Betrayed by a Kiss by Kris Rafferty

Author:Kris Rafferty [Rafferty, Kris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Select Suspense, romantic suspense, Kris Rafferty, Woman in jeopardy, redemption, ugly duckling, romance, Entangled
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC
Published: 2016-08-29T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Every eye seemed on Marnie as she nodded a greeting to the dealer. The woman was gorgeous—bleached blonde, blue eyed, in her forties. Marnie, along with everyone else here, knew the woman most likely had a gun strapped to the underside of the table. It kept tempers in check when money was lost and won.

There were five players seated tonight. Patrick’s wife, Serena, would have been the sixth, but illness and poker were not a good mix. They’d make do with five. Marnie knew another one of the players, a college kid. He wore headphones and smelled like he hadn’t bathed in days. She’d long wondered if this was a tactic or simply bad hygiene. He was good, which was why they put up with it. She’d lost to him in the past.

The other player, a paunchy guy in black, was wearing sunglasses. He was new. Patrick acted as if he didn’t exist, so Marnie took the cue and ignored him. There’d be time enough to see what kind of player he was during the game.

Ralph shifted in his seat, getting into the zone. Six four, sedentary, 350 pounds, and pale as paste, Ralph was bald as a cue ball and sported a gold incisor. He would die at a poker table. He was on his third marriage, had two kids in college, and was her favorite person in the entire world. A surrogate father—an angry surrogate father. Guilt had her cringing inside. It was wonderful to see him, even if he looked grumpy. She wished he wasn’t playing this particular game. She wished she’d returned his phone call.

Ralph smiled at her, probably reading her thoughts. It didn’t take clairvoyance to read his. He was out to crush Dane, her proxy in the game. Teach her a lesson, lose her some money. Ralph believed in tough love.

He was sizing up MacLain, wondering if he were gold or dross, while she was using a considerable amount of energy to appear composed. Her feet hurt in the heels, heels she’d chosen thinking she’d be sitting at the table, not breathing down MacLain’s neck for three hours. Everyone eyed him, wondering who he was. With everyone dropping ten grand to buy into the game, five grand for David, a grand each split between the security and dealer, there was forty-three grand up for grabs. The way David did it, the top three walked away with something, leaving only two empty-handed at the end of the night. So even if MacLain won, the most they’d win would be thirty grand, and they needed every penny of it to cover her order with the supplier. When she had the idea to play this game, it had seemed a simple solution for ready cash. Now she wasn’t so sure.

David nodded to the dealer, indicating the game was starting. The chips were in place, and Patrick was left of the dealer, so he posted his blind. The pre-flop round commenced, and Marnie blocked out all thoughts of the target on their backs and what had to happen to destroy WE and get their lives back.

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