“Wouldn’t you rather get the dust off first?” Raymond asked.
“Maybe after a bit. I wanted some drinks and cards first.”
“The table minimum is a nickel, sir,” Joey said.
“Fine by me,” the man said, pulling the empty seat out and dropping into it. He set his things down and opened up one side of his bags, taking out a fist-sized, jingling pouch. He removed several nickel and silver coins from the pouch and stacked them in front of him. “What’s the game?” he asked once he put the bag away.
Chapter Nine
The newcomer didn’t say much for the first couple of hands, and no one seemed interested in trying to engage him in conversation, either.
“Quiet table, considering it was the center of attention just a bit ago,” the man chuckled.
“Well, there were circumstances for the hilarity,” Doc said. “You look like you were out on the trail. Anything of interest?”
“The infamous cattle thief, Winslow Wilson, was interesting,” the man replied. “I didn’t expect him to try chewing his own thumb off to escape. Made good headway on it while I slept, too. If I’d slept in another hour, he might have made it.”
Everyone gave the man surprised or disgusted looks. Fiala covered her mouth, looking a bit green.
“Bounty hunter?” Doc asked.
“No,” the man said, giving Doc a long look. “Federal marshal, actually,” the man pulled the edge of his long jacket back, revealing the badge.
“Ah. No man can evade the long arm of the law forever,” Doc said.
“If more people believed that, I wouldn’t have spent the last month chasing Wilson down.”
“Can I get you some drinks?” Cassia asked when she came over to the table.
“Bring me a bottle of whiskey,” the marshal ordered.
“On me,” Doc said, holding a dollar out to Cassia.
“No need for that.”
“I firmly believe that lawmen who take their jobs seriously should be acknowledged,” Doc said. “Marshal…?”
“Wennwood Hickinbotham. People I like can call me Wenn,” the marshal replied. “I’ll accept this time.”
“Anything for you, sir?” Cassia asked.
“I’m still good with this beer,” Doc said, tapping the handle of the mug Fiala had brought him.
A couple of others ordered drinks before Cassia left them to get the order filled.
“Wennwood, it’s your ante,” Joey said.
“It always comes around so quick,” Wenn laughed and tossed a nickel to the dealer. “What about you?” he asked Doc.
“I’m not a lawman,” Doc replied. “I’m Doc Holyday. Currently a gambler, but hoping to get my feet under me in other ways soon.”
“Doc?” Wenn asked. “As in doctor?”
“It’s my given name. I don’t have any formal training through the colleges.”
“Missed opportunity,” Wenn chuckled as he checked his cards. “Is it to me?”
“Your bet, sir, yes,” Joey replied.
“A dollar,” Wenn said as he tossed a silver dollar into the pot.
Raymond and a couple others stayed in, but Doc didn’t even have a pair, so he left the hand. When they finished, Wenn was raking in the hefty pot and one of the players was out of cash, so he took his leave.
“You didn’t want to give me some of yours?” Wenn grinned at Doc as he stacked up his new coins.
“If I had the cards, I would have stayed in. With a hand full of trash, I wasn’t going to.”
“Your drinks,” Cassia said, dropping off the bottle to Wenn first and giving him a flirtatious smile. “If you need anything else, Marshal, just call for me. I’m Cassia.”
Wenn gave her a long look up and down before he smiled wide, “After this bottle is done, I will.”
“You going to be in town long?” Doc asked once Cassia had left.
“A week, maybe,” Wenn replied. “Paperwork and trial.”
“What’ll become of Wilson, do you think?” Doc asked as the next hand got dealt.
“He’ll be condemned,” Wenn shrugged. “A dozen counts of cattle theft across six states, and double that number of killings during those thefts. I’d wager the judge will have his soul pulled out. If he hadn’t done the murders, he might have gotten away with a little rope fandango, but he killed too many.”
Doc had a dozen questions, but knew asking any of them would expose him as not being native. Stewing on how to try getting answers, he looked at his cards and saw three jacks.
No one opened the betting until it got to Doc, “Half-dollar.”
Everyone but Raymond and Wenn bowed out of the hand, and neither raised. Turning in his two cards, Doc was sad he didn’t get another pair, but that would have been pushing the odds. Both Wenn and Raymond took a single card each.
“Hmm, I’m going to have to bet a dollar,” Doc said.
“Make it three,” Wenn was quick to raise.
Raymond, who had started to reach for his chips when Doc had bet, shook his head and kicked his cards to Joey instead. “Fold.”
Doc stared at Wenn for a long moment, but could not get a read off him. “Call.”
“Straight,” Wenn said, turning over his cards and showing off his ten through seven of hearts and the six of diamonds.
Doc nodded and mucked his hand instead of showing it to Wenn. “Better than what I had. Nice hand to bet on, though. Possibilities there with the flush and straight draws.”
