Luck Be A Lady (Destiny Bay Romances-The Ranchers Book 5)

by Helen Conrad

  “My name’s Cody Marin. I’ve been the assistant coach for the last couple of weeks. If you paid any attention to what your child did, you’d know that.”

  “I’ll bet he’s a gambler,” somebody said. “Throw him out. We don’t need him here.”

  Kelly felt dizzy. Just weeks before she might not have turned a hair hearing talk like this. She’d had her own scathing opinion of gamblers. But now it was Cody they were talking about. She wanted to find whoever had said that and slap him.

  But Cody didn’t need defending. He was doing a good job on his own. “I’ll take the uniforms back if you like,” he was saying coolly to the crowd. “But I just want to say one thing. All you parents haven’t been able to get together to buy the girls uniforms. Most of the other teams have them and the girls have been feeling at a definite disadvantage. Maybe you don’t realize how important it is to them. You must know they’d tried going door to door, offering to wash cars in order to make money for uniforms. But they didn’t make nearly enough and the season is already half over. I wanted to give them a chance to go out on that field feeling good about how they look, feeling official and right.”

  The crowd was buzzing, responding to what he’d said. He turned to Kelly, his dark eyes searching hers. “Well, what do you think? You want me to wrap them up and take them back?”

  Kelly stared at him, then looked at each parent in turn, meeting each pair of eyes and ending with Glenn. “No,” she said firmly. Reaching into the box, she pulled out the shirt with Coach emblazoned on it and slipped it over her jersey top. “I’m going to wear mine. And anyone who still wants me as coach can have the girls wear theirs. Everyone else can go form a new team. Without us.” She tilted her head to the side and smiled. “I hope one of you is ready to take over as coach for the new team.” She looked from one to another. “How about you?” she asked Glenn pointedly. “Do you have every afternoon free to practice with these girls, to get them ready for games? Someone’s going to have to do it.”

  Glenn stepped closer to her. “Why would you quit over something like this?” he asked her, honestly bewildered by her attitude. It was obvious she hadn’t turned out to be the woman he thought she was.

  Her eyes narrowed. “I think you’re insulting someone who’s done a lot more for your children lately than you think,” she said firmly. “Why don’t you all huddle and take a vote? I’ll wait here for your decision.”

  They moved away, muttering among themselves, and Kelly felt Cody’s arm slide around her shoulders. She leaned back into his embrace, sighing.

  “What is the matter with people?” she grumbled.

  Cody laughed and pulled her closer. “People are always like that with things they don’t understand, things that threaten their status quo. I don’t hold it against them. I’ve reacted that way myself on occasion.” He looked down at her, thinking of how he’d scorned her neat little house when he’d first seen it.

  “Yes,” she said, curling into his arms. “I know what you mean.” These people were, after all, just echoing the way she’d felt until very recently. She’d been prejudiced against Cody’s way of life just because it wasn’t like hers. Now all her assumptions were being tossed out the window. She felt free—free as a butterfly, free as a bird—ready for almost anything.

  It didn’t take long for the parents to come to a decision. The threat of having to coach their children on their own was probably the deciding factor, Kelly thought cynically.

  “Okay. We’ll accept the uniforms,” Glenn said grudgingly when they came back.

  “Why, how kind of you!” Kelly said with false sweetness.

  Cody pressed her arm. “That’s great,” he said. “Go on, girls. Get dressed.”

  The cheers from the girls filled the field. Kelly laughed, looking at Cody, loving him. The sun really was brighter, she decided. It had been since the day Cody had come into her life.

  *** *** ***

  How was it possible that it could get better every time? Kelly lay back against her pillow, trying to catch her breath. Her eyes were closed. She wasn’t sure that anyone should be allowed to feel the sort of ecstasy she just had and survive.

  It was later that same night. Tammy and Heather were at the movies. Kelly and Cody were in Kelly’s bed.

  “I can’t ever seem to get enough of you,” Cody was muttering from where he lay at her side. “You give so much, and yet there’s always more…”

  His voice trailed off. She made a suitably responsive noise and sighed a deep, heartfelt sigh.

