Read Rarities Unlimited 02 - Running Scared for Free Online Page A

had set fire to more than her share of bridges on the way to her present multimillionaire status.
    “Thanks, Carl.” She turned to Shane. “Still no chance of becoming business partners?”
    Shane took one of her perfectly manicured hands in his. He liked Gail and respected her razor-edged business mind. Yet his instincts whispered that it would be a bad match. He had learned the hard way never to go against the voice that spoke so silently somewhere inside himself.
    He brushed a kiss over her scented cheek. “You know we’re better as friends and competitors than we would be as partners.”
    She almost closed her striking hazel eyes for a moment. It could have been a lazy reassessment. It could have been regret. Either way, both ways, nothing changed. “Yeah, I suppose. It’s just . . . ah, hell. Can’t fight karma, can you?”
    He squeezed her hand and released it. “How about selling your gold collection to me?” he asked. “It doesn’t really fit in with the Wildest Dream’s fantasy theme.”
    “Not a chance.” Gail knew her gold was the only thing that really interested Shane, but she didn’t admit even to herself that was the reason she competed with him whenever a choice gold object came on the market. She wanted his attention, pure and simple. And bitter as hell.
    She kissed him soundly on the lips. “Catch you later, honeylove,” she said. “Gotta fix my face for an international video conference.”
    It was only half a lie. She definitely was going to repair her makeup before she confronted the business waiting for her.
    With a bit of nostalgic regret, Shane watched Gail glide into the colorful, blaring crowd. She was a hell of a woman, but she wanted more than he had to give, and he wanted more than sex and business from his woman, which was all she had to give him. He didn’t know exactly what he wanted, but he knew there had been something missing when he was with Gail.
    When he heard his own thoughts, his mouth curled at one corner in a sardonic smile at his own expense. He knew just what was missing. Something in him. In her, too, he supposed.
    Maybe they were a good match after all.
    The voice inside him whispered that he knew better. He didn’t bother to argue.
    Snagging some cold shrimp from a passing server, Shane munched as he walked toward the main casino, which surrounded the lobby the way a wheel surrounds its hub. When people called out to him, he greeted them whether he recognized them or not. He didn’t like the public part of being the wunderkind of Las Vegas, “Prince Midas,” the “Man with the Twenty-four Karat Luck,” “Golden Boy,” or whatever else the chic media tagged him whenever they needed another splashy article to separate their ads. Nor did he appreciate the endless gossipy speculation that had him sleeping with every good-looking female east of the Pacific Ocean, but he knew that the prurient interest came with the territory of being the bachelor owner of the biggest, most successful resort casino in Las Vegas.
    Besides, the constant speculation about his private life was free advertising for the Golden Fleece.
    The electronic unit that had descended from the old personal data assistants vibrated discreetly at his waist. Since he had turned off his normal paging number, he knew this call was urgent.
    He pulled out the hand-size unit and automatically decoded the message as it scrolled across the window. It was from the pit boss who oversaw the baccarat tables. One of the Japanese “whales”—someone who could and did drop a million dollars gambling—was riding a winning streak. Six hundred thousand and counting. Did Shane want to change dealers before the shift ended in hope of breaking the whale’s luck?
    Shane sent back a negative reply. It had been a while since the Golden Fleece had had a big winner from Japan. In the long run, the free publicity more than paid for the losses.
    Letting the party shriek and gyrate around him, he continued scanning