He could tell she was more than a little apprehensive by the slight quiver in her voice. Nothing would have pleased him more than to take her in his arms and kiss her nervousness away.
They both turned over their hold cards as they waited for the dealer to reveal the last two community cards. He had a pair of nines, while she had a possible straight.
His heart thumped hard against his ribs as Edward dealt the turn card and then the river card face up. Thankfully, they were of no help to him, but she did end up with the straight she was hoping for. “I thought my pair had you beat,” he said, hoping that he looked and sounded convincing.
For the first time since sitting down at the table, she smiled at him. “Apparently not,” she said as the dealer raked her chips and most of Lane’s to her side of the table.
Left with just enough chips to make his play convincing, Lane waited until the dealer finished dealing the flop before he looked at his hold cards. When he did, he almost groaned aloud. He had a pair of kings and odds were she had a lesser hand. He could only hope that she beat him with the community cards.
Placing his bet, he shoved all but one chip into the pot. “As long as I have a chip and a chair, I have a chance,” he said, smiling. When she hesitated, he held his breath. It would have been much easier to fold if he’d been dealt cards he knew would lose. But as he stared at her across the table, he knew his choice was the easiest one he’d ever made. Taylor thought they were playing for the ranch. But he knew there was much more at stake than a thousand acres of Texas dirt. And for the first time in his life, he was going to throw a game and hope that it was enough to get what he wanted.
“I’ll match that bet,” she said decisively and without hesitation.
The dealer dealt the flop—two tens and a king. Lane’s heart felt as though it would jump out of his chest. He had a full house. Why the hell couldn’t she have gotten his hand?
The competitor in him wanted to play the cards and win. But as he stared at her across the table, his heart told him he had only one choice.
Taking a deep breath, he shook his head. “I fold,” he said, leaving his hold cards face down as he conceded the game and picked up his remaining chip. “You win, Taylor.”
Lane ignored the startled look on Cole Sullivan’s face as he stood up and offered to shake her hand. “Congratulations. The Lucky Ace is yours and yours alone.” When she placed her small hand in his, it felt as if a jolt of electric current passed between them. He’d done the right thing—the only thing he could do. He only hoped his plan worked and it wasn’t the last time he would be allowed to touch her.
“It was a good game and you played quite well. I’m proud of you, Taylor.”
“I had a good teacher,” she said softly. The sadness in her emerald eyes was almost his undoing.
“Enjoy the ranch,” he said as he slipped the poker chip into his jeans pocket and turned toward the door.
Forcing himself to move before he changed his mind, Lane walked away without so much as a backward glance and headed for the casino exit, leaving the only woman he would ever love behind.
* * *
Saddling Cinnamon, Taylor mounted the buckskin mare and headed south toward the creek. Her emotions were a tangled mess and she didn’t see how she could feel any worse. Hopefully she could think more clearly and somehow draw strength from the place where she and her grandfather had gone fishing so many times. The place where he had asked her grandmother to marry him. The same place she and Lane had picnicked the day they went riding.
Her confused feelings had begun the night she confronted him with what she had learned about his past and had only gotten worse this afternoon after Lane had walked out of the poker room. She knew it was a rule that once a player folded his cards, they were dead and other players weren’t supposed to look at them, but she hadn’t cared. Her instincts had told her that beating Lane shouldn’t have been that easy. And she’d been right. He’d folded a full house, which would have easily beaten her three of a kind.
Why had he done that? Why had he thrown the game and given her his share of the Lucky Ace? And why did finally having all of the ranch make her feel as if she was the one who’d lost more than she had gained?
When she reached the creek, she dismounted and ground tied the mare. Walking over to the creek bank, she lowered herself to the grass and took the letter from the pocket of her jeans. Cole Sullivan had given it to her just before she left the casino, but she hadn’t read it yet. On the front of it her grandfather had written both her name and Lane’s. But she had no idea if or when she would ever see Lane again.