Ian's Ultimate Gamble

Ian’s Ultimate Gamble

Brenda Jackson

To Gerald Jackson, Sr., my husband and hero.

To all my readers who love the Westmorelands.

To my Heavenly Father who gave me

the gift to write.

Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,

and the man that getteth understanding.

—Proverbs 3:13

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Epilogue

Coming Next Month

Prologue

“I won’t do it, Malcolm!” Brooke Chamberlain said sharply as she absently pushed a dark-brown dread that had fallen in her face back behind her ear. If she’d had any kind of warning of the reason she’d been summoned to her boss’s office, she would have found an excuse not to come.

As far as she was concerned what he was asking her to do was totally unacceptable. First, she had just come off one assignment, where a successful vineyard had been caught producing more than vintage wine, and second, he wanted her to go back out west and literally spy on the one man who hated her guts—Ian Westmoreland.

Malcolm Price rubbed a frustrated hand down his face before saying, “Sit down, Brooke, and let me explain why I decided to give the assignment to you.”

Brooke gave an unladylike snort. As far as she was concerned there was nothing he could explain. Malcolm was more than just her boss. He was a good friend and had been since their early days with the Bureau when he’d been a fellow agent. Because they had been good friends, he was one of the few people who knew of her past relationship with Ian as well as the reason they had parted ways.

“How can you of all people ask me to do that to Ian, Malcolm?” she said, pacing the room as she spoke, refusing to do as he’d asked and sit down.

“Because if you don’t, Walter Thurgood will be assigned to do it.”

She stopped moving. “Thurgood?”

“Yes, and once he is, it will be out of my hands.”

Brooke sat down in the chair Malcolm had offered her earlier. Walter Thurgood, a hotshot upstart, had been with the Bureau for a couple of years. The man had big goals, and one was to be the top man at the FBI. After several assignments he’d earned the reputation of being one of those agents who got the job done, although there were times when how he’d gone about it had been questionable.

“And even if Ian Westmoreland is clean, by the time Thurgood finishes with him, he’ll make him seem like the dirtiest man on this planet if it makes Thurgood look good,” Malcolm said with disgust in his voice.

Brooke knew Malcolm was right. And she also knew what Malcolm wasn’t saying—that when you were the son of someone already at the top, the people around you were less likely to spank your hand when you behaved improperly.

“But if you think Ian is running a clean operation and you don’t suspect him of anything, why the investigation?” she asked.

“Only because the prior owner of the casino, Bruce Aiken, was found guilty of running an illegal betting operation there, and we don’t want any of his old friends to come out from whatever rock they hid under during Aiken’s trial and start things up again without Westmorland’s knowledge. So in a way you’ll be doing him a big favor.”

Brooke’s gaze dropped from Malcolm’s to study her hands, clenched in her lap. Ian would not see things that way, and both of them knew it. It would only widen the gap of mistrust between them. But still, she knew there was no way she could allow Thurgood to go in and handle things. It would be downright disastrous for Ian.

She lifted her head and met Malcolm’s gaze once again. “And this is not an official investigation?”

“No. You’ll be there for a much-needed vacation, while keeping your eyes and ears open.”

She leaned forward as anger flared in her eyes. “Ian is one of the most honest men I know.”

“In that case you don’t have anything to worry about.”

She stared at Malcolm thoughtfully for a moment and then said. “Okay.”

Malcolm lifted a dark brow. “That means you’re going to do it?”

She narrowed her eyes. She was caught between a rock and a hard place and they both knew it. “You knew I would.”

He nodded and she saw another certainty in the depths of his dark blue eyes. The knowledge that four years after their breakup she was still in love with Ian Westmoreland.

One

Ian Westmoreland sat at his desk, knee-deep in paperwork, when for no apparent reason he felt a quick tightening in his gut. He was a man who by thirty-three had learned to trust his intuition as well as his deductive reasoning. He lifted his head to glance at the wood-paneled wall in front of him.

