’t. Luck is what you make of it.”
    “Deacon, you don’t need luck. You’ve got a sheer force of will the likes of which I’ve never encountered before.”
    “I’m glad you noticed,” he said with a cocky grin.
    “Why’s that?”
    “Because there’s something I want and I’m not going to stop until I get it.”
    Normally Kylie would have been afraid to ask him what he was talking about, but the look in his eyes told her he was talking about her. Well, she had decided to throw caution to the winds on this trip, hadn’t she?.
    “Do you mean me?”
    He flashed his key card once again and opened the door to his office. They both entered. The room was dimly lit and the lights of the pool were visible outside the window. He tugged her into his arms, tipping her head back.
    “Yes,” he said, before lowering his mouth and kissing her.

    “I thought we came here to talk,” Kylie said.
    He’d forgotten he’d lured her away from the casino with that promise. Actually he hadn’t forgotten; he been sidetracked. He realized that a slow seduction was going to be more difficult than he’d planned. On one level, she was his future wife and he intended to treat her a certain way and to be that man he’d always wished he was. It was sobering to realize that no matter how much money he acquired, he was still that somewhat rough street kid.
    “Yes, talk,” he said. “I believe the topic was luck.”
    “I think we’ve explored luck enough for tonight. I want to know more about you.”
    “We’ve been over that. Come over here. Look, you can see our El Dorado. I think it’s almost time for gold to cascade over the side.”
    “I saw it yesterday.”
    He said nothing, just remained where he was, staring out the window at the little world he’d created. He was the master here, and for all that Vegas and his life had always depended on the roll of the dice, he felt a certain sense of security and pride at the Golden Dream.
    Kylie slipped her arm around his waist and leaned against him. He wanted her as his wife, but he didn’t intend she ever know the details of his life and his past. There were boundaries he let no one cross—not even the woman he’d decided to marry.
    “This isn’t a good spot to