Read Online The Charmer by Autumn Dawn - Free Book Online Page A

ought to let them play, if they provide their own
ante.”
    “Ante?” Keilor asked. He drifted closer and
snagged a chip.
    “Money, honey,” Jasmine supplied, taking the
glass with the least amount of liquor. “You’ll also have to supply
your own booze. I don’t think there’s enough here to put us all
under the table.”
    “There isn’t enough there to put one of me
‘under the table’,” Keilor said with disdain, and went in search of
something stronger.
    “We wager with real money while you use
snails?” Jayems asked with a scowl, pulling out a chair.
    “What are we supposed to wager, our virtue?”
Jasmine retorted, getting up to grab a glass of juice. All that
salt was making her thirsty. Keilor had just returned to the room
as she said that, and he froze in his tracks. Jayems looked at
Wiley out of the corner of his eye.
    Wiley’s eyes narrowed. “Forget it.”
    “I don’t know, I think the idea has merit,”
he answered smoothly.
    “You would.”
    Keilor brought two glasses with silver crests
to the table and poured a generous shot into each. “If I’m going to
be playing with real coin against shells, I’d have to agree with
Jayems. We should at least get a kiss if we win the game.”
    “No.”
    Jasmine hesitated for a moment. Their newest
plan depended on robbing these two blind. The question was, what
was she willing to do to get home?
    Anything.
    Well, almost anything. Taking a bracing
breath, she negotiated, “No tongues.”
    “Jasmine!” Wiley cried in disbelief.
    Eyes narrowed, Keilor bargained, “If you sit
on our laps while delivering it.”
    Wiley slapped a hand on the table,
embarrassed. “Stop it, you two!” She was ignored.
    Cupping her chin in thought, Jasmine ran a
thumb over her lips, considering Keilor with mercenary eyes. If she
had to sit on his lap then she darn sure was going to make it
count. “Gold coin for every shell.”
    Keilor smiled wickedly. “I’ll give you two
for every shell if you sit astride.”
    That gave her pause. Some of the fun of
bargaining drained out of Jasmine as she considered whether
possible bribe money was worth what he was asking. Her eyes
flickered as she looked down, counting the cost to her pride.
    “Don’t you dare,” Wiley warned her, breaking
the tense silence.
    “Oda ouya aveha anothera away ota etga oneyma
orfa ibingbra ehta aurdsga, Wi?” Do you have another way to get
money for bribing the guards? Jasmine asked casually and then
added in English, “Don’t be a baby, Wiley. It’s just a little
kiss.” Even as she said it she could feel her hot face betraying
her. The very last thing she wanted to do was kiss Keilor, even if
it might help them find a way to get home. The thought of sitting
on his hard thighs, wrapping her legs around him, with only inches
separating significant body parts…. Well, they’d just have to make
certain they won most of the time.
    “The winner gets the pot, the losers take a
shot,” Jasmine told them and then explained the rules while Wiley
shuffled the cards in nervous silence.
    Predictably, the women won the first few
hands, pulling in money hand over fist. Jasmine and Keilor had just
folded and taken their shots, and Jasmine was watching Wiley with a
smug and slightly inebriated smile when Jayems laid down his first
winning hand. She blinked, but the cards didn’t change.
    Slow color flooded Wiley’s cheeks. Jayems
pushed his chair back and laced his hands together over his
stomach, a warm flame of pleasure and expectation in his eyes.
Taking a quick breath, Wiley gulped her liqueur, squared her
shoulders and then with more haste than grace, she straddled
him.
    No doubt she’d intended to make the kiss a
quick peck, but it quickly became apparent that she was not in
command, and tongues or no tongues, when Wiley finally slid off of
Jayems’ lap, she was clumsy with more than alcohol. She knocked her
chair sideways trying to sit down, and Jasmine couldn’t help a
snort of laughter as