by Abbie Adams
"What else do you know of her?" Delaney asked as she gave Frank his next card. "What does she look like?"
The look in Tripp's dark eyes challenged Delaney now. Almost as if it were a private joke between them. She couldn't help but look around to see if anyone else noticed. When he finally spoke, she couldn't decide if it were truth or if he was antagonizing her.
"Dark curly hair, short, curvy. Plays cards." If she continued to breathe, she didn't know it. In fact, her heart ceased beating, she was sure.
Before Delaney could process his reply, George summed it up. Loudly. "Why that sounds just like Diamond!"
"Why, yes, it does, doesn't it?" Tripp cocked his head to the side, a glint of something in his eyes. Whether it was humor or suspicion she couldn't tell.
"Or someone who looks a hell of a lot like me." She held the cards out to Tripp. "You want to cut?" She would not let him see how much this new information affected her.
He kept his eyes on hers, daring her to look away first as he took half of the deck and placed it in her other hand. When their fingers brushed against each other, Delaney distinctly felt a sizzle run up her arm, and from there it transferred directly to that damp place at her core.
"How is your seat today, Diamond?" One dark eyebrow arched higher than the other and it was obvious he got some kind of a thrill from seeing her discomfort.
She fairly choked on her own tongue. She’d likely have chewed a hole in it from biting it so hard. Anything she could say would only look worse, so she chose to ignore it altogether.
"Hit or stand, Marshal?"
"Hmmm." He looked down at his cards as if quietly contemplating his possibilities when it was clear to anyone with two eyes above their nose that he was standing. He had a pair of jacks. "I guess, I'll stay."
She wanted to throw the deck at him, or maybe her chair. He had her beat and she would be willing to bet he already knew it even though her last card was still face down.
"Frank?" She pointed at his cards. She was quite sure he was enjoying the underlying tension and had forgotten the game completely.
"Yes, uh, hit." He cleared his throat. And she did, hard. His ten, six busted with a nine. "Well, shit." He folded his cards over and watched her as she flipped her second card over.
She didn't acknowledge the loss just slid Tripp's pay his way, drew Frank's coins in, and started to shuffle again.
"I'm done," Frank announced, as he stood. "Thanks, Diamond, we'll see you again tomorrow."
"Night, Diamond," George said too, and followed his partner.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Tripp teased her. "No sense pouting, ladybug, playing for the house doesn't measure your skill. It's a formula you have to follow." He touched her hand as if to comfort her.
She scoffed. "That what you think? You only won one hand and as you said, that one had no variables. You can hardly consider a couple of hands of blackjack as any measure of skill. I'd be happy to best you at five card anytime you are ready."
"Well, that is an intriguing idea. Just you and I?" The awareness of his nearness became a little overwhelming and she fought the urge to retreat. No, she needed to hold her ground. And she absolutely didn't want him to stay that close—or at least she refused to even think for a moment that she liked it.
"That's fine with me. It only takes two."
"Will you be playing for the house, or do you mind a friendly game, with more intriguing payouts?" The way his lips curled at the right in a cocky eat-you-alive-grin, challenged and intrigued her. It also heated her to the core. A damp, arousing heat built up deep inside, the moisture trickling from her lady parts doing nothing to quench the flames.
"What did you have in mind, exactly?" She lifted her chest in a gesture of false bravado. Oh, she was confident he'd struggle to best her at five card draw, but that didn't mean his voice didn't make her legs quake. And what did she have to lose? It was a known fact that Jewel won the goldmine in a poker game.
He leaned closer yet; his arm was around her shoulders, pulling her in so that his voice was moist in her ear. "Five hands. If I take the majority, I want twenty-four hours with you and your complete submission."
"I don't play upstairs, Marshal. My room is down the hall, not that you'll ever have cause to see it." She kicked her skirt a little to remind him she wore a pink petticoat. She couldn't help but swallow hard when the vision of him standing over her, with her on her knees before him, while he unbuckled his belt sent a shiver through her body.
