Page 17 of Calling His Bluff
“They don’t know what happened, several different stories from alleged witnesses, but they thought she’d probably walked too close to the edge and slipped and fell. Just wasn’t being careful,” Jack finished, his gaze coming back to Josephine.
When Shane stepped away to get a couple drinks, she said under her breath, “You don’t have to beat me over the head. I got the message. I’m being careful.”
“So, tell me about this poker party,” Shane said as he returned. She was more than glad to do just that and wasn’t surprised when he told her some men had shown an interest in the game.
“Great, let me know who all would like to attend and we’ll set a date,” she told him.
Next to her, Jack’s only comment was to order a drink, saying, “Make it a strong one, Shane.”
-#-
Jack had Josephine run through the plan a third time as he walked around the table. He wanted to know as much as possible about everyone who planned to come. The poker table for eight would seat Jack, Josephine, Wayne and Darwin Armstrong and four locals.
He’d checked into the four locals. Hank Langhor owned the local hardware store, Pete Brooks drove a seafood supply truck, Ridge VanBuren was a bartender at the pub, and Nels Green worked for a local building contractor.
No red flags came up on any of them to make Jack suspicious. In their mid-twenties, Pete and Ridge were the youngest. Hank, the oldest, was a nice-looking gray-haired sixty-seven-year-old, and Nels, a chubby balding man, was in his mid-thirties. None of them had any connection he could find with Josephine or her Aunt Clara. The only one with a connection to Montana was Ridge. He’d gone to Montana State University in Bozeman.
But according to Josephine, who never forgot a face, Ridge had never been at any of her poker parties. Of course, he might have known someone while in college who had attended one of her poker nights, but Jack couldn’t see the just-want-to-have-a-good-time Ridge VanBuren plotting anything, let alone having a grudge against Josephine. Instead, he seemed to light up whenever Josephine was around. Jack knew the feeling.
He was beginning to question if Josephine had anyone other than the Armstrongs to fear. Maybe he was all wrongand everything had happened just as Aunt Clara had said in her will. If Josephine couldn’t think of anyone with a grudge against her, then maybe there wasn’t anyone. He had no reason to worry about her—except for this unease he couldn’t shake.
“I guess we’re ready,” he said, glancing down the poker table at her.
She looked more excited than nervous about tonight. “Shane will be bringing down the refreshments from the pub. I told them to come in from the alley entrance. I think we are all set. Don’t look so worried. It’s just poker.”
He met her gaze, holding it. “It’s never just poker. I thought you would have learned that by now.”
-#-
Josephine took refuge for a moment in the warmth and promised security of his blue-eyed gaze before she turned away. There was nothing simple about poker—just like love. Both were a dangerous gamble depending on who you were playing with. Poker with criminals scared her a lot less than letting Jack Rawlins back into her heart. He wanted her to believe that he’d changed, that the only reason he was here was to protect her, and that he really did want to see her in one of those frilly, silly, flowing white wedding dresses in her shop.
The worst part was how badly she wanted to believe him.
She shoved the thought angrily aside. Did he really think she didn’t know how dangerous this could be? The atmosphere at the table would take on its own rhythm that changed as the game progressed. The temperature of the players changed with each hand.
It was a competition that could be highly volatile—especially if a person was playing for more than they could stand to lose.
Josephine thought she knew who she had to fear most tonight at the poker table. She didn’t yet know all the motives of those who would sit down at the game. Most just wanted to press their luck. The Armstrongs would be trying to win, to prove to her they were better players than she was.
But it was Jack Rawlins she was most worried about. If she was right about what she’d seen in his eyes, he would be playing for her heart, which made him the most dangerous person at the table—at least for her.
Anything could happen tonight.
-#-
As Josephine opened the back door of Seaside Vows at the designated time for the poker party, Jack caught a flicker in her eyes before she shuttered it. He knew at once that something had happened. He moved to her as others began to come in behind him. She directed them all into the shop where the drinks and snacks had been set out, but Jack hung back, determined to talk to her in private.
“You got another note,” Jack said quietly when the two of them were alone.
She looked at him in surprise before turning away to hang up the last participant’s coat. In the poker room, her guests were already helping themselves to the beverages and snacks, the Armstrong twins at the front of the line.
“You forget,” Jack whispered. “All those days at poker tables, all those nights naked with you, I know you. Let me see the note.”
She started to argue but stopped herself as if she knew he wouldn’t give up. He had to know what kind of danger she was in. Maybe enough that he could get her to cancel this poker game, although he doubted it.
“I know what you’re trying to do,” she said under her breath.
“Save your life?”
