Only 03 - Only You

was a certain rough justice in cheating Slater and his gang. Everything of value on the table had been stolen a few days ago by Raleigh King. If she had to cheat to get everything back, she would.
    Her only regret was that she could do no worse than that to the man who had murdered Don and Donna Lyon.
    With outward casualness, Eve continued shuffling while she waited for the third player to agree to the unexpected bet. When no agreement came, she glanced cautiously at the man from beneath her thick eyelashes.
    The green-eyed stranger had taken a seat at the table an hour ago, just before Eve had begun to deal the first hand. A single look at the stranger had told her two things: She had never seen a man who appealed more to her; and she had never seen a man more dangerous.
    She suspected that the stranger’s Virginia drawl was as misleading as the seeming indolence of his movements. There was no laziness in his greeneyes. Wariness was as much a part of him as his black hair and powerful body.
    Yet Eve’s instincts kept whispering that this man was somehow different from men like Slater and Raleigh, cruel men who cared nothing about hurting or destroying those who were weaker than themselves.
    “Just one thing,” Slater added coldly. “Make damned sure all the cards you deal yourself come from the top of the deck.”
    Eve forced herself to smile despite the ice condensing in her stomach. She had no doubt that Slater would kill a woman he caught cheating just as quickly as he would kill a man.
    “Are you accusing me of cheating?” Eve asked.
    “You’ve been warned” was all Slater said.
    Reno shifted slightly. The motion brought the butt of his six-gun closer to his left hand. Silently he measured the catlike elegance of the girl with the determined eyes and the soft mouth.
    “You sure you want to bet yourself, Miss… what was the name again?” Reno asked, though he knew very well.
    “Star,” she said softly. “My name is Evening Star.”
    Eve’s voice was much calmer than she felt. She had lied about her name so often, she no longer hesitated over it. In any case, the lie was meaningless; no one alive remembered her as Evelyn Starr Johnson.
    “All right, Miss Star,” Reno drawled. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
    “What do you care?” Raleigh demanded. “She’s old enough to have everything a man needs, and pretty enough to make taking it a pleasure.”
    “Miss?” Reno repeated, ignoring the other man.
    “I’m sure.”
    Reno shrugged, outwardly indifferent. Beneath the table his left hand settled on his six-gun.
    The saloon’s hush changed into a humming of male voices as people left their drinks at the bar and focused on the poker table where the potential stakes now consisted of a rope of pearls, an ancient emerald ring, a Spanish treasure map…
    And a girl called Evening Star.
    Reno was certain the ring was real, had his doubts about the treasure map and pearls, and wondered how the girl with trembling lips and steady gold eyes had ended up as table stakes in Canyon City’s most infamous saloon.
    “Five-card draw,” Eve said quietly. “My deal. Agreed?”
    “We already agreed,” Raleigh said impatiently. “Deal.”
    “You’re really sweating to lose the rest of your money, aren’t you?” Reno asked carelessly.
    “Listen you son—”
    “Shut up, Raleigh,” Slater interrupted coldly. “You can get killed on your own time. I came here to play cards.”
    “The only one doing any dying will be this here rebel turncoat,” retorted Raleigh.
    “I don’t see any rebel turncoats,” Reno said, smiling lazily. “Do you?”
    The wolfish quality of Reno’s smile, plus Slater’s blunt warning about getting killed, told Raleigh he had made a mistake by dismissing the lazy-looking stranger as no threat.
    “No offense meant,” Raleigh muttered.
    “None taken,” Reno said easily.
    Both men were lying.
    Eve’s heart threatened to choke her as the moment approached when she would have to stop shuffling and deal. Given a choice, she would havegotten up and walked away from the grimy saloon and the three dangerous men. But there was no real choice.
    She had nowhere to go, no money to pay her way, her stomach was growling from hunger; and most of all, a desire for vengeance burned in her blood like acid. Raleigh King had killed the only two friends Eve had.
    And she had just thought of a way to return the favor.
    Praying that the green-eyed stranger was as deadly