She met his eyes. “As long as I don’t trust you too much, it doesn’t matter what you do for a living. But men who gamble don’t care who gets hurt. It’s just a game. All it means is that I’ll have to watch you in case you might decide it’s me you want to hurt.”

His lips tightened. “Will it make a difference if I promise you that will never happen? There’s no way I’d ever hurt you. That’s not how I play the game. It never has been. I play by the rules. I like to win, but it’s too damn easy for me. And if I cheat, it’s not a win at all. In the end I’m only cheating myself. I found that out a long time ago.”

She studied his face. “That’s…peculiar. That’s not how my father and Volkov feel. Winning is everything. I don’t know if it would make a difference or not,” she said slowly. “So far you’ve kept your promises, but you could be tricking me. Could I ever be sure?” She added wearily, “And why would it make a difference to you if I believed you anyway? I’ve already told you that we’d go with you until you finished Kaskov’s job. That should be all that matters to you.”

He muttered an oath. “I don’t know why the hell it makes a difference, but it does.” He finished his coffee and got to his feet. “So what the hell?” He was smiling recklessly down at her. “And since it does matter, I’ll just have to look on you as a game I have to win. Oh, not like the games you’ve had to play before. What do you want to bet that before this is over, I’ll get you to admit that I’ve never broken a promise to you and that you actually trust me?”

“I told you that I never bet.”

“You don’t have to. I’ll win either way.” He took her plate from her and tossed it in the trash disposal in the galley. “Now you can go back to playing. Two hours…as promised. Make the most of it.” He turned and strode up the aisle away from her.

Lara sat there looking after him. For an instant she had thought that she might have hurt him, but that was ridiculous. Tanner was tough; nothing she said would have bothered him. Though he’d obviously expected her to be upset to know that he was a gambler, and it had probably annoyed him that she had compared him to Volkov.