Chapter Eight
The Fat Lady Sings
"Him?" Jordan heard herself and Nigel echo back in surprise.
"Yeah. Him," JD replied, rolling his cigar around to the other corner of his mouth, grinning around it and pointing at Woody at the same time.
"But…Mr. Hoyt is slightly inebriated," Jordan relied weakly, looking at Woody through her lashes, hoping he would outright refuse JD or somehow sink into the wood flooring of the boat.
JD threw her quizzical look.
"Drunk. Mr. Hoyt is drunk," Nigel responded, grinding the words out through his teeth. "You would have him at a disadvantage."
"So?" Was JD's somnolent reply. "I've been playing and losing to a sharp all night. It's time I had some advantage in this jerry-rigged game."
Meanwhile from his place on the makeshift stage with Lily, Woody observed and heard everything that was transpiring. Thinking quickly, he staggered toward JD's table, tipped his hat, and held out his hand. "The name is Hoyt. Woody Hoyt. From the Memphis Hoyts…" he began and then belched loudly. "Excuse me…"
JD snickered and rolled his eyes. Where did this guy come from? And just how green was he? Winning the boat would be easy. Winning Jordan would be a little harder….because despite her agreeing to warm his bed one night, he could detect the slight worry lines at the corners of her mouth…invisible to most people except those who had intimate knowledge of the lady.
"Do you know what you're doing?" she managed to hiss at Woody.
"I do. Indeed I do, Miss Cavanaugh…" he replied, turning his attention away from JD and taking Jordan's ungloved hand and raising it to his lips. "I am about to keep your boat…safe and in your very capable occupation." He caught her brown eyes with her blue ones. His walk and demeanor might appear drunk, but Woody was stone-cold sober.
And sweating bullets. He knew the signals the crew used to throw the card games, but since he wasn't as experienced with them as they were, he was at a slight disadvantage.
And Nigel's look of barely-hidden fear wasn't helping.
However JD looked confident…too confident for Woody's liking. The big man rolled his cigar again to the other corner of his mouth. "And you know you get more than the boat if you win….you get a night with the boat's owner. All night. She does whatever you want her to do…" he gestured towards Jordan.
JD was playing him, and Woody knew it. If you can't beat 'em join 'em, he thought, pushing to make the scene seem real to Pollack. "Really?" he replied, his eyes glinting into Jordan's. "All night…and whatever I want….that does raise the stakes considerably, now, doesn't it?"
"I'd say it makes it worth even more the effort to win," JD replied, pulling the fresh deck of cards out and beginning to shuffle them.
"And I'd say you're right. But you have me at a disadvantage, Mr. Pollack."
"I do? Trust me, Hoyt. The cards aren't marked…."
"No…no…I mean, Miss Cavanaugh…is she really worth the effort? Is she really that…..good?"
Jordan felt a warmth creep up in her face and a blush take over as anger began to snake its way up her spine. How dare they…compare her like a boat or a carriage…Old wounds were beginning to open when she caught Woody's barely perceptible wink.
Then she knew. He was trying to throw Pollack off-guard.
"Why don't you see for yourself, Mr. Hoyt?" she asked seductively, curling her fingers around his.
"I believe I will," he replied as he pulled her to him and found her lips.
Jordan had expected the scene to continue to play out as an act.
She was in no way prepared for the onslaught his lips brought. The kiss began softly enough, but he soon increased the pressure until she had to open her lips for him. As he teased the inner edge of her mouth with his tongue, she nearly gasped.
Then his hand slipped up to lightly cup her breast through the beaded bodice of her dress and his tongue slid the rest of the way into her mouth and played with hers.
Jordan found herself not only kissing him back, but leaning into his touch as his thumb gently stroked the side of her breast. It had been so long since a man had touched her this way…not grabbing, not groping, and not running after he had taken what he wanted…or cursing her when she wouldn't deliver what he thought was rightfully his.
Woody's touch was different…If we going to go there, we're going together… was what it seemed to be saying…The thought flitted through her mind that it would be lovely if the whole room of people would just disappear and she and Detective Hoyt could just…
"That's enough…" JD's voice cut in. "No more sampling the goods before they're rightfully won, Hoyt." Laughter and amusement threaded his voice. It was obvious he was taking Woody for a rube. JD's grin kicked up at the corners of his mouth…raising at least two more notches with his over-found confidence. He was sure Woody would lose and before the end of the night, the Delta Marker would be in his possession and Jordan would be in his bed.
Jordan's eyes snapped open as Woody ended the kiss, pulling away from her, his clear blue eyes now dusky with something she was afraid to read. Ruefully, nearly bashfully, she lowered her gaze and twisted her fingers in nervous knots.
"Well, she seems worth the effort after all, Mr. Pollack," Wood slurred, pretending to still be drunk. "So deal the cards and let's get on with the game…time's wasting. I'd like to get on with my night with Miss Cavanaugh as soon as possible."
JD chuckled and dealt them both five cards.
It was the best out of five hands. JD won the first two. Woody wasn't sure if the crew was just letting JD win to keep that cocky self-confidence in tact, or if he wasn't picking up the signals the crew was giving.
The third hand went to Woody. He saw Jordan's fingers marginally unknot.
The fourth slid to his favor, too. It was tied now and the crowd gathering around the table grew larger. Jordan fingers relaxed a little more.
"Your boy may be pulling through for you, Rosebud," JD commented.
Rosebud. The name irked Jordan now as much as it had once thrilled her.
Now it just left her cold. And from the look in Woody's eyes, he didn't like it either. "Deal," he told JD in a flat voice.
"Hang in there, Hoyt. It ain't over until the fat lady sings…."
Woody took his cards and glanced around the room. Nigel was in the corner, not far away from Jordan. Bug was behind Pollack, but a decent distance away. All any passenger could tell was that the man was scoping the room, making sure it was safe. The nod Bug gave to Lily was barely perceptible. The singer began her next song in the key of G.
Woody doubled his bet.
Jordan's fingers went back into twisting themselves into knots.
"I'll take that bet and raise you five," JD responded confidently.
Woody nodded. JD showed his cards. Four of a kind. Jordan swallowed hard. Woody fanned his cards out on the table.
Straight flush. Woody was holding a straight flush.
JD blinked twice as the crowd broke out in applause. Jordan let out a breath she had been holding for the last five minutes.
Her boat was safe.
She was safer.
But it nearly all fell apart when JD made a sudden movement and pulled a revolver seemingly out of nowhere.
That was a no-no of course. All guns…all weapons … were checked at the door before the boat left the dock. They were locked up in the boat's safe. It was a matter of personal integrity that no card player have a weapon while the games were in progress. Sometimes tempers would flare…and it was just safer.
But JD had obviously waltzed around this rule. "The game….this game….you….it was rigged," he growled out to Woody.
Woody's hands went to reach for the ceiling. "Now Mr. Pollack," he began, trying to placate the New Englander. "Nothing was rigged. I won fair and square."
"I don't think so. The boat…her…they belong to me…" He made a lunge towards Jordan.
And all hell broke lose. Woody went for the derringer hidden in his waist coat about the same time Nigel pulled Jordan out of harm's way. Then from somewhere Bug appeared with a rifle, pointing it at JD's head. "If I were you," Bug ground out menacingly at Pollack, "I don't think I would move."