He reached out, pressed a button and watched as the paneling slid back to reveal a huge glass wall. The people on the other side who were busy wandering through the casino, taking their chances at the slot machines, gambling tables and arcades, had no idea they were being watched. In certain areas of the casino they were being listened to, as well. More than once the security monitors had picked up conversations best left unheard. But when you operated a casino as large as the Rolling Cascade, the monitors and one-sided mirror were in place for security reasons. Not everyone who came to a casino was there to play. There were those who came to prey on the weaknesses of others, and those were the ones his casino could do without. His huge surveillance room on the third floor, manned by top-notch security experts viewing over a hundred monitors twenty-four hours a day, made sure of it.

Since the grand opening, a lot of people had made reservations merely to check out the newly remodeled casino and resort and to verify the rumors that what had once been a dying casino had been brought back to life in unprecedented style. People Magazine had announced in a special edition that the Rolling Cascade had brought an ambience of Las Vegas to Lake Tahoe and had done it with class, integrity and decorum.

Ian stood and moved around to sit on the corner of his desk, his eyes sharp and assessing as he scanned the crowd. There had to have been a reason he was feeling uptight. The grand opening had been a success and he was glad he’d made the move from riverboat captain to casino owner with ease.

A few minutes later he was about to give up, consider his intuition as having an off day and get back to work, when he saw her.

Brooke Chamberlain.

He stood as his entire body got tense. What the hell was she doing here? Deciding he wasn’t going to waste time trying to figure that out, he reached back to the phone on his desk. His call was quickly answered by the casino’s security manager.

“Yes, Ian?”

“There’s a woman standing at the east-west blackjack table wearing a powder-blue pantsuit. Please escort her to my office immediately.”

There was a pause when his security manager asked a question. And in a tight voice Ian responded, “Yes, I know her name. It’s Brooke Chamberlain.”

After hanging up the phone, his full attention went back to the woman he’d once come pretty damn close to asking to be his wife…before her betrayal. The last time he’d seen her had been three years ago in Atlanta at his cousin Dare’s wedding. Since she’d once worked for Sheriff Dare Westmoreland as one of his deputies, she’d been invited, and Ian had deliberately ignored her.

But not this time. She was on his turf and he intended to let her know it.

Ian was watching her.

Brooke wasn’t sure from where but the federal agent in her knew how. Video monitors. The place was full of them, positioned so discreetly she doubted the crowd of people who were eager to play the odds knew they were on camera.

“Excuse me, Ms. Chamberlain?”

Brooke turned to stare into the face of a tall, husky-looking man in his late forties with blond hair and dark blue eyes. “Yes?”

“I’m Vance Parker, head of security for the casino. The owner of this establishment, Ian Westmoreland, would like a few words with you in his office.”

Brooke’s lips curved into a smile. She seriously doubted that Ian had just a “few words” to say to her. “All right, Mr. Parker, lead the way.”

And as Vance Parker escorted her to the nearest elevator she prayed that she would be able to survive the next two weeks.

With his gaze glued to the glass, Ian had watched the exchange; had known the exact moment Vance had mentioned his name. Upon hearing it, Brooke’s reaction hadn’t been one of surprise, which shot to hell the possibility that she hadn’t known he owned the place. She had knowingly entered the lion’s den, and he was determined to find out why.

He stood and moved around his desk, suddenly feeling that knot in his gut tighten even more. And when he heard the ding, a signal that someone was on their way up in his private elevator, the feeling got worse. Although he didn’t want to admit it, he was about to come face-to-face with the one woman he’d never been able to get out of his system. Whether deliberately or otherwise, during the two years they were together, Brooke had raised the bar on his expectations about women. Deputy by day and total woman at night, she had made any female that had followed in her wake seem tremendously lacking. He’d had to finally face the fact that whether he liked it or not, Brooke Chamberlain had been the ultimate woman. The one female who had robbed his appetite for other women. The one woman who’d been able to tame his wild heart.

