Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,161

had just revealed his hand. Abigail, the deceitful, faithless bitch, was in town. Somewhere. “Well, you know how it is. People exaggerate Intuit abilities to justify their own mistakes.”

The bell over the door jingled. The jewelerlooked relieved.

Parlan turned away from the counter and faced the newcomer.

The gray in the hair was too well blended into the black to be caused by age, especially when combined with the face and body of a man in his prime. The amber eyes that were fixed on him held unnerving focus. Casual clothes—jeans, shoes, checked shirt. And a star pinned to the shirt pocket.

“You must be Sheriff Wolfgard,” Parlan said, expecting the Other to be surprised that he would know.

“You must be Blackstone,” Wolfgard replied. “The Gambler.”

By all the dark gods, how had he known that? Had Charlie Webb been in town shooting off his mouth before Judd found him? Or had the mayor identified him that way, knowing he was a professional gambler? Either way, here was the sheriff rushing over to get a look at the stranger who had come to his town.

He met the Wolf’s eyes. He’d stared down plenty of men—especially the ones foolish enough to call him a cheat. But this was different. The amber eyes didn’t look away; the lips pulled back, revealing teeth that weren’t human; and the sound coming from that throat …

Parlan looked away, acknowledging the Wolf’s dominance.

“If you’ll excuse me, Sheriff?”

He waited until the Wolf stepped aside. It bothered him that he wanted to hurry, wanted to run.

The fucking beast made his skin crawl.

Parlan headed for the saloon. He wanted, needed, a drink. And he wanted time to consider what the clan would need to do in order to stake a claim in Bennett.

* * *

* * *

“Sheriff?”

Virgil looked at Kelley. The fear smell had been in the shop before he’d entered, so he knew he wasn’t the cause. “What?”

Kelley wiped a hand across his forehead. “That man said a couple of things that made me think he was fishing for information about Abby.”

Virgil growled. “He said her name?”

“No.” Kelley shifted from one foot to the other. “But he said some things that reminded me of how Abby had acted around some gemstones just before we moved to Bennett. It … caused some trouble between us. Made me see things differently. Just because our marriage is over doesn’t mean I want her to get hurt.”

“He’s trying to sniff her out.”

“Yes, I think so.”

“Then we’ll have to sniff out the rest of his pack before he finds her.”

* * *

* * *

Two men were sitting at a table, drinking beer and playing checkers. Two other men, dressed almost identically in what Parlan considered a work uniform, stood on either side of the bar. The bartender had black hair, dark eyes, and olive skin.

Sanguinati. Gods, weren’t any of them blond-haired and blue-eyed? Or had they bred any other coloring out of their species?

The other man had medium brown hair, green eyes, and an easy smile. Young, with that first real-job eagerness. Watching him shuffle a deck of cards and add a bit of flash to the hand work before he dealt out two hands of cards, Parlan smiled.

The Sanguinati looked at him. “Can I get you something from the bar?”

“Whiskey from your best bottle.”

While the vampire retrieved the bottle and a glass, Parlan moved closer to the other man. “You work here too?”

“I’m the saloon’s professional gambler.”

You’re hardly that. Takes more than a few fancy moves to be a professional.

He indicated the cards on the bar. “Is this a closed game?” He’d learn more by playing a couple of hands—and losing so they would be eager to have him come back—than he would by asking questions.

“No, we can add another player. I’m Freddie, and that’s Yuri.” Freddie scooped up the cards he’d just dealt and shuffled again to include Parlan.

Yuri set the glass of whiskey in front of Parlan and set the bottle on the bar just out of reach of Parlan helping himself. Then he reached under the bar and retrieved a metal cake tin. He set it on the bar, opened it, and …

“Do you usually stake your customers?” Parlan asked as Yuri placed stacks of quarters in front of each of them.

“I’m still learning this game, so this is just for practice,” Yuri replied. “At the end of it, all the coin goes back in the box.”

Were they kidding? Apparently not.

“All right, gents, ante up. We’re playing five-card stud.” Freddie dealt the cards.

Parlan