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He stroked the deck. “The goal of this game is to either have the best hand or make everyone else at the table believe you have the best hand.”
Make believe.
Intriguing.
“How do you make them believe that?” she asked.
“By bluffing, but you don’t want to bluff too much. A good full bluff only works for one or two hands during a sitting. You can do little misdirections, but limit the outright bluffs.”
So, this was a game of lies. Fine. How difficult could that be? Ursula lifted her cards. Two tens, a three of clubs, a five of hearts and a queen of diamonds. She ran her fingers over the outside edge as Jay recounted the rules, her mind swirling as she worked to memorize what beat what. He certainly knew a great deal about the game, no surprise. He’d spent how many years wasting his parents’ fortune and name on the Mississippi River?
His face was animated, like always, but different. The arrogance was gone. He was just knowledgeable, confident. A quip about his expertise in sin sat on the tip of her tongue. She opened her mouth but no—she couldn’t tempt changing him.
“What do we do now?” she asked.
“We draw. You can replace up to three to get the best hand you can.”
Ursula took three while Jay chose one. He ran his finger over the edge of his new card and placed another two coins in the inlaid circle at the center of the table.
She dragged her tongue over the back of her teeth and stared at her hand. The two tens were now joined by two sevens and a two. She glanced across the table. Jay’s cards were flat.
What did he have? He only took one card so either two pairs, three of a kind with a high card, or four of a kind. If he had four or three she lost automatically, but if he had two then they had to be better than hers to win.
Sevens and tens. She’d thrown away a queen so it was less likely he had two of them, same with the threes and fives and now twos. Therefore, if he had two pairs, most likely they were sixes, eights, nines, jacks, kings or aces. With two pairs he had a one in two chance of beating her. The probability she had the best hand was abysmally low.
Logic. There was actually quite a bit of logic here. She could do logic. Maybe gambling wouldn’t be that bad.
“I fold.” Ursula tilted her chin to him, waiting for his approval.
Thump, thump, thump echoed through her body. Why did it matter? She always did have to be the best, but this was a silly game and more, a silly game with Jay Truitt, not her father or Hugo’s father or someone whose opinion should actually matter.
Jay raised an eyebrow at her, a slow smirk creeping on his face as he pulled the pot towards him. She bit her tongue and cursed in her head.
“What did you have?”
“Can you handle that news?” He flipped a coin in the air, over and over, daring her.
Could she handle it, indeed? She was Ursula Nunes. She could handle anything, even the loss and whatever ridiculous point he was making. He was better at certain things. That was tolerable, completely tolerable, she didn’t have to always win.
“Yes.” She clenched her teeth. “If I don’t know I can’t learn.”
He caught the coin and appraised her.
“It’s really killing you to say that, isn’t it?”
She closed her eyes.
“Just make your point, Jay.”
His smile deepened so his dimple was visible as he flipped his cards on the table—a pair of kings, a six, an eight, and a two. He had one pair to her two. If she had called instead of folded, she’d have won.
Bollocks, double bollocks and blast.
“You bluffed.”
“No.” Jay gathered up the cards. “Actually, I didn’t. I misdirected. I had a decently high pair and nothing else, but saw you take three cards. You thus had a pair, probably a lower pair as you aren’t a risk taker so you wouldn’t draw for a straight with two of five.”
She pursed her lips. Why did he have to be logical and good at this?