“Luck can be fickle, but she likes me more than she hates me, I think,” Wenn replied.
“Like most women, Lady Luck has two sides to her,” Doc chuckled. “The side where she loves you, and the side where you’ve upset her… and you better hope her gun is unloaded.”
Wenn boomed out a laugh, “I like it. I’ve known those ones. The last one had a loaded gun— she was a terrible shot, luckily, so she only grazed me when I went out the window.”
“Doc, your ante,” Joey said, bringing him back to the game.
“Got it,” Doc chuckled and tossed a coin to the dealer. “What happened with the woman?”
“That’s a long story, but the short version of it is that her brother was one of the people I was looking for. Found out the morning after a... brief interlude. Her brother was caught an hour later, and I made sure to get the fuck out of there as quick as I could.”
“I’d say that was Luck not liking you,” Doc snickered. “Then again, you did get away and caught the guy you were looking for.”
“True. It was a mixed bag.”
Doc looked at the cards dealt to him and saw that he had a straight to the ace. “Five dollars.”
Wenn frowned, “Five? Steep price before the draw.”
The two people between Doc and Wenn folded, leaving it to the marshal.
“Call,” Wenn said slowly.
Raymond folded, “I’m not going against that.”
Joey pulled the coins together before looking at Doc. “How many?”
“None.”
Wenn’s lips pursed as he looked at his hand, then pulled two cards and mucked them. “Two for me.”
Joey gave Wenn his cards before looking to Doc. “Your bet, Doc.”
Doc had watched Wenn’s face intently, but the marshal hadn’t reacted when viewing his cards. “Damned good poker face, Wenn. I have no idea if you picked something up or not. I still have to bet my hand; five again.”
Wenn tapped the table for a moment, staring back at Doc. “I’m fairly certain you have something, but the question is, is it better than my hand?”
Doc picked up his mug and took a drink, not replying. After about five seconds, Joey called the bet to Wenn, prompting him to make a decision.
“I hate losing everything I just made and more, but that’s the way the cards flop,” Wenn sighed. “Call.”
“Doc, you’ve been called,” Joey said once he had collected the money.
“Straight, to the ace,” Doc said, showing his cards.
“Dealt a damned straight,” Wenn sighed as he mucked his hand. “Beats my trips.”
Doc chuckled as he pulled the pot in, tipping Joey a nickel as he did. “Luck comes and goes, but in the end, we all have to call or fold.”
“True enough,” Wenn agreed, holding up his bottle in salute to Doc before taking a long pull. “This stuff is horrible, but it’ll do the job.”
~*~*~
The game continued for another couple of hours until Wenn finally stood up from the table. He still had the majority of his money, but a portion had gone to Doc. Raymond had left after his money was exhausted, having been split between Doc and Wenn. The other two players called it a night, as well.
“Bottle is empty and the game is dead,” Wenn chuckled. “Time for the bath and then… bed.” His last word was slow as he eyed Cassia dancing on the stage.
“You’ll want to get her when she comes off the stage. We almost always get picked up by someone at that point,” Fiala told him.
“Much obliged,” Wenn said as he got to his feet. “Doc, be seeing you.”
“I’m sure you will,” Doc said and gathered his money. “Joey, thanks for the hands.” He slid the dealer a dollar. “They shouldn’t have been upset with you. It’s not like you control the cards.”
“It is the way things are. The last dealer who fudged the deck was tossed out by Madam Lia and taken to the sheriff to face charges,” Joey said. “I know better.”
“Doc, are we going to go upstairs?” Fiala asked softly.
Doc gave her a smile, “Yeah, after a bath for me. I prefer to be as clean as possible before enjoying other relaxations.”
The piano stopped playing and the crowd applauded Cassia when she went to leave the stage. A couple of loud voices started arguing at that point.
Doc looked over in time to watch Wenn hit the man he was arguing with. The man went down hard and started to get back up when Wenn flared his coat, showing the badge.
“Don’t,” Wenn said simply when the man’s hand touched his pistol.
Removing his hand from his gun, the man on the floor got to his feet, spat at Wenn’s boots, and stormed off. “Fucking lawmen think they own the world.”
“Excuse me, Marshal,” Lia said, appearing behind Wenn, “we don’t like fighting over the women here. We settle those disputes by the woman in question choosing.”
Wenn turned to look at Lia and nodded slowly. “Have we met?”
“I’m Madam Lia. I run the Lily.”
“I see. My apologies to you, Madam, and to you, Cassia.” He finished turning to Cassia. “I had promised earlier and didn’t know the rules of this house. If you are amenable, I’d like what we talked of earlier. If not, I’ll take my leave.”