  “Do you like it?” he asked her suddenly.

  Her eyes flew open in shock at his question. “What?” she asked suspiciously, squinting to look at him.

  “The way we are together.”

  She chortled with a choking laugh and closed her eyes again. “Of course. Can’t you tell?”

  His hand felt cool on the overheated skin of her stomach. “Is it as good... as it used to be?”

  His tone chilled her. She kept her eyes closed. She knew what he meant. He deserved to know the truth, yet she didn’t want to talk about it. The past still hurt.

  “You mean with my husband?” she said bluntly.

  “That’s what I mean.”

  Kelly opened her eyes and turned to look him in the face. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll tell you how it used to be with Tim, and then you can tell me how I compare with every woman you’ve ever slept with.”

  He grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward him. “Don’t be an idiot,” he growled, his face hard with anger. “Those other women mean nothing to me. But you were married to Tim.”

  Her own anger faded as she searched his face. Did he really mean that? Was she any different from the others?

  “Cody,” she said, dropping her gaze. “It was never good with Tim.”

  The silence between them was deafening. “What do you mean?” he asked at last.

  “I think in his own way, he loved me. But he didn’t know how to show it. His every waking moment was consumed with his career, his fame, and how to get more of it. He hardly noticed when Tammy was born.” She looked at him. “You’ve been better with Tammy than he ever was, in just the short time you’ve known her.”

  Cody shook his head slowly. "I’ve had this image in my mind,” he said slowly. “From the first. I thought you and Tim were the perfect couple. That your life was just the way a life ought to be.”

  That I could never compare to that, he added to himself.

  Her smile was bittersweet. “It was an existence, not a life.” It was living together, not loving, she wanted to add, but didn’t dare. Not loving like what I feel for you.

  His fingers tightened on her wrist. “When he died—“

  “I was horrified, sad that such a vital life had to end,” she interrupted quickly. “But for myself, I couldn’t really mourn.”

  Cody pulled her to him and kissed her long and hard. There was a feeling growing inside that scared the hell out of him. He didn’t want to face what it was. He only knew it involved Kelly, and that for the moment, he couldn’t foresee any circumstances under which he could ever let her go again.

  *** *** *** ****

  “Well, it’s too bad that those people had to act that way,” Sadie said a couple of days later at work, when Kelly told her about what had happened with the uniforms. “But I’ve got to tell you, honey, they were right about one thing. Gamblers are the scum of the earth.”

  “Oh, Sadie!”

  “They might have been reacting from fear and ignorance, but honey, I can speak from a wealth of experience. Stay away from gamblers.”

  Kelly rose slowly from where she’d been filling out an inventory sheet, and walked over to the counter where Sadie was writing checks to cover the month’s supplies. She stopped, leaned down right in front of her boss and said, “All right, Sadie. Spill the beans.”

  Sadie’s pale blue eyes blinked at her in surprise.

  “Let’s have it,” Kelly demanded with mock sternness. “In
every gory detail. Tell me about what happened between you and Monty Cross.”

  Sadie’s gaze wavered. “Why, what makes you think—?”

  Kelly shook her head firmly. “Don’t try to weasel your way out,” she warned. Reaching out, she touched her friend affectionately on the shoulder. “Come on, Sadie. Whenever his name comes up, you turn thirty shades of red. And when he was in here the other day, he did the same.”

  Sadie’s eyes flashed. “Oh he did, did he?” she snapped. “I’d have to see it to believe it.”

  Kelly leaned forward on her elbows. “Believe it,” she said dryly. “But for now, just tell me what happened.”

  Sadie put down her pen and began to stack her papers silently. Kelly watched her for a moment, not sure if she’d offended her. But once the papers were neatly assembled, Sadie stared out the window at the palm trees blowing in the wind and began to tell her story.

  “You know that I used to dance in the chorus in the dinner shows. My last and best job was at the Marquis. Monty Cross was the boss, owner, head gambler, everything.” She shook her head and her face began to relax as she let herself remember. “We were all in love with him,” she said softly. “You should have seen him. Dark hair, flashing eyes. And when he smiled...” Sadie sighed, rolling her eyes.

