Gambler's Folly (Bookstrand Publishing Romance)

by Mellie E. Miller

  “Well what do you suggest then?” she demanded. “Just leave him out there?”

  “We don’t even know if there is a problem, Signora. But if we go looking, we will attract attention. The opposition will be wondering where their people are by now. We cannot take the risk.”

  In spite of the worry and the coffee, Karianna eventually dozed off in the recliner by the fire. The all-day skiing adventure the day before followed by the headlong dash down the mountain in the night had taken their toll.

  Just as the sun rose, she was awakened by a sound, a faint scratching noise at the door. Everyone else had fallen asleep, too, so she was the first to reach the door. Before they could caution her, she flung it open, not seeing, at first, the black leopard lying at her feet. Blood seeped from an ugly wound across his shoulder, as he struggled to lift his head to lick her hand.

  “Dam! Oh god, what has happened?”

  Marco, Paolo, and Nagi managed to get him to the warmth of the fire. The wound looked clean, though deep, and it was still seeping as Karianna examined it.

  “Signora, you need to work your magic on him now. He’s lost a lot of blood and expended a lot of energy to get here. He must have your help to heal,” Marco said quietly.

  “Can’t he change? I’ve never worked on something this serious. He should have a doctor,” she told him.

  “No, Signora. I doubt if he can change. It requires too much energy and he has none left. The change would kill him.”

  “But what can I do? This is serious.”

  “What you were born to do, Signora. Heal your mate, and those of our kind who are in need.”

  Praying for the wisdom and energy to do what she must do, Karianna placed her hands above the wound, drawing on the symbol she had been taught, to boost the power she could channel. Her hands tingled as she focused on the intent in her mind, while trying not to be concerned with the leopard’s ragged breath. What was the best way to accomplish what needed to be done?

  After about fifteen minutes, she moved her hands and began the series of hand placements she had learned, trying to decide where those places would be on a leopard. She’d only worked on humans before and while she was sure the placement would be similar, she was a little uncertain.

  After an hour, she had gone through all the positions, so she went back to the wound itself. It had stopped seeping and Damiano’s breathing had become more regular, deeper. He seemed to be resting, finally. All through the morning, his friends had encouraged her, telling her she was doing well.

  Drawing on yet more energy to keep herself alert and awake, she continued to work on her mate. She knew her intent was wavering, as she fought to keep her eyes open, hold her hands in position, and direct the energy from above to heal Damiano.

  “Signora, you must rest,” she heard from behind her. Turning her head, she saw Paolo, concern in his eyes. “You can do no more without harming yourself. He is stable now, breathing well, and not bleeding,” he explained, though she knew it already. “We will watch him, and keep him warm and comfortable. But you must rest now. If need be, you can do more later.”

  “Are you sure, Paolo?” she asked. “I’m so new at this and know nothing about leopards, as far as health is concerned.”

  “We’ve all been here, Signora, at one time or another. It has been a while since we’ve had a healer of our own kind, but I do know that you must rest. Damiano will be fine for now. Later, we’ll have to see.”

  “Could you bring me a blanket and pillow?” she asked.

  “A blanket and pillow?” Paolo asked, confused.

  “I won’t leave my mate. I’ll rest, but I will not leave.”

  With a pillow under her head, a clean cloth over Damiano’s wound and a blanket to share, Karianna fell deeply asleep, her arm across her mate, snuggling closely against his back.

  Mmmm, bacon and eggs, she thought. Smells wonderful. Karianna was really hungry, and for just a moment, the smell of food took her mind away from the problems of the night. Coming to her senses, she found she was alone in front of the fire.

  Scrambling to her feet, and running into the kitchen, she saw Nagi putting bacon on a platter and eggs on a plate in front of her mate, who was sitting at the table.

  “Dam,” she said urgently. “Why are you up? You should be resting.”

  “Why, cara? I’m fine. Just a little scratch left over from last night.”

