Free Joker's Wild by Sandra Chastain Page A

gamble? As in playing cards?” She sat up straight and turned to face him. “Why take that kind of dumb chance?”
    “It started in order to test my special instincts, and I won. I do it for the challenge, I guess. Why do you skate? For the thrill, the satisfaction of winning.”
    She considered his answer. “I guess I do understand gambling. The thrill of being the best, of claiming that one moment of glory. I suppose the feeling could be the same. And you won.”
    “Yes,” he added very carefully, “and so did you.”
    “And now I’m paying the price. I’m not qualified to do anything else, and unless I can skate again, I’llnever be able to buy Elysium back. So you see, my answers aren’t that simple.”
    “Nobody ever said life was simple, Beauty.” Joker took her hand and held it. “We just do what we have to do. And what we have to do now is get you to bed. Tomorrow we start solving our skating problem.”
    “This is not ‘our’ problem, Joker. My knee is my problem, and with the proper therapy, I’m supposed to be able to walk. But skate? Not without pain. And that, I’m learning to live with.”
    At least she’d voiced the possibility that she was considering some kind of future. He thought she was wrong about the knee. But they’d cross that bridge when they came to it. For now, she was going to stay, and that was all he wanted.
    “About that pain. Tell me who issued your prescriptions, and I’ll get them refilled. The pharmacist over at the nursing home will handle it for you so that the word won’t get out.”
    “Thank you,” she said, knowing that she was going to need the medication if she planned to do any of the exercises she’d been assigned. She gave Joker the doctor’s name and told him how he could be located. “I just wish they were magic pills, instead of muscle relaxers and painkillers.”
    “Oh, you’re not going to need them for long. I told you I’d take care of you. Maybe you won’t skate again. Big deal. We’ll make wings and fly.” He gathered her up in what was becoming a familiar position, one hand beneath her legs and the other behind her back.
    Hesitantly she slid her arms around his neck. Who was she to argue with her grandmother’s judgment? Tonight she needed Joker to be there, too, strong and reassuring.
    “Anybody ever tell you that you smell good?” she asked, arranging herself against him.
    “Hey, that’s my line,” he protested, and carried her back inside and up the stairs to her bedroom. “Now I’m going to have to come up with something equally provocative.”
    “Like what?”
    “Like you’d better stop squirming around. It’s very stimulating to the male body.”
    “Ah, Joker, we’re friends, remember.” As if to torment him, she repositioned her arms and turned her upper body more fully against him.
    Joker groaned and dropped his voice into a throaty growl. “You can be friendly in your way, and I’ll be friendly in mine. Besides, I remember the first little girl I was friends with. We had a great time playing together.”
    The upper hall was dark. Joker didn’t bother to turn on the switch as he pushed the door open and moved inside Allison’s room.
    “Oh? What did you play?”
    “Doctor and nurse. I always did think that was more fun than cowboys and Indians.”
    “I’ll bet,” she said with a laugh. “The cowboy always kissed the horse.”
    “Definitely a waste of good friendship,” Joker’s voice had turned husky and was warm against her forehead.
    “Aren’t you going to put me down?”
    “I suppose. Are you sure you don’t want to play with me? I’m a lot of fun.”
    “Not tonight, Joker, my friend. It’s beddy-bye time.”
    “Do I get a good night kiss?”
    “Do you think you deserve one?”
    “Like your grandmother said, I’m a good boy.”
    “Good boy? I don’t think I’ll buy that,” Allison said in a light tone. “You’re much too charming to be trusted.”
    Allison never meant to kiss the