“Vaughn is two and a half. We keep our angel away from Keely and Jack’s twin devil boys so as to not give him any ideas,” Cord said, ducking Keely’s swat.
“Looks like the McKay ranch will be goin’ strong for another generation with all the ranch hands in training,” Dalton said.
None of them suggested that he get on the stick, get married and add to the fray, since that hadn’t exactly worked out last time.
“We’ve the table assignments, so listen up,” Kade said. “Table one will be, me, Keely, Quinn, Tell, Gavin and Colby. Table two will be Ben, Colt, Cam, Brandt, Cord, Dalton and Kane.” He pointed to Ainsley at the end of the bar. “Ainsley has volunteered to be the banker.”
“I didn’t volunteer; I was volunteered by my husband.”
“Handling money is a natural state for you, darlin’.”
Dalton wondered if Ben saw her stick her tongue out at him.
“So head over and get your chips if you haven’t yet. Buy-in is fifty bucks.”
Dalton stood in line next to Tell. He leaned in to whisper, “You playing it safe today, bro?”
“Not on your life.”
“Me neither. Get ready for the showdown between you and me in the championship round.”
“Wanna bet who comes out on top?”
“I ain’t makin’ a side wager with you, Tell.” Dalton grinned. “Be like takin’ food outta your kid’s mouth.”
“A hundred bucks says I win it all.”
Sucker. Dalton stuck out his hand. “You’re on.”
As soon as he took his seat at the table, he said, “Who’s dealing?”
“This ain’t no fancy casino game. We take turns dealing,” Kane said. “Ainsley keeps an eye on things so there’s no cheating.”
“Who would ever cheat at cards?” Cam said with a mock gasp.
“You. Which is sad considering you are an officer, sworn to uphold the law,” Colt said.
“I ain’t wearing my gun or badge now so alls fair,” Cam retorted. He rubbed his hands together with anticipation. “Let the bloodbath begin.”
A lot of trash talking happened during the game. If anyone noticed Dalton didn’t join in it wasn’t mentioned. He just played until he ran Brandt out of chips. Cam took out both Cord and Colt. Kane eliminated Ben.
They took a break to grab snacks and more drinks, although they seemed to be drinking a lot less booze than they used to.
Gavin caught Dalton by the chips and dip. “Have you heard from my daughter lately? She told me you two have been in contact over the years. And yes, she confessed she owns the house you’re living in.”
“Now why would she do that?”
“A couple of my business associates contacted me and asked, if Sierra was my heir, then why she wasn’t buying property through Daniels Development. So I did a little research and found out she owns six properties. One here, one in Casper, one in Cheyenne and three in Arizona.”
“Girl’s got ambition,” Dalton admitted.
“She’s also got a financial backer. I’m sure she used some of her inheritance from her grandparents to fund this…venture. But she’d need someone older to partner with. Someone with solid credit. I’m assuming that’s you?”
He shot a look over his shoulder and lowered his voice. “Look, Sierra is a savvy young woman. Her ideas are sound. She’s grown up in the real estate business so she’s not some wet-behind-the-ears kid earning a business degree with no practical experience. My gut instinct was to back her and it hasn’t proven to be a bad investment. Return on investments are slow at this point, but I didn’t give her any capital I couldn’t afford.”
Gavin’s eyes remained skeptical. “Your brothers—no one in the McKay family has any idea how well-funded you are, do they?”
“Nope. And I’d like to keep it that way. You should be proud of Sierra. The whole reason she’s been doin’ this is to prove to you she’s a self-starter and she’s qualified to run the business with you.”
“Thank you for saying that. I’m damn proud of that girl and she’s a good judge of character.”
“What’re you two whispering about over here?” Tell asked.
“Issues I had fixing Rory’s doggie door. Gavin installed it six months ago and we’re brainstorming on how we can repair the broken seal,” Dalton lied with a straight face. “Why? What’d you think we were talkin’ about?”
“The two of you ganging up on me in the final round because I’m the real threat in this contest.”
Dalton and Gavin looked at each other and laughed. “Nice try, bro. See ya at the table.”
Keely, Gavin, Tell, Cam, Dalton and Kane made it to the final table. Ben offered to act as the dealer.
“So, we have any side bets goin’?” Kade asked.
“If I stay in longer than Cam, he’s taking all of our kids so me’n Jack can have a night out. If a miracle happens and he stays in longer than me, I have to take his girls and mine fishing. No men allowed, which means I’ll be baiting hooks and removing hooks.” She shuddered.
Laughter.
“No one else?”
Dalton and Tell smirked at each other but said nothing.
“Well, I ain’t gonna say who the odds on favorite is—Gavin cough cough—because he gambles with so much money every day. But if you’re feelin’ lucky, Ainsley is takin’ bets on who’ll take home the cash pot.” Ben shuffled the cards. “Here we go.”
At first everyone played conservatively. Then Tell bluffed his way to a win, which kicked in Kane and Cam’s competitive sides. Unfortunately for them, they were suckered in by Tell’s manipulation and they went out. Keely lasted a few more hands before she was down to zero chips. Gavin went all in with a full house eights high. But it wasn’t enough to beat Dalton’s full houses nines high over sevens.
So it came down to Dalton and Tell. Dalton let Tell think they were evenly matched as he kept dinging him for a few bucks here and there until Tell was down to two hundred bucks.
Dalton bluffed, knowing Tell would see through it. Tell won the hand and got a little overconfident. Dalton bluffed a few more times and lost several hands, but not in a row.
When Dalton was sitting on three aces and a pair of queens, he glanced over to see a hard set to Tell’s jaw, which meant he was trying his damndest not to grin.