Chapter 17
CAPTAIN JOHN CALDER
The next day I rose early, left a note for General Blackwell, and rode to Applewood to check for mail. I had two letters, one from Arthur and one from May. Arthur’s letter was dated a week earlier than May's, which happened often with many letters waiting for the correct ship to take them overseas.
I held both letters to my chest. I’d never received two in one day before. Both were doing well. Arthur had just started university and was considering acquiring land out west when he finished. May spoke of wanting to visit London and experience a Season.
I immediately sat down and wrote return letters. By the time I spoke with my staff and checked on the stables, the sun was getting low in the sky.
I made it back in time to sit next to Miss Blackwell for dinner. Being away all day might have done me some good, for she didn’t seem displeased to see me.
That evening when the men entered the drawing room after dinner, we discovered Mrs. Wickerton had commandeered a corner of the room and gathered all the older women with her.
Harriet and Miss Blackwell sat at the same small table with three seats, and despite Miss Blackwell’s claim of not despising me, I didn’t trust her to allow me that seat.
I glanced at Brookhouse. Romantic rival or no, he was the most likely to follow my madcap plans.
“Perhaps we should move the other table?”
I pointed with my chin to a four person card table situated on our right. Mr. Howard was the first to respond. “Capital idea. It is high time the young folks had a night of cards together.”
And so, with permission from Mrs. Blackwell, and a skeptical frown from Mrs. Wickerton, Davies, Brookhouse, Howard and I lifted the table and brought it to the more secluded part of the drawing room.
“We propose a game of whist,” Mr. Howard said with much aplomb toward the two women who had sat amused while we rearranged the furniture. “Would you care to join us?”
“After that effort?” Miss Blackwell said, smiling up at Mr. Howard. “How could we refuse?”
Mr. Howard bent at the hip, took Miss Blackwell’s hand in his own and ran his thumb across the hills and valleys of her knuckles. “How indeed?”
The man was absurd. Such manners didn’t actually work on women, did they?
According to Charlie, they wouldn’t work on this particular one.
Vincent Howard was a fool if he thought the daughter of General Blackwell would fall prey to such flirtations.
And yet . . . was that a spot of color in her cheeks?
“Miss Blackwell,” I said, my voice rough compared to Mr. Howard’s silken notes.
“Perhaps you should choose our pairs.” It was her home after all, and if she followed the pattern of the last several days, she was bound to choose me as a partner.
I found I wouldn’t mind the pairing, as long as it meant Mr. Howard would drop Miss Blackwell’s hand.
She extricated her hand from his grasp and met my eyes with a smile. “Shall I?”
The men all nodded.
“Well, then.” She turned to Mr. Howard first and gave him the kind of smile that would break through storm clouds and disperse light to all in its reach. He beamed back at her. “You shall be on a team with Lieutenant Davis.”
Mr. Howard’s foppish grin faltered. He tipped his head to the side and narrowed one eye in her direction.
She only raised an eyebrow in response. Charlie was right.
He was paying for his flirtations. I stifled a laugh.
Mr. Howard had convinced everyone to drag a table to this side of the room, flirted quite openly with Miss Blackwell, and his reward?
He was to be one of two men without a female partner.
Well played, Miss Blackwell. Well played.
Mr. Howard grumbled but Davis slapped him on his shoulder, goodheartedly pulled a chair out for him, then took his own seat opposite him.
My shoulders relaxed. Unless Miss Blackwell wanted to put herself and Harriet together, (a decidedly uncommon choice) it was easy to see what the other two partnerships would be.
Miss Blackwell turned to me, with a soft glint still in her eye.
“Now, where to place you, Captain?” She placed a finger to the side of her cheek and tapped it as if she still hadn’t already made the decision.
“I assume you have an excellent mind for strategy, and I’m afraid placing you with Lieutenant Brookhouse, whom you know very well, might give an unfair advantage.
” She was making her case for choosing me as her partner and making it well.
With a quick lift of her chin, she leaned forward as if in challenge. “You shall play with Hattie.”
I moved to the right half a step and then stopped.
Hattie? She was going to pair me with Harriet?
A slow smile curved on Miss Blackwell’s lips.
She was enjoying this, perhaps even more than pairing Howard with Davis.
Was she toying with me? Somehow solidifying my position as the prey in this game of cat and mouse between us?
Or had I been right earlier? Had Harriet spoken to her about me?