"Well, you won't have to—if you win the game." His dark eyes sparkled with confidence and mischief.
"And if I win?" A crazy thought that she might not want to win skittered through her silly head.
"That's up to you." He traced a line down her arm while she stared off into the crowded room. What could she possibly ask for? She certainly wasn't interested in the opposite of what he requested.
"You take me to Deep Creek to look for my sister in the morning." She scooted away from him, needing to clear her mind if she was going to beat him—and she damned sure couldn't think when he was touching her.
"I can't leave Culpepper Cove right now, sweetheart."
"You won't have to—if you win," she parroted his words, cocking her head to the side. She didn't know where the boldness in her words came from, except from the deep desire to find her sister. The miners talking had sparked her with new hope.
"Do you want a neutral dealer?"
"Do you?"
"I don't care, but I don't want you to have any excuses when I'm leading you to your room tonight." His voice was gravelly, and still sexy as she'd ever heard and she'd heard more than her fair share of lust-filled men in this place.
She picked up the deck of cards again and began to shuffle. "I assume you will remember that when the table is turned and you are my escort tomorrow."
He held his hand out as if to shake on it, and she placed her much smaller hand in his. She gasped when he took it, turned it over and pressed a kiss to her wrist. His throaty chuckle unnerved her almost as much as the touch of his lips had. Without comment, she held the deck to him to cut. Tripp passed with the wave of a hand and sat back in his chair, clearly setting his poker face.
Her hand shook when she began to deal and she chalked it up to adrenaline and not fear. He didn't look at her while he picked up his cards so she could read nothing in his eyes. As she set the deck at her side, she noted that he didn't move his cards around in his hand as many did. He just calmly gave her the same study as she lifted her own hand and took inventory.
Chapter Four
Delaney wondered how it could be that her hands weren't shaking as she reached for the cards. She had to bite the inside of her cheek when she picked up the first hand she dealt to discover she had two high pair, Kings and Jacks. When he requested two cards, she knew she had him beat. Still, she drew one card though the three of spades didn't help her hand.
"Whatcha got, ladybug?" he asked.
"Two pair," she announced, fanning her cards across the table and reaching for one of the five coins he'd lined up in the center of the felt.
"Not so fast, darlin'," he drawled, laying his own hand down to reveal not a single pair but each card a diamond. "I do believe a flush beats two pair."
"I know that!" she snapped, ignoring his chuckle as he plucked the coin from her fingers and set it beside his drink.
The second hand was no better. She had nothing to begin with at the deal and her attempt to draw three cards to improve her hand only resulted in a pair of deuces. With his announcing he didn't want any more cards, she'd known he'd won and hadn't even reached for a coin as he showed that he had a pair of Kings and a pair of eights. If she didn't know better, and if she wasn't the one doing all the dealing, she'd swear the man was cheating… lawman or not.
"You know, if I win this next hand, we'll not need to go to five…"
"I can do the math, Marshal," Delaney said, taking a great deal of time to shuffle the deck, her heart b
eginning to pound harder with each bridge she made with her hands, the cards whiffling into place only for her to cut them and begin shuffling again.
She ignored his chuckle but when his fingers reached out to stroke her arm, the cards flew out of their formation, scattering over the felted table top with several landing on the floor.
"Look what you made me do!"
"Easy now, I was just going to suggest we take a little break so you could calm yourself. You look a might flushed, ladybug."
"Stop calling me that!" Delaney huffed, embarrassed that she could hear a few chuckles from men seated at a nearby table where Dottie was dealing. After she'd accepted the cards he'd gathered from the floor and counted the deck to assure none were missing, she shuffled twice more and then, taking a deep breath and sending a frantic prayer towards the heavens, she dealt. Perhaps it was the prayer but she won the hand with her own club flush which bested his two pair. Finally, one of the coins was placed to her right… two more coins left to be claimed shining in the center of the table.
