Chapter One #3
“At least he’s not pouting in the corner with a drink.” Aurelia swept a quick look to the right, then the left, then turned and looked behind her. “Come along, brother. Are you not up for some entertainment?”
“Entertainment or execution? For whom are you looking?”
“Jansen! Just never you mind. Do you wish to join in or not?”
“I am not moving from this spot until you confess all. The Atterleys are valuable friends, and I’ll do nothing to endanger that. It never hurts to have allies in Parliament.”
Aurelia exploded with a frustrated huff and stepped closer.
“If you must know, my friends and I are bored beyond belief, because there are no gaming tables this evening, and the males in attendance are less than satisfactory possibilities for husbands. So, we devised a game of our own. Would you care to play, or are you scared?”
Immediately intrigued and slightly insulted about not being considered a satisfactory possibility for a husband, Jansen took another look around and noted that the rest of Aurelia’s close friends had disappeared from the ballroom as well. “Continue. I am interested but require more information.”
“Lady Joy is the first to accept the dare: a card game in the library with no chaperone.”
“A card game. With whom?”
“You, dear brother.”
Entranced by the plethora of possibilities, he set his ratafia aside and resettled his stance, bracing for Societal warfare.
“And why would the lady risk her reputation in such a manner? Risk Society and her brother forcing her into a marriage of convenience after being discovered in such a compromising situation?” While he liked the sound of that, he didn’t want Lady Joy to marry him because she wished to save her family’s reputation.
When they went to the altar, it would be because she wanted to be his wife as much as he wanted to be her husband.
“Ladies Constance, Frederica, Prudence, and I shall watch the doors and immediately slip inside and join the two of you should anyone look to be coming your way. And in answer to your question, that was one of the conditions of the dare that Lady Joy demanded. She refused to be the ruin of her sisters and is not yet ready to marry.”
His heart sank. “Why is she not yet ready to marry?”
Aurelia wrinkled her nose. “I cannot answer that. It was told to me in confidence. A confidence I shall not betray. But rest assured, it has nothing to do with you or any other man I know of.”
That helped him breathe easier, but not much.
While he admired Aurelia for keeping her word to her friend, he wished he could wheedle the truth out of her.
His future depended on it. “Nothing to do with a man, you say. Is Lady Joy not of age? Is she not the same age as you?” He had done his research, but perhaps his information was incorrect.
“I believe she is actually a year younger than me, but that is not the point. Neither of us is considered a spinster. Now, stop it. I’m not telling you why she’s not yet ready to marry, and her being one and twenty has nothing to do with it.
Would you like people judging you because you are nine and thirty?
No? I thought not. Why is it a woman is categorized by her age, and yet a man is not? ”
Several instances of exactly when he’d been judged because of his age came to mind, but now was neither the time nor the place to get into it with Aurelia. “A game of cards, you say?”
“Yes.”
“Does the lady know I never lose?”
“The lady didn’t choose you. I did.” With a daring upward tip of her chin, she glared at him. “I thought it might serve the purpose you shared with me and provide you with a rare opportunity to advance your objective.”
“Spoken like a true war general.”
She grinned. “You are not the only one who learned a great deal on Papa’s knee.”
“Lead on, dear sister.” Jansen tugged on his jacket to straighten it and smoothed a hand over his hair. Aurelia had done well, and if all went as he hoped, he would forever be indebted to her.
They meandered out of the ballroom and ambled down the hallway to the library, doing their best to be as inconspicuous as possible.
When they reached the room’s main entrance, Lady Frederica smiled and nodded before taking hold of the latches, sweeping the double doors open, then closing them behind Jansen as soon as he’d entered.
The locks clicked, making him smile. Never in his wildest imaginings had he thought to be fortunate enough to be locked in a room with the woman he intended to marry.
The ladies had released the dark-blue draperies from their cords, and pulled them shut across the windows to prevent prying eyes from glancing into the room located at the front of the house and on the first level, easily looked into from the drive where the guests’ carriages awaited.
His dear lady in question sat at a small table placed in front of the hearth, well away from the windows in case the slightest breeze caused the draperies to shift and reveal the candlelit area.
She shuffled a deck of cards over and over, her long, slender fingers maneuvering the stiff bits of heavy paper with the expertise of a gambling hell dealer.
Without taking his gaze from her, he moved to the cabinet he knew held any number of beverages one might desire while perusing the vast shelves of every book imaginable. “Would you care for a drink, Lady Joy?”
“No, thank you, Sir Jansen. I never drink during games.” She lifted her focus from the cards and trained her captivating blue eyes on him. “Are you familiar with German whist, since we are just two rather than four? Or do you prefer piquet?”
“So serious, my lady. Would you not prefer a bit of conversation first, before we choose our game and settle on our rules?”
She smiled, and her eyes twinkled with barely contained mirth. She nearly made him forget to stop pouring when his glass of port was quite nearly overfull. Get a hold of yourself, man. This is no way to win this lady. He arched a brow. “Did I say something to amuse you, my lady?”
“What did your sister tell you about our little arrangement here this evening?”
He feigned bewilderment. “Something about a lady about to die from boredom. Of course, knight that I am, I immediately sought to render aid and rescue that lady from such a dire fate.”
“I see.” She returned her attention to the cards, shuffling them some more with a faintly knowing smile tickling across her sumptuous mouth. “Which game do you prefer, Sir Jansen?”
“Games come in many forms, my lady.”
She looked up sharply, which was exactly the reaction for which he’d hoped. “Card games only, sir. Those are the only games of which I speak and that shall be indulged in this evening.”
Unable to help himself, he laughed. “Did Aurelia inform you that I never lose?”
“She should have informed you of the same about me.”
He gave her a sultry look that had the desired effect, causing that delightful blush to once again creep up her temptingly kissable throat. “Winning is a perception, my lady, defined by the person gaining that which they wish, whether it be money or something else, perhaps.”
“Methinks your sister told you more than you alluded to earlier, dear sir.”
Ha! An opening. “Enlighten me, my lady. Let there be no misunderstandings between us.”
She shuffled the cards again, cut them, then shuffled them once more.
Just as he was about to accuse her of attempting to wear the faces off them, she set the deck on the table, folded her hands, and locked eyes with him.
“If—no, when—I win, your pockets will be empty, but mourn not for the loss of your coin, since it will all be donated to London’s Children’s Home—a most worthy charity, if I do say so myself. ”
“And if, perchance, I win?”
Her eyes narrowed, and the lovely curve of her jaw flexed to a hardened line. “Then you shall have the honor of not only emptying my reticule but also giving me my first kiss.”
Her first kiss. Gads alive. A fine goal indeed. He seated himself across from her and wet his lips. “Let the games begin, my lady, and piquet is my choice.”