Free Lisa Plumley by The Honor-Bound Gambler

“All right, then. Have it your way.” He shook his head, knowing she was much too confident about her plans to find Tobe’s parents. “I’d wish you good luck, but I don’t seem to have any to spare right now.”
    She grinned. “Does that mean I’ll see you again tomorrow?”
    “I can’t rightly say.”
    “You won’t say, you mean.”
    Cade shrugged. Determinedly, Violet straightened her spine. Her maneuver put her chest right up against his. It turned out that her shape wasn’t quite as washboard flat as he’d imagined it was. Violet Benson was not curvaceous, but she was...affecting.
    As though sensing her unexpected advantage, Violet tipped her face to his. She offered a kittenish smile. The mingled fragrances of castile soap, laundry starch and warm, feminine skin reached him next, making Cade go stock-still with longing.
    Men at a gambling table didn’t smell like that. Neither did roving train cars or impersonal hotel rooms or bathhouses. Cade couldn’t remember when he’d enjoyed inhaling quite so much.
    “I’d be very happy,” Violet said, touching his arm with an utter lack of guile, “if you’d come back to see me tomorrow.”
    Yes. Yes . On the brink of agreeing instantly just to see her smile again, Cade flashed his dimples at her instead. “Mmm. And I’d be happy if you’d rub up against me some more, sugar.” Deliberately, he gestured at her position. “But this time, move a little slower, please. I want a little more time to enjoy it.”
    Just as he’d expected, Violet widened her eyes. She blinked, seeming to awaken to their compromising position. Then she smiled up at him. “You’re the one who backed us up here. Anyone watching would think you wanted to be this close to me .”
    Damnation. She had him there. Cade put down his arms.
    “You do, don’t you?” Defying his expectations this time, Violet stayed put, arms crossed. “You can’t scare me, Cade. As I said, I’ve done a lot of charity work. I’m not meek or naive.”
    “But you are inexperienced. And I’m plenty skilled.”
    She appeared to ponder that. Her expression turned subdued.
    “Well,” she said. “If you don’t turn tail after this one evening together, I guess we’ll find out about that, won’t we?”
    Her expression now appeared downright challenging.
    Cade gaped. “I can’t believe you’re baiting me. Me .”
    “Then we’re even. Because I can’t believe you’re trying to seduce me into not helping one small, innocent boy who’s all alone in the world! Even though you helped him first. You must have brought Tobe here for a reason.” Tilting her head, Violet examined Cade with uncomfortable perceptiveness. “I think I know what it was, too. Cade...how many orphanages did you stay in?”
    Shocked, Cade stiffened. Memories rushed at him, black and lonesome and bitter to recall. He’d thought he’d buried them.
    It took him a minute to recover. Dimly aware of Violet watching him, Cade sucked in a deep breath. Somehow he made himself toss off a smile. It was not his most dazzling effort.
    “I’ve just decided,” he told Violet, “that I won’t be back tomorrow. It turns out, if this is good luck...I don’t much like how it feels.”
    Then he tipped his hat to her and took himself away.
    Violet Benson might have succeeded in “saving” one male of her acquaintance tonight, Cade told himself darkly as he stepped into the chilly evening air outside on the front porch, but she wasn’t getting her angelic hands on both of them. Not if he could help it.
    And he damn well could.

Chapter Five
    T he nice thing about Sunday services, Violet thought as she sat, hands clasped atop her hymnal, clad as usual in her best jade-colored, worsted-wool bustled gown, in her customary place in the front pew of her father’s church, was that they afforded folks a much-needed chance to socialize after a busy week.
    Of course, church services also helped save people’s immortal souls. That was of