Gambler's Folly (Bookstrand Publishing Romance) Read Online Free PDF

cara, not to worry. My arm around you, your arm through mine, a kiss on the cheek. We will hold hands like new lovers, arms around each other. You may have to kiss me once or twice for the cameras. Just pretend I’m someone you like,” he told her.
    “Cameras? What cameras?” What had she gotten into?
    “The news media, you know, the paparazzi. When you are Damiano Leone, your life is subject to scrutiny,” he answered with a smile. Suddenly concerned, he asked, “Kari, are you alright?”
    “Just a little, you know, light-headed. Could I have some water?” Karianna asked. He rang a bell and said something she didn’t hear.
    “What is wrong, cara mia?”
    “I hadn’t thought about cameras. I don’t really like cameras.”
    “Why not? You are a beautiful woman and my wife. The pictures, they will be wonderful,” he told her.
    “Damiano, I’m not beautiful. I’m passably pretty, but beautiful? No.”
    “You make a joke, yes?” he asked, chuckling. “No, you are serious. Why are you not beautiful?”
    “Look at me. My hair is too curly, my nose is not quite straight. My chin is pointy, eyebrows too thick. I don’t have those perfect curves you men like. My bust is too small, hips too wide…”
    “Cara mia, stop! It is too much. Have you never looked in the mirror? Your late husband, did he not tell you how beautiful you are?”
    “Trae? The only way I would have looked beautiful to him, is if I’d looked like a deck of cards, or a pair of dice. No, Damiano, he said I was cute, but that’s all. Not enough in the bust for him.”
    Damiano stood and walked over to her. Setting her coffee cup on the table, he helped her to her feet and held her close. It was very nearly too much to manage.
    “Karianna mia, how could someone who claimed to love you tell you such things? Why would you stay with a man who treated you so badly? Not enough bust? No, Karianna, it is perfect. Two perfect breasts, one to fill each hand,” he said, suiting actions to words.
    “Dam, Damiano, please…” Karianna said, not sure whether to run or fling herself at him.
    “No, please sit,” he said. “Let’s finish our talk.”
    There was a knock at the door and a tall, powerfully built man of about thirty, who could have been a relative of Damiano’s, came in.
    “Ah, Paolo. You have met my wife, but I don’t believe you’ve been introduced,” Damiano said to one of the men she’d seen with him before. “Kari, this is one of my closest men, Paolo. Paolo, Karianna.”
    “Nice to meet you, Signora.”
    “Paolo.”
    “Mr. Leone, here are your marriage documents. This is Mrs. Leone?” She hadn’t noticed the scrawny little man who’d come in with Paolo.
    “Yes, thank you. This is my wife, Karianna Leone. She just wanted to look over the documents.” Turning to her, he motioned her over. “Kari, darling, would you come and see if everything is correct?”
    Karianna looked over the documents carefully. Damiano was right. According to the law on Gambler’s Folly, she was married to the planet’s crime lord for two years. There was no divorce clause in the contract, meaning that for the next two years, she was stuck with him, with no way out.
    “Thank you,” she told the clerk. “Everything is correct. It’s just, my name is forever getting misspelled.”
    “I understand, Madam, but it’s a beautiful name.” To Damiano he said, “You have chosen well, Mr. Leone. You have a beautiful wife. I’m sure you’ll both be happy.”
    After the two men left, Damiano chose an apple out of the fruit bowl and got back to their discussion. “Nearly every evening, I go down to one of the businesses I own and walk around to keep an eye on things. I play a game here, a game there, have something to eat or drink. I like to have a definite presence around my concerns.”
    “What does this have to do with me?” Karianna asked.
    “This will be your main duty to me. You will accompany me now, in the evenings, once our