Betting the Rainbow (Harmony) by Thomas Jodi

Author:Thomas, Jodi [Thomas, Jodi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2014-03-31T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

THURSDAY, TEN P.M.

DELANEY FARM

DUSTI WAS SITTING OUT ON THE DOCK WHEN KIERAN DROVE down Rainbow Lane and turned into their drive. By the time she noticed him it was too late to slip her jeans back on, so she did her best to act like she wasn’t sitting in her underwear and hoped he wouldn’t notice.

He grinned, reading her mind. “Looks like a grand way to cool off, lass.” He lifted a bag. “I figure I’ve eaten enough of your food, so I brought by ice cream hoping you’d still be awake.”

She started to stand, then remembered that she wasn’t dressed. “Turn around.”

“Not a chance,” he answered.

She stared at him as she stood and tugged on her jeans. To his credit, his eyes never dropped lower than her smile.

“We’re here to play poker,” she said, walking past him. “So as soon as I eat half that ice cream, we’re playing one last time.”

“That’s the plan.”

And surprisingly, that was exactly what they did. He dealt the hands faster, making her think quicker. “It’s got to be almost instinct,” he’d say over and over again. “You have to take it all in and compute what your move is. The longer you think, the more time you’re giving the other players to think.”

Dusti played every hand, barely noticing when he tried to distract her, or bluff her, or force her to respond with emotion and not logic.

Two hours later, when Dusti said good night to Kieran, she knew she might as well have said good-bye. Tomorrow was the big game and both would be playing to win. Neither had mentioned the other half of their bet. He’d said he would teach her to play, and she’d agreed to a date. If she lost, she wasn’t sure she’d want to go, and if he lost, he might be the one to call it off.

For a man who wanted to go out with her and claimed she’d turned him down three times, he didn’t seem all that interested in her now. Most of the times she’d cuddled up to him, he’d reminded her they had work to do if she planned to learn to play in time.

The next afternoon, when Dusti made her twenty-dollar donation to play, she found herself searching the mob for a tall Scot. It seemed everyone in town either wanted to support the library, so they were out on the Truman farm helping out, or had come to play.

While Dusti got her number and rack of chips, Abby whispered, “Where did some of these guys come from?” Men in business suits, cowboys, oil field workers, all ages came to play. Of the two hundred, only ten were women.

Dusti smiled as she and Abby backed to the edge of the crowd. “Remember what Kieran told us. There are all types who play. Assume everyone is already playing you even before you sit down at the table. Like that woman, who looks like she came to pole dance, may be a real pro, and the man in dark glasses may have made millions.

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