New Release - Gambling on Forever by Becky Lower - @prairierosepubs #WesternRomance

When Elise Lafontaine spies her father’s missing saddlebag with its all-important papers slung over the shoulder of a man boarding a riverboat, she follows him, hoping to retrieve the contents. Her plans come to an abrupt halt when she is declined entry to the boat, since she is an unaccompanied female.

From his perch on the top deck, handsome riverboat gambler James Garnett witnesses her denied entry. When she shoots him a look of desperation, how can he resist those deep blue eyes and beautiful face? Of course, he comes to her rescue, pretending she is his fiancée—and she is allowed aboard.

Begrudgingly, Elise accepts James’s offer of help to win back the saddlebag and the papers by having him play poker on her behalf, certain the thieving Confederate brothers who stole the bag will lose everything to James. But can Elise be happy with only the saddlebag and its contents? Or has she already lost her heart to the dangerous gambler?

After a sultry kiss, Elise steals his money and the papers and jumps overboard. Then the games truly begin. Now, Elise stands at the biggest crossroads of her life—will she go her own way, fiercely independent and alone? Or will she wager everything on the man who holds her heart--GAMBLING ON FOREVER?

EXCERPT

     After shouting every curse word she could come up with, in no less than three languages, Elise quieted and glanced around the small cabin. She needed to corral her energy—which had been riding high ever since this morning when she first spied the missing saddlebag.

     Taking some deep, calming breaths, she assessed her situation. She didn’t for a minute buy Mr. Garnett’s pronouncement that he had no ulterior motive. Everyone had an angle of some kind. Especially men. Especially men with a smooth exterior like Mr. Garnett. Like Bailey Snodgrass. Ever since he’d set foot in St. Louis and disrupted the lives of Elise’s best friend and her family, she’d been on guard against the many other slick men who had surfaced after the war. Carpetbaggers like Bailey, riverboat gamblers, sweet-talking handsome men…they were all the same in Elise’s mind.

     Susannah was hopefully on her way back to the ranch by now to round up the search party. Elise’s four brothers, each one bigger and fiercer than the next, would be coming for her shortly. Of that, she had no doubt. Their Indian blood and a lifetime in the wilderness rounding up wild horses made them expert trackers, but tracking one of the many riverboats clogging the Mississippi might cause some problems for them, even with their superior skills.

     But they would find her and would do serious damage to the pair who had the stolen merchandise. And Mr. Garnett? So far, she had nothing to report to her brothers about him. But the journey had only begun. And he was a man. She had no doubt he’d do something to trip himself up soon.

     The big steam engine had roared to life a few minutes ago while she spilled every obscenity in her repertoire, and the large paddle wheels started slapping against the waves as they rotated.

     If she were the weepy sort, she’d be shedding buckets by now over her plight. Here she was, alone on a strange, large ship, without even a change of undergarments. But crying never helped any predicament, so she’d calm herself and figure out what to do.