  “Little scratch, like hell. I’ve seen it.”

  “But you’ve not seen it since you got up,” he answered with a smile. “You do good work, cara.”

  “Get that shirt off and let me see,” she demanded. “How can the rest of you let him be up and around, like nothing has happened? He should be taking it easy.”

  Nagi protested. “He is taking it easy, but he needs to eat. We should let him starve?”

  Shirt off, Damiano turned his shoulder to her. And he was right. There was a large scratch, scabbed over, running down across his left shoulder blade and skittering across his ribs, but no more.

  “Are you happy now, cara?” he asked, amusement in his eyes. “I’m not on my deathbead, thanks to you and the cold.”

  “How can this be so much better?” she asked, confused.

  “That is your doing, cara mia. This is why there are healers among us. When we are injured, we must be careful what treatment we seek. While we share a lot of human physiology, we also share feline characteristics. It makes treatment dangerous, unless the doctor is used to dealing with were-folk.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “Medicines which are safe for humans can be fatal to felines, and vice versa. Take the wrong thing and you die. We need someone who knows which are which for our kind, whether feline, canine, or whatever.”

  “Yes, Signora,” Nagi added. “Just like some human medicines can kill felines, canines and felines are different also, even in were-folk. That’s why we cherish energy healers. Energy is universal.”

  “What do you do if you need blood?” she asked. “You lost quite a lot of blood last night, if what I saw was anything.”

  “Take it easy for a while and let my body rebuild. I have to have donor blood from a compatible were-cat, and I don’t know any here.”

  As they had breakfast, he told them what had happened on the mountain. “When I first went out, I had my sidearm with me. But I soon realized it would be easier to hunt as a leopard, quieter and less noticeable. As we were hunting humans, it would give us an advantage.”

  “Were there any of our kind out there?” Paolo asked.

  “One or two. Most of our kind were those of us hunting together.”

  After stuffing more food down, he continued. “I was drawn further in the other direction from the lodge. About an hour after I first went out, I thought we were in the clear. I’d not heard any fighting for a while, couldn’t sense anything around. Starting back to the lodge, I swept through the trees, searching for any more signs of the opposition.”

  Nagi added a little to her information while Damiano got another plateful of food and more coffee. “I don’t think they were expecting much in the way of defense. At most, they would have expected Paolo and Marco, maybe Dante. Not my pack brothers and our friend Shoda.”

  “I don’t think they were expecting were-people either,” Marco said. “Have they all been neutralized?”

  “As far as I can tell,” Damiano answered. “I counted nine before I was hit, and I neutralized him when he came to make sure of his kill. The breeze had shifted and he came from behind me. I sensed him and lunged for cover just as he fired, which saved me from a killing shot, but I didn’t make it far enough to escape altogether.”

  “Ten hunters. It would have been a massacre,” Shoda said, shaking his head. “Why do they want you so badly?”

  “Long story. Talk to Nagi later. He knows most of it,” Damiano explained. “Besides, my wife has had enough stress lately, without bringing up old history.”

  “How far did you have t
o come, wounded?” Karianna asked.

  “Don’t worry, cara. I’m here, and that’s all that matters.” His glance said, if that particular bit of information ever got back to his wife, someone would feel his fangs in their throat.

  After everyone else had gone, Dam, Karianna, and Dam’s three men sat down for a talk. “We can’t go back to the lodge.” Dam said. “I know we left things there, but I want to make sure it’s safe before we return. And it won’t be safe until this whole business is over.”

  “Is there anything you want in particular?” Dante asked. “Maybe one of us could slip in and get it for you.”

  “Nothing worth risking lives. The question, now, is do we go home and let them know we’ve survived? Or do we stay away until this is wrapped up, and let them think they’ve won?”

  “Won’t they know they’ve lost when none of their people come back?” Karianna asked.

  “They will know how many they’ve lost, but not how many or which of us survives.”