Not only tame it, but capture it.

The memory brought a bitter smile his lips. But today he was older and wiser, and the heart she once controlled had since turned to stone. Still, that didn’t stop his breath from catching in his throat when he turned at the sound of the elevator door opening.

Their gazes connected, and he acknowledged that the chemistry they’d always shared was still there. Hot. Intense. Soul stirring. He felt it, clear across the room, and when he felt the floor shake, he placed his hand on his desk to keep his balance.

This was the closest they’d been to each other since that morning when he’d found out the truth and had walked out of her apartment after their heated argument. At Dare and Shelly’s wedding, Ian had kept his distance, refusing to come within ten feet of her, but those gut-wrenching vibes had been strong then, nonetheless.

Over the years it had been hard to let go of the memory of the day they’d met in Dare’s office, when she’d been twenty-two. Even in her deputy uniform she had taken his breath away, just as she was doing now at twenty-eight.

Despite their separation and the circumstances that had driven him to end what he’d thought was the perfect love affair, he had to admit that in his opinion she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever set eyes on. She had skin the color of sweet almond; expressive eyes that turned various shades of brown depending on her mood; lips that could curve in a way to make every cell in his body vibrate; and the mass of dreds that came to her shoulders, which he loved holding on to each and every time he entered her body.

His hand balled into a fist at his side. The thought that Brooke could make him dredge up unwanted memories spiked his anger, and he forced his gaze away from her to Vance. “Thanks, Mr. Parker. That will be all.”

Ian watched his good friend lift a curious brow and shrug big wide shoulders before turning to get back on the elevator. As soon as the elevator door closed, Ian’s attention returned to Brooke. She had moved across the room and was standing with her back to him, staring at a framed photo of him and Tiger Woods and another of him and Dennis Rodman.

She surprised him when she broke the silence by saying, “I heard Tiger and Dennis have homes in this area.”

Ian arched a brow. So she wanted to make small talk, did she? He shouldn’t have been surprised. Brooke had a tendency to start babbling whenever she was placed in what she considered a nervous situation. He’d actually found it endearing the night of their first date. But now it was annoying as hell.

He didn’t want her to make small talk. He didn’t want her there, period, which brought him back to the reason she was here in his office. He wanted answers and he wanted them now.

“I didn’t have Vance bring you up here to discuss the residences of Woods and Rodman. I want to know what the hell you’re doing here, Brooke.”

The moment of reckoning had finally arrived. Brooke had grabbed the chance to take her eyes off Ian when he’d all but ordered Vance Parker to leave them alone. Although she had prepared for this moment from the day she’d left Malcolm’s office, she still wasn’t totally ready for the encounter. Yet there was nothing she could do but turn around and hope that one day, if he ever found out the truth, he would forgive the lie she was about to tell.

On a sigh, she slowly turned, and the moment she did so their eyes locked with more intensity than they had earlier when Vance had been present. Her internal temperature suddenly shot sky high, and every cell in her body felt fried from the sweltering heat that suddenly consumed her.

Words momentarily failed her since Ian had literally taken her breath away. He had always been a good-looking man, and today, three years since she’d seen him last, he was doubly so; especially with the neatly trimmed beard he was sporting. He’d always had that drop-dead-gorgeous and let-me-bed-you-before-I-die look. He’d been a man who’d always been able to grab the attention of women. And now this older Ian was a man who exuded raw, masculine sexuality.

When she had returned to Atlanta to take the job as one of Dare Westmoreland’s deputies, she had heard about the two Westmoreland cousins who were the same age and ran together in what women had called a wolf pack. Ian and his cousin Storm had reputations around Atlanta of being ultimate players, the epitome of legendary lovers. Storm had been dubbed the Perfect Storm and Ian, the Perfect End.

