Chapter 2
Two
Silas had made it through a dozen rounds of vingt-et-un without serious incident, unless one counted the flirtatious redhead who kept leaning forward to expose half her chest every time she asked him for a card. Miss Berry, she’d said her name was. It was obviously intentional.
Why won’t she stop that?
If it had been a woman of lower birth, he would have understood the signal.
A roll in the hay might be welcome, possibly for a price.
But this woman was several steps above Silas on the social ladder, judging by her expensive silks and the pearl-encrusted pendant that hung from her neck.
There was no chance that she planned to invite him back to her home when the night was done.
What was this, then, a sport? He’d attracted that sort of leering curiosity from upper-class ladies on occasion, and it never ended well.
Silas kept his attention on his deal, even to the point of appearing rude. It was better than inviting trouble.
He’d already turned up the second cards when a newcomer appeared at the corner of his vision, inching forward so hesitantly it took him a minute to notice her.
“This round’s just started, miss,” he said. “Shall I deal you in on the next hand?”
“Thank you.” Her voice was soft and smooth, like honey. Silas glanced up and realized that he’d seen her before.
“You’re Eli Williams’s sister, aren’t you?”
“Oh.” The young lady gave a little squeak. “Yes. I’m Miss Hannah Williams. I’m surprised you remember me.”
“Of course I do. You’re the spitting image of him.”
Miss Williams hadn’t said two words to Silas at the house before she fled, but it would have been hard not to notice the resemblance between the siblings.
They were both tall and lanky, with the same dark-brown hair and eyes.
She even had her brother’s pointed nose.
It wasn’t exactly a pretty face on a woman, but she might have been called handsome.
The look she gave him just then could’ve curdled milk. Too late, Silas realized she might not have appreciated being compared to a gentleman.
“Damn it,” he blurted without thinking. “Sorry. Uh…I didn’t mean it as an insult. He’s, um, very delicate-looking.”
An obvious lie. Why was he still talking? Not two hours into his evening and he’d already offended a lady. Not just any lady, but Williams’s sister. If Silas lost this job on the first night, he would never forgive himself.
“It’s fine. Really.” Miss Williams offered him a limp smile. It was obviously not fine.
“Can we return to the bidding, please?” Miss Berry interrupted, flashing a smile at Miss Williams that looked to be mostly canines. “I’ll stand.”
“I’m sorry,” the young lady said, appearing to shrink into herself beneath the other woman’s scorn. “I didn’t mean to intrude.”
“Nothing to apologize for,” Silas assured her, before turning back to the players to take their bids.
Miss Berry looked put out by his words, but he wasn’t going to let her bully Miss Williams, who hadn’t done anything wrong.
If anything, it was his fault for making chitchat.
Weren’t the help supposed to be invisible?
And he was help now, not anyone who mattered to these people.
Best remember it.
Miss Berry lost her hand with a pout, and Silas added Miss Williams to the deal on the next round.
When the bid reached her, she announced in a breathless voice, “I’ll raise two hundred pounds,” immediately glancing to either side to see how her bid was received.
What the hell is she doing?
Did Miss Williams have something wrong with her? She hadn’t struck him as a risk-taking sort, based on how she’d shrunk from Miss Berry’s annoyance a moment ago.
“Sorry, miss,” Silas replied. “We don’t allow bids over ten on a single hand.”
“Pardon?”
“Ten pounds is the most we allow,” he repeated. Williams had been very clear about that. “Don’t want anyone ruining their fortunes.”
“But this is supposed to be a gaming hell!” She sounded indignant. “How is it gambling if you won’t even let us decide what to wager?”
“Would you like to take it up with the owners?” Silas raised an eyebrow. He had no idea what Miss Williams was playing at, but he wasn’t going to get caught in the middle. Let her quarrel with her own family if she took issue with the rules.
“No.” Miss Williams seemed to deflate a little. After an awkward moment, she added, “Forgive me. I wasn’t very polite with you just now. I spoke without thinking.”
This surprised Silas nearly as much as the young lady’s attempt to wager two hundred pounds had done. Why should anyone care if they were polite to him? In his experience, members of the upper classes rarely spared a thought for their inferiors.
“No harm done,” he assured her. “I speak without thinking all the time.”
