The Winning Hand by Nora Roberts

These excerpts from the novel "The Winning Hand" by Nora Roberts detail the journey of Darcy Wallace, who leaves a suffocating engagement and small-town life in Kansas for Las Vegas. Upon arrival, broke and exhausted, she immediately wins a nearly two-million-dollar jackpot at a casino owned by Robert MacGregor "Mac" Blade. Mac, a powerful and guarded casino executive from a politically and financially prominent family, takes responsibility for the naive Darcy, managing the immediate aftermath of her win and protecting her from the press and her controlling ex-fiancé, Gerald. The sources illustrate the burgeoning, complicated romantic tension between Darcy and Mac, set against the backdrop of Vegas's glitter, as Darcy begins to assert her independence, start a writing career, and ultimately decides to build a new life for herself in the city, culminating in Mac realizing his love and proposing marriage.