"You know what they say," Tripp said cryptically as he watched her draw the fourth coin to her after she won the next hand as well.
Deciding to simply ignore him, Delaney shuffled the cards and dealt their hands, pausing before lifting her five cards from the table as she looked up to send a third prayer skyward. When she heard his chuckle, she dropped her eyes to see he'd not touched a single card as yet.
"What's the matter?" she said.
"No," Tripp answered, shaking his head, causing her confusion to grow.
"No? No, what?"
"That's not what they say," Tripp said, still not making a move towards his waiting hand.
It took Delaney a moment to assimilate what he was talking about and, when she remembered his earlier statement, she finally shrugged. "Fine, what do they say then?"
His slow smile had her stomach filling with butterflies and when he bent forward just a bit in order to yet again stroke his fingertips across her arm, she felt a tremor run throughout her entire body.
"They say that anticipation can be almost as good as the act itself. You know, all that expectation building slowly until you feel you are teetering on the edge of an abyss, your entire body trembling, so very ready, your very soul begging for you to take that last step…" He paused as he lifted her hand to his lips, brushing a kiss across her palm.
Forget butterflies… her tummy was doing somersaults and she could feel the heat beginning to creep up her chest, flooding her cheeks. If just his fingertips and his lips on her hand and arm could cause sensations she'd never felt before… what would it be like to have those lips pressing a kiss to her naked… No! Snatching her hand from his hold, she glared at him as she finally picked up her cards.
For the first time in years, she was totally incapable of keeping her poker face. Her lips turned up in a smile as her prayer was answered yet again. Staring up at her were not only a pair of Aces but yet another, as well as two lovely Queens.
"Cards?" she asked sweetly. It was wonderful to win but now that she had, she could afford to be just a teensy bit magnanimous.
"One," Tripp said, taking a single card from his hand and sliding it towards her.
"I'll be ready to leave by eight," Delaney said, plucking the top card from the deck and flipping it towards him. "That way we can get to Deep Creek and back with plenty of time to spare. Oh, and you can keep your coins." Reaching for the last coin, she again found her hand covered with his. Looking at him, it wasn't the fact that she could see that he'd yet to reveal his hand that had her heart beginning to pound… it was both the look in his eyes and the slow upturn of his lips.
She saw that he'd laid his hand face down on the felt. Despite the fact that she had revealed her full-house before reaching for the last coin, she was suddenly unable to take a breath. The odds of him besting her hand were astronomical and yet, his grin never faltered as he flipped over the first card to reveal the King of spades, followed by the King of clubs.
"As I told you earlier, ladybug, the only place we shall be going is to your room," he said, casually reaching for the third card, flipping it to show her the King of hearts. Delaney felt as if her heart was going to burst but still held out hope. Her three Aces beat his three Kings. He leaned a bit forward before speaking again. "But don't you fret. I'll be right there to catch you when you plummet from the mountaintop and dive into the sweetest oblivion that you can imagine, my little Diamond." With that, he flipped the last card to reveal the King of diamonds.
"Ho… how? The odds…" she stuttered.
He never even turned over his last card… there was no need. Instead, he'd sat back and smiled, saying, "Seems like you were wrong. Lady luck is definitely with me tonight… just as you shall be."
Her temperature had slowly risen throughout the whole last hand, and now she feared she might go up in flames, the heat in her face and loins was so intense. She needed a fan desperately. Delaney refused to look at him. She could feel his stare like a ray of sunlight directed right at her.
"Do you need to discuss the arrangement with Gabe and Jewel before we find a room upstairs, ladybug? Unless, of course, you'd prefer we use yours? If so, please get the required formalities out of the way. I'm as anxious as you are to get started."
Her gaze flew to his face then, his mentioning upstairs suddenly making it all seem real. "I'm not anxious. I'd rather sleep with… with George than your sorry ass." The mocking glint in his eyes made her want to shoot him. It was a good thing she didn't have a gun because she'd never been so tempted.
