Page 46 of Vengeful Vows

That and shopping, but I’ve done that for so long now that my feet and calves ache, even though I’m wearing flats.

“Sorry, Mrs. Burke,” Sean mumbles, and I look back at him.

“You can speak?”

Finn laughs. “We both can, ma’am.” It comes out, in his Irish brogue, like “mum.”

“Good to know.”

They follow me up to the hotel penthouse, bringing in all my things. They start to leave, but I stop them. “Hey. Do either one of you know how to play Blackjack?”

That’s how thirty minutes later, I’m sitting cross-legged on the floor with two Irish mobsters who outweigh me by about a hundred pounds together, playing Blackjack.

“Hit me,” I say, and Sean looks at my three cards incredulously. “Just hit me,” I growl, and he slips me a card.

I groan, seeing that I went over.

“That’s your problem,” Finn says, throwing down his cards—a King and a nine. “You keep worrying about getting twenty-one. Instead of trying to make twenty-one, just get as high as you can without going over. Most times, you’ll win the hand that way.”

“Let’s play again. Finn, you deal this time.”

We play for a while longer, and finally, I start to beat Sean.

I narrow my eyes at him. “Are you letting me win?”

He grins. “Guilty.”

I throw down my cards. “I’m gonna beat Declan at Blackjack if it kills me.”

Sean laughs. “You won’t beat Declan, dearie. He’s a card shark, you know?”

“He is?” I have to admit that I suspected, given his sister’s stories. “Does he cheat?”

He shakes his head, frowning. “Never. Irishmen don’t cheat.”

My father does.

I don’t know why I thought that. He’s cheated here and there at small games that we played, but I don’t know if he does it in business. I don’t like thinking that way about my father, and I shake my head to clear it.

“When will Declan come back?”

Finn shrugs. “It’s getting dark. He should be back soon.”

As if on cue, Declan comes in the door, stumbling a bit, and I look up at him. He frowns, seeing me sitting on the floor, and Sean and Finn scramble up.

“What’s this?”

I kick the cards so they scatter as I stand up. “We were just playing Solitaire.”

“Isn’t Solitaire a solo game?”

Finn and Sean exit the room, and Declan kicks off his shoes, falling onto the bed.

“You smell like wine.”

Declan nods. “Let’s just say John and his friends like their booze,” he mumbles.

“How’d it go?” I climb into bed with him, and he shrugs.

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