«Just one thing,» Slater added coldly. «Make damned sure all the cards you deal yourself come from the top of the deck.»

Eve forced herself to smile despite the ice condensing in her stomach. She had no doubt that Slater would kill a woman he caught cheating just as quickly as he would kill a man.

«Are you accusing me of cheating?» Eve asked.

«You’ve been warned» was all Slater said.

Reno shifted slightly. The motion brought the butt of his six-gun closer to his left hand. Silently he measured the catlike elegance of the girl with the determined eyes and the soft mouth.

«You sure you want to bet yourself, Miss… what was the name again?» Reno asked, though he knew very well.

«Star,» she said softly. «My name is Evening Star.»

Eve’s voice was much calmer than she felt. She had lied about her name so often, she no longer hesitated over it. In any case, the lie was meaningless; no one alive remembered her as Evelyn Starr Johnson.

«All right, Miss Star,» Reno drawled. «Are you sure you know what you’re doing?»

«What do you care?» Raleigh demanded. «She’s old enough to have everything a man needs, and pretty enough to make taking it a pleasure.»

«Miss?» Reno repeated, ignoring the other man.

«I’m sure.»

Reno shrugged, outwardly indifferent. Beneath the table his left hand settled on his six-gun.

The saloon’s hush changed into a humming of male voices as people left their drinks at the bar and focused on the poker table where the potential stakes now consisted of a rope of pearls, an ancient emerald ring, a Spanish treasure map…

And a girl called Evening Star.

Reno was certain the ring was real, had his doubts about the treasure map and pearls, and wondered how the girl with trembling lips and steady gold eyes had ended up as table stakes in Canyon City’s most infamous saloon.