Miss Williams laughed, and Silas liked her a little better. She might be reckless with her money, but at least she was kind. Out of all the women who’d passed his table this evening, she might be the only one to treat him like a person instead of an interesting decoration.
“Might we please keep the game moving?” Miss Berry didn’t mask her annoyance with a smile this time.
Miss Williams squared her shoulders. “Very well then. I’ll raise the stakes to ten pounds.”
A number of the other ladies folded rather than matching such a sum. When the cards were all revealed, Miss Williams had conquered the others with a hand of nineteen.
“Congratulations, miss.”
Miss Williams gave a muffled grunt of frustration. When Silas pushed the chips toward her, she looked absolutely furious. Thinking of how much larger her win might have been if I hadn’t refused her bid, no doubt.
What must it be like to have so much money that you could afford to throw it away on a whim? Ten pounds would be the better part of a year’s wages to his family, but for Miss Williams it was nothing but the sport of one evening.
They played another hand, and again Miss Williams bid the limit. Some of the other women grumbled as they bowed out, no doubt wondering how long this would go on. When Miss Williams won again with a hand of seventeen, two of them left the table in favor of other games.
“How does no one have a better hand?” she asked. “Seventeen isn’t even that good!”
Miss Berry, who doggedly held her seat despite the recent loss of twenty pounds, spoke through clenched teeth. “There’s no need to brag.”
Is she bragging? Silas wasn’t so sure. She seemed genuinely outraged by her victories, though he couldn’t for the life of him understand why.
“Are you planning to bid the limit for all the hands, miss?” He posed the question as delicately as he could, remembering her brother’s warning to be polite.
If this kept up, she was going to drive his whole table away.
Although Williams had told him that the club saw some high play among their wealthiest set, the women before him didn’t seem to appreciate it.
He would have liked to tell the chit to stop flaunting her money, but the memory of her earlier kindness made him hold fast to the remainder of his patience.
“You might want to stop while you’re ahead. ”
“Never mind.” Miss Williams rose from her seat in a huff. “This is pointless. I must be cursed.”
With that, she turned and walked away.
“Wait! You forgot your chips,” Silas called after her. Between everyone she’d beaten, there was sixty pounds’ worth on the table.
“Keep them.” She barely slowed her stride. “They’re no good to me.”
What on earth is wrong with that woman?
* * *
What on earth is wrong with me?
It shouldn’t have been hard to lose money.
People did it all the time! That was precisely why gambling clubs weren’t an acceptable place for a lady to pass the evening.
If Hannah could only get herself in debt, she might diminish the only thing that was helping Mama attract suitors: her dowry.
But it seemed that the fates wouldn’t allow her a single victory tonight.
Hannah stomped to the kitchens, where she checked that Cook had everything in hand before helping herself to a sandwich and a glass of champagne. Mama never let her drink champagne at parties, but Mama wasn’t here.
It was very fizzy. Hannah didn’t like the way it tickled her nose, but she downed the glass with a little cough.
This was supposed to be the evening of her triumph!
Nothing was working as it should. She needed to think of something quick, before Mama came to find her.
By now, she must have realized that Hannah had given her the slip.
With any luck, she would check Eli and Jane’s town house before she thought to come here, and the trip back and forth across Mayfair would buy Hannah some time.
I can still manage to do something horrible. Should she start a fight, perhaps? She didn’t like the idea of hurting anyone, but what if she just shouted a few insults? That might be enough.
Hannah brought a second champagne flute with her as she went back out to the main gaming rooms.
For courage.
There were only about seventy or eighty women in the club this evening, at a rough guess. Not enough to pack the rooms. But that might work to her advantage. If she made a big enough spectacle, it couldn’t be lost in the din.
Her best bet was to harangue someone of some influence, who would be capable of starting an effective gossip campaign against her. Oh! Lady Eleanor would be a perfect target. But what was Hannah to say?
Your dress is unflattering. Your face is ugly and I don’t like you. I heard that your mother was a dairy maid.
Everything she could think of was so cruel. What if she made Lady Eleanor cry? Hannah wouldn’t want anyone to suffer just because she needed to cause a scandal.
“How are you doing?” Della was suddenly in front of her, cutting off her view of lady Eleanor’s table. Her gaze fell upon Hannah’s champagne flute. “Have you been drinking?”
“Only a little! I got so hot when I was in the kitchens checking on Cook.”