Page 17 of The Danger of Desire
“So we’ve met before.”
Was she imagining the sarcasm in his words? No one else seemed to notice. And if hehadfigured her out, wouldn’t he have said something right away? “Of course not. But your reputation precedes you.”
“It generally does. Though I didn’t imagine it stretched to Wales. That’s where you’re from, isn’t it?”
Oh, Lord, he’d been asking around about Jack Jones before he’d even sat down to play. “Yes, but I came to London a while ago. A man’s got to work, you know. And are we playing cards ornot?”
They settled the terms, then drew to see who got to choose who dealt. She won the cut, so she chose to deal and be Youngest, while he would be Eldest. Although Eldest had the advantage in everypartieof the six, the alternating deals meant that she would end up Eldest for the lastpartie—so it was a strategic move to let him have the advantage for the first one.
They began the game. He actually allowed her a whole five minutes before he began chattering away again. “Who taught you to play cards so well, young Jones?”
Oh, for heaven’s sake. Was he seeking to distract “Jones” in an attempt to make him lose? Or had his lordship figured out who she really was and was toying with her, like a cat batting at a mouse?
She couldn’t tell from his faintly amused expression. “My father taught me to play. He enjoyed a game of whist or piquet now and then.”
“So he was a gamester.”
She grunted, her usual response when people got too inquisitive. She was telling the truth, after all. She and Reynold had inherited Papa’s talent for cards, which Papa had cultivated. And that was why she knew Reynold couldn’t have lost so much without being cheated by someone very adept.
Unfortunately, in all the nights she’d been playing here, no one had shown up who fit that description. Therehadbeen the occasional cheater—it was almost impossible to avoid that in the hells—but they’d been clumsy ones she could easily get around.
She’d considered trying other hells in her search, but it seemed better to stick with the one where the sharper had played her brother. If the man had come here once, he’d come again. Besides, only certain hells specialized in piquet, and this was one.
She and the marquess played a few cards, the silence only broken by their declarations of points.
Then Lord Knightford started his inquisition again. “Where in Wales are you from?”
She swallowed her panic. It certainlyseemedas if he were trying to find her out. “Corwen.” It was Owen’s home village. He’d schooled her in everything she needed to know about it.
“Ah, I’ve been there. The town famous for its well.”
Owen nudged her knee.Danger.
“Don’t know about a well, sir. But there’s sheep and cows.”
“And corn?”
Her heart stuttered. Oh, Lord, could he be referring to their conversation earlier? “Beg your pardon?”
“Nothing.” He eyed her intently over his cards. “What did you do in Corwen, before you came to London?”
Time to put an end to this. “None of your damned business.”
“You should be more courteous to your betters, brat,” he said mildly.
“And you should pay more attention to your cards, old man,” she countered as she played her last card and won thepartie.
Though she knew she shouldn’t have beaten his lordship, since it was unwise to make him angry when she wasn’t sure if he recognized her, it gave her a secret satisfaction when the faintest frown marred that perfect brow of his.
Takethat,Lord Inquisitive. Perhaps now you’ll stop hounding me and start paying attention to the game.
He gathered up the cards and shuffled slower than anyone she’d ever seen. “So, brat, have you sampled any of the other pleasures in Covent Garden?”
“Naw, I only like the pleasures that make me money. Like trouncingyou, which is quite a pleasure, m’lord, I’ll admit.”
She loved that aspect of pretending to be Mr. Jones. She could say what she liked, which was enormously freeing, since she normally had to govern her words.
And why was it that women had to stifle themselves while men got to say whatever they pleased? It simply wasn’t fair. Sometimes she thought she wouldn’t mind becoming Jack Jones for life, being able to live on her own terms.
