Page 16 of Rogue Lyon

She held out her hand. He took it and held it in his warm palm.

Once again, his touch sent a little fizz of sensation through her and she locked her knees and set down her shoulders. “Mr. Habsburg.”

“Please, call me ‘Jules.’” He lifted her hand to his mouth and brushed his lips over her flesh.

Her stomach did a funny flutter, as though it were full of butterflies.

“Jules.” She liked the sound of his name on her tongue and wanted to hear hers from his mouth. “And you must call me ‘Meredith,’ then.” She smiled, knowing it was too soon for first names, but she didn’t really care about that rule. “I am glad you have decided to have chess lessons.”

“I would be a fool to miss the opportunity to learn from a master, and it sounds to me that is what you are. Meredith.” He paused and winked. “Given that you said you could beat all the men at the Lyon’s Den.”

She withdrew her hand. “Perhaps I was being a little overconfident, for I do not know the standard of them all.”

“Nothing wrong with confidence; it’s quite alluring.” The flickering light from a tallow candle danced on his face.

Her mouth dried a little and she swallowed. “Would you like a drink?”

“Only if you will join me.”

“Yes, I think I will.” She poured two glasses of claret wine and set them beside the chess set.

“This is a fine set.” He pulled out her chair.

Meredith sat and quickly reached for a drink. The rich, berry flavor spread on her tongue. “Yes, it is a Lund set; he’s an expert to be admired. Fabulous detail on all of the pieces.”

“I agree.” He too sat and reached for his wine. “To chess lessons.” He held up his glass.

“To chess lessons.” She tapped the rim of her glass to his and stared into his eyes. They were full of confidence and humor and something else; she couldn’t decide what.

Perhaps it was the inner scoundrel Mrs. Dove-Lyon had mentioned that she could see. She recalled Nancy telling her about his jaunt onto a private terrace in the dark with a duke’s daughter.

If that kind of behavior wasn’t inviting scandal and gossip, she didn’t know what would.

Yet here she was, alone in a room with him, and no one was saying a word.

Because…and the truth was a little bitter on her tongue…though she was a gentleman’s daughter, she was not as genteel as the ladies of the ton, and she was doing nothing more than providing a service. A tutorial service. No scandal here. He wanted to improve his chess and she was being paid to do that.

“So tell me.” She cleared her throat. “What do you know about chess?”

“The goal is to checkmate the opponent’s king, meaning trapping it so it can’t escape capture.”

“Correct.” She nodded.

“Each player controls sixteen pieces.” He pointed to each in turn. “Pawns, rooks, knights, bishops, queen, king. The idea is to capture pieces by landing on their square, and the ultimate aim is to trap the enemy king while protecting your own.”

“Very good. And do you know the direction each piece can move in?”

He smiled. “I do.”

“Okay, why don’t we have a game and see how we get on? I’ll go first, as I have the white pieces.” She started with a classic King’s Pawn move to free up her king and queen.

He nodded and rubbed his chin. He then moved.

Within minutes, they were immersed in the game. Silently sliding the pieces around the checkered board and sipping their wine while the other contemplated.

Meredith didn’t comment on the strength of his moves, but she could quickly tell he had a good grasp of the basics and was employing a certain degree of strategy along the way.

Though as Lysander walked past the closed door, talking loudly to someone, she played her last move that resulted in checkmate.