Hold 'Em: A Gambling Hearts Romance by Jacquie Biggar

Author:Jacquie Biggar [Biggar, Jacquie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jacquie Biggar
Published: 2017-08-15T04:00:00+00:00

17

He should never have mentioned sex, now it was all Matt could think about. He took a deep breath and inhaled the scents of rain, earth, and grass that clung to Cassandra’s skin from their recent walk. Her hair was a sleek dark ribbon down her back, showcasing a high, intelligent forehead, eyes that saw too much, and delicate ears with little gold hoops.

It was clear she’d heard his comment by the curiosity sparkling in the depths of her blue-green eyes and the way she was nibbling at her bottom lip.

He groaned under his breath and turned away before he showed her exactly what his ancestors had done on the wooden four-poster sitting along the far wall.

“I’ll see if there’s something we can change into,” he muttered, and hurried over to the wardrobe closet. It was oak and intricately carved with sheaves of leaves connected by two intertwined wedding rings.

“That’s beautiful,” Cassandra said reverently, reaching out to touch the engraving. “Your grandfather?”

Matt nodded, pride dulling the remembered pain of losing his family. “He was an amazing man. Him, and my father.”

She looked at him and something in her eyes tightened his throat. It wasn’t sympathy, though that was there too. It was more a shared moment of grieving, as though she understood.

“Your sister mentioned there was a plane crash?”

He stared at her finger tracing the wedding rings. “Yeah, they were on their way back from a cattle sale in Denver and had engine failure. I lost my parents and my grandfather.”

“Oh, Matt, I’m so sorry.” Cassandra turned into his chest, and wrapped slim arms around his waist. He leaned over to absorb her warmth and the frizzing ends of her drying hair tickled his nose. “How old were you?” she asked, tipping her head to meet his gaze.

“Fourteen,” he murmured, his attention on the light splattering of freckles he hadn’t noticed before today. They made her approachable; less princess, more girl-next-door. “Sophia was eight, she took it pretty hard.”

So had he. In an instant, the world he’d taken for granted changed forever. His grandmother, who had just lost her husband of forty years along with her only son and daughter-in-law, was inconsolable. It was left to him to pick up the reins of a two-thousand-acre ranch and keep it running smoothly. A tall feat for any man, never mind a teenager. It hadn’t been easy, and he’d made a lot of mistakes in the beginning, but they’d survived. And as his grandmother recovered, it became a sanctuary, the one place filled with the spirit of those they’d lost.

He couldn’t even remember why he’d ended up on the gambling circuit. A late-blooming rebellion maybe, or a need to prove himself as something other than the Shaughnessy kid. He regretted leaving his grandma in the lurch. At the time, he’d just been seeking escape from the weight of responsibility. She’d never looked down on him for it either, instead encouraging him to go—spread his wings.

And now, she was dying.

Guilt rolled around inside his chest.

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