Free Red River Showdown by J. R. Roberts Page B

held onto the gamblers’ coats and guns. Unlike the previous times he’d looked, Clint now saw the man who’d been sent to check on the situation in the laundry room. He was just finishing speaking with the head guard, who then looked over to Clint as if he knew he was being watched.
    The big man met Clint’s questioning stare, shook his head and then went about his other business.
    â€œAre you looking for someone?” Mia asked.
    Just then, two women entered the room and immediately drew the eyes of everyone else in the place. It would have been impossible to miss them. The blondes walked arm in arm and smiled as if they were greeting every last person, one by one.
    The men returned the blondes’ smiles with a nod, wave or grin of their own.
    The other women in the room weren’t quite so glad to see the new arrivals. Mia was no exception.
    â€œOh,” she said dryly. “That’s what you were looking at.”
    Clint meant to deny the accusing tone in her voice at first, but it was difficult to make that seem credible since he was having a hard time taking his eyes off the two blondes. “Actually, I know them,” he said.
    â€œYou do?” Barry asked. Judging by the excitement in his voice, one might have thought Clint had just claimed to be on speaking terms with the President.
    â€œWell, I know one of them,” Clint clarified. “I spoke to her a little while ago. I believe that other one is her sister.”
    â€œSisters, huh?” Barry grunted as he took a moment to let some things drift through his head. “That’s even better.”
    Jones let out a sigh and cleared his throat. “You make me sick. Are you going to deal or not?”
    â€œAw, you were lookin’ too, Jones,” Barry said as he began flipping cards to each player.
    The woman accompanying Gretchen was close to her height and a bit thinner. Clint guessed the other woman was Gretchen’s sister mainly because both women’s faces had the same angles and they even walked with a similar confident spring in their step.
    The other woman also had blond hair, but with a few hints of red through it. She locked her eyes on Clint almost immediately and leaned over to say something to Gretchen. Although he couldn’t hear what the women were saying, Clint knew it was pretty good considering the smiles on both of their faces.
    As if that sight wasn’t good enough for him, Clint picked up his cards and found that three threes had been dealt to him. “I’m feeling lucky,” he said. Ignoring the glare from Mia, he opened the betting by tossing five dollars into the middle of the table.
    Mia called the bet and muttered, “It seems like the captain of this boat provided some company for his guests along with the liquor.”
    Having allowed himself to look back toward the two blondes, Jones realized Mia was staring at him, and he quickly tossed in some money. After looking down at his cards, he even threw in a raise. “Sorry. I was distracted.”
    â€œMy guess is that’s what they’re there for, Jones.” Barry chuckled. He took a moment to fan his cards and then called the raised bet. “I’m enjoying the show myself.”
    Clint sat in his chair and focused on the game long enough to appear as if he needed to think about calling, and then tossed in the extra money.
    â€œGo ahead and look, Clint,” Mia said. “I’d prefer to have you as distracted as possible. In fact,” she added while covering the bet, “you might want to pay for their company. Nobody would blame you.”
    Discards were tossed toward Barry, and he dealt out the replacements. As those cards were being sent around the table, Clint said, “I didn’t come here to buy anyone’s company. My guess is that women like that will have more offers than they’d know what to do with.”
    â€œWomen like what?” a rough yet feminine