Free Rivals by Janet Dailey Page B

hometown boy coming back after he’d made good—much more.
    There was a quick rap on his door followed by the click of the latch. Chance swung around expecting to see Sam walk in. But it was Molly, a steaming cup of coffee in her hand. “I knew I had missed something. Nobody makes coffee as good as you do, Molly.”
    â€œYou’re only saying that to make sure I don’t go on strike and refuse to make coffee for you anymore.” She crossed the room and set the cup on his desk, beaming at his praise, her round cheeks growing rounder, and reminding him of the time he had teased her about being his all-round girl—round cheeks, round eyes, round face, and round body. Then her look faded to one of faint disapproval and he knew he was about to be lectured on something. “One thing’s certain. That Lucy woman—”
    â€œLucianna,” he corrected, transferring his attention to the phone messages in his hand.
    â€œWhatever she calls herself now, she didn’t bring you any coffee in the morning.”
    â€œNo. Room service did.”
    Molly ignored that. “You’ve known this Lucianna a long time, I know, but she won’t make you a good wife. And it’s time you got married.”
    â€œWhat can I do? I keep asking and you keep turning me down.” He walked back to his desk.
    â€œYou’re impossible.” She pretended to be angry with him. “When are you going to wake up to the fact that you’re thirty-eight years old? You not only don’t have a wife, but you don’t have any children either.”
    Sam strolled into the office, lanky and trim with a thatch of unruly light brown hair. “At least, none that you know about, Molly.”
    She turned. “If he had any, I’d know. Everyone would, because you can bet the mother would file a paternity suit.”
    â€œIf it’s a child you want, Chance, Patty and I will loan you one of ours. You can take your pick. Right now I think Patty would willingly give all four of them away. It was a bad weekend at home. I’m glad I spent most of it here.”
    Chance straightened from his desk, fully alert. “Did you come up with anything?”
    Sam shook his head. “I’ve already filled you in on everything I know. Until Matt gets here…” He shrugged the rest.
    â€œMolly, see if Matt Sawyer’s here yet.”
    â€œOf course.” Easily she slipped back into the role of the efficient secretary and left his office to return to her own.
    Sam watched her go, then turned back to Chance, grinned, and shook his head in amusement. “She never gives up, does she?”
    â€œNot Molly.”
    Sam wandered over to the desk and sat down in the charcoal suede chair that faced it. “Did you get everything worked out in Tahoe to your satisfaction?”
    Chance smiled crookedly. “Let’s say I got everything worked out. Whether it will be to my satisfaction remains to be seen.” The Tahoe project was his most ambitious to date. When completed, it would be a year-round resort complex, with a palatial hotel and gambling casino adjacent to the marina and yacht club, and a luxury ski lodge coupled with chalet-style condominiums and an array of ski runs and trails.
    â€œI talked to Kiley this morning,” Sam said, referring to their construction manager on the project site. “He mentioned you had a little run-in with Nick Borrello.”
    â€œYou could call it that,” Chance conceded. “Among other things, he accused me of stealing his casino.”
    Admittedly he’d bought it from the man at a bargain price, but the casino had lost money the last three years—for a number of reasons. Poor management was one of them, and another was its location on the fringe of Tahoe’s main gambling area. As a small, independent casino it couldn’t compete with those operated by the big hotels and it couldn’t siphon away enough