Two days later...

The four of them entered the Casino. Eleanor and Liam had wanted to go, Jasper wanted a change of scenery, and Elizabeth didn't want to be left in the Villa alone.

Once inside, Jasper and Elizabeth went to go and sit in the bar, while Eleanor and Liam joined in with some of the games being played.

Jasper was with Liam and Elizabeth was with Eleanor. Within minutes, each of the two former con-artists knew which tables had people counting cards, including the dealers. They had agreed that they would not play card games at the Casino, as they both reverted back to counting cards when they played, so instead, they used their skills to keep an eye on the two Royals to prevent them being taken for a ride.

Eleanor had been playing about an hour when Elizabeth moved closer to her shoulder.

"Someone at this table is cheating. I would fold and make excuses to leave" Elizabeth whispered in Eleanor's ear.

Eleanor looked sideways at Elizabeth and saw how serious she was, so she folded her cards and cashed out on the pretence of going for a drink.

The two girls headed out over to the bar, where they saw Jasper sat, alone, nursing a glass of water.

"Aren't you meant to be watching my brother?" Eleanor asked him, dropping into the seat opposite.

"Yes, but I needed to get off my feet for a few minutes. He was fine when I left him."

Eleanor looked at Elizabeth, who nodded and went in search of Liam.

"Elizabeth told me that there was a cheater at my table. How did she know?"

"Do you really need me to explain this to you?"

Eleanor raised an eyebrow at him.

"Get up!" he told her, heading for a breakfast style bar table with stools around the outside of the bar area. Eleanor followed him. He waited until she was sat on the stool next to him before continuing:

"If we start with the righthand corner furthest from us, and call that table one, then the one in front is two, one in front of that and so on, then the one next to one is six. You with me so far?"

Eleanor nodded.

"So, if you look at table one, from here, you can see the guy winning. He is counting cards."

"How can you tell?"

"If you watch him, you will see his focus is on everyone else's cards. He doesn't even pick his up, mainly because he knows what they are as they're drawn."

"How do you know this?"

"Len, I am a former con-man who then worked as Vegas security. You might as well shine a spotlight on him, because he is not being too careful about being spotted."

"Maybe."

"If you look at table seven, the dealer is cheating. He is palming cards."

"I can't see anything."

Jasper stood up and allowed her to move into his seat. When she was settled, he leaned over her shoulder, using the bar to hold his weight. He then started pointing out when the dealer was palming cards.

From here he then pointed out a few other people who were using less than honest means to win.

Eleanor, as much as she wanted to play, was ultimately fascinated with what Jasper was telling her. She thought that card counting was something that happened infrequently at Casinos, but the more Jasper pointed them out, the more she began to spot patterns in their behaviour.

She heard her name called, and she spun around on the stool, catching Jasper's ribs with her elbow as she did so.

Jasper immediately let out a breathy grunt and almost collapsed to his knees in pain. It was only the bar that held him upright.

"SHIT!" Eleanor almost shouted as she had realised what she had done, and she got off the stool to make sure he was alright. They were quickly joined by both Liam and Elizabeth.

"What did you do?" Liam demanded, eyeing up his bodyguard.

"Caught him with an elbow."

"This place is crawling with people cheating, you both know that right?" Elizabeth asked the twins.

Eleanor nodded, while Liam looked confused.

"Jasper's been pointing them all out to me." She looked sideways at the bodyguard, whose breathing had evened out, and was trying to force himself into a standing position.

"I think it's time we all went home." Liam said evenly, looking at Jasper, who had gone almost white with pain.

"I really wanted to play some more cards" Eleanor said, but one look as Jasper changed her mind.

"We can always have a friendly game of poker back at the Villa?" Elizabeth suggested.

"We not have chips or anything." Liam pointed out.

"I'll think of something."


Twenty minutes later, they were sat around the small outdoor table. Elizabeth's something being jelly babies, and she was sorting them out into colours before dividing them evenly between the four of them.

"So, green are lowest. there are five green to one red, five red to one purple, and five purple to one white" She said, handing piles of jelly babies out to everyone.

"We best cut the deck to pick a dealer. Lowest card is dealer."

They all took it in turns to pick cards off the top of the deck. As it happened, Eleanor picked the lowest, and therefore she took the bread roll they were using to identify the dealer.

Within the hour, Jasper had figured out Liam and Eleanor's tells, and could call their bluff with a single high card draw. Jasper was winning. Elizabeth was down on her luck and only had a handful of green jelly babies left. Liam and Eleanor were holding their own.

Then it happened.

Jasper and Eleanor had folded, as their hands weren't great, and the cards face up on the table were not in their favour, leaving Liam and Elizabeth playing. Liam had just called.

"I see your call, and I raise you, a naked dash around the palace." Elizabeth said, her face straight, pushing her jelly babies into the middle of the table.

"I will see your raise, but as you have no chips left, I agree to your terms, BUT if I win, you have to do the naked run" Liam agreed, pushing the right number of jelly babies into the centre of the table.

"Lets seem them then!" Eleanor said.

Liam turned his cards over. He had a pair of Kings and eights.

He laughed at Elizabeth, which quickly turned to shock as she revealed her hand of a pair of Aces and a pair of tens.

"Shit"

"Don't worry Liam. You might have stood a chance if she wasn't counting cards for the entire game" Jasper told him