Tempt Me In Vegas. Maureen Child

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СКАЧАТЬ with hope in their hearts and cash in their wallets. They played the machines, the gaming tables and in the bingo parlors. Every last one of them had thoughts of going home rich.

      Why would Jacob’s long-lost daughter be any different?

      His gaze swept the hotels that surrounded his own and he noticed, not for the first time, that in daylight Vegas held little of the magic that shone on it at night. The city slept during the day but with darkness, it burst into exuberant life.

      Cooper’s family had been part of Vegas history for decades, he reminded himself as he turned back to his desk. He’d taken his father’s legacy and made it a worldwide brand. Cooper had made his mark through hard work, single-minded diligence and a vision of exactly what he wanted.

      Damned if he’d let some interloper crash the party.

      * * *

      “I’m sorry.” Terri Ferguson shook her head and almost pinched herself, just to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. But one look around the employee break room at the bank where she worked convinced her that this was all too real. Just fifteen minutes ago she’d been downstairs on the teller line, helping Mrs. Francis make a deposit. Now she was here, sitting across from a very fussy-looking lawyer listening to what seemed like a fairy tale. Apparently, starring her.

      “Would you mind saying all of that one more time?”

      The lawyer, Maxwell Seaton, sighed. “Ms. Ferguson, I’ve already explained this twice. How many more times will be required?”

      Terri heard the snotty attitude in the older man’s tone and maybe there was a part of her that couldn’t blame him for it. But come on. Wouldn’t anyone in her current position be a little off balance? Because none of this made sense.

      It had been an ordinary day in Ogden, Utah. She’d gone to work, laughed with her friends, then taken her spot on the teller line at the Wasatch Bank in downtown Ogden. Familiar customers had streamed in and out of the bank until this man had approached her and, in a few words, turned her whole world upside down.

      Now the older man removed his glasses, gave another sigh, then plucked a handkerchief from his suit pocket and unnecessarily cleaned the lenses. “As I’ve made clear to you, Ms. Ferguson, I represent your biological father’s estate.”

      “My father,” she whispered, the very word feeling a little foreign. Terri had grown up knowing she was adopted. Her parents had always told her the truth, that she had been chosen by them because they fell in love with her the moment they saw her. They’d encouraged her to search for her birth parents once she was eighteen, but Terri hadn’t been curious. Why would she be? she’d reasoned. Where she’d come from didn’t really matter as much as where she was, right?

      Besides, she hadn’t wanted to hurt her mother or father. Then her dad died, her mother moved to southern Utah to live with her sister, and Terri had been too busy with college and life to worry about a biological connection to people she didn’t know.

      Now that connection had just jumped up to bite her on the butt.

      “Yes, your father. Jacob Evans.” The lawyer slipped his glasses back into place. “He recently passed away and in accordance with his will, I’m here to inform you that you are his sole beneficiary.”

      And that summed up the weird. Why would he have left her anything? They had no connection beyond biology. And if he’d known who she was, why hadn’t Jacob Evans ever reached out to her? Well, those were questions she would never get an answer to.

      “Right. Okay. And I inherited a hotel?” She took a breath and held up one hand before he could speak again. “I’m really sorry. Normally, I’m not this slow on the uptake. Honestly. But this is...just so bizarre.”

      For the first time since entering the bank and asking to speak to her privately, the lawyer gave her a small smile. “I do understand how unexpected this must seem to you.”

      “‘Unexpected’ is a good word,” she agreed and reached for the water bottle in front of her. She took a sip and added, “Weird is better.”

      “I suppose.” Another smile. “Ms. Ferguson, your father was a full partner in the Hayes Corporation.”

      “Okay...” That meant exactly nothing to her.

      He sighed. “The Hayes Corporation owns more than two thousand hotels, all over the world.”

      “Two thousand?” She heard her own voice squeak and winced at the sound. But seriously? Two thousand hotels? That couldn’t be right, could it? Her stomach did a quick pitch and roll and Terri took a deep breath trying to calm it.

      The smell of burning coffee from the pot on the counter flavored the air, and the bank’s furnace made a soft hum of background noise. Downstairs people were working, talking, laughing, living normal lives, and up here? Terri was trying to think. Tried to remember who she was, where she was. But her brain had apparently decided it had accepted enough information for one day and shut down.

      Resting one hand on a sheaf of papers he had stacked on the table, Mr. Seaton looked at her steadily. At least the gleam of impatience was gone from his eyes. Maybe he was finally understanding what a shock all of this was to her.

      “Once you sign these papers, it’s official,” he told her. “You’ll have your father’s share in a very successful company.”

      She tipped her head to one side and quietly asked, “How successful?”

      One corner of his mouth twitched slightly. “Very. You, Ms. Ferguson, are now an extremely wealthy woman.”

      Wealthy. Rich. Also weird. But good. Because her cable bill had just gone up and she had just been forced to put new brakes on her car and with winter coming, she really wanted to get new insulation on her windows and—

      She reached for the papers instinctively, then pulled her hand back. “I’d like my own lawyer to look these over before I sign.” Well, her late father’s lawyer, but that didn’t really matter, did it?

      “Commendable,” he said with a brief nod. Standing, he closed his black leather briefcase with a snap. Looking down at her, he said, “Your new partner, Mr. Cooper Hayes, is at the company headquarters in Las Vegas. He’d like to see you there as soon as possible.”

      “Cooper Hayes.” She should probably write that down.

      “Yes. His contact information is included in the packet of papers.” He gave her a small smile. “Hayes Corporation is headquartered at the StarFire Hotel and Casino.”

      StarFire. She’d heard of it, of course. Seen pictures in magazines and now that she thought of it, Terri had seen pictures of Cooper Hayes, too. Her mind drew up one of the images of him posing with some celebrity or other—naturally, he was tall and gorgeous with eyes so blue he had to be wearing colored contacts.

      And now he was her partner. The idea of going to the StarFire, meeting Cooper Hayes on his home turf, was a little intimidating, but she didn’t see a way around it. After all, she was now half owner of the place. A shocked burst of laughter bubbled up in her chest, but she squashed it. Yesterday she wouldn’t have been able to afford to stay at the StarFire. Now she owned half of it.

      Weird just kept getting weirder.

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