“But we have no rooms.”
“Check again. I bet if you try really hard, you’ll find a couple.”
“You don’t understand—”
“Oh, I understand, believe me. Did I mention I work for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Association? I’ve spent the last few years bringing major conventions to the Strip. I have worked with every hotel and have sent a great deal of revenue in Liam Doyle’s direction.”
“Mr. Doyle no longer owns Vice. Mr. Markov is the new owner.”
Dana’s frustration erupted in a crazed laugh. “You’re missing the point, Cecilia! I’m trying to tell you I have done this before. Now I’m not blaming you. Let’s say, for the sake of argument, someone elsemislaidmy reservation. Mistakes happen. Systems go down. I get it. I’m just asking you to fix it. Maybe you could bump someone else and send them to Excalibur.”
“Ms. Hamill.”
“Look, we’re wasting time here. I want to speak to a manager.”
“I’m sure my manager would be happy to talk to you but she’s in a meeting.”
“Great.” Dana’s voice cracked. “Please. I don’t like causing scenes. I’ve had…a lot on my plate lately. Woman to woman, help me out here.”
A deep voice sounded over Dana’s shoulder. “Maybe I can help.”
Dana froze.
That voice.
The last time Dana heard a voice like that, it was cursing softly in her ear as its owner fucked her into oblivion.
Help me, Jesus.
She turned, degree by degree. It couldn’t be.
And yet, everything she remembered was there. The cat eyes, the sun-kissed hair, the long, hot body.
This Alex looked different, though. The stubbled, jeans-clad creature from Joe’s was gone. He’d been replaced by a man who held himself with an easy authority. Dressed in an expensive grey suit, he looked as if he’d be just as much at home on a catwalk as in a casino. His short hair shimmered under the hotel lights, a deep golden color that would make most trophy wives salivate. His lips compressed as he took in the shock on her face.
Various emotions flickered in his pale eyes. Disbelief, concern, even anger. She understood them all and would have felt them too.
It was the last emotion that caused her heart to sink.
Indifference. The Alex from her fantasies now looked at her with indifference.
She supposed she couldn’t blame him after abandoning him in a tiki bar bathroom.
As everything became clear, his name slipped from her lips in a whisper. “Alex.”
He was Alex Markov. No wonder he’d looked so familiar that night. She’d seen his face in trade magazines a few times and also in the newspapers,ever since his girlfriend died at that resort. She just hadn’t connected the man from Joe’s with the man in the headlines.
Of course, she hadn’t been at her best that day, caught up in her own woes. She could have run into Prince Harry and she probably wouldn’t have recognized him either.
Cecilia paled. “Mr. Markov, I don’t want to trouble you.”
The famous Mr. Markov. Unbelievable.
“It’s no trouble.” He extended his hand to Dana, his face blank. “I’m Alex Markov.”
She resisted the urge to say “Oh, yeah. I know who you are.” Instead, she just shook his hand and played along. “Dana Hamill.”
He held her hand a moment too long. As his fingers touched hers, something in her belly twitched in cruel anticipation.