"Go ahead and lie to yourself. You won't be able to do that much longer. Your arousal is as obvious as your anger.
"You are an… a… Oh, I hate you." She pushed away from the table in fury then spun back to him. "It will take hours for me to prepare so you may as well find something to busy yourself."
Before she could stomp away, he was out of his chair and had her arm. He used it to turn her back to him. "The time starts as soon as you've informed Gabe and Jewel that you are leaving the floor. In fact, I am more than happy to go with you to discuss it with them."
"No! I… I..." What the hell was the matter with her? She was stammering like an idiot. "It's not just that. I need time to prepare. I… I need a bath." And enough time to pack a bag and disappear. Of course, she kept that last caveat to herself.
Still he chuckled. "Nope, I can read you like a book. If you run, rest assured I shall catch you and then… let's just say, you won't be happy or find it easy to sit." After she'd gasped, her eyes wide, he grinned. "As for a bath… we will do that together, ladybug. No need to worry about that." His eyes were wolfish in their appraisal of her.
"That's absurd! I can't take a bath with you in the room!"
His chuckle was louder, his smile bigger and his eyes twinkled. "Oh, ladybug, I'm going to get so much pleasure in teaching you how incorrect that statement is."
Taking a deep breath… well, as deep as she could with his casual speaking of his pleasure, she tempered her voice. "Marshal, that wasn't part of our wager and most definitely isn't what you said prior to the game."
"I beg to differ," he said, his eyes turning darker. "Complete submission pretty much sums it up. That means anything I ask for, with immediate and unwavering obedience—for twenty-four hours. I didn't take you as someone who might renege. You aren't that sort of person, are you?" His voice was almost reassuring, and made her feel guilty. She was a woman of her word—if nothing else. He was right, her word was all that she had.
"No, I agreed. I was just not aware that you would ask for something so vulgar. I thought you were a moral person." She didn't know what she was saying, but she didn't expect him to laugh at her. She'd had it with the man. "I clearly misjudged you, Marshal."
Delaney spun away and made it halfway across the room before she remembered what she was doing. Where was Madam Jewel? There was no way she wanted to discuss this with Mr. Gabe. She was absolutely mortified that she would hav
e to give herself in such a way. She still didn't know how she'd lost to him—except that he had flustered her from the beginning with those damn eyes of his… eyes she could easily drown in. Still, Miss Jewel hadn't lost in the game she'd played and Delaney had stupidly assumed that the same luck would be with her.
"Diamond, are you all right?" Dottie caught her arms and stabilized her when she'd almost knocked the other woman off her feet. The older gem's eyes were concerned. "I saw you and the marshal playing cards and it looked pretty intense. Is he bothering you? Let's get Gabe."
"No, no… I uh—I was just looking for Jewel. I'm sorry I ran into you. I don't know what has gotten into me.
"Honey, you are shaking. Tell me what is the matter. I want to help." Dottie was still leading her toward Gabe instead of Jewel.
Delaney stalled, but finally found words. With a big deep breath, she said, "I'll tell you, but can I do it at the same time as I tell Jewel? I don't want to have to have to repeat it." They came to a stop again.
"Sure thing, sweetie. I think Jewel is in the office. I'll go with you. Are you sure you don't want me to get—"
Delaney cut her off before she could say Gabe again. "No, please. He's the last person I want to have to say this in front of."
They were to the office before she realized, and Jewel was there, sorting through papers on her desk. "Hello, ladies." Her voice went from pert and upbeat to concerned as she hurried to stand. She was at Delaney's side by the time, Dottie guided her into the chair in front of the large desk. "What is the matter? Do we need Gabe?"
"She didn't want him. Didn't tell me what was the matter yet either." Dottie sat in the chair next to her.
"It's fine. I mean, I'm fine. It's not that bad. I… I made a bet and lost—that's all." She sat up tall, feeling pretty silly. She was made of sterner stuff. What was one night with a good-looking man?