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      BRIDE OF THE WOLF

      COME THE NIGHT

      DARK OF THE MOON

      CHASING MIDNIGHT

      CHAPTER ONE

       San Francisco, May 1882

      CORT RENIER GLANCED one last time at the girl on the stage and spread his cards with a flourish.

      “Royal Flush,” he drawled with a lazy smile. “It seems the luck is with me tonight, gentlemen.”

      They weren’t happy. The game had been grueling, even for Cort. The players were the best, all specially—and secretly—invited to the tournament, all hoping to win prizes no legitimate game could offer.

      Prizes like the girl, who stared across the room with a blank gaze, lost to whatever concoction her captors had given her. She was most definitely beautiful. Her figure was slender, her face, even beneath the absurd white makeup, as classically lovely as that of a Greek nymph, her golden hair begging for a man’s caress.

      She couldn’t have been more than fourteen.

      Cort’s smile tightened. It was her youth, as well as her beauty and apparent virginity, that made wealthy, hard-hearted men fight to win her.

      Many girls could be bought in the grim back alleys and sordid dives of San Francisco’s Barbary Coast. But not girls like this one, who so clearly was no child of San Francisco’s underworld. Who was of European descent, not one of the unfortunate Chinese immigrants who routinely fell victim to unscrupulous traffickers in human flesh. Someone had taken a risk in offering her as a prize, if only the secondary one. The organizers of this contest were no doubt confident that she would simply disappear, hidden away by the winner until anyone who might look for her had given her up for dead.

      Cort’s gaze came to rest on the man whose hand had lost to his. Ernest Cochrane wasn’t accustomed to losing. His lust for the girl had been manifest from the moment they’d sat down at the table. He had a bad reputation, even for the Coast, even if he deceived the high and mighty with whom he associated in his “normal” life. If he’d won her, she would have suffered a life of perpetual degradation as a sexual plaything for one of the most powerful men in California.

      Until he tired of her, of course. Then she might, if she were lucky, have been sold to another man, less discriminating in his desires.

      Or she might have ended up in the Bay. Cochrane wouldn’t want to risk any chance that his wife and children and fellow entrepreneurs might learn what a villain he truly was.

      The others were no better. Even those Cort didn’t know stank of corruption and dissipation. They were dangerous men, and every one of his instincts had rebelled against becoming involved. He wasn’t some gallant bent on protecting womankind from a fate worse than death, however well he played the role of gentleman. If she hadn’t been so young, he might have ignored the girl’s plight. Yuri had urged him not to be a fool.

      But it was done now, and Cochrane was glaring at him with bitter hatred in his eyes.

      “Luck,” Cochrane said in his smooth, too-cultured voice, “has a way of turning, Renier.” He nodded to one of the liveried attendants. “We’ll have another deck.”

      Cort rose from his chair. “I do thank you, Mr. Cochrane, gentleman, but I am finished for the evening, and I believe this game has been won in accordance with the rules of the tournament.” He tipped his hat. “Perhaps another time.”

      “Another time won’t do, Mr. Renier. And I have doubts that this game was played honestly.”

      “If I were a less reasonable man, Cochrane, I might choose to take offense at your insinuation.” Cort inclined his head. “Bonsoir, messieurs.”

      He knew it wouldn’t end so easily, of course. He heard Cochrane’s hatchet man come up behind him before the hooligan had gone a foot beyond his hiding place behind the curtains on the left side of the stage. Cort casually hooked his thumb in the waistband of his trousers. The man behind him breathed sharply and shifted his weight.

      “Now, now, Monsieur Cochrane,” Cort said. “We wouldn’t wish this diverting interlude to end on an unpleasant note, would we?”

      “Another game,” Cochrane said, less smoothly than before.

      “I think not.”

      The hatchet man lunged. Cort turned lightly, caught the man’s wrist before his fist could descend and twisted. The man yelped and fell to his knees, cradling his broken limb to his chest.

      Cort sighed and shook his head, flipping his coat away from his waist. “As you see, gentleman, I carry no weapons. However, I find it quite unmannerly to attack a man when his back is turned.” He bowed to Cochrane. “I bid you good evening.”

      His ears were pricked as he walked away, but no one came after him. They’d been at least a little impressed by his demonstration, though how long that would last was another question entirely. It would be the better part of valor by far to leave this establishment as soon as possible.

      And he would have to take his prize with him, even if he didn’t want her and had no place to put her. He was threading his way among the gaming tables toward the stage when Yuri came puffing up to join him.

      “Why did you do it?” Yuri whispered, his accent thick with distress. “You have lost us half a million dollars and made enemies we cannot afford. Have you gone completely mad?”

      Oh, yes, Cort thought, recognizing the true height of his foolishness. He could avoid Cochrane’s henchmen for a while, but he didn’t want to spend the rest of his time in San Francisco watching his back, and fighting was always a last resort.