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How infuriating.
Alex made his move, and it left his knight forking my queen and my bishop. Ho, hum. This was quite the conundrum. I didn’t want to lose my queen, so I had to move her, but where?
Bollocks to it.
Gritting my teeth, I moved her into what I felt was the best possible position on the board.
Alex glanced over at me. A smile played with his lips, and he effortlessly moved his knight to take my bishop.
The bastard.
At least my queen was safe.
My king, unfortunately, was not.
How to sum up British history in a couple of sentences.
A few more turns later, and it was over. He checkmated me with ease, and if I were a lesser woman, I’d have flipped the darn chess table on his head.
“Well, that was rude,” I said after a moment. “Did you have to do it so quickly?”
Alex laughed and leaned back in the chair. “Sorry. I so rarely get to play against new opponents that I couldn’t resist. Boris really is the only person who’ll play me, and that’s only because he’s the person who taught me how to play in the first place.”
I wrinkled my nose as I grabbed my glass and got up. “Aren’t there chess clubs local to here? Local tournaments or the like? I know there are some in Somerset and Devon.”
“Yes,” Alex said slowly, following me to the sofa and sitting down next to me. “Unfortunately, I’ve been banned from the local club.”
“You’ve been banned? What did you do? Sneak in red hot Doritos? Was it too much for their delicate sensibilities?”
He laughed. “I kept beating them all. Every time. So they banned me.”
“That’s rude.”
“Not really. You were more competition than they were.”
“Thank you?”
“No, really. You’re a very good player. You just weren’t paying attention.”
I waved my wine glass. “That’ll do it. I’m so annoyed I didn’t see your opening move sequence until it was too late. It was such a simple one, too.”
“I did try to keep it easy.” Alex rubbed the back of his neck. “Maybe we’ll play again when it’s not midnight.”
“I agree. If anything, now I’m desperate to beat your arse.”
He grinned at me, leaning on the back of the sofa. “Good luck. I haven’t lost a game in… almost two years.”
“Well, you’re going to.” I prodded his shoulder. “I don’t like losing, and I’m rather stubborn. My mother used to tell me it was a terrible combination of qualities, but the older I get, the more I realise they’re really quite complimentary.”
He laughed, swatting my hand away from him. “Well, thank you for the game. It was fun to play against someone new.”
“You’re welcome. I haven’t played in a while. It was fun.” I smiled at him. “Even if I did lose.”
He returned the smile, and for a moment, the heaviest of silences hung in the air. There was a… second… maybe two seconds, where it felt as though there was something tangible that fizzled between us. Enough that my stomach knotted in anticipation of something—anything—happening.
But nothing did.
It was just as well, really.
Alex cleared his throat and sat up straight. “It’s getting late.”
Nodding in agreement, I got up, throwing the last small mouthful of wine back before I headed for the door. “You’re right. I’ve already stayed up far too late as it is, especially when I have work to do tomorrow.”
“It’s entirely my fault,” Alex said, following me out of the library. He paused to turn off the lights, then drew level with me as we approached the stairs. “Start half an hour late tomorrow. Olympia can see the animals.”
“Start half an hour late?” I laughed quietly. “Alex, we’ve started every single lesson at the same time ever since I got here. The one time I was five minutes late, Olympia was sitting at the table in the library like an old school mistress, demanding to know where I was.”
“Doesn’t she try to get you to delay the start of your lesson on a regular basis?”
“Almost daily,” I confirmed. “One day, I’ll agree just to see what she does.”
“So why not do it tomorrow?”
“Because I suspect I shall be far too tired to have thirty minutes of lecturing from a ten-year-old about why I’m late.” I stopped outside my bedroom and smiled. “Think about it. Do you really believe it’s the best choice?”
He didn’t even hesitate. “No. I suppose the routine you’ve fallen into does bring her a lot of comfort, especially in the summer break where there isn’t a routine at all.”
“Exactly. I’ll just have to switch out my morning tea for a coffee instead.”
“And give Boris a heart attack?”
“Well, he doesn’t need the routine, does he?” I grinned and gripped the door handle.
He laughed. “Best to keep him on his toes, I think.”
“I agree.”
He checked his watch. “Bedtime. I’ll see you in the morning, Addy. Thank you for pretending I didn’t fuck up your writing mojo tonight.”
