<div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/d/de/Nash_bilton.png)</div><br/><strong>Name:</strong>Sheriff Nash Bilton<br/><strong>Faction:</strong>Law Dogs (5) Sheriff<br/><strong>Date:</strong>May 11th, 1876<br/><strong>Time of Day:</strong>Afternoon<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Sheriff's Office/Gomorra Jail<br/><strong>Tagged:</strong>Ginny, Open<br/><hr/>It wasn’t so much that Bilton couldn’t be bribed - it was that he’d been bought and paid for, already, and while the Whateley’s generosity was well know, it was also a touch too… sporadic for Bilton’s taste, generous when it came but unreliable as the whims as of the … whimsical family.  He didn’t mind dipping his hands into two pies - but when you were on the take, folks paying you beyond your salary had a curious notion they should be the only hand who fed you.  He understood the thinking; he just didn’t much care for it, and taking a gift and giving special treatment to a Whateley would make other eyebrows go up.<br/><br/>But he leaned back, and watched Ginny mull.  He liked playing cards with her - it told a different story than the sometimes brash, oft arrogant woman she showed the town.  There was a depth to her, a complexity and capacity for subterfuge and a gift for gleaning out the lies of others.  Much of the town thought of her with eyes already half-rolled, but Ginny was a<em>player,</em>it was in her nature, and he knew she needed a game, a ruse, like a fish needed water.  It was just the matter of<em>what</em>the ruse was, because he’d made the mistake before of thinking she held a three of a kind and missing completely the pair that made her into a full house.<br/><br/>So he noticed little details - like the way she avoided looking over at Townsend, even while Townsend was pale and a little taut and not looking at all like his normal uncouth self.  Her eyes watched him, assessing and evaluating, looking for the tells they’d shared over a game of cards.  She wasn’t wholly averse to him searching her - he’d had a hand on her knee more than once over a card game, the sort of thing she protested minutes after he’d had a good feel.<br/><br/>Then again, that might have been the whiskey.<br/><br/>He saw the way her eyes set for a moment and then relaxed.  He’d expected a tongue lashing, and maybe when he was just a deputy he might have wrinkled his nose and let her be on her way after J.P. took some offense to him doing the more pleasant parts of his job.  But he was the end of the line, now, and if she tried to make him look weak he’d have her bent over his desk giving her a far more thorough search than she had a care for.<br/><br/>His eyes flicked to her leg - and then he remembered how her hand had fallen down over an ‘accidentally’ opened button on that full house, had drawn his eyes away from the cards on the table, a critical mistake in Hold ‘Em.  Distraction, and a worthy one - those pale legs deserved to be wrapped around a man’s hips while he was making her squeal and squeak.  But they were just the diversion, the ploy, and he knew the game she was at.  She was either trying to bait him - to get him along so she could make some accusation as to his conduct, or else to make him think that was the play.  He stroked his jaw and considered.  “No dynamite?  Why, I do believe that’s a matter of opinion, Ginny.”  He teased with a wink, and leaned forward, even as she was drawing the leg back down.<br/><br/>He grinned broadly as she made mention of her legs as lethal weapons, and he rose.  “Well then, Miss Whateley.  You come to the right man.  Ain’t a lethal weapon in Gomorra I don’t know<em>just</em>how to handle.”  He thumbed over his shoulder.  “There’s a cell in the back.  Empty.”  It would be out of sight, but not out of sound - if he bent her over a bench and had his way with her, there’d be a dozen witnesses, at least capable of hearing.  “Head no back and I’ll give you a proper shakin’ down.”<br/><br/>He rose and leaned back, looking to Townsend.  “You rather do the honors?”<br/><br/>Townsend gulped, and shook his head.  “Naw, oughta be the Sheriff.”<br/><br/><em>Pussy.</em>He gestured for Ginny to lead the way, ignoring Townsend and giving Ginny a confident smile to match his swagger.