Redneck Romeo (Rough Riders #15)(80)

Laughter.


“No one else?”


Dalton and Tell smirked at each other but said nothing.


“Well, I ain’t gonna say who the odds on favorite is—Gavin cough cough—because he gambles with so much money every day. But if you’re feelin’ lucky, Ainsley is takin’ bets on who’ll take home the cash pot.” Ben shuffled the cards. “Here we go.”


At first everyone played conservatively. Then Tell bluffed his way to a win, which kicked in Kane and Cam’s competitive sides. Unfortunately for them, they were suckered in by Tell’s manipulation and they went out. Keely lasted a few more hands before she was down to zero chips. Gavin went all in with a full house eights high. But it wasn’t enough to beat Dalton’s full houses nines high over sevens.


So it came down to Dalton and Tell. Dalton let Tell think they were evenly matched as he kept dinging him for a few bucks here and there until Tell was down to two hundred bucks.


Dalton bluffed, knowing Tell would see through it. Tell won the hand and got a little overconfident. Dalton bluffed a few more times and lost several hands, but not in a row.


When Dalton was sitting on three aces and a pair of queens, he glanced over to see a hard set to Tell’s jaw, which meant he was trying his damndest not to grin.


Gotcha.


Odds were Dalton had Tell’s hand beat. Tell most likely didn’t have a royal flush since Dalton held an ace and a queen from two suits. So unless Tell was holding onto four kings or four jacks…


Dalton said, “Check.”


Tell looked at his chips and pushed them into the center. “All in.”


A chorus of oohs rang out.


Dalton looked as his cards, unfanned them into a single pile and set them on the table.


“To you, Dalton,” Ben reminded him.


He shoved his chips into the middle of the table. “All in.”


Tell spread his cards out and grinned. “Read ’em and weep, bro. Hate to hand you another public loss, but there it is.” Tell had a spade flush queen high.


“As purty as that little flush is? It don’t beat this, does it?” Dalton flipped over his cards one at a time…and his family alternately cheered and booed.


“Thank you.” Dalton scooped all the chips to his side of the table.


“But…” Tell said, completely shocked. “I know all your tells.”


“You knew all my tells. Been a long time since we’ve played cards.”


Everyone surrounded Dalton, congratulating him. Someone said, “Speech,” and Dalton knew the time had come.


“Thanks for inviting me to the poker game and handing over all your money.”


Boos rang out.


Kane drawled, “Whatcha been up to since you’ve been back besides practicing polishing your poker hand?”


“Usin’ my handyman skills renovating my friend’s house. And another opportunity has come along and I’ve already started to pursue it.”


He watched his brothers exchange a confused look.


“Which is what?” Cam asked.


“Remember that section of land I bought from the Fox family? The two hundred acres between Tell’s place, and where the upper half borders Quinn and Ben’s section, and the lower half borders Gavin’s land?”


“Yeah? What about it? You gonna put a casino on there?” Colt teased.


“No. I’ve applied for a permit for the state’s pilot program for commercial elk farming.”


Laughter broke out.


“Good one, Dalton, you almost had us there,” Cord said.


“I’m not kidding. I already filed all the appropriate paperwork with the state.”


“Please tell me you’re doin’ this so if you do get picked you can let it sit there fallow to show the state they can’t mess in our livelihood,” Quinn demanded.


Dalton shook his head. “I’m dead serious. That chunk of land is perfect. It’s rugged and hilly. I’ve got the means to build the required fence. I’ve got game supplier contacts in Montana.”


“Is that why you put a new paddle lock on the gate?” Tell asked.


“One of the reasons. I hauled some fencing down there that I didn’t want anyone messin’ with.”


“Do you have any idea how much damage a herd of elk can do to grazing land? Not to mention how freakin’ much feed it takes to sustain them. And if they can’t find that feed in the fenced-in area, well, where the hell do you think they’re gonna go lookin’ for it?” Ben demanded.


Colby, Cord and Colt jumped in to back Quinn and Ben. All talking at once, yelling at him about what a big mess he was making of everything.


Brandt and Tell stared at him, clearly unhappy that he’d brought this up in front of the entire family.


The words selfish and irresponsible and childish, vindictive and troublemaker were tossed around, hitting him center mass just like goddamned daggers.


He needed to get the f*ck out of here now.


The noise escalated to the point the only thing that cut it was Keely’s shrill whistle.