Queen of Hearts: A Sin City Collectors book: Sin City Collectors

By Kristen Painter

Welcome to Las Vegas, home of the Sin City Collectors. The job description is easy: Bring the offending supernatural in to the Boss and don’t ask any questions.

Feline shifter Claudette Marchon traded life as a showgirl to become a Sin City Collector, giving up the glamour to earn some serious cash in order to buy her own business. Mission accomplished, she now runs a pawn shop specializing in gems and jewelry.

Life is good until a Collection job requiring her specific skill set lures her back in. The Queen of Hearts, a museum-worthy ruby and diamond necklace has been stolen from the Boss’s private collection and she’s his last hope to do what two other Collectors have already failed to do. Bring in the necklace. And the thief.

But gargoyle Jason Tennant isn’t quite the dangerous criminal Claudette expects. In fact, he’s not a thief at all. He’s former military and being set up by the real mastermind, forcing her to decide between the man she’s falling for and the man she works for. Proving Jason innocent may risk the Boss’s wrath, but Claudette’s heart says it’s a gamble worth taking.

What’s Collected in Vegas, stays in Vegas...

*All Sin City Collectors Novellas are stand alone novellas, all set within the world of the SCC. Our goal is for you to sit back and enjoy the ride as each author presents their unique story. The world of the Sin City Collectors is big. Places and characters will overlap, so be sure to look for your favorites and stay tuned for more novellas!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kristen Painter
• Release date: Jun 25, 2014
• ISBN: 9781941695005

Book preview

Queen of Hearts

QUEEN OF HEARTS

A Sin City Collectors Novella

Kristen Painter

Welcome to Vegas. Home of the Sin City Collectors. The job description is easy: Bring the offending supernatural in to the Boss and don’t ask any questions.

Feline shifter Claudette Marchon traded life as a showgirl to become a Sin City Collector, giving up the glamour to earn some serious cash in order to buy her own business. Mission accomplished, she now runs a pawn shop specializing in gems and jewelry.

Life is good until a Collection job requiring her specific skill set lures her back in. The Queen of Hearts, a museum-worthy ruby and diamond necklace has been stolen from the Boss’s private collection and she’s his last hope to do what two other Collectors have already failed to do. Bring in the necklace. And the thief.

But gargoyle Jason Tennant isn’t quite the dangerous criminal Claudette expects. In fact, he’s not a thief at all. He’s former Special Ops and being set up by the real mastermind, forcing her to decide between the man she’s falling for and the man she works for. Proving Jason innocent may risk the Boss’s wrath, but Claudette’s heart says it’s a gamble worth taking.

This fun, fresh series ups the ante and takes you on a wild ride you won’t forget! Clever, face-paced, flirty—Viva Las Vegas!

~ Gena Showalter, NYT Best Selling Author

What’s Collected in Vegas, stays in Vegas…

*All Sin City Collectors Novellas are stand alone novellas, all set within the world of the SCC. Our goal is for you to sit back and enjoy the ride as each author presents their unique story. The world of the Sin City Collectors is big. Places and characters will overlap, so be sure to look for your favorites and stay tuned for more novellas!

QUEEN OF HEARTS: A Sin City Collectors Novella

Copyright © 2014 Kristen Painter

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from the author.

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, events, and places portrayed in this book are products of the author’s imagination and are either fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

ISBN: 978-1-941695-00-5

To Amanda—I’m so glad we’re in this together!

Chapter1

As Frankie buzzed in a customer, Claude straightened the new art deco sapphire bracelet she’d just taken in. The stones were gorgeous, cornflower blue, and the diamonds were flawless and colorless. It was a stellar piece, part of a large estate collection—almost all of it exceptional—and she was seriously considering keeping this piece for herself.

Claudette Marchon?

Claude’s attention shifted from the bracelet to the man walking into The Gem Exchange, her pawnshop. He had the look of someone on a mission. But, then, so did most people who came into this place. Vegas had a way of doing that to people. Of turning the ordinary into the desperate. Can I help you? I’m her grandmother. That wasn’t so much a lie as a defensive truth. Being able to shift forms had its advantages and disadvantages. Well, mostly just the one disadvantage—keeping one of those forms a secret.

The man stopped in front of the counter where she was working. Decent suit with a nice fit and a respectable, if slightly flashy, tie. Good haircut. Little too much pomade slicking back his dark hair, but he’d held back on the cologne. Businessman in too deep? Insurance salesman, maybe. Is she here?

Claude locked the showcase, securing the sapphires behind glass. What do you want with her, sonny? Pretending to be her own grandmother gave her a lot of leeway on sass.

He held his hands up and smiled. A gold pinkie ring winked from his left. Used car dealer was a possibility. Or maybe he was mobbed up. This was Vegas. Bugsy Siegel might be long gone, but there were new kinds of Mafia in this town. Nothing bad, I promise. I just have a message for her.

