Blind Man's Bluff (Ace Of Spades Book 1), page 111
Blind Man’s Bluff
Ace Of Spades
By
Eryn Black
“I promise to adore you, to worship you and grant whatever wishes you desire… there is only one thing I ask.”
Never had Gwen imagined that her new husband would present to her a blindfold on their wedding night with the promise to adore her as long as she never sees him with her own eyes.
Since the mysterious man had arrived in the small northern California town of Corsica, Mr. Flaggs had established himself as a wealthy investor in their small town. His newly constructed mansion was strategically built on a hillside looking down toward the city and his gambling hall provided needed recreational distraction for the local lumberjacks helping to clear away land for future expansion. Certain people have learned that Mr. Flaggs’ wealth comes at a price. When facing a gambling debt beyond his means to pay, Mr. Richard Collins is offered a way to settle with the house by offering up his eldest daughter in marriage to the mysterious Mr. Flaggs and while Gwen Collins willingly gives herself in matrimony, she is not certain if she can trust the man she’s married. Though she never sees his face, Gwen cannot doubt her husband’s kindness toward her or how she takes pleasure in his passionate appetite, but there are secrets in her new home that have a menacing intent on those she believes to be closest to her.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Ace Of Spades: Blind Man’s Bluff
All rights reserved.
Copyright 2020 © Eryn Black
Edited by Renee Warning
Cover by JRA Stevens
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author /Publisher
Other Works By
Eryn Black
Ace Of Spades
Blind Man’s Bluff
King Takes Queen
Black Lace
Anthology of Victorian Seduction
More Tales Of Victorian Seduction
Black Lace: The Hades Chronicles
Aces High
Feast Of Bacchus
Forbidden Fruit
Sovereign Sinners
The Viscount Returns
The Earls Lady Wife
The Dukes Captive Bride
Enjoy a preview from Black Lace: Aces High at the end
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Blind Man’s Bluff
Ace Of Spades
By Eryn Black
Chapter One
The Wager
1891
Along the coastal range of California there were jewels to be found, where people had settled during the height of the gold rush searching to strike it rich. Many of those cities were abandoned once the claims dried up but a few along the Russian River continued to prosper. Corsica was such a town, nestled in the lush Redwood Forest and fed by both the flowing river and the nearby pacific ocean this town was a treasure to behold for the citizens. Year by passing year they were growing and expanding, with the prospect of industry and an expansion of the railway bringing with it the promise of prosperity to those who were hungry enough to work for it while the bloated remnants of a bygone classism squandered away their riches on pleasure and chance.
“House wins again,” the dealer announced and there was a low groan at the table.
It was a lively night at Paramour gaming hall, with winners thriving from the bets. However, lost among the cheers and applause was one man, watching the last of his coin being swept off the table by the dealer. Richard Collins had reached the end of a decades long losing streak and was now facing his demise brought on by his empty pockets.
“Deal up,” he told the dealer, but the man made no move as he waited for Richard to place a bet. “Did you hear me? I said deal,” he demanded.
“Sir, you will need to place a bet first.” The dealer was smart, dressed in the fashion seen at the high end San Francisco gaming halls and stood with a posture that spoke of sophistication.
“Fine.” Richard reached for the pocket in his vest, pulled out his gold pocket watch and unclipped the fob. He took a moment to open the watch and look at the inscription inside.
I love you papa,
-Gwen
He closed the front of the gift with a snap and set it carefully on the table, coiling the chain beside it. The dealer took a moment to eye the bet and looked to the floor manager who was standing nearby waiting for an approving nod.
“What’s the holdup!” Richard demanded, “It’s gold.”
The manager cast Richard a pathetic roll of his eyes and gave the dealer a nod to proceed then stepped off of the floor through a door.
“It appears you were right, the man is on his last leg,” Nicholas told Caspian who was sitting in the dark office, a glass in one hand and his eyes focused on a tinted glass window.
“Does he suspect anything?” Caspian asked, taking a sip and watching the cards being dealt to his target. The two-way mirror positioned over the bar served as a useful tool for the owner of the gaming hall on particularly rowdy nights, but this night, it provided him the chance to be the eyewitness to his enemy’s final defeat.
“Any chance he had of understanding what was happening was washing away with the bourbon he has been drinking. I do not think he has enough to even settle up at the bar.”
Caspian grasped the leather padded arm of his chair with one hand, his fingers curling over the end of the armrest and clutching it in a white-knuckled hold while he watched in anticipation. The man looked between his cards and the dealer, nervously licking his lips, sweat beading over his brow as he watched one card turned over, and then another, and then another. Richard Collins crumbled into his seat as the weight of all he had lost fell on his shoulders.
