Slowly Reno nodded. «Makes sense. Bet their hands had started to go bad.»

«They could barely shuffle, much less deal cards. Especially Don.»

«Were they cardsharps?»

Eve closed her eyes for an instant, remembering her shame and fear the first time she had been caught cheating. She had been fourteen and so nervous, the cards had scattered all over when she shuffled. In picking the cards up, one of the men noticed the slight roughness that marked aces, kings, and queens.

«They were gamblers,» Eve said tonelessly.

«Cheats.»

Her eyelids flinched. «Sometimes.»

«When they thought they could get away with it,» Reno said, not bothering to hide his contempt.

«No,» Eve said in a soft voice. «Only when they had to. Most of the time the other players were too drunk to notice what cards they were holding, much less what they were dealt.»

«So the nice old couple taught you how to colddeck and bottom-deal,» Reno said.

«They also taught me how to speak and read Spanish, how to ride any horse I could get my hands on, how to cook and sew and —»

«Cheat at cards,» he finished. «I’ll bet they taught you a lot of other things, too. How much did they charge for a few hours with you?»

Nothing in Reno’s voice or expression revealed the anger that churned in his gut at the thought of Eve’s beautiful body being bought by any drifter with a handful of change and a hard need filling his jeans.

«What?» Eve asked.

«How much did youremployerscharge a man to get under your skirt?»

For an instant Eve was too shocked to speak. Her hand flashed out so quickly that only a few men would have been able to counter the blow.

Reno was one of them, but it was a near thing. Just before her palm would have connected with his cheek, he caught her wrist and flattened her out on the bedroll beneath him in the same violent motion.