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didn’t part on good terms.”
    “So you thought it best to stay clear of the bastard,” Boston said. “Smart.”
    “If I were smart, I wouldn’t have gotten involved with him in the first place,” Kat said. She refused to show the extent of her shame and fear. Strong and steady. “I’ve tried hard to put the past behind me, but it won’t let me be.”
    “I sympathize,” Athens said.
    She wagered he had his own demons, given the flash of pain in his green gaze. A gentle soul, her instincts told her, with a guilty conscience.
    “So you’ve decided to go to war,” he said.
    She shifted and struck a confident stance. “I’ve decided to take a stand against a despicable menace.”
    Boston smiled. “Smart and brave.”
    “Not brave,” Kat countered. “Selfish.”
    “How so?”
    She pondered what to share. “I have a niece. Five years old. My responsibility. Brady’s obsessed with me, and I defied him. No telling what he’d do if...” she trailed off, not wanting to speak the unthinkable.
    “Having a five-year-old daughter myself,” Athens said, “I understand. What we have in mind--”
    “I’ll do it.”
    “You haven’t heard the plan.”
    “Being a politician, excuse me, government agent, I’m sure it’s clever. Men like you don’t play to lose. I’m in.”
    Boston studied her down-to-earth appearance. “You’ll have to slick up.”
    Time was, she’d take offense. Instead, she took Boston’s comment as a compliment. She’d worked hard to downplay her so-called beauty. Given her appreciation for frippery, initially the transformation had been a trial. These days she didn’t give her plain attire and lack of face paint a second thought, although her new persona had never felt completely natural. Blending with honest, hard-working folk had kept her safe, but it wouldn’t aid PMA in their quest to snag Brady. “In other words, you want Kat Simmons, not Jane Murdock.”
    “We want a woman qualified to compete in a poker tournament. A woman who’ll garner attention and spark talk.”
    “A woman who’ll make the newspapers. Between word of mouth and the press, Brady will know where to find me faster than chain lightning with a link snapped.” She smiled. “Like I said, you’re clever.”
    Athens angled his head. “As you said, you haven’t been with Brady in years, and he has strong reason to stay in hiding. We want to ensure he’ll come around by resurrecting an old rivalry.”
    That could only mean one thing. “You’re going to pair me up with Rome.” Amazing, she said his name without flushing. Amazing, she actually looked forward to the ruse. If she played her cards right, she’d condemn Brady to hell for eternity and banish Rome from her heart for good.
    “That a problem?” Boston asked.
    A nonchalant shrug belied her inner anxiety. “Whatever it takes.”
    “You’ll be protected,” Athens said.
    “What about my niece?”
    “Whatever it takes.”
     

CHAPTER 7
     
    Phoenix
    The day crawled into night, and the night stretched on forever. The Last Chance was locked down, and London was locked away in his office, restless as hell. He sat at his desk, tapping a pencil on his accounts ledger. Hard to concentrate on numbers while contemplating problems of another nature. Hard not to obsess.
    London loved his family. Unconditionally. But sometimes they taxed his patience. Take Athens. He had no business putting himself in harm’s way. To London’s knowledge, he’d never fired a gun, yet he was determined to personally bring down one of the West’s most notorious outlaws, Bulls-Eye Brady.
    As director of PMA, Athens, alias: Fox , had a list of targeted desperadoes. Bulls-Eye Brady was one of many. Until he killed a woman. Then he became public and personal enemy number one. Athens’s first wife, Jocelyn, had been gunned down in a train robbery, and though Victoria Barrow hadn’t died from a bullet, she’d sure as hell died by Brady’s hand.
    London figured his