Page 9 of How to Best a Marquess

She left him to walk to one of the roulette tables. Her hand grazed the walnut finish.

He followed. “You plan to add another roulette table or replace this one with another game of chance?” Hugh asked.

“No. You see only this room, but there is more.” Ellie turned to press a latch in a paneled wall across from the roulette table. She felt a click, then a section of the panel opened to reveal a door leading into a chamber. He followed her inside.

“A hidden room,” he said, looking impressed.

She swept inside, and he was right behind her.

“The club has many. There are also private rooms for gamblers who desire private high-stakes games. This one was unused,” she said. It was a significant space, wide enough to fit several gaming tables, settees, chairs, and end tables. Only one roulette table currently sat in the center of the room.

He walked the perimeter of the room, seeming to scan the space and measure it in his mind. “Will you use it for higher-stakes games?”

“In a sense. But only for women. Ladies will be free to remove their masks if they choose or to keep them on. The servants at the Raven Club are sworn to secrecy.”

“Ah, you feel the women need their own room.”

“They will be free to join the gentlemen on the main casino floor or to enter here. I believe once it becomes known, many more ladies will seek membership.”

“Fascinating. I see I have much more competition than I’d initially believed.”

“You didn’t take me seriously?”

He grinned. “Perhaps.”

She leaned against the roulette table and feigned interest in the green baize. His answer irked her. For some reason, it was important to her that he take her seriously. She knew that didn’t make sense. Not when she could use his prejudice to her advantage. If he thought her an unworthy opponent, then she could fool him into believing she was incompetent and swoop in to win the Raven after her well-laid plans filled the club’s coffers with coin.

“Will female servants serve the women here?” he asked.

It was a harmless question, but she seized the opportunity to provoke him. Maybe he’d leave her alone and she could see to her work with the hidden back room.

She looked away from the roulette table to meet his eyes. “Of course not. I will personally select the most virile of our servants to work here.”

His grin faltered. “The most virile?”

Oh, how wonderful it was to wipe the smug smile from his face. “Yes.”

His posture stiffened, enough for her to notice. “You intend to select them?”

She blinked innocently. “Must you repeat everything I say?”

“What will your brother think?”

“He will not know all my efforts, only the outcome.”

One dark eyebrow shot up. “Remember what I said about an invisible rope tying us together?”

Somehow, he’d turned things around, and she felt an uncomfortable tightening in her chest. She would have stepped back were she not leaning on the gaming table beside her. “You know of my plans now. No sense following me as I carry them out.”

His grin surprised her. Straight white teeth flashed in his handsome face. Her cheeks grew warm, and a tingling began at the base of her neck. The large room suddenly felt very small. What was it about him that unnerved her so easily?

“I can think of nothing better than following you about. Someone has to watch you.”

If she had a fireplace poker, she’d hit him. It probably wouldn’t make a dent in his dense skull.

“I am no longer a child.”

His gaze roved her lazily from her lips to her bodice down to her feet, then back up to her eyes. “Oh, I’m very aware of that fact.”