The Baby Gamble (Harlequin Super Romance #1446)

October 2007The cowboy pushed his hat down low.Everyone knew that thirty-four-year-old Luke Chisum, of the renowned Circle C Ranch, shifted his hat every time he had a good hand.Lifting the corners of his two cards just enough to see the pair of aces, Blake dropped his thirty-three-year-old silver dollar on top of them and threw in two one-dollar chipsthe mandatory flop bet. His buddy Cole Lawry, seated to his left, gave him a long look.Cole studied the ten and queen of spades and two of diamonds faceup on the table, took one more look at Blake and folded.Brady Carrick, ex-Cowboy football player, didn't look at anyone. His face impassive as always, he pushed his cards toward the middle of the table. Brady'd had a hard time of it after an injury had caused him to take early retirement, and he'd headed off to LasVegas, only returning to River Bluff fifteen months beforea year after Blake had made it home.The younger man had come home blaming himself for the suicide death of a rodeo cowboy in Vegassomething to do with a wager. Having just met him, Blake had stayed out of most of the conversation revolving around the incident, except to say that Brady shouldn't take the guilt of someone else's mistakes on his own shoulders.Verne Chandler, a sometimes player with the Wild Bunch, lived in the decrepit, now closed Wild Card Saloon. The older man had moved in to stay after his sister died, leaving the place to her young son. It was there, in the back apartment, that the five-member Wild Buncha group of unmarried guys, most of whom had been friends on and off since high schoolheld their weekly Texas Hold'em games. Hunched over now in the wheel-chair he'd taken to a few months before, Verne wasn't looking so good. Though he was only in his early sixties, the wrinkles on his face seemed to be the result of about ninety years of hard living.River Bluff's male version of the town gossip, Harry Knutson, also tossed in his pair of cards.As did Hap Jones, Luke's foreman and guest for the evening.Ron Hayward called Blake's bet, just as Blake had known he would. Ron was more of an ass than a poker player, a nice enough guy who didn't know his own weaknesses. Put Ron on a construction site, and he was gifted. Cole, who worked for Ron, could testify to that. But let the owner of Hayward Construction join them at the poker table, and he stood out in a less impressive way. If there was a bet on the table, Ron playedwhether he had a worthy hand or not. It made him a waste.Luke, the dealer of the hand, dropped his army dog tag on top of his cards, added his two dollars to the pot and raised them two. Blake and Ron followed suit. Luke dealt the turn. An ace of spades.Blake threw in two more chips. And then, when Luke's raise came back to him, threw in another four.Ron had spent twenty dollars before he folded. "It's just you and me, buddy," Luke said with a grin, making a show out of dealing the river, the third in the series of deals per hand.A two of clubs.Blake tossed in eight bucks. Luke raised him another four. He pushed out another eight. Luke called his eight and raised him four again.The pot was over a hundred dollars. Back when Verne's sister had been alive, this run-down and lifeless place had been pristine. Both out front, where saloon customers came in droves, and back here in the apartment, where Jake Chandler, Verne's nephew and the absentee member of the Wild Bunch, had grown up far too quickly."You wanna just strip off your shorts and get this over with?" Luke smiled as he raised the bidding one more time.Blake didn't strip for anyone. Besides, he was sitting on a full house ace-deuce. The only way Luke was goiQuinn, Tara Taylor is the author of 'The Baby Gamble (Harlequin Super Romance #1446)', published 2007 under ISBN 9780373714469 and ISBN 0373714467.