Give My All to Jessie (Third in Outlaw Series)

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Jessie sat in a gentleman's lap, her skirts riding up and revealing the soft skin of her calf. She twirled his black bowtie between her slender fingers and watched as he picked up his red-backed cards.

Glancing across the table at her pa, Jessie ran her long painted fingernail along her bottom lip. A sign to let her pa know the man was holding a straight. Her pa gave the smallest of nods as he ran his hand over his thick black mustache to let her know he was going to fold.

No in this saloon knew that the middle-aged man across the table from Jessie was her pa. That would have ruined their entire scheme. They pulled the trick in every small town saloon they came to and they made quite a good living doing it.

Jessie would dress herself up in tight satin and lounge about on the gentleman's laps, distracting them from their cards as she gave her pa signs to let him know what they held in their hands.

She'd been doing this same con with her pa since she'd been thirteen and Jessie was damn good at it.

"Yes. I won that hand!" the gentleman with the straight announced as he slid his winnings toward him. The other men at the table grumbled but the gentleman put his lips closed to Jessie's ear. "I do believe you're my good luck charm."

Jessie gave a sultry laugh and ran her finger down his arm. "A man doesn't need luck when he's as good at the game as you are."

"Just what every man wants," he grinned. "A humble woman."

Jessie winked. "Oh sir, I can assure you that I am in no way a humble woman. I just know a good man when I see one." She batted her lashes and he chuckled. Men were too easy.

The dealer dealt yet another hand and Jessie twirled a strand of hair around her finger to let her father know the gentleman had nothing. She jerked her face away when she felt the gentleman stroke it.

"No touching," she warned with a raise of her brow.

The gentleman simply laughed and went back to his cards. She swatted at him when she once again felt his hand against her cheek. Then Jessie frowned. Was he... wet?

Jessie's eyes flew open and she cried out in shock as she jerked away from the man sitting beside her. He held a wet cloth in his hand and it was obvious that he'd been running it over her face.

"You're awake," Langley breathed out with relief.

Jessie stared into his blue eyes and struggled to remember just how in the world she'd come to be in a bed with Jeremiah's nephew tending to her.

She had been so close to getting the man who had killed her pa but his friend had gotten her first. Jessie had patched herself up the best she could and had taken refuge in this rundown shack. She'd been holed up nearly two whole days before Langley had come riding in. But that still didn't explain how she'd ended up flat on her back in a bed.

"Just want the hell do you think you're doing?" she demanded as she swatted that rag away when he raised it to her face again.

Jessie pushed herself into a sitting position and winced when she felt stitches pull in her side. Stitches? When did she get stitches?

"You'd better be glad I came along when I did or else you'd really be in trouble," Langley informed her. "You've been fighting that fever for nearly two days now but you're finally cool and since you're awake, maybe you'll stay that way."