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The other man grunted again. “Good. Then she can abandon this silly plan of hers to take all of London by storm.”
Ken’s mouth twitched down into a frown. Her story from last night and her plan weren’t cause and effect—were they?
He’d have to find out.
“She’s agreed to teach me poker. With your permission, I shall come tomorrow afternoon.”
“Poker?” Ace scowled. “You want her to teach you that?”
“It’s a fair sight better than Gris or Tris. The heckling they’d both give me would be unbearable. And don’t even get me started on Fulton. He tried to drown me earlier.”
But Ace only chuckled. “You’re fitting in nicely, I see.”
Was he? That was good. But there was only one Smith who really needed to accept him into the family and somehow, her plans for the future didn’t entirely fit with his. Did they?
CHAPTERTHIRTEEN
The next day,Mirabelle perched on the edge of her chair, the afternoon light filtering in, cards laid out before her. Ken was due to arrive any moment.
Even better, the only person able to chaperone today was Tris and he’d been awake all night, which meant he’d sat on the settee, stretched out his feet, and promptly fallen asleep. Nothing was better than a sleeping chaperone.
Except for no chaperone at all…
Ken appeared in the door and she automatically rose, taking two steps toward him as he reached out a hand to her.
“You look well this morning,” she said quietly, her glance moving to her brother as her breath held in her lungs, her fingers tingling in his.
He let out a low, quiet chuckle, his gaze following hers. “Asleep?”
She gave a quick nod. Ken pulled her a touch closer as he whispered close to her ear, “I think what you mean by ‘I look well’ is that I appear a fair sight better than yesterday.”
She smiled at his words. He always looked handsome, but he had looked a bit peaked the day before. “So…” She stepped back, pulling him toward the settee. “You want to learn how to play poker?”
His brows lifted. “I know how to play. I want to learn how to win. How does the house do it?”
He pulled out a chair for her and she sat, drawing in a deep breath as she cut the cards in front of her, beginning to shuffle. “If you understand the rules, then you know how to win.”
He frowned at her as he sat. “But you said that day of the first boon that you knew how to win.”
“Well,” she started, pausing to think about her words, “what I meant was that I know how to gamble.”
Ken scratched his jaw as watched her deal out the cards. “What’s the difference?”
She laid out the cards, drawing in a deep breath. “Some people know how to keep track of the deck. This card or that card has already been played. I would imagine that would be very useful.”
“I’m sure it is.”
“But for me, it’s not about the cards but reading the people around me.”
He straightened, looking not at his hand but at her. “Explain.”
“Let me see…” She leaned forward on her elbows. “Fulton’s temper causes him to make foolish choices. Rush quits before he can lose, and Gris attempts to bluff his way through nearly anything.”
Realization dawned on his face. “And me?”
That made her smile. “Unfailingly kind, which is frequently a weakness. But always thinking, which makes you a worthy opponent.”
He gave her an answering grin. “But what about at the gaming hell? Dealers don’t know the players.”