“How deep is he in?” The menacing sound of revenge sweetened his voice.
“Fifty-thousand, is it time we call in the debt?” Nicholas asked with a straightforward, matter-of-fact tone that sparked a broken grin on Caspian’s lips in appreciation.
“Not yet…” he thought of how sweet this glorious end would be, “he is right where I need him, sink him into one more game, give him whatever credit he desires to enter and then wait for him to raise the stakes.” Things were falling into place. “See to it that he is sent here directly to discuss payment of his debt. Revenge is sweetest when it is delivered in person.”
There was a knock at the door. Caspian leaned forward to pull at a curtain cord while an employee entered.
“Sir,” the young man announced his presence.
“Bring it here.” Caspian offered out an open palm as the young man walked across the office and dropped the pocket watch in his hand. Caspian closed his fingers over the small piece of craftsmanship and thanked the young man.
The door closed with a click and Caspian pulled the cord again, to reveal his spying window on the room. He looked down at the watch in his hand, pressed the lock and watched the front pop open revealing the loving scribe. It amazed him that any father could part with such a loving treasure without a thought, but Richard Collins was not only heavy into his drink he was also a braggart who thought little of his own flesh and blood if they stood in the way of his pride or what he desired.
The young man walked across the room to the dealer and whispered Nicholas’ message to him, relaying his intent to seal the old man’s coffin. The dealer gave a subtle nod, well aware that he was being watched in that moment. The first card was dealt showing a ten of clubs, Richard Collins desperately wiped his brow with the back of his hand, then came the next, a queen of spades. Relief washed over his face and he held a hand over the cards waiting for the dealer to turn over his cards and then hand over his payout, but the dealer paused, and addressed the man with a bleak, but clearly composed tone. He was offering up the opportunity to settle up with the owner of the gaming hall with one last raise. Richard foolishly accepted it and the dealer flipped over the card that sealed the man’s fate, and Caspian drank back the contents of his drink, offering himself a small celebration before he accepted his winnings.
The house always won.
“But you don’t understand, I have nothing.” Richard Collins tried to explain. “I have nothing else on me, I do not know what you expect me to do, you can’t squeeze blood from a stone.”
“Then you are saying that you are incapable of paying off your debt?” Nicolas had walked up to stand behind Richard, for fear the man would flee from the club, stealing with him Caspian’s victory. “Call a Sheriff.” He instructed the nearest footman.
“Sheriff? … You can’t be serious.” Richard gasped.
“Yes,… unless we are able to come up with some other form of payment?” they stood there in controlled silence for a moment, giving Richard the opportunity to think through any possibilities of payments, but he took too long. “Thomas,” Nicolas called out, and an employee appeared at once, “See to it that the bank is informed that Mr. Collins properties will be forfeited to Mr. Flags until the amount of fifty-two thousand dollars has been paid. It should not be too difficult to arrange a sale of property and items.” he paused to give Richard a sideways glance. “Am I to assume that you live there alone and that there will be no other owner to protest this?”
“Wait!” Richard turned in his seat and grasped the lapels of Nicholas’ coat, but the manager stared him down, until Richard withdrew his hands and cowered in his seat. “Please, there must be something I can do?”
“You can learn to live within your means,” Nicholas scorned him, “but until then…” he started to turn away, but that only gave Richard call to give chase.
“Please, there must be something I can offer you.”
“It is not I who must be satisfied. The house plays out of Mr. Flags’ pockets and it is he who you must compensate.” That sparked a twinkle of hope in his bloodshot eyes. “You will need to come with me,” Nicholas informed the sniveling man whose eyes welled up with tears, his face suddenly pale with fear.
Led by Nicholas, the two men walked through the room toward the unmarked door that was strategically placed to be left unseen by the commotion of the gambling taking place. An Armstrong-arm was standing beside the office door now and reached for the doorknob to admit the two men. Richard paused to look at the man’s massive height compared to his own and wondered if the man had been placed there to keep people out or to keep him in.
“Sir, I have the man for you.” Nicholas stood near the desk and addressed Caspian whose eyes were focused in a heated stare at Richard.
The drapes over the two way window were now drawn and Caspian thanked Nicholas before dismissing him. The scene had been staged and Caspian sat in his office which was dimly lit by two low burning wall sconces hanging on the wall behind him lighting the red wallpaper. Richard was the first citizen of their small town of Corsica California to walk into this room, let alone to see the mysterious owner of the new gaming hall face to face. Since opening up this establishment Caspian had quickly become a man of legend never showing his face in public. Now Richard was facing him as the man held his life in his hands. Caspian looked like the god of the underworld staring him down holding the voucher of credit that had been issued to Richard one week prior.
