She studied the paper. Gino’s penmanship was as bold and masculine as the man himself, nothing at all like her flowery handwriting.
“Ready to try a hand?” he asked. “Or shall I run through the rules again?”
“Let’s go for it.” Reaching for her bourbon, she took a small sip. It tasted disgusting, but drinking it felt fitting for a game of poker. It helped that Gino had sweetened it by mixing lemonade into it for her. “I’m big blind, right?”
“Right.”
She put two chips into the centre. He moved them to his left and added one of his own to them, then dealt them two cards each. He took only a peek at his before putting another chip in the pile, and then he dealt three cards on the table face up.
“I bet first?” she asked after consulting with the piece of paper
“Yes. Two chips minimum.”
She pushed two chips onto the pile. He followed suit, then dealt the fourth open card on the table. They each put two more chips onto the pile, and then the fifth and final open card was dealt. When she pushed two chips into the pile this time, he added four and said, “If you want the game to end now, you either match me and see my cards, or you fold if you don’t think you can beat me. Or you can raise the bet and force me to put more chips in to keep playing.”
“What do I do if I think that your raising of the stakes is a bluff?”
He met her stare. The lines around his eyes crinkled. “That, Miss Marino, is what poker is all about.”
Oh but those crinkling eyes made her heartsing. “In that case, I will match your bet and see your cards.”
“You don’t want to raise it?”
“No. Show me your cards.”
He turned his pair of twos over. “Let me see what you have.”
“I thought I didn’t have to unless I claim victory?”
The unexpected admiration on his face made her feel ten feet tall. “You did pay attention. Now turn your cards over and claim your victory.”
“How do you know I’ve won?”
“From where you kept looking at the paper. To have any chance of beating me for real, you’ll need to memorise the rankings.”
She turned her Ace and King over. With the Queen, Jack and Ten on the table, that gave her, according to Gino’s list, a straight.
Snaking her hand out, she pulled the pile of chips over. “And now I deal?”
“You don’t want me to deal for you?”
In answer, she held her palm to him.
He put the cards on it. “Shuffle them well.”
She split the pack and used her thumbs to make the cards cascade together. “How many dummy hands will we play until we play for real?”
“We won’t be playing for real.”
“Why not? It seems a shame to go to all this effort to teach me and not play a proper game together.”
Amusement flared in his gorgeous dark brown eyes. “I can hardly gamble for money with my hostage when I know I’m going to beat her. Even I have some scruples.”
She raised a mock-shocked eyebrow. “Forgetting your newly-discovered scruples for a minute, youknowyou’re going to beat me?”
“I’ve been playing this game since before you were born.” He raised his glass of neat bourbon and took a healthy sip.
“All that lovely experience you’ve gained…” Openly staring at him, she deliberately let her voice trail off, the thought that had been playing in the back of her mind since he’d agreed to teach her the game gaining prominence.
