Cowboy Alibi by Paula Graves

Author:Paula Graves
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2008-10-07T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

“Double down, mister,” Joe said to the blackjack dealer, taking Jane’s hand and kissing it “for luck” as he’d explained to the dealer the first time he’d done it. Jane slanted a look at Joe, amused by the relish with which he was playing the role of the clueless bumpkin for the blackjack dealer.

The dealer arched an eyebrow, looking at the three and the seven in his own hand. Joe held a nine and a two. The dealer laid down another card for Joe. A three of hearts.

Jane flashed a friendly smile at the blackjack dealer, a man in his late fifties who looked like a permanent fixture behind the table. He was older than the dealers she’d talked to at the other casinos.

The Painted Pony Casino was the third they’d tried since heading for the strip early that morning. They’d come up empty at the first two. Nobody admitted to knowing the con man Jane had seen in her dream.

Maybe she’d get lucky here.

“I’ve always thought it would be fun to be a dealer,” she commented airily. “Do you have to know any math?”

The dealer looked up at her with an amused smile. “Can you add up to twenty-one, ma’am?”

“Yes.”

“That’s all the math we want to see going on at a blackjack table,” he answered, dealing himself a card. The six of clubs. He glanced up at Joe, who was lightly drumming his fingers on the blackjack table. “Newlyweds?”

Joe gave Jane a look so besotted that it made her stomach turn flips. “Just got hitched,” he answered with a sly wink at the dealer. “Now I’ve got to make a little money to pay the bills.”

The dealer uncovered the facedown card in front of Joe—the six of diamonds. He played his own facedown card. A jack of spades. “I guess it’s your lucky day all around, then, mister.” He slid the winnings toward Joe.

“I used to come to Reno with my family when I was a kid,” Jane said as Joe motioned for the dealer to deal him another hand. “I can barely remember any of it. There was this guy though—an older guy. I remember he had coal-black hair with just a little gray at the temples. And he dealt that game—what’s that game where there are three cards, and you switch them around and around and someone tries to guess where the queen or the ace or whatever is?”

“Three-card monte, darling,” Joe drawled, tapping the eight of hearts in front of him. “I don’t think folks here at the casinos consider that a proper card game.”

The dealer grinned as he dealt Joe a queen of diamonds. “No, we don’t. And, ma’am, if you run into that particular guy again, turn around and run the other way.”

A flutter of excitement rippled through Jane, tinged with apprehension. She darted a look at Joe. He fingered the edge of his card and tried to look more interested in the game than the conversation.

She couldn’t be quite so nonchalant about their first lead all day.

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