Claude held out one wrinkled but well-manicured hand. You can give it to me. I’ll make sure she gets it.

His smiled disappeared. Sorry, ma’am. No can do. Has to be delivered in person. Boss’s orders.

At the word boss, Claude’s stomach sank. She’d been close on the mobbed-up guess. This was no businessman looking to pawn his Rolex to raise a little more cash for the tables. I’ll go get her. She nodded at her employee, Frankie, who was a good kid and a very distant cousin who couldn’t shift fully into anything yet but could maintain a decent half-form that gave him claws, yellow eyes and a rather amusing set of whiskers. Watch the store.

Frankie nodded back with youthful seriousness, his eyes wide with curiosity. Yes, ma’am.

Claude glanced at the man as she started for the back. Time for Claudette to take over anyway. I have a spa appointment. She slipped into the back room and closed the door. What did the Boss need her for? She was technically retired. And had been for almost two years. She blew out a breath and stared at the ceiling. Two years and not a word from headquarters. Long enough for her to think the Boss had forgotten about her. Apparently, she’d been wrong.

Well, she’d always known it was a possibility. Didn’t mean she was going to jump for joy over the disruption to her life.

With a shiver, she reverted back to her normal form of a thirty-two-year-old woman. She smoothed her hands over her no longer gray hair, changed out of her pants suit and into the little sheath dress and heels she kept on hand for such emergencies, which, thankfully, didn’t happen often.

She yelled, Bye, Gran. Keeping the illusion solid was as important as keeping this part of her abilities secret. She’d made the mistake of sharing it with someone once. That had been enough of a lesson that she’d vowed never to do it again. Frankie knew, but he was family and understood the seriousness of protecting one’s gifts.

A quick check in the mirror. Everything was as it should be. She headed back to the counter. A few new customers had come in, but they were just browsing.

The man was still there. Fortunately, Frankie was farther down the counter helping someone else. She smiled reservedly. Can I help you? My grandmother said you had a message for me?

The man nodded and reached into his pocket. She already knew what he was going to pull out.

She held up a finger. Wait. Frankie wasn’t totally ignoring the customer in front of him, but his gaze was sliding in her direction enough to tell her he was more interested in watching what was going on with her. Considering he was always bugging her for stories about her past, it was understandable. But not his business. Let’s continue this in my office, shall we?

Your call.

Come through there. She pointed to the half-door between the counters as she reached under the one in front of her to unlock it. A buzzer sounded.

The man pushed through the half-door, then followed her into her office. She stopped in front of her neat but crowded desk, turned and held out her hand. Thankfully, she’d put her grandma outfit in the bottom drawer. Let’s have it.

With a wry look, the man reached into his jacket pocket again, this time pulling out the playing card she’d been expecting. Had he thought she was going to give him a hard time over this? She probably would, but she’d at least assess the situation first. He handed over the card. Here you go.

She took it. Hand painted, like always. At the corners, instead of a number and a suit symbol, were heart-shaped faceted rubies. The center picture was Sloan Tower. Are you kidding me? She glanced up at him. This involves Cristos the Incredible? Cristos the Incredible was the stage name of Robert Sloan, the illusionist who’d turned his Vegas magic show into an empire.

Only because the supe in question works for him.

She looked at the card again. Underneath the picture was the name Jason Tennant. Beneath that the letters C and R. A Collection and a Recovery? That was twice the work.

The card was how Collections were handed out to the Sin City Collectors (SCC), and the job parameters were cut-and-dried: Do what the playing card told you. A Collector’s objective was to bring the offending supernatural to the Boss. And that was that.

Except she’d stopped being a Collector two years ago. It had been interesting, but she’d had different dreams. Why am I being called in for this? You know I’m retired.

The man barely registered a response. The Boss has his reasons.

I’m sure he does. Didn’t he always? But reason from a man who favored peanut butter, bacon and banana sandwiches was a relative thing. You haven’t introduced yourself yet, you know.

Sorry. I’m Romero and I’m your point of contact on this Collection.

She sat on the edge of her desk and crossed her legs, which thanks to Pilates, were as good as the day she’d stopped dancing and started Collecting. You must be new.

Why’s that?

You seem awfully confident I’m going to take this job.

He took the only other chair in the small room. You have no choice. You don’t do it, the Boss will pull your pawn license. Besides, I know the deal you made. You retired with the stipulation that if there was an especially difficult Collection or one that you were deemed the most suited for, you could be called in.

She waved the card in the air. I’m still waiting to hear why this one qualifies.

He took a long breath. "This is both difficult and something we feel you’re best suited for. Also, we’ve sent

Reviews for Queen of Hearts

[Gary Strohminger · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I enjoy all your book can wait to star the next one thank you