“Play what?” Evelyn asked, smoothing out invisible wrinkles in the skirt of her simple, lavender muslin dress.
“Cards, of course,” Selina replied with a mischievous grin. “I have always wanted to learn, and I am certain that someone over there will be courteous enough to teach me. His Grace, without doubt.”
A funny feeling pinched Evelyn’s throat as she discreetly looked across the room to Hugo again. He was smiling, his gaze flitting between his cards and the gentleman opposite, apparently oblivious to the presence of the woman who had won him in the auction.
“It is a gentlemanly pursuit,” Evelyn protested. “We ought to play something else. With the other ladies, maybe.”
Selina scoffed. “I do not want to play such tedious games. I want to learn how to play cards.”
She pulled on Evelyn’s arm, dragging her across the room to the card tables. The gentlemen looked up with quiet surprise, though Evelyn quickly glanced away when Hugo’s gaze fell upon her.
Was there really a petal on my neck?She had to concentrate to steady her breathing as her skin remembered that gentle brush of his fingertips, the memory eliciting a fresh tingle that made her shiver pleasantly.
A moment later, the tingle became an intense heat that flooded her face, as she recalled his arm around her, protecting her from that wretched toad. The more she tried to stop thinking about it, about that light touch against her neck, the more her mind fought back,makingher think about it.
This was a mistake…
“Would one of you fine gentlemen be so kind as to teach my friend and me how to play?” Selina asked with a winning smile that could make just about any man fall to their knees.
“Chairs!” the other gentleman called out without hesitation. “We must have more chairs!”
As if it had been rehearsed ahead of time, two more gentlemen appeared, carrying chairs from a different table. They swept in with the grace of servants at a dinner party, and before Evelyn knew it, she was seated at the card table, absently listening to Hugo and the other fellow teaching Selina how to play.
My brothers will not like this.Evelyn subtly searched the room for any sign of them. Luke was nowhere to be found, while Matthew seemed to be invested in a game of his own in the opposite corner of the room, paying her no heed whatsoever.
“Do you know the duke and duchess well?” Selina asked as fresh cards were dealt.
Evelyn perked up.
“The duke is a dear friend of mine,” Hugo replied. “We have known one another since our school days. Now, if you think that diverting me with conversation will help you to win, you are about to be sorely mistaken.”
There was a glimmer of amusement in his eyes and a lovely smile upon his lips that delivered a jarring pang to the spot beneath Evelyn’s ribs, seeing once more how well matched Hugo and Selina were. Was she not the one who had paid a vast sum in order to push them together? Why should she feel so strange about it now?
It is because of the baron,she told herself, expelling an uneasy breath.
Perhaps shewouldhave been better served if she had bid on Hugo herself. Five outings in his company would certainly have been enough to get her father to stop fretting about her future for a while. Then again, what was the use in delaying the inevitable? Hugo would have gone on five excursions with herand then it would have been over, and she would have been back where she started.
“Are you ready, Miss Parsons?” Hugo asked.
Selina flashed him a grin. “Ready to triumph? Without doubt.”
Half an hour later, Evelyn had gathered the essence of the game. Not just that, but she was playing along in her head, seeing the mistakes that Selina was making and noting the way Hugo’s left eye twitched slightly when he had better cards than he was letting on.
She had always been a quick study, but the thought of actually playing a game seemed much too daring.
“You should allow a lady to win at least once or twice,” Selina said with narrowed eyes and a slight pout to her lips, evidently displeased that she was not quite as good at cards as she had hoped she might be.
Hugo chuckled. “It is not a game where one can beallowedto win, Miss Parsons. One either wins or loses, depending on the luck of the draw.”
Evelyn considered protesting that that was not exactly true, for she could see the ways to win with a less than favorable draw of cards. She held it to herself, not wanting to seem curiousabout the game, not wanting anyone to think that she had been studying.
“Let us play again,” Hugo said, with a nod from the gentleman opposite, a man by the name of Lord Arthur. “This time, Lady Evelyn, youmustplay with us. You cannot be a mere observer, otherwise you are taking the seat of someone who might actually wish to play.”
Selina brightened. “Yes, do play with us, Evie!”
Evelyn chewed her lip, more tempted than she could admit. “I do not think I should.”
“You must!” Selina urged. “Just one little game. If you do not like it, then we do not have to play again.”
