the openings for his other casinos.
Searching to find her in the sea of people, when he spotted her standing over to the side with a distinguished-looking gentlemen, Blake barely managed to contain his shock. She was exchanging polite conversation with his father, the all powerful Nash Fortune.
Why was he here? He’d hadn’t bothered to attend the openings for Belle of Fortune or Lucky Fortune. In fact, his father hadn’t visited Deadwood in the six years that Blake had lived here.
But more surprising than having his father in attendance was the fact that Nash was alone. Where was Patricia? His father and stepmother had been inseparable since Nash’s retirement and the fact that she wasn’t at his side was quite significant.
But Blake didn’t have time to speculate about the absence of his stepmother. He had to deliver a short speech, then participate in the cutting of the wide red ribbon officially opening the doors to Fortune’s Gold for business.
As happened with the grand openings for his other two hotel casinos, Blake’s position as the owner of Fortune Casino Corporation required that he not only preside over the ceremony, but that he be available to greet guests and endure being interviewed by several newspaper and television reporters. Fortunately, it only took a couple of hours for the patrons to settle into their games of choice and the media to move on to whatever else they deemed newsworthy for the day.
Finally free to go in search of Sasha, he found her in the coffee shop seated at a table with his father. Blake’s heart lurched when their eyes met. She was, without a doubt, the most beautiful, alluring woman he’d ever met.
“Everything seemed to go quite well,” she said when he walked over to join them.
“I’m fairly pleased with the way things went.” Unconcerned that his father was watching, Blake kissed her sweet lips, then lowered himself into the chair beside her. “But I’m glad it’s over.”
“I always hated having to preside over things like this,” Nash said, nodding.
A waitress appeared, seemingly out of nowhere to place a cup of coffee in front of Blake. When she moved away, he turned his attention to his father and stuck out his hand in a more formal greeting. “I didn’t expect to see you here, Dad.”
His father cleared his throat as they shook hands and if he didn’t know better, Blake would have sworn that Nash looked a little chagrined. “I thought it was time to see what’s claimed my youngest son’s attention for the past several years.”
An uncomfortable silence followed his father’s telling statement. They both knew that Nash had never paid much attention to Blake, nor had he lifted a finger to stop his two oldest sons from pushing Blake out of Dakota Fortune after he’d retired. Then, when Blake had announced he was going to try his hand at the gaming industry, Nash had dismissed it as a waste of time and hadn’t seemed to care one way or the other how his youngest son fared with the venture.
“If you two gentlemen will excuse me, I think I’d like to try my luck at the slot machines,” Sasha said, picking up her purse.
Blake knew she was leaving in order to give them the privacy to work through their differences. But he didn’t hold out much hope of that ever happening. His entire life, he’d tried to measure up to his father’s expectations and all he’d received for his efforts was to be compared with his older brothers, Case and Creed. In his father’s eyes, Blake always came up lacking.
When Sasha rose to her feet to make her exit, both he and his father stood up. “It was nice seeing you again, Mr. Fortune,” she said as she politely shook Nash’s hand.
“It was my pleasure, Sasha.”
“I’ll see you a bit later, Blake.” She placed her hand on his arm and gave him an understanding smile. “After you and your father catch up.”
“I’ll find you,” he promised.
As she walked away, he and his father both watched her leave.
“She’s a very lovely girl and a delight to be around,” Nash said, sitting back down. “She’s highly intelligent, too.”
“Yes, she is,” Blake agreed as he settled into his chair. “She’s directly responsible for the day being a complete success.”
“Creed speaks very highly of her,” his father added. “He says she’s done an excellent job in the PR department at Dakota Fortune.”
“I’m sure he does think she’s quite good at her job,” Blake said tightly. He and his father had never had a conversation in which one of his older brothers wasn’t mentioned. The sad thing was he doubted his father even realized how it made Blake feel.
They both fell silent for several moments before Blake finally let go of his irritation and thought to ask “Where’s Patricia?”
Nash sighed heavily and Blake could tell he was deeply troubled. “She planned on coming with me, but backed out at the last minute.”
“That doesn’t sound like her. Wasn’t she feeling well?” Patricia Blackstone Fortune had been more of a mother to Blake than his own mother ever had and he was genuinely concerned for her well-being.
“I’m not sure.” A worried expression marred his father’s distinguished features. “Something’s been upsetting her lately and I can’t think of what it could be.”
“Have you talked to her about what’s wrong?” Blake asked as he motioned for the waitress to refill their coffee cups.
Nash waited for the woman to walk away before he nodded. “I’ve asked her several times, but she won’t tell me.”
Blake frowned. “That doesn’t sound like Patricia.”
“No, it doesn’t.” His father hesitated a moment before giving Blake a meaningful look. “I do have a theory though.”
“What is it?”
Nash met his questioning gaze head-on. “I think it might have something to do with Trina.”
At the mention of his mother’s name, a tight knot formed in the pit of Blake’s stomach. “What makes you think Trina has anything to do with Patricia being upset?”
“You know how she is,” Nash said, shaking his head. “She thrives on upsetting others and if she’s not stirring up some kind of trouble or meddling in someone’s life, she’s not happy.”
“But that doesn’t mean she’s involved in what’s bothering Patricia,” Blake said evenly.
Trina Watters Fortune was difficult at the best of times and at her worst, a vindictive, unreasonable shrew. But she was still his mother and Blake felt a certain obligation to defend her.
“It didn’t even occur to me to suspect that she was until I saw Patricia’s reaction when Ivy mentioned Trina’s name in passing.” Nash lifted his cup and, staring at Blake over the rim, added, “Patricia turned white as a sheet and had to leave the room.”
Ivy Woodhouse had been the family’s chef as long as Blake could remember, but for reasons he couldn’t explain, there was something about the woman that he’d never liked. “What