Cassia felt all the eyes on her, but she gave Wenn a smile. “Next time, don’t fight, please. I would have chosen you over him, anyway. Did you want that bath first?”
“That’d be good. If this place has a room for the night, I’d take that, too.”
“Speak with Westin behind the bar,” Lia told him, “and try to enjoy your evening, Marshal.”
“Is there more than one bath here?” Doc asked Fiala once everything was over.
“We have two rooms,” Fiala said. “Come with me. Unless you’d like to get some clean clothes first?”
“Be for the best,” Doc said. “Where do I meet you?”
“Through the door by the stairs,” Fiala said. “I’ll pick up some different clothing, too.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Doc smiled. “See you in a few.”
Fiala’s smile was bright, “I’m looking forward to it.”
Chapter Ten
Doc met Fiala in the hallway, closing the door to the saloon behind him. “That dancer sure was flexible,” he mentioned as they started down the hall.
“Jasmine is the most agile of us,” Fiala replied with a glance at him.
“I’m perfectly happy with my companion,” Doc smiled at her. “I was just not expecting her to pull off that maneuver. Pretty sure I’d pull a muscle or three trying it.”
Fiala giggled as she imagined him trying. “Best not try, then. Hurting those muscles would put a damper on other activities.”
“It would, indeed.”
As they bantered, Doc got a good look at some of the rooms off the hall. The kitchen door was open. Inside were two older women, hard at work preparing food, and three children of different ages assisting them. A set of double doors stood open, giving him a view of a private dining room. Three more doors marked the hallway, and two were bathing rooms. The last door was unmarked and looked sturdier than any other door he had seen in the building.
Fiala motioned to the other bathing room door, which had a small plaque hanging from the knob. “That means someone is using the room.” Her words were punctuated by a happy laugh, followed by a splash. “It sounds like the marshal is already using it.”
“Cassia sounds happy,” Doc chuckled when he entered the other room. Fiala picked up the red wooden plaque to hang on the door handle before she closed it behind her.
Doc was surprised by the room; he had half-expected it to only have a wooden hip tub, a stove, and a few jugs of water. What he saw instead was a copper-coated iron tub in the middle of a spacious room. A hip-high, six-foot-long table stood near one wall, and the shelves near it were filled with various bottles and soaps.
“Did you want those clothes cleaned, too?” Fiala asked.
“I was going to ask about that,” Doc chuckled as he moved further into the room.
“Normally, you just need to ask one of the staff and it’d be taken care of. I’ll let Posy know that you need them cleaned when we’re done in here. She’ll collect them and clean them.”
“Thank you,” Doc turned around to find Fiala laying her clothing out on a stand next to the door. “Clothes go there?”
“It’s easier if they do. You can drop your dirties into that basket there,” Fiala motioned to the wicker hamper.
“Right,” Doc said as he started to strip. He put his belt and other non-clothing items next to his clean clothing.
When he finished, he noticed that Fiala had also divested herself. Letting his eyes take her in, he noted the scars and imperfections that marred her body first— some were prominent, others less so. Being a man, his eyes were drawn to her overall figure. She had high perky breasts that had barely started to give way to gravity, a flat stomach with just a hint of extra padding, and toned firm legs. The only hints of her heritage were her ears, tail, and the strip of fur connecting the two that ran down her spine.
Looking up to her eyes, he realized she was shifting a little awkwardly. “Sorry, Fiala, I was just enraptured.”
Fiala’s cheeks heated and she motioned him to the tub. “Never had a man look at me with such intensity before. Why don’t you get the water to your preferred temperature while I gather some of the odds and ends?”
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Doc said, aware that her eyes had drifted below his waist since he was already rising to salute her.
“Like a stallion,” Doc heard Fiala mutter. He smirked as he bent over the tub, turning the marked taps to get the water running.
Testing the water, he waited to add the plug, lazily watching Fiala’s backside as she went to the shelf on the far side of the room. Once he had the water where he wanted it, he plugged the tub and climbed in. The tub was long enough for him to stretch out with his back against the far side of it, and the edges came up to just under his arms, letting him rest them on the broad flat sides.
“This is nice,” Doc said as he continued to watch Fiala.
“Do you prefer plain, orange, or jasmine?” Fiala asked.
“Plain, please.”
“Okay.” She picked up a bar of white soap and brought it over to the tub, along with a stool. “Once you’re wet, I can start soaping you up,” she told him, looking down at him.
“Is that how it works?” Doc chuckled and met her eyes. Reaching down, h
e splashed water up his torso and stood. “Think I’m ready, then?”
Fiala licked her lips, “I’d say you are, but certain activities aren’t supposed to take place in these rooms.”
“Ah well, let’s get the bathing out of the way and retire. What do you say?”
“Yes, please,” Fiala said as she lathered the soap in her hands.
Suited for Luck Page 7
