eyes flew open, and she gasped. “You think I’d pretend about something like that? Are you joking?” She let out a highpitched laugh. “Oh, God. This figures. I thought…” She shook her head, gathered her bulky purse and rose. “Forget it.”
“The hell I will.” He pushed himself away from the desk and blocked her path. “You thought what?”
“Nothing. It doesn’t matter.” She tried to step around him, but he reached out and grabbed her upper arm. She flinched, jerked back. “Let me go.”
He dropped her arm, stunned by the urgency in her voice, the flash of fear in her eyes. She quickly scuttled away.
He studied her, taken aback. She couldn’t be this good of an actress. She was actually afraid of him.
He eased apart his hands, made his expression neutral, his voice nonthreatening so she wouldn’t bolt. “Look, I’m not trying to hurt you. I just need to know what happened.”
“I…” She nodded, sucked in her breath, as if to pull herself together. “I didn’t really…It was just…my exhusband. Wayne Wheeler. I thought he was here.”
He eyed the distance she’d put between them, the wary way she watched him—defensive, alert, like a cornered animal ready to run. And anger stirred in his gut. He had no patience for abusive men. And unless he was wildly off base, this woman had been attacked.
He struggled to keep the emotion from his voice. “Your ex lives around here?”
She shook her head, sending her silky hair sliding over her arms. “He’s in Maryland, in jail. It wasn’t him. It wasn’t even his voice. But I thought, earlier…I was just nervous. I overreacted. I’m sorry.” She rubbed her forehead with a trembling hand, sank back into her chair.
He frowned. He didn’t doubt her story. Her fear looked real…And the facts would be easy to check.
So what should he do about it? Assuming she was telling the truth, this still didn’t eliminate the Rothchilds’involvement. Or her sister’s. It wouldn’t be the first time an unsuspecting family member had been an accomplice to a crime.
Which led him back to his original problem. He paced across the room, pivoted, then returned to lean against the desk. He had to contain this, keep it out of the news. He couldn’t let that consortium implode.
Which meant making sure Amanda Patterson didn’t talk.
But somehow the thought that anyone would hurt this gentle woman made it hard to stay detached.
“I need to go.” Her eyes pleaded with his. “My sister will be wondering where I am. I left her a voice mail that I’d meet her in the lobby.”
“You can leave as soon as you talk to the police.” A knock sounded on the door, and he rose. “That’s probably the detective now. I’ll walk you out to the lobby when you’re done.”
“All right.” Their gazes held. The vulnerable look in her eyes tugged at something inside him, urging him to shelter her, to keep her safe.
He shook it off. Her life, her problems were none of his concern. The only thing he needed to do was convince her not to talk. But she had been attacked in his casino. He could at least alleviate some of her fear. He turned, strode out the door.
Ramón Martinez from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department was waiting for him in the hall. “Martinez.” Luke shook his hand, briefed him on the situation, and the need to keep it quiet for now. “Could you check on the ex and make sure he’s still in jail?” he added. “The name’s Wheeler. Wayne Wheeler.”
“No problem.” The detective flipped open his cell phone, called in the information. “It’ll take a few minutes to run him through the system. I’ll get a statement from the Patterson woman and get back to you on that.”
“Thanks.” Luke returned to the main office, had his security guard run the tapes again as he waited for the detective to finish up. Now that he’d heard Amanda’s version of events, the anxiety in her eyes made sense.
His gaze lingered on the seductive flare of her hips, those endless legs. It was too bad she wasn’t his type. She was a damned attractive woman. But he only dated celebrities, supermodels, women willing to hang on his arm for an evening in exchange for a fancy meal.
He didn’t have relationships, and he didn’t mix dating with business. And that’s all Amanda Patterson could ever be—a business concern. One he needed to wrap up now.
She emerged from the office a few minutes later. “I heard back about Wheeler,” Martinez said from behind her. “He’s still in jail.”
“Good.” He caught Amanda’s gaze, and that disturbing attraction rocked through him again. His eyes dipped from her face to those killer legs, and he had to struggle to remember his plan. “I’ll walk you out.”
He nodded to the detective, held the door open for Amanda, then accompanied her down the carpeted hall. He liked how her long strides kept pace with his, how her height made it easy to meet her eyes.
“Thanks for checking on Wayne for me,” she said, her voice subdued. “It helps to know he’s far away.” Her eyes held his, and the worry lurking in those vivid eyes bothered him more than he cared to admit.
“No problem. I have a favor to ask, though.” They reached the door to the lobby, and he paused. “I’d like to keep this incident out of the news—at least for a couple of weeks. I’m in the middle of some negotiations right now, and I don’t want the publicity. So if anyone calls you—any reporters, the tabloids—I’d appreciate it if you didn’t talk.”
“Okay.”
“The paparazzi can be persistent,” he warned her. “I doubt they’ll get wind of this, but if they do they’ll call, show up at your door, follow you around.”
“But that’s ridiculous.” Her forehead wrinkled. “Why would they care what happened to me?”
“They won’t. But I’m big news these days.”
“I see.” She bit her lip, made that flexing motion with her wrist again.
He frowned. “Did you get hurt back there?”
“What?” She looked at her wrist. “Oh. No, it’s an old injury. It aches sometimes.”
He nodded, tugged his business card from his inside pocket and held it out, determined to make sure she complied. “Here’s my number. Call me if they show up. I’ll top whatever they’re willing to pay.”
She blinked, shot him a look of disbelief. “You’re offering to pay me not to talk?”
“I told you that I don’t want the publicity right now.”
“Well, neither do I.” Stunned outrage tinged her voice. “I have a daughter to protect. I don’t want to be in the news.”
But money had a way of changing minds. And the tabloids’ pockets were deep.“ Take the card, Amanda.” He pressed it into her hand. “Just call me if they contact you.”
She
