Free Prelude to a Secret by Melissa Schroeder

Prelude to a Secret
     
    Alicia Hughes looked out over the casino and fought the urge to cringe. Her ears rang from all the dings from the slot machines and the roar of conversation. Drawing in a deep breath, she counted backward from ten…then did it three more times. Too many people, too many noises.
    Suck it up, buttercup. An agent for MI-6 doesn’t have breakdowns.
    Her father’s voice was louder than the noise that surrounded her.  Even the memory of it bothered her. It wasn’t as if he could see what she was doing, what risks she was taking. But, then, she hadn’t heard from him for weeks, so she had no idea what the bloody hell he was up to.
    She shook those thoughts away. He had given her an assignment. Even after the Americans told them to back off, she wanted to find this man. Her sources told her he was in Las Vegas and so here she was.
    Drawing in another breath, she found a black jack table and made her way over to it. She didn’t like to gamble with money…just her career choices apparently. She knew her assignment liked this particular casino and black jack was his game. It was her fourth and final night before she had to get back to London.
    Walking down the aisle was hard for her. The silver sequined dress barely covered all her particulars.  Every step she took, she had to fight the urge to tug the dress down. She wasn’t a woman who dressed to attract attention. Not normally.
    Dress to draw attention only if it helps with the job.
    Yes, her father had been repeating that to her since she’d hit sixteen. She hadn’t been an agent of course, but that didn’t matter to her father. He’d been training her since she’d been twelve, and their world had exploded. Now, though, she needed to draw attention to herself from one man in particular.
    Alicia ignored the men who smiled at her as she passed by them. None of them interested her like the one she had been hunting for six months. She wasn’t the first agent to look for him, but she wanted to be the last.
    Nothing like trying to outdo the boys, is there, Alicia?
    Mentally, she silenced her father’s voice and picked the chair at the end. The dealer smiled at her, his gaze roaming over her but not in a way that made her think he was interested in her. He was sizing her up as a participant, nothing more.
    She played a couple of hands when the man next to her cashed out and left. She was starting to get discouraged, when something brushed the fine hairs on the back of her neck. A man slipped into the chair beside her.
    “Deal me in, Sanchez,” he said, his voice rumbling over the words.
    “Sure thing, Mr. Stryker.”
    It took her a second or two to gather her wits. Then, she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye to find dark blue eyes studying her.  He smiled, and her heartbeat tripped. Damn he was lethal.
    “How goes your luck tonight, sugar?”
    Any other man called her sugar, and she’d break his bloody nose. But, this was the job. Besides, she liked the way his voice sounded when he said the word.
    “Not so good,” she said, allowing that thought to linger in the air. Then, she smiled. “That is until now.”
    His smile widened. “Well, that’s nice to hear.”
    *   *   *   *
    The man known as Devon Stryker placed his bet on the table and relaxed against the back of the stool. The woman to his left interested him, but Devon did his best to keep that to himself. He’d only ended up in the casino tonight because he’d been frustrated as hell.  Every promising lead he’d had the last few years had been crap. The last one three weeks ago had been the most promising but it had been shit. There had been times in the last ten years where he hadn’t been able to track her but never this long. Now…he was desperate. It wasn’t a position he liked to find himself in.
    “Do you always day dream when you’re gambling?”
    The smooth, sultry voice of the woman pulled him out of his brooding. There was enough amusement in her