It was rumored that any woman who went out with Ian got the perfect ending to their evening, after sharing a bed with him. But all that had changed when he’d begun showing interest in her. He’d called her a hard nut to crack; she’d been one of the few women to rebuff his charm.

Instead of willingly falling under his spell like other women, she’d placed it on him to earn his way into her bed. The result had been two years of being the exclusive recipient of his special brand of sexual expertise.

The rumors hadn’t been wrong, but neither had they been completely right. She had discovered that not only was Ian the Perfect End but he was the Perfect Beginning as well. No one could wake a woman up each morning the way he could. The memories of their lovemaking sessions could still curl her toes and wet her panties. He had been her first lover and, she thought further, her only lover.

“Are you going to stand there and say nothing or are you going to answer my question, Brooke?”

Ian’s question reclaimed Brooke’s attention and reminded her why she was there. And with the angry tone of his voice all the memories they’d ever shared were suddenly crushed. Placing her hands on her hips she answered with the same curt tone he’d used on her. “I’ll gladly answer your question, Ian.”

Ian folded his arms across his chest. How could he have forgotten how quick fire could leap into her eyes whenever she got angry, or how her full and inviting lips could form one perturbed pout? Over the years he had missed that all-in-your-face, hot-tempered attitude that would flare up whenever she got really mad about something.

The women he’d dated after her had been too meek and mild for his taste. They’d lacked spunk, and if he’d said jump, they would have asked how high. But not the woman standing in front of him. She could dish it out like nobody’s business and he had admired her for it. That was probably one of the reasons he had fallen so hard for her.

“The reason I’m here is like everyone else. I needed time away from my job and decided to check in here for two weeks,” she said, intruding into his thoughts.

Ian sighed. As far as he was concerned her reason sounded too pat. “Why here? There are other places you could have gone.”

“Yes, and at the time I booked the two weeks I didn’t know you were the owner. I thought you were still a riverboat captain.”

For a few seconds he said nothing. “Hurricane Katrina brought a temporary end to that. But I’d decided to purchase this place months before then. It was just a matter of time before I came off the river to settle on land.”

He studied her for a moment, then asked, “And when did you find out this place was mine?”

Brooke gave a small shrug. “A few days ago, but I figured what the hell, my money spends just as well as anyone else’s, and I can’t go through life worrying about bumping into you at the next corner.”

She released a disgusted sigh and raked her hands through her dreads, making them tumble around her shoulders. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, Ian, we have a past, and we should chalk it up as a happy or unhappy time in our lives, depending on how you chose to remember it, and move on. I heard this was a nice place and decided it was just what I needed. And to be quite honest with you I really don’t appreciate being summoned up here like I’m some kind of criminal. If you’re still stuck on the past and don’t think we can share the same air for two weeks let me know and I can take my money elsewhere.”

Anger made Ian’s jaw twitch. She was right, of course—he should be able to let go and move on; however, what really griped his insides more than anything was not the fact that they had broken up but why they had. They’d been exclusive lovers. She was the one woman he had considered marrying. But in the end she had been the woman that had broken his heart.

Even when she had moved away to D.C. to take that job with the Bureau, and he had moved to Memphis to operate the Delta Princess, they’d been able to maintain a long-distance romance without any problems and had decided within another year to marry.

But the one time she should have trusted him enough to confide in him about something, she hadn’t. Instead she had destroyed any trust between them by not letting him know that a case she’d been assigned to investigate had involved one of his business partners. By the time he’d found out the truth, a man had lost his life and a family had been destroyed.

As far as her being here at the Rolling Cascade, he much preferred that she leave. Seeing her again and feeling his reaction to her proved one thing: even after four years she was not quite out of his system and it was time to get her out. Perhaps the first step would be proving they could breathe the same air.

“Fine, stay if you want, it’s your decision,” he finally said.

