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They all called. Damn.
He waited until everyone had added their new cards to their hand. He’d dropped two cards and picked up the six of hearts and…holy hell, the fourth king. He kept his breathing calm and even, kept his body language as relaxed as he could, just as he’d been during the entire game. No one watching him would know what he held.
Whatever Schumacher had pulled sent the man’s blood rushing to his cheeks, and even though he wasn’t smiling, he still looked incredibly pleased. Adam hoped that it was the liquor making him so horrible at hiding his hand, because if he was always this easy to read, it was a wonder he hadn’t lost everything he owned already.
Two of the other men folded. The third raised the stakes. Adam had enough chips to call. Schumacher did not.
That should have been the end of it. He should have folded.
Instead, he fumbled with something in his vest pocket and slammed a folded paper onto the pile.
“What is that?” the dealer asked.
“The deed to my property,” Schumacher said, casting his drunken gaze around, daring anyone to reject it. Aside from a strangled gasp from Nora, no one said anything. On the contrary, the men still playing grinned, their eyes zeroing in on the deed.
“None of us is holding what that must be worth,” Adam said, trying to stop the catastrophe unfolding before his eyes.
“It’s worth what I say it’s worth,” Schumacher said. “The rest of you go all in and we’ll call it even.”
“Pa, you can’t,” Nora said, laying a hand on his shoulder.
He brushed her off. “Yes I can. It ain’t yours yet. Now stay out of it.”
Adam avoided meeting Nora’s gaze, though doing so was nearly painful, and glanced at the other men. One he knew was bluffing. The man had been running his finger lightly over the backs of his cards since he’d picked up the new ones after discarding. A nervous tic. Every time he’d done it, he’d folded or showed a poor hand. Another he was relatively sure had nothing as well. A slight scowl flickered across his face for a breath of a second when he’d first picked up his cards. The third…Adam wasn’t quite sure. He was doing a better job of hiding his emotions than he’d been doing the rest of the night. Which itself was a tell. He was most likely holding something good.
Only three hands could beat what Adam held. Four aces. A straight flush. Or a royal flush. No one could be holding a royal flush because Adam held all the kings. So that eliminated one threat. The chances that either Schumacher or the other man was holding one of those hands were slim. The chances of them each holding one, almost nonexistent. But there was still a chance.
Either way, his best bet was to stay in the game and hope either Schumacher won or he did.
The fidgeting man folded, as Adam had expected. The man on Adam’s right also folded.
“The man’s insane,” he muttered, sitting back and shaking his head.
Adam agreed. Unfortunately, the remaining man either didn’t agree…or did, but wanted to take advantage. Either way, he shoved all his chips into the pile. Adam couldn’t back out now. He glanced quickly at Nora, his stomach dropping at the look of utter horror on her face, and pushed his chips into the pot.
Schumacher’s eyes gleamed greedily.
The remaining man dropped his hand. A full house. Good hand. But not good enough.
Schumacher cackled and dropped his hand. “You lose, Bunson! I’ve got four pretty ladies, all lined up.”
He laid out his four queens and started reaching for the pile in the center of the table.
“I’m afraid I’ve got you beat,” Adam said quietly.
He laid down his hand, his eyes fixed on Nora. “Four of a kind. Kings.”
Nora’s mouth dropped open, and her gaze shot to his, her eyes glassy with unshed tears.
Schumacher lurched from his seat, his chair crashing to the floor. “You cheated!”
Adam sighed. “No, I didn’t.”
“You can’t steal my property!”
Adam raised a brow. “I didn’t steal it. You lost it.” And as soon as he could, he’d make whatever arrangements were necessary to keep it safe for Nora, so her father could never do something so despicable again.
“No!” Schumacher screamed again. “You’re a thief! First you steal my daughter and now you think you can steal my land?” He pulled a huge knife from his boot and started waving it in Adam’s face.
