Sucker bet - James Swain [97]
Nigel said, “I do,” and Candy said, “I do,” and a dozen waiters standing in the back of the Delano’s dining room popped bottles of Moët & Chandon. A toast was made, and a rock-and-roll band hiding behind a curtain broke out in a rousing version of the Rolling Stone’s Satisfaction.
Valentine crossed the room and found his date. She wore a stunning twin-textured peach gown. He had paid more for it than he’d ever paid for a piece of clothing for his late wife, and he’d felt guilty buying it. But he needed to tell her how he felt, and something expensive was a good way to start.
“Want to dance?”
“Of course.”
He found an empty spot on the corner of the dance floor. When he tried to engage her, she said, “I have a question for you.”
“What’s that?”
“Do you miss her?”
He acknowledged that he did.
“Do you mind telling me how you ended it?”
“Is that important?”
“To me it is,” she said.
It hadn’t been easy. He’d flown to Memphis and taken her out to dinner, and they’d talked several times on the phone after that. He still liked her, only the chemistry between them had changed. When he’d told her he wouldn’t be seeing her again, she hadn’t objected.
“I thanked her for helping me get my priorities straight,” he said.
“You really said that?”
The band had broken into a slow number. It was too good to pass up, and Valentine and his neighbor glided like a pair of angels across the dance floor.
“I sure did,” he said.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JAMES SWAIN, a gambling expert, is the author of Grift Sense and Funny Money. Swain is considered one of the best card handlers in the world. He lives with his wife in Odessa, Florida, where he is currently working on his fourth novel featuring Tony Valentine. Visit his Web site at www.jimswain.com.
By James Swain
Grift Sense
Funny Money
Sucker Bet
Sucker Bet is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
A Ballantine Book
Published by The Random House Ballantine Publishing Group
Copyright © 2003 by James Swain
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by The Random House Ballantine Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously
in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
Ballantine and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
www.ballantinebooks.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
from the publisher upon request.
eISBN: 978-0-345-46418-7
v3.0