  They sat in thought for a moment before Paolo spoke up. “Suppose we went back to town, but to one of your other properties. You could have the conveniences of being back without immediately giving away much information.”

  “Perhaps we could let it out that your things need to be cleared from your current residence. Say that you and your wife will not be returning,” added Marco.

  “There is no reason the two of you couldn’t take some time to recuperate. We could do reconnaissance for you and keep in touch, make arrangements,” Paolo continued.

  “We would need supplies and clothing. If we could do that in some circuitous fashion, it might work. We can’t stay here too long, either. If anyone notices someone living here, our safe location might be exposed. We’ll leave in the shadows, a few at a time.”

  Chapter 31

  They stayed at the safe house for two days, to let Damiano heal as much as possible. When they boarded the plane, Karianna had no idea where they were going, except that it would be back to Speranza, where Damiano had his headquarters.

  After landing, they drove into the city. Driving through the suburbs, they eventually approached another hotel, far to the north of either place they’d lived so far. Not part of the Stella d’Oro chain, this hotel was called Stella Cadente, or Shooting Star. Coming in through the private entrance, they rose to the very top, where their suite took up the entire floor.

  “Wow! This is nice, Dam,” Kari told him. “Why don’t you live here?”

  “It’s too far from everything else,” he explained. “It is nearly half an hour from here to any of my other establishments, what with traffic.”

  “It is really nice, though,” she added. “At least we’ll be comfortable while we’re housebound.”

  “Yes, and I’ll not be doing much in the way of business until I get some information from the others,” he said. “At least I’ll have time to gain strength.”

  “How is your shoulder, honey?” she asked.

  “Oh, it’s fine. I’ll have a little scar there, but nothing major. Thanks to you, cara.”

  “Let me see,” she insisted. As he slipped out of his shirt, she ran her fingers across his shoulder blade, where the large groove had been torn in his flesh. Nothing remained but a tiny white line in his skin.

  “I can’t believe it,” Karianna said. “I never knew energy healing existed, let alone that it could do something as major as this in just a few hours.”

  “See what you’ve missed, cara? You should have come to me sooner,” he teased.

  “I didn’t know you existed either, silly, or that were-folk were real.”

  “Your education has certainly been lacking. Maybe I could give you a few lessons while we’re under house arrest,” he said, capturing her and holding her tightly.

  “House arrest?” she asked. “Housebound maybe, but under arrest? Who’s the arresting officer?”

  “I am, and I’m arresting you for indecency,” Dam told her emphatically.

  “Indecency? Where?”

  “Anyplace you go, cara. One look at you and thoughts are indecent all around. Since you are the one thing common to them all, it must be your fault.”

  Her response was cut off by his mouth on hers, engaging her in a different sort of activity. Much later, after a nap, a courier arrived at their door with a delivery.

  She answered the door and found Dante in a delivery uniform from one of the local courier services. “If you please, madam, could you sign for this?” She glanced at the name on the invoice before signing and saw that it was for a Theresa O’Malley.

  “Yes, just there, Mrs. O’Malley, if you would be so kind,” he said, nodding his answer to the unspoken question in her eyes.

  Signing the name on the line provided, she accepted the box and closed the door.

  “Mrs. O’Malley?” she asked.

  “Why not? One name is as good as another. And I didn’t want to use our real names, for obvious reasons.”

  The box contained clothes for the two of them, which was good. While Damiano had a few things in the closet, she had nothing but the clothes she’d worn under her ski pants and jacket. While she’d washed them out in the safe house by hand, they were becoming aromatic.

  For meals, Marco had called in an order to one of the markets, which did home delivery. When it arrived, Mrs. O’Malley signed for it and let the deliveryman into the kitchen. Dam stayed out of sight.

  “Why can I go to the door, but you stay hidden?” she asked.

  “Think about it. You’ve been seen with me, but with your makeup and hair done, evening clothes. Without all of that, you are not nearly as recognizable. My face is harder to disguise.”