Brooke lifted her chin. Yes, it would be her decision. There was no doubt in her mind if it was left up to him, he would toss her out on her butt, possibly right smack into Lake Tahoe. “Then I’m staying. Now if you’ll excuse me I want to begin enjoying my vacation.”

She went to the elevator and without glancing back at him pushed a button, and when the doors opened she stepped inside. When she turned, their gazes met again, and it was during that brief moment of eye contact before the doors swooshed closed that he thought he saw something flicker in the depths of her dark eyes. Cockiness? Regret? Lust?

Ian drew his brows together sharply. How could he move on and put things behind him when the anger he felt whenever he thought of what she’d done was still as intense as it had always been?

Moving around his desk he pushed a button. Within seconds Vance’s deep voice came on the line. “Yes, Ian?”

“Ms. Chamberlain is on her way back down.”

“All right. Do you want me to keep an eye on her while she’s here?”

“No,” Ian said quickly. For some reason the thought of someone else—especially another man—keeping an eye on Brooke didn’t sit well with him. Deciding he owed his friend some sort of explanation he said, “Brooke and I have a history we need to bury.”

“Figured as much.”

“And another thing, Vance. She’s a federal agent for the FBI.”

Ian heard his friend mutter a curse word under his breath before asking, “She’s here for business or pleasure?”

“She claims it’s pleasure, but I’m going to keep an eye on her to be sure. For all I know, some case or another might have brought her to these parts, and depending on what, it could mean bad publicity for the Cascade.”

“Wouldn’t she tell you if she were here on business?”

Ian’s chuckle was hard and cold. “No, she wouldn’t tell me a damn thing. Loyalty isn’t one of Brooke Chamberlain’s strong points.”

Knowing video monitors were probably watching her every move, Brooke kept her cool as she strolled through the casino to catch the elevator that connected to the suite of villas located in the resort section. All around her crowds were still flowing in, heading toward the bar, the lounge or the area lined with slot machines.

It was only moments later, after opening the door to her villa and going inside, that she gave way to her tears. The look in Ian’s dark eyes was quite readable, and knowing he hated her guts was almost too much to bear. If he ever found out the real reason she was there…

She inhaled deeply and wiped her cheeks, knowing she had to check in with Malcolm. Taking the cell phone from her purse, she pressed a couple of buttons. He picked up on the second ring.

“I’m at the Rolling Cascade, Malcolm.”

He evidently heard the strain in her voice and said, “I take it that you’ve seen Ian Westmoreland.”

“Yes.”

After a brief pause he said, “You know this isn’t an official investigation, Brooke. Your job is to enjoy your vacation, but if you happen to see anything of interest to let us know.”

“That’s still spying.”

“Yes, but it’s beneficial to Westmoreland. You’re there to help him, not hurt him.”

“He won’t see it that way.” Her reply was faint as more tears filled her eyes. “Look, Malcolm, I’ll get back to you if there’s anything. Otherwise, I’ll see you in two weeks.”

“Okay, and take care of yourself.”

Brooke clicked off the phone and returned it to her purse. She walked through the living room and glanced around, trying to think about anything other than Ian. The resort was connected to the casino by way of elevators, and the way the villas had been built took advantage of paths for bicyclers and joggers, who thronged the wide wooden boardwalk that ran along the lake’s edge. Since this was mid-April and the harsh winter was slowly being left behind, she could imagine many people would be taking advantage of those activities. The view of the mountains was fabulous, and considering all the on-site amenities, this was a very beautiful place.

After taking a tour of her quarters, she felt a combined mixture of pleasure and excitement rush through her veins. Her villa was simply beautiful, and she was certain she had found a small slice of paradise. This was definitely a place to get your groove on.

The view of Lake Tahoe through both her living room and bedroom windows was breathtaking, perfect to capture the striking colors of the sunset. Brooke was convinced the way her villa was situated among several nature trails was the loveliest spot she had ever found. This was a place where someone could come and leave their troubles behind. But for her it was a place that could actually intensify those troubles.