  “He would come down and watch us rehearse every day, sitting back at a table and throwing out comments. Jokes.” She shook her head. “I was crazy about him, and in my insanity I thought most of the comments and jokes were directed at me. I thought he was looking at me most of the time, and I would say things back, stop by his table and flirt.” She shrugged. “He seemed to like it.”

  “Of course he did.”

  “Oh sure.” She winced at the memories. “But he didn’t ask me out. They said he was shy. They said he didn’t want to date girls in his own show. And all the while I yearned for him.” She sighed. “And usually being of a practical state of mind, I decided to do something about it. I wrote him a letter. A love letter.”

  Kelly drew in a sharp breath, and then she waited, afraid of what was coming next. Sadie was braver than she could have been.

  “I snuck up to his room. I was going to knock on his door and hand it to him personally, but I lost my nerve at the last moment. So I slipped it under the door, hoping he would read it later that evening when he was all alone, and I started to run away. But before I got halfway down the hall, the door opened. And there was Delilah—“ even after all these years, Sadie’s rage at the woman was obvious “—the star of our show, in a dressing gown. A dressing gown, right there in the middle of the afternoon, in his room! She said, ‘Oh, Sadie, is this letter from you?’ and picked it up. ‘Hey, Monty,’ I heard her call into the room. ‘Guess what? Sadie’s written you a letter.’” Sadie closed her eyes. “I ran like hell, grabbed my things and never went back. But to this day, sometimes when I get really run down, I’ll dream about them reading the letter together on his bed, and laughing their heads off. And I want to die all over again.” She tossed her head. “So now you know. Satisfied?”

  Kelly shook her head. “No. That was years ago. What’s happened since then?”

  “Nothing.” Sadie took up her pen and opened the checkbook. “Not a darn thing. I got out of show business, started this nursery and I’ve been perfectly happy. Which I will continue to be if only Monty will leave me alone.”

  “But he wants to see you. He was crazy to see you the other night when you were hiding in the storage room.”

  “Oh sure! It took him twenty-five years to decide to find me. Big deal! Now that he needs advice on his orchids.”

  “But Sadie—“

  “No more about it. I told you what you want to know. Now you do me a favor and forget you ever heard his name.”

  “Sadie.” Kelly sighed and rose from the counter. “All right. For now, anyway.”

  Sadie sniffed. “And do yourself a favor and go get married to that nice Glenn Waxman.”

  “Nope.” Kelly shook her head firmly.

  Sadie stared at her. “What do you mean, ‘nope’?”

  A dreamy smile drifted over Kelly’s face. “Cody has invited me to a big private party at the Marquis tomorrow night.”

  Sadie groaned. “That gambler? Don’t be nuts, girl. Drop him like a hot potato.”

  Kelly’s smile kept growing. “Too late,” she said softly.

  “Oh, brother.”

  Kelly hesitated. “My only problem now is what to wear,” she said as she started back to finish her task. “I told you how dowdy I felt the last time I was at the casino. I want to look right this time. What do you think? I don’t have anything really fancy that fits right now—“

  “You may not,” Sadie broke in. “But I do.”

  “What? You?”

  “Sure. I’ve got a closet full of costumes from my dancing days. They would have been out of fashion five years ago, but today they look like the latest thing. You come over tomorrow afternoon and I’ll fix you up.”

  Kelly smiled at her, bemused. “But you don’t even want me to go out with Cody.”

  Sadie waved that away. “Of course I don’t. But if you’re going to be stupid, you might as well do it in style. Come over and we’ll do a complete makeover, okay? A new you, just for the party.”

  A new her. It was what she needed. “That would be wonderful.”

  Kelly wished she could get Sadie to the party as well. If only she and Monty could be thrown together somehow. But Sadie was adamantly against it. For now, she’d let that idea slide.

  She turned her mind back to Cody and the casino party. She’d decided to go the moment he’d told her about it. He’d spent so much time in her world, tried so hard to make it work. She owed him an attempt to understand his world now. And that was exactly what she was planning to do.

