forming over her head. First a monsoon and now a canceled reservation. This was the kind of luck the old Lily had, and she was no longer that person. “Your cousin made it for me himself.”
Lucy’s frown deepened as she studied the screen in front of her. “He’s also the one who canceled it. There’s a notation that someone at McNeil Enterprises called this afternoon and said that your plans had changed.”
Thoughts whirled through Lily’s mind. Who would have called? Had her father changed his mind about the job he’d given her? Surely, he would have called her first to let her know. “There must have been some mix-up at the office. Why don’t you just give me another room?”
Lucy met her eyes. “I don’t have another room. I can find you something at one of the other hotels in the city.”
“Surely, you must have something.” One thing Lily knew about the hotel business was that there were always rooms held back for just such an emergency. “Your cousin Anthony and I talked about how important it was that I stay here at Henry’s Place. It’s the only way that I can really get a feel for the place.”
Lucy’s brow knit. “I would have a room if it weren’t for the plumbing. Dame Vera’s wasn’t the only room affected.”
“I’ll take anything,” Lily said.
“Tell you what,” Lucy said. “I do have a suite on the roof. My Uncle Henry lived there while he was alive, and it’s only used by family.” She swung out from behind the counter, picked up Lily’s suitcase, and led the way to the elevator. “I’m sure that Tony would want me to put you up there. I know that he was looking forward to meeting with you.”
As she followed the young girl, Lily let out the breath she was holding. In spite of Dame Vera’s dire predictions, her past was not going to become her future.
“I’LL TAKE THREE.” Tony placed his cards face down on the table and wished fervently that he could have discarded his entire hand. The grinning look that passed between his brothers as Sam dealt him new cards added salt to the wound.
“Don’t get too smug,” he warned his brothers. “My luck is going to turn. Dame Vera read my palm just before I left this evening.”
“Did she give you a date on the turnaround?” Drew asked.
“Tonight sometime,” Tony said. At least, he hoped it would be tonight.
Drew and Sam exchanged another look.
“I don’t think we have anything to worry about yet,” Sam said. “You haven’t won a hand all night.”
Though he wouldn’t have said that he had a pessimistic nature, Tony viewed his current cards as symbolic of his luck in general lately. The hotel, his family’s home, was threatening to fall down on his head. Literally. So far, he’d managed to keep the severity of the situation from his brothers. They didn’t need the grief. They certainly didn’t need to know that two big hotel conglomerates, McNeil Enterprises and Fortescue Investments were pressuring him to sell out. Not that he ever would—and certainly not to McNeil Enterprises. His father and J. R. McNeil had a history. That was all Tony knew, but it was bad enough for his dad to warn him never to trust anyone from the company.
Still, Tony would have liked to discuss the hotel’s problems with someone. But Sam was a newlywed, and Drew had been working some tough undercover assignments at the precinct lately. The one person he might have confided in, his cousin Nick, was adjusting to fatherhood in Boston. He didn’t need anything raining on his parade, either. Besides, running the hotel was Tony’s job—the one his father had left him.
“I only need one,” Drew said as he tossed his card on the table.
“And I’m good,” Sam said.
That figured, Tony thought. Truth told, Sam’s luck was on a roll. He was not only winning at poker tonight, but ever since he’d met and married A.J., his whole life had been on an upswing. The security company he worked for had made him a VP, and A.J. was expecting a baby in early summer.
“I’m in for twenty,” Drew said, pushing chips into the center of the table.
“Big talk.” Sam set a neat stack next to Drew’s. “I’ll see that and raise you thirty.”
Drew added chips and the two men looked expectantly at Tony.
“You can always fold now,” Sam said. “That way you can hold on to that pitiful pile of chips in front of you.”
Tony turned to Drew. “That sounds like a bluff to me. I’ll bet he’s got squat.”
“How much?” Drew asked.
“Ten bucks,” Tony said.
Drew grinned. “You’re on.”
Sam shook his head sadly. “This is like taking money from a baby. You guys are no challenge at all.”
Tony’s smile spread slowly. “Those three cards you just dealt me could make me a full house.”
Drew snorted. “Not with the string of luck you’ve been having.”
“I told you. It’s about to change,” Tony said as he placed his hand over the cards and rubbed them gently against the table. They wouldn’t give him a full house since he had an eight and nine in his hand. But they had to give him something. If there was one thing he believed in it was that a person’s luck could change as quickly as the weather.
And Dame Vera’s prediction had only reinforced his own personal feeling that his was certainly due for a change. The feeling had started a week ago on the day that Lily McNeil had contacted him to offer her consulting services.
She’d been the third person to contact him from McNeil Enterprises. First there’d been the invitation to lunch with J.R. Then there’d been the personal visit from the well-dressed and well-manicured Jerry Langford-McNeil. Not only had Lily been number three—Tony’s lucky number—but he sensed something about her that was…different. Her father and stepbrother were smooth-talking sharks. His impression of Lily was that she was more of a goldfish. He gave the three cards on the table a rub.
Of course, he hadn’t believed one word of the line of baloney she’d fed him over the phone. She claimed she was starting a new department for her company, and she wanted to help him get an affordable loan to make the improvements that he’d always wanted to make. Plus, she would offer him a free analysis and a plan to increase profits so that he could pay off the loan in record time.
Yeah, right. And then she’d probably have a bridge she’d want to sell him, too. No, it wasn’t her too-good-to-be-true offer that had intrigued him. Her voice had caught his attention. Throaty and sexy, it had contrasted sharply with her brisk and businesslike presentation of her offer. And for some reason, it had made him think of hot, sweaty, all-night sex—the kind he’d fantasized about as an adolescent.
“Are you going to pick up those cards or not?” Sam asked.
“In a second.” Tony continued to rub them gently against the table. He’d been looking forward to meeting Lily McNeil. Contrasts had always intrigued him. And when she’d laughed—
Hell, he’d really wanted to meet