  “Are you implying that without my face and hair done, I’m not pretty?”

  “Not at all, cara mia. I fell in love with you before all of that, didn’t I? But you don’t look the same as when you go out with me for the evening. Which is what I want right now.”

  “How long will we need to stay hidden?”

  “You will stay in until this whole affair is over. I will have to go out for some reconnaissance later this week. It will be finished in not more than two weeks, cara.”

  “Two more weeks?” she asked.

  “At the most. Sooner if I can arrange things safely, to my satisfaction. I will take no more risk than I must.”

  “Dam, I’ll go stir-crazy. Do we have to stay in for the whole time? Besides, it seems to me, if we waited a few days, and then made an appearance, it would rattle whoever is behind this more than us just disappearing.”

  He looked at her for a few moments, thinking. “Cara, I will not risk your life in this venture. The game was in progress before we met and it was too late to change the plans. If you had been my wife before this all began, I would have gone about it in a different way.”

  “Dam, I don’t understand. Is someone trying to push you out of business, or trying to steal business from you? Some sort of takeover bid?”

  “Kari, as I’ve told you, now is not the time to explain. I have made some decisions, taken some actions, which are not appreciated by my competitors. They have decided to change my mind or take me out of the game, either way.”

  “I know your business is competitive, Dam, but really. Is it worth killing each other?”

  “Cara mia, I am not the one who is hunting. The other side started down that road. I am merely protecting my own. When they come onto my property, and attack me and my family, it becomes self-defense.”

  “I know. I’m just worried about you. I would still like to get out later this week, though. And that reminds me. Will Carl be coming over for my training while all this is going on?”

  “I’ll have to think about it, Kara, about Carl. About going out later, let me think about it and talk to Marco and Paolo.”

  During the next two days they slept in, played games, read, and relaxed while Damiano finished healing. They ordered meals in from places other than the hotel restaurant, picked up and delivered by on
e of Damiano’s people.

  The third day, while they had their morning coffee, Karianna noticed Dam’s fidgeting. “What’s wrong, lover?” she asked.

  With a deep sigh, he answered. “You are right about the stir-crazy. Most of our trip to the mountains was restful, barring that last day. Now that we’re back, I feel it’s time for action, to get back into the office and see to my business.”

  “Can’t you check on things from here, online?”

  “It’s not the same. I feel like I’m in a cage.”

  “Pretty comfy cage,” she answered with a grin.

  “It seems to me you complained about your ‘comfy cage’ when we first met.”

  “Well, that was different.”

  “How?”

  “You’ve put yourself in this cage and you have the key. I was imprisoned by an unknown madman.”

  “Oh, Topolina, you walk a fine line,” he said, eyes smoldering.

  “Yeah? You think?”

  “Definitely. I may have to chase a little mouse around the suite, for amusement.”

  “Beats boredom, doesn’t it?” And the game was on.

  Later in the afternoon, Marco and Paolo came over to discuss matters with Dam. Karianna was not invited to the meeting, so she went in to practice her healing techniques and meditations while they talked.

  Still in meditation, she heard Damiano calling her. Counting back up to full alertness, she answered the door to the exercise room.

  “How would you like to go out for dinner this evening?” he asked. “I need to get out.”

  “I’d love it!”

  “It won’t be here at the hotel, but there are a couple little places, off the main track, which have decent food. It would be better to dress casually, I think.”

  While they got ready for dinner, she asked, “I guess you guys sorted out a few things?”

  “Some. I’m not ready to come out in the open yet. But I know you’re ready for a change of scenery. Maybe this weekend.”

  “Has their reconnaissance brought you anything?”

  “Don’t worry about it, cara amante. You’ll get worry lines.”

  Their meal was delicious. Not up to the Stella d’Oro perhaps, but better than the takeaway meals they’d had since their return. Marco and Paolo were not in evidence, though.