“I have been informed that your winning streak from a few weeks ago has taken a turn for the worse,” Caspian began.
“It is a game of chance,” he said in his defense, but Caspian knew that the man’s winning streak had been less by chance and rather felt out by a dealer he had since fired for conspiring to help patrons cheat so that they could share the winnings later.
“And it appeared that chance has marked you in a losing battle.” Caspian watched as the man stood there shaking in his own shoes and wondered if the man would collapse from fear at any moment if so, he would be certain to horse whip the man to ensure that he was awake to see the world around him come crashing down.
“If you would see to it to give me time, I can come up with the means to pay off my debt.”
“I think not, I am not a patient man and you are in no condition to produce the fifty-two thousand dollars required to settle your debts in cash.” This was it, this was Caspian’s moment when he would deal-out his final blow. “My man has already left to fetch the sheriff, I will leave it to him to see that your debt is paid by the sale of your land and properties.”
“Please sir, no.” The man fell to his knees, pleading and begging like the dog that he was, Caspian leaned back in his chair, enjoying the sight.
“You needn’t fear, your mill will be seized first, and then the more priceless items in your home, I wouldn’t cast you and your daughters into the street with nowhere to go.” Pride beamed from his menacing grin and he leaned forward, hands pressed on his desk, giving himself a better view of Richard’s groveling on the floor.
“That will ruin me.” He held his face in his hands. “Please, have a heart, I have three daughters to raise, their mother died in childbirth years ago, I am all they have and if you take the mill, I will have no means to provide for them.”
“Your daughters are well within marrying age, I think they are safe. However, a look into your accounts shows that your wife’s account was depleted last year after you had to make repairs to your mill.” His voice was filled with contempt for the man. “The bank shows no record of any other saving to ensure a fortune for your daughters, if you have such concern over your daughters, you wouldn’t have been so frivolous with the money left to them by their mother.”
“Your spy has done their work.” Richard was growing suspicious.
“They do what they must before I issue a line of credit as substantial as yours.” It was a convincing explanation.
“There was a fire,” Richard began with an explanation, “there had been a fire at the mill, it could have taken out the entire town, but we managed to contain the fire.”
“And one of your workers was killed during that fire.”
“Yes,” he sat on his knees and looked up over the top of the desk at Caspian, “My foreman, but we recovered, I was able to rebuild and we are nearly ready to reopen.”
“You dismiss a man’s life so easily?” Caspian balled his hands into tightly closed fists.
“I assure you that I have employed a far more competent man who is capable of doing his job. If you give me…”
Caspian had had enough of this, he knew the truth behind the fire and the man’s lack of concern for any human life beyond his own. This was revenge served up to him on a silver platter, but now that he had him where he wanted him, Caspian was feeling a twinge of guilt.
“You daughters,” he began, taking time to pause until Richard was looking him in the eyes again, “they are old enough to marry or to go to work themselves. I am not heartless, I can offer them up positions here in my cleaning staff, or in the kitchen, I am in need of someone to help feed the sweet tastes of my customers. I am working on expanding my business and have acquired the dining room across the road. Remodeling is nearly complete and I will be needing a staff, your daughters will have their pick of work.”
“Sir, you can’t expect… I can’t ask of them…” the man was choking on his own words, but then inspiration struck and his eyes sparked with hope, “Unless… are you a married man?”
Caspian leaned back in his chair, this had taken a turn that he had not been prepared for and he realized that this man was about to sink to a low like he had never imagined.
“My oldest, Gwendolyn, she is known throughout the town as the most beautiful in all the county. A lady in her prime.” Richard walked on his knees closer to the desk, hope filling his voice as he offered his own daughter as payment for his gambling debt. “And smart, the girl reads any book she can get her hands on and has even stepped in to handle the figures for my mill during repairs.”
“You already have her employed?” Caspian didn’t know how to respond to this.
“I had little to say on the subject,” the man said without thought and then paused before trying to correct what he thought to be damaging information, “She is that bright, everyone in town knows how valuable she is, and beautiful,” he tagged on at the end, emphasizing the woman’s beauty over her renowned intelligence.
Caspian shouldn’t have been surprised at the man’s opinion of beauty over intelligence in regard to women, but it was surprising to find that he would feel the same toward his own daughter.
“You would be willing to give me your own daughter as partial payment?” the explanation made his stomach turn, but Caspian refused to let any emotion pass his face, he would not be manipulated by this man in any way.
“Partial?” it was like making a deal with the devil, “Yes,” Richards head fell forward, his shoulders slumped, he looked defeated, completely drained of all pride, it helped Caspian to see that while the man was offering up something so repugnant, he did feel shame and grief for it.
