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over her last card.
    The queen of hearts.
    She’d won his money and his boat and he didn’t even know her name. Why had she run?
    It was then that he felt the tiny, almost imperceptible nick in the corner of the card.
    Card by card, he examined the rest, and swore. If he’d touched the cards he’d have known. But she’d been the dealer. If he’d touched the cards, he would have known that the deck was marked.
    His lady in red had cheated.

THREE
    Thanks to the river’s swift current brought on by the storm, Katie was going to make it to shore. With the boat whistle announcing the arrival of the
Scarlet Lady
, she increased her strokes and pushed the last few feet to the pier. Thank God for competitive swimming.
    Watching with an incredulous stare from the dock was Cat, who’d helped her orchestrate the evening.
    “So,” Cat called out, “why the midnight swim? Did he throw you overboard?”
    Katie took hold of the centuries-old iron ladder to the wharf and leaned against it to catch her breath. “No, I jumped before he could.”
    “Does that mean you lost?”
    “No, I didn’t lose,” Katie answered, grabbing the bulging evening purse, still swinging from her neck, as if it were a life vest and she were going down for the third time. “Oh, Cat. I won. I actually won.”
    “I don’t understand.” Cat leaned down and took Katie’s hand, pulling her up the last rung of the ladder.
    “I won big,” Katie repeated, her lips beginning to chatter, not from cold, but from delayed shock. She swept her hair from her eyes, captured the last of the feathers in her fingers, and flung them to the dock. “Well, it’s not enough to pay off everything, but it’s a start.”
    Cat looked down at Katie’s feet and shook her head. “I can understand why you lost the shoes, but the reason for your socks escapes me entirely.”
    Katie looked down at her feet, still encased in Montana’s black socks. “I don’t think I want to explain.”
    “I can believe that.” Cat removed the fringed shawl she’d tied around her waist as a skirt and placed it around Katie’s shoulders. “What I’m waiting to hear is why you jumped overboard and ruined my dress.”
    Another whistle reminded Katie that the riverboat—and the man who’d kissed her—was about to dock, not two hundred yards from where she and Cat stood.
    “The car, Cat. Where’s the car?”
    “Right where we left it, in the parking area behind the restaurant. Though if you’re lucky, someone stole it.”
    Katie turned to check the river. The
Scarlet Lady
came alongside the pier and snuggled into her berth with a thud. Katie let out the breath she’d been holding and shivered violently. “If it’s gone, I’m dead.”
    Thank goodness, the riverboat had been forced to slow down to maneuver itself into its proper mooring. Even so, it had caught up with her. Now anybody lookingfrom its decks couldn’t miss a waterlogged brunette in a skirt that was way beyond short. If she didn’t attract attention, the red-haired Cat, who now wore only her black spandex suit, wouldn’t be missed.
    “So?” Cat prompted. “Tell me everything.”
    “I think I’d better tell you later.”
    “Hey! You, my lady in red!” The voice was angry. The voice was familiar and it was too close.
    Katie glanced up to the lacy-railed private deck on the third level, just outside Montana’s cabin. In one moment he was standing there; in the next he saw her, whirled, and disappeared inside.
    “Cat, hurry!” Katie ran down the dock, cut through the now empty tourist shopping area, and headed for the car they’d parked there three hours ago. If she hadn’t already lost her shoes, she would have now in her haste to get away.
    She knew Montana had to get down to the dock level, wait for the doors to be opened, and fight his way through the crowd. Then he’d have to take the escalator down to the ground level and find her. Maybe, just maybe, she’d escape. If not, she didn’t want to