Blue Bells of Scotland: Book One of the Blue Bells Trilogy Read Online Free PDF Page B

the redhead's cleavage. "Where's that famous luck?"
    "You're right here, baby." He kissed her soundly. "One more game."
    The cards flashed around the table, bets placed, antes upped, and Dana grinned as she reached across the table, claiming his emaciated pile of bills. The redhead once again cradled his head in consolation.
    "Double or nothing!" Caroline pulled his face back toward herself. "Let him play on credit, Rob."
    Shawn guffawed. "Schmitz warned me to learn a lesson last time I did that."
    Laughs went around the pub. The musicians remembered that peccadillo. "Schmitz isn't here." Dana winked as she passed her cards to Jimmy.
    Too many beers made the decision easy. "He sure isn't," Shawn announced, his voice echoing with the effects of alcohol. The patrons cheered. They'd be talking about it for years, how he came back from nothing.
    Rob looked to Jimmy, who stared hard at Shawn, while his hands shuffled the deck fluidly. Jimmy nodded. The redhead dug a notebook and pen from her purse and began scribbling IOU's. "You good for them?" she asked.
    "You know I'm good, baby." He scrawled a drunken signature on each one, even as Jimmy slid cards swiftly to each player, around and around the table.
    Shawn gulped a mouthful of frothing ale before scooping up his cards. Rob and Dana scanned their hands and pushed in their ante. He edged Caroline off his lap. The redhead backed up. Jimmy pushed in a large pile of bills, his eyes boring into Shawn's.
    Shawn thumbed his cards aside, close to his body. Nine of spades. Jack—spades. Another spade—the queen. He kept his face still, despite the flush of liquor, and pushed aside the next card. A three of hearts. He thumbed the next one into view, hardly daring to hope. It was the ten of spades.
    He didn't react. It was still a matter of extreme luck. But then, he was known for just that. Rob pushed in twenty-five pounds. The bets flew around the table, even as whispered side bets flew around the room behind him.
    Rob exchanged three cards. Jimmy exchanged two, Dana three. Shawn discarded his three of hearts, drawing the six of diamonds. More bets flew around the table and around the room, the stakes climbing as Rob put in seventy-five, and Jimmy a hundred. They discarded and drew again. Shawn slid his new card up.
    The eight of spades.
    A corner of his mouth twitched up. He couldn't lose.
    Rob put in another hundred.
    "I raise you two hundred," Jimmy grunted.
    Dana folded with a dramatic roll of her eyes. "Easy come, easy go," she sighed.
    Shawn snapped his fingers for the redhead's pen, and put a three in front of the twenty-five on his IOU.
    Jimmy's eyes narrowed. "How do I know you're good for it! Ye're already playing on credit."
    "Give him a marker, Shawn," somebody yelled from the crowd. "Your trombone!"
    Even in his liquor-logged state, Shawn's head spun at the blasphemy. But the crowd pressed close, tingling with the drama.
    "Worth a lot, your horn?" Jimmy asked. "A big name like you?"
    His inner Conrad shrieked, but Jimmy's attitude rankled. "A big name like me, yeah, it's worth a year's salary to you. Bring it."
    Caroline swayed like Vanna White, and the fawn-colored case moshed over the crowd, into her waiting hands. She dropped it with a flourish and a thud in the center of the table, and reached underneath to pile bills on top of it, flashing white teeth.
    "An you lose, you give me the money, and you get yer horn back," Jimmy said.
    The crowd cheered, like Romans at the Coliseum, demanding their excitement. Shawn glanced down at his cards. He couldn't lose. They'd be talking about it for years, how he bet his trombone against the big Scot. The crowd edged in. Body heat slicked the surface of the air. The chatter and side bets rose to a fevered pitch.
    He stared sternly around the room, one eyebrow cocked. Silence dropped like a guillotine blade. He cocked the eyebrow next at Rob, who smugly laid out four aces. Shawn grinned slyly, spreading his hand for all to see.