Page 36 of One Night with a Prince
To her satisfaction, she won the first hand, though only by one point. He didn’t seem perturbed, but merely removed his ruby cravat pin and laid it on the table between them as she gathered up the cards. Uneasily, she placed the pin with the other items. “Can you afford to lose this? It looks rather costly.”
She shuffled the cards, then pushed them over to him.
With a chuckle, he cut them and passed them back. “Don’t worry—I never risk more than I can afford to lose.”
“Another of your gambling rules?” She dealt the next hand.
“Absolutely. Only a fool goes into debt playing cards.”
Then thank God they were only playing for clothing, because she lost the next hand. Badly. So badly that he took every trick save one. Blast it all.
His eyes gleamed at her across the table as he gathered up the cards. “Six points. That means six items of—”
“I know what it means.” But which items would be least mortifying to remove? Inspiration struck. Hiding her smile, she removed a hairpin and laid it on the table. As she reached for another, he jerked upright in his chair to growl, “You can’t count those, for God’s sake.”
“I most certainly can. You said ‘items of clothing or adornment.’ You got to take out your cravat pin—how is this is any different?”
Glowering at her, he shuffled the cards with jerky snaps of his wrists. “You must have twenty of those at least.”
“At least,” she echoed smugly as she removed another.
Unfortunately, she needed every single one to hold up her heavy hair. After the fourth pin, she felt her coiffure droop. After the fifth, it fell entirely, sending a few pins pinging upon the floor. Frantically, she grabbed for the mass to make sure the other pins didn’t fall. As he regarded her half-fallen hair, his gaze began to smolder. “You can’t play cards while holding yourGenerated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlhair, Christabel.”
She released it gingerly, wincing when two more pins hit the floor. “We’ll count one of them against this hand and the rest toward my future losses.”
His voice was low, husky. “Oh no, lass, those don’t count. They’re no longer items of adornment once they leap from your body of their own accord. Otherwise, you could claim every speck of dirt that fell off your boots.”
“But—”
“That’s only logical, Christabel,” he said firmly.
Curse him for being right. “Blasted logic,” she muttered as she plucked out one of the few remaining pins and plopped it on the table.
That’s when the battle began in earnest. She forced herself to play as he’d trained her, to contain her anger, to concentrate on every card he laid down. And her efforts paid off—as they headed into the last trick of that hand, she was winning by two points.
“Hah!” She played her last card with a flourish, beating him by three points. “Take that, you wily rascal!”
She tossed her head back, which cost her the rest of her hairpins, but she didn’t care. She didn’t need those pins anyway. She could beat him without them.
Yet her success didn’t seem to annoy him at all. Removing each of his boots, he came around the table in his stocking feet to hand them to her. With a gloating smile, she placed them on the pile of clothes, then turned back to find him unbuttoning his trousers. Right in front of her. Her mouth went dry as he slipped them off to reveal the short stockinette drawers beneath, stretched taut over his full arousal. Lord help her.
Because she couldn’t seem to look away. He was so very…large. The stockinette enfolded his erection with such loving attention to detail that she could even make out the heavy weight of his ballocks.
“Do you want to keep playing, lass?” he asked in a husky murmur. “Or shall we turn to more enjoyable entertainment?”
Swallowing hard, she forced herself to meet his gaze. Sheer hunger shone in his face, so raw and palpable it made her breath quicken.
Dear Lord, she must be mad to be playing this game. Or perhaps she was mad not simply to give in to his seductions. Here was her chance to discover if it could be as heavenly as some women claimed, as all ofhis women must think, anyway, judging from how eager they were to share his bed. But seizing that chance was far too dangerous. Lovemaking with Philip had fallen far short of heavenly, yet it had been enough to turn her into a weak-spined ninny, willing to let him wrangle out of her the family’s most volatile secret. Only imagine what she might do if Byrne pleased her in bed. She’d probably give him the keys to the blasted kingdom.
She’d already had her heart broken by one man’s betrayal; she didn’t want to try for twice. “Let’s keep playing.”
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlHis eyes flared hot, but he merely nodded. “Whatever my lady wishes.”
But as he dropped his trousers in her lap and strolled back to his chair, her gaze trailed inexorably down his very fine buttocks, then to his surprisingly muscular thighs, then to—
She blinked. “You’ve got a knife strapped to your calf.” His boot normally hid it from view.
“Yes.” He took his seat. “It’s easier and safer than carrying a pistol.” Flicking his hand toward the cards, he added, “It’s your deal.”