“Captain Calder,” Harriet said, calling my attention back to where it should be.
It didn’t matter why Miss Blackwell had chosen Harriet as my partner, at least not at the moment.
She wasn’t the woman I’d come here to pursue.
I was about to spend the evening playing with Harriet across from me, our minds always trying to guess through eye contact what each other’s cards held and how we could help one another.
It was a boon, and now wasn’t the time to question it. “Should I move?” she asked.
“No.” I jostled to the left so I would be across from her. “I look forward to playing with you this evening.” I had no practice at flirtatious words or actions like those of Mr. Howard, but I hoped she saw how happy this arrangement made me.
“And that leaves you to me,” Brookhouse said to Miss Blackwell with a grin. “I like our odds. Shall we play for forfeits?”
Miss Blackwell nodded in agreement. “The winning team chooses the forfeits for the other four?”
I caught Harriet’s eye from across the table and lowered my voice, grateful these gaming tables were much smaller than the dining one. “Is that all right with you?”
Harriet shrugged and took her seat. “I suppose so, although I’ve never been particularly skilled at whist.”
“Perhaps you’ve only wanted a more like-minded partner?”
Harriet laughed softly at that reply and cast a quick, furtive glance at her cousin.
What was that glance about?
Mr. Howard had still managed to sit next to Miss Blackwell, even though they were not partners. He leaned in her direction and asked permission to deal the cards.
With six players instead of four, we were each dealt eight cards. My cards were not high, unfortunately, but I had three heart cards. If the trump was called in my favor, perhaps Harriet and I would have a chance.
Mr. Howard turned over the last card: the eight of hearts. “Trump is . . . ” He paused for dramatic flair even though we had all seen the card. His eyes caught Miss Blackwell’s and held them. After a slow, drawn-out wink, he finally spoke. “Hearts.”
What a cad.
Harriet's eyes were on me when I turned to her. I lifted one corner of my mouth in a subtle smile that I hoped she read as pleased. Then I allowed myself the pleasure of studying her face—I had to, for she was my partner and it was to be expected. She was beautiful, especially in this light. Her smile wasn’t broad enough at the moment to bring out both her dimples, but it was content.
She was, as always, a calming and bright presence.
But if she was trying to convey anything about the cards in her hand, I couldn’t see it.
Brookhouse played the first card—an ace of spades.
Unless Harriet had no spades and could play a trump, this hand was lost to us.
I had two spades in my hand. I threw the four, my lowest. Davis and Harriet both threw low spade cards and then Miss Blackwell, with a grin toward Brookhouse, dropped a two of clubs on the table, happy to get rid of that card when her partner was nearly certain to take the trick.
“Well played,” Mr. Howard said to Brookhouse with an uncharacteristically somber nod. He slowly lowered his card. The three of hearts. A trump. “Unfortunately,” a wolflike smirk slowly raised the corners of his mouth, “not well enough.”
I shrugged at Harriet, and she shrugged back. Win or not, it was nice to be on her team.
Mr. Howard and Davis controlled the next three hands, one of which Davis won with the ace of hearts, forcing Harriet and me to each lose a trump card.
I was getting reacquainted with Harriet’s face today, but sadly it was mostly her disappointed one.
We lost that hand by several points.
It took only two more hands for Mr. Howard and Davis to win outright.
“And now,” Mr. Howard said, standing and looking over the rest of us as though we were serfs in his kingdom. “Lieutenant Davis, why don’t you mete out the first of the forfeits?”
Davis stayed seated, but he smiled slowly. Davis was the quiet sort who didn’t often hold the attention of a room, but it didn’t mean he didn’t like to. After glancing around at his four possible victims, he turned to me. “Captain.”
“Yes?” I answered cautiously.
“Don’t squander this, Davis,” Brookhouse interjected. “Think of all the times Calder made us tidy our quarters and march an extra mile.”
Davis shrugged. “My quarters were always tidy.”
“And,” I added with a disparaging glance at Brookhouse, “he can march twice as many miles with half as much complaining as you.” Since Davis held the power of forfeits in his hands, it was most certainly a time for flattery.
My put-down hadn’t affected Brookhouse in the least. He elbowed Davis. “Make him kiss one of the lady’s hands.”
Mr. Howard shook his head. “Don’t waste a forfeit, Davis. Any man would see that as a reward.”
“True,” Davis agreed with a sigh. “But I wouldn’t mind discovering which of the two ladies he would choose.”