The Rebel Returns. Michelle Douglas

confrontation with some flimsy story. “You can start by explaining your need for an alias.”

      “Just leave it be.”

      She shook her head. “I can’t look the other way. We aren’t kids anymore. This is where I work and I can’t let you jeopardize my job.” Cleo’s voice rose with every word. “But if you turn around and leave now, we can forget we ever saw each other.”

      He doubted he’d ever be able to wipe her sexy image from his memory. Her polished persona stole his breath away. She may have been a cute kid, but she’d grown up to be a real knockout. And as for leaving here now, he wasn’t about to do it. He had as much right to be here as anyone else.

      Cleo leveled her shoulders and tapped her foot. He hated to tell her but if she was angling for an intimidating pose, she’d missed her mark. She was more alluring than scary.

      “Don’t make me call for security.”

      Heads were turning in their direction. The very last thing he wanted was to become a spectacle for the masses. “You wouldn’t do that to an old friend, would you?”

      “A few minutes ago you didn’t even know me.”

      He raked his fingers through his hair. Back in New York when he’d started receiving phone calls where the person at the other end wouldn’t speak, followed by notes warning him not to testify, this vacation had sounded like the perfect plan. What could be better than getting lost in a crowd while testing his luck at the blackjack table?

      Ever since the assets of his investment firm had been frozen by the government until the trial was completed, he’d missed the rush of working the stock market—the flood of adrenaline. He’d hoped Vegas would give him a similar high—a chance to feel truly alive again instead of living his life from one medical test to the next.

      When his doctor gave him the green light, he’d picked a spot on the map far from New York and booked a plane ticket. He’d requested an alias be used while he was at the Glamour just as a precaution. But he had no idea how much of that he should tell Cleo. If only she would trust him...for old times’ sake.

      “What’s going on here?” A short, round man in a business suit approached them. He glanced at Cleo. “Do you intend to interrogate all of the casino’s important guests in the middle of the lobby?”

      Her expression morphed from frustration to one of shock. Her gaze moved back and forth between the two men as though waiting for an explanation.

      When none came, she said, “But he is—”

      “Your client. And you will treat him with respect.” The man turned to Jax and held out his hand. “Hello, Mr. Smith. I’m Mr. Burns. We spoke on the phone. Let’s talk someplace a little more private.” He led them to a hallway just off the casino’s main floor and into an empty office. “I think there must have been some sort of mix-up. I’ll see about getting you a new casino host.”

      Jax’s gaze moved to Cleo. Beneath the makeup her face had taken on a sickly pallor. And her eyes held a deer-in-headlights panic. His initial instinct was to ride to her rescue. She’d always been the one to offer him a helping hand all those years ago back in Hope Springs. There was a strange satisfaction in seeing the roles reversed. But that was then, and this was now.

      And it only complicated matters that he couldn’t keep his eyes off this grown-up version of her. She was no longer too young for him. In fact, the reasons he had to keep her at arm’s length became more muddled the longer he was around her. It was best to end things right here. After all, it wasn’t as if the man was going to fire her over this.

       CHAPTER TWO

      THIS COULDN’T BE HAPPENING.

      Jax was her whale?

      How was she supposed to have anticipated that? The last time she’d seen him, he barely had two coins to rub together. And now he was an important player in Las Vegas. How exactly did that happen?

      Cleo’s gaze shifted between the men. Neither of them seemed to notice that she was in the room. Did they think they could decide her future without even so much as consulting her? She wasn’t about to let that happen.

      “No other host is needed.” Both men turned. She leveled a determined stare at each man before continuing to make her point. “Mr. Burns, you misunderstood what you overheard. Jax and I are old friends.”

      Her boss turned a questioning gaze to Jax. “Is this true?”

      Cleo begged Jax with her eyes to back her up. After all, he owed her.

      As the quietness stretched on, Cleo shifted her weight from one foot to the other. What was Jax thinking? His silence was even worse than any words he could say. She had to do something, anything, to keep from being canned for arguing with a MVP. Jax? A whale? The world could certainly be a strange place at times.

      Cleo turned to face her disapproving boss. “We both come from the same small town in Wyoming.”

      Mr. Burns crossed his arms. “And do you always treat people from your hometown with such hostility?”

      “I wasn’t—”

      Her boss’s bushy brows arched. “I know what I heard.”

      “But you misunderstood—”

      “Enough.” Mr. Burns’s hand sliced through the air. “I will deal with you later. Go wait for me in my office.”

      She hated being dismissed as if she was a child. She hated the thought of walking away with things unresolved, but she didn’t want to make things worse... But then again could they get any worse? It was almost a certainty that when Mr. Burns joined her it would be to dismiss her. Not even a full day in her new position and she was being fired.

      As she started for the door, her thoughts turned to her family. Even before learning of her family’s financial problems, she’d made plans to transfer to the casino floor. She was bored senseless working in the accounting department. To think she left the family ranch because the work was isolating and she’d ended up taking a position where she spent her days alone in an eight-by-eight cubicle where silence was the status quo.

      But then one day out of the blue her brother had called. She’d been so happy to hear from a family member. She hadn’t heard a word from them since the funeral.

      However, Kurt hadn’t phoned with the intent of mending fences. He had news—bad news. The ranch was in arrears on its mortgage. And considering her Ivy League tuition was in large part the reason the ranch had been mortgaged in the first place, he thought she might want to help save their heritage.

      The news totally blindsided her. Never once in her life had she imagined that the family had money problems. And to know that she was about to be condemned for yet another Sinclair tragedy was not something she could let happen. She could not change the past, but going forward, she hoped to bridge the gap with her family.

      Her fingers gripped the cold metallic door handle. One thought rose above the others: Sinclairs do not give up. No matter what.

      Her grandfather had taught her that the first time she’d gotten thrown from a horse. If you wanted to succeed, you had to get back in the saddle and ride. That’s what Sinclairs did—roughed things out.

      She leveled her shoulders, released the door handle and turned. “Mr. Burns, you’re right.” His eyes lit up as though he was shocked by her bold confession. But before he could utter a word she rushed on. “Jax and I were having a disagreement. However, at the time I had no idea he was your special guest. I merely thought he was—”

      “Here to check up on her for her big brother.” Jax stepped between them to gain Mr. Burns’s full attention.

      At last, Jax found his voice, but why now? What convinced him to finally come to her aid?

      The