Page 97 of A Deal With a Notorious Devil

A little boy wandered over, muffling a yawn in his palm. This child was known to him; one of the little mites whom Laurence had brought to visit his sickbed, and if it wasn’t the daughter, Victoria, then it had to be David.

“Uncle Christopher,” the boy said as he stopped before them.

“David,” he returned.

“Grandmama says you’re incorrigible.”

Phoebe snickered into her tea cup.

“And?” Chris asked.

The boy canted his head to the right. “What’s incorrigible?”

“Ask your grandmama.”

Somewhere off to his right, Chris heard one of Phoebe’s sisters give a little titter of a laugh. Probably theydidlike him, then. Just a little, at least.

A little girl scampered over. One of the Victorias, he thought, though he was fairly certain she wasn’t Laurence’s daughter. But he did distinctly recall tossing this one down that snowy hill an inordinate number of times. “I don’t think you look incorrigible,” she said. “I think you look pretty.”

“I don’t think Tori knows what incorrigible means, either,” Phoebe whispered in his ear.

“Still, I think I’m flattered,” Chris said. “Perhaps she’d like a puppy.”

“A puppy!” Tori shrieked in delight.

“Absolutely not,” said her father—the marquess—from across the room. “Nopuppies. None.”

There was the stamp of tiny feet as several more children skittered over. “Could I have a puppy?” asked a little boy.

“Now, William, what have I told you?” Chris asked. At least, he hoped the boy was called William. It was as good a guess as any.

The boy screwed up his face in concentration, to all appearances casting his memory back. “If you can’t be a good example, be a dire warning?”

Laurence choked. “I say!”

“Neverdisturb Uncle Christopher when he is endeavoring to relax,” Chris corrected. His gaze slid over the coterie of childrenhe’d somehow collected, and he shoved his hand into the pocket of his coat to pull out a small pouch. There was a faint clicking sound from within as he dangled it in the air.

Phoebe groaned, covering her face with one hand.

“All right, children,” Chris said, as he pulled open the strings to reveal a set of ivory dice. “The name of the game is Hazard.”