Page 29 of The Good Girl's Guide to Rakes
He dug into his pocket and, stepping close to the boy, shoved a wad of pound notes into the youth’s hand.
The boy’s eyes went wide. “Th-Thank—”
“Enough.” Kieran refused to meet the lad’s gaze. “Take Antoinette home to safety, away from the jackals.” He glanced over to where the woman in blue anxiously stood, surrounded by avaricious men. “And cease your injudicious gaming. A sonnet is far more effective at seduction.”
“Sir,” the boy said earnestly. “I’m so grateful, so very grateful.”
“Go on, now,” Kieran answered, already walking away. His lips twitched mirthlessly. He’d given the lad nearly all his blunt for the night, and though he could get credit if he so desired, he didn’t like to play someone else’s coin.
Looking for Celeste, he espied her near another hazard table. She seemed in the midst of a wager. The earlier uncertainty she’d appeared to wrestle with was gone, newfound confidence bright in her eyes and steady in the set of her shoulders. A trio of men hovered nearby, clearly more interested in her than the game, but she didn’t seem to notice.
Kieran took a step in her direction, only belatedly realizing that his hands had knotted into fists. Puzzled, he looked down at them as if they were subject to someone else’s emotions.
But they werehis. And this unexpected protectiveness he felt toward her, that was his, too.
Celeste sauntered up to him a moment later, waving a stack of banknotes as though it was a fan, and beaming. Her eyes were bright as she struck a pose like a fashion plate.
“Felicitations on your successful efforts,” Kieran drawled, fighting for composure. She certainlydidn’t know that he’d been ready to commit violence against anyone who might dare harm her. “I hope you sufficiently drained everyone’s pockets.”
“A whole fifteen pounds,” she said, and laughed. The husky sound wrapped around him in a velvet caress. “I wagered that the lady playing hazard would cough when the gentleman player to her right cast the dice.”
“What led you to the conclusion that she’d do such a thing?”
“I watched the table and saw that the gentleman had been winning, whilst she’d been losing, and didn’t look overly pleased about it. It stood to reason that she would attempt to sabotage his play—and she did. Resulting in this.” She waved her winnings.
He quickly covered her hand with his and the heat of her skin permeated his, rich and heady. His body responded at once, the darker, baser part of himself jostling forward to demand action.
She drew in a breath, the hazel of her eyes eclipsed by her widening pupils. The cosmetics she’d applied with a liberal hand didn’t hide the fresh redness in her cheeks, and that color in her face matched the heat rushing through him.
Fuck.This was inconvenient.
“Careful,” he said, his voice a deep rasp. Slowly, he released his hold on her. “This may be a gaming hell, but even here you don’t want to tempt people into doing something they shouldn’t.”
She swallowed, and when she spoke, her words were throaty. “They must be held accountable for their own actions.”
They stared at each other for a long moment, the air between them taut with things unsaid, and urges that shouldn’t be acted upon.
“With that newly won blunt,” he said, “you’ll want to keep playing.”
She blinked, surfacing from the thrall that had encircled them. “Oughtn’t I stop whilst the odds are in my favor?”
“That’s precisely when you should test the limits of that good fortune.” When she looked surprised, he chuckled. “If you’re in search of someone to advocate temperate behavior, you’ll need to look elsewhere.”
“God, I’ve had enough of that from everyone else,” she said, her mouth twisting wryly.
“Then let’s be intemperate, Madam Salome.” He held out his arm.
“Indeed, let us.” She set her hand on his arm and smiled up at him, but it wasn’t the polite, respectable smile he’d seen her dole out at sundry social events over the years. This one was enigmatic, sly, as though both she and Kieran were possessors of a very naughty secret.
This was not Dom’s sister—she was her own woman. The realization seemed to hit Kieran and Celeste at the same time, drawing them closer while she discovered the very beginnings of her own power.
He led her back to the gaming tables, and for the next hour, she placed wagers both on the games themselves as well as the people watching them. She wasn’t always successful, losing almost half of her money before recouping the loss, but none ofit dimmed her enthusiasm. Her smiles, too, were contagious.
His face actually hurt a little from the amount of smiling he’d done tonight.
“Why aren’t you scowling and cursing your fortune?” he asked her when a bet with a woman in pearls resulted in a substantial loss.
“Whatever comes of this,” she answered, handing the woman two pounds, “I’ve learned, and experienced, and I never would have done either if I’d stayed quietly at home. But you surprise me.”