  Chapter Nine

  Cody stood back and watched Kelly for a moment as she mingled with the people around the roulette wheel. He had to look twice to make sure it was really her.

  She was gorgeous. Stunning. When he’d gone to Sadie’s to pick her up, she’d bowled him over. He’d been surprised, intrigued, proud. She’d beamed at the way he’d stammered over her. Her own mother couldn’t have recognized her.

  The dress she wore was form-fitting, strapless, ankle-length, sequined velvet with a dropped waist and a satin sash. Her hair was piled in elaborate coils about her head, leaving long, wispy curls to frame her face. And who would have guessed a high-fashion model lurked beneath those freckles and that turned-up nose? The makeup brought out her high cheekbones, the drama of her large eyes, the dignity in the set of her head. She was like a different woman.

  As he watched, Monty came up and said something to her. Kelly’s head went back and she laughed. Every man in the place looked at her admiringly.

  She seemed to outshine every other woman in the room, Cody mused. And the women here were some of the best money could buy.

  He winced at his own cynical thought. Kelly wouldn’t have liked it at all. Funny how often he stopped himself lately with that warning. Funny how often he was heeding the warning and changing his ways.

  Now here he was, and he couldn’t keep his eyes off her. He watched her talking with Nathan, his young blond assistant. She was animated, charming Nathan to the hilt. That should have filled him with happiness. Why did he feel resentful instead?

  Suddenly she was at his elbow. “Nathan’s offered to teach me the finer points of blackjack,” she told him. “Would you like to come along?”

  Her eyes were sparkling. She knew she was the belle of the ball. Her joy in it was irresistible and he had to smile back. “Sure,” he said, putting down his drink. “Let’s go.”

  He sat with her on the high stools at the blackjack table while Nathan expertly shuffled the cards and cut the deck. Nathan and Kelly laughed together. Cody smiled, but didn’t join in the game. He just watched Kelly. That seemed to be all he wanted to do this evening.

  Nathan had only dealt a few hands when
Jasper Cramer appeared, motioning him aside.

  “Let me deal for the lovely lady,” he said, smiling his oily smile, looking Kelly up and down and ignoring Cody altogether.

  Cody stiffened, but didn’t change his expression. There was no point in alerting Kelly to the sort of man she was dealing with here. Jasper would simper and flirt and be his own obnoxious self, but he wouldn’t do anything overtly offensive in front of everyone.

  Nathan glanced at Cody, waiting for a cue as to how to react. He saw the dismissive signal in Cody’s glance, so he shrugged and gave way to Jasper. “Why sure, Mr. Cramer,” he said, turning away. “I guess I’ll go get myself another drink.”

  Jasper leaned too close to Kelly and dealt her nothing but twenty-ones, dealing from the bottom, from the middle, from anywhere he felt like dealing from, and Cody didn’t say a word. In fact, he had to admire Jasper’s skill. He saw him stacking, false-shuffling and shifting the cut, but he knew Kelly couldn’t detect it. She was too overwhelmed by her good fortune to think about it. Cody had a feeling Jasper was putting on this little show mainly for him. But impressing Kelly was also a consideration.

  “The lady is a winner,” Jasper said smoothly, smiling into Kelly’s eyes after she beat him once again.

  Delighted, she laughed. “I think I ought to take you with me to the other casinos,” she said. “We could clean up.”

  “I’d go with you anywhere,” he told her, his voice annoyingly familiar.

  She looked up, a little startled by his tone. But before she could react, another figure had entered from the rear of the room. Though he was dressed in a suit, he had the look of a street tough. He glanced about, then came straight for Jasper, pushing through the crowd. Tapping him on the shoulder, he whispered something into his ear, then left again after only a brief glance at Cody and Kelly, his dull eyes registering no recognition.

  Kelly, however, recognized him immediately. Cody saw her reaction and quickly put a hand on her arm, squeezing warningly. Yes, Kelly, he said silently. You’re right. That’s one of the men who had me in the alley. And no, Kelly. Don’t say a word.