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SIX

Lilah

“And you’re absolutely sure you’re prepared?” I said coldly.

Why was this corridor so cramped? I’d never noticed that the corridors at the Gambling Dukes’ rooms in Kineallen’s townhouse were so small.

I tried to take in a deep breath, but that didn’t help. I was only more conscious of the delectable scent William had chosen for today’s meeting.

We hadn’t talked about the kiss.

And we weren’t going to, I promised myself as we walked past another door. There was nothing to discuss, after all.

We’d got carried away. We’d got ourselves tangled up in an argument about my face on those stupid posters, and one thing had led to another, and…

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Only what you want. You’re the one in charge. You can tell me to stop, to let you go, any time. And I’ll obey, Lilah. I’ll do whatever you want. All you have to do is ask. ”

I swallowed. It was not going to happen again, that was all. William and I didn’t need to discuss the stupid kiss to know there was no possibility of me allowing that again.

If he even wanted to. Which he probably didn’t.

“I'm prepared,” William said languidly, walking calmly as though none of this mattered. “Don’t worry about it, Lilah.”

I fought against the instinct to demand that he called me Delilah, or perhaps even Lady Rotherwick. Anything to recreate the distance between us that was the only thing keeping me from pushing him up against the wall and?—

We turned a corner and a door slowly opened.

Damn. I almost completely lost my head.

“There you are,” said Kineallen curtly, stepping over to shake William’s hand. “I thought for a moment you were going to be late.”

“Right on time,” said William cheerfully. “I’ve got my charm ready—shall I go in?”

Before I could say anything to him—warn him about the people waiting for us inside, remind him that the decks of cards were of course unmarked, ask him what the hell he’d been thinking to kiss me—he had gone.

I felt strangely bereft without William standing beside me. I mean, he was a pain in the ass. But he was my?—

No. Nope, absolutely not. Only pain and danger could go down that road.

I ignored Kineallen’s face and stepped around him into the large card room that he had set up.

A gaggle of gentlemen, perhaps a dozen, along with some ladies were mostly already seated at tables, laughter echoing from many of them.

The clink of coins, the delight from one quarter accompanied by sighs of disappointment…

My spirits rose. This was what the Gambling Dukes had always been about. The joy of a wager, the delight in a bet, the rush of anticipation and then the soaring delight when one won the hand.

And then I froze. Framed on the opposite side of the wall, newly framed…was a poster. One with my portrait upon it.

My face.

Even I could admit he’d managed to choose a portrait that was at least slightly flattering, but still. It was absolutely mortifying to think half of London had?—

“Going onto the stage, Lilah?” Markham said with a grin.

I threw him a dirty look, which didn’t seem to affect him and didn’t give me any relief from the tension knotting itself in my stomach.

William had promised me his charm and winning ways would completely lift our reputation. I told him that Society had high standards and it was best to just hope that even four people would accept our invitations.

And yet here we were.

William grinned. “Thank you so much for meeting with us today, gentlemen, ladies. Now, who will play a hand of poker with me?”

I winced. Did he have to be so…so direct?

And yet it appeared to work. After another five minutes, I had to admit it, even to myself.

William was good.

At the charm offensive, I thought angrily as I leaned back in my chair, trying to make it look like I was doing nothing but observing the merriment in the room as others gambled.

William moved from table to table, playing a hand here then cutting out, complimenting a lady in a way that made her cheeks flush, clapping a pair of gentlemen on the back and welcoming their conversation.

He was doing marvelously.

After all, that was what he was here for. And Kineallen seemed impressed, which was saying something. My eldest friend rarely showed any emotions, that just wasn’t who he was, and even he had something of a smile on his face.

Georgiana didn’t look that impressed. “And we could not have done this ourselves? Hosted a card party?”

I glanced at William who was standing nearby, expecting him to take a moment to consider how to answer.

I shouldn’t have doubted him. Without even breaking a sweat, he shot back, “You could have done—but you did not. I did.”

It was difficult not to shake my head, though a wry smile did creep out onto my lips.

William Parry was a gentleman who knew what he was doing, and I hated how impressed I was with him.

Before, when he had been something so much more to me than a creative gentleman I was requesting to assist us, William had never spoken much about his social climbing.

Oh, he’d talked about his passions, his interests.

But his actual background, his history, his past?

That had been a no-go for us, in both directions.

My husband was dead and I had not loved him, had married him to please my father, and I had no wish to dishonor either of their memories.

And the Gambling Dukes had been so new, I didn’t want to jinx our hopes.

Now here we are.

My gaze flickered over William as my skin warmed. He still knew how to impress. And how to kiss.

Georgiana leaned closer to me and whispered, “This is the gentleman that you…ahem. Courted? The one who broke your heart?”

I swallowed and looked up to see my best friend with an uncharacteristic look of concern across her face.

Goodness. Something must truly be wrong if Georgiana, of all people, looked that serious.

I shrugged, rather than speak aloud. Anyone could have been listening.

Georgiana frowned. “Then why the hell are you smiling at him?

It was an excellent question, and not one I particularly wanted to investigate. There was so much history between William and I, some of it I still didn’t really understand. So much I didn’t know. So many questions left unanswered.

I wasn’t going to rake that all up now.

I glanced back over at William, who gave me a wink as he moved onto the next table.

“My dear sir, how pleasant to see you here…”

My cheeks burned, but it had been such a slight wink, I didn’t think any of my friends had spotted it. Thank God Markham hadn’t noticed. He was too busy with his wife, and would have spotted that wink a mile off.

As it was, William’s confidence in the middle of a card party that—ostensibly—I and my friends were hosting was causing spluttering heat to overtake most of my body.

It was scandalous, the way he was so informal with me! The way he just assumed I would want him to wink at me.

It was even more infuriating that I had enjoyed it.

“—and I think you’ll find the Gambling Dukes is an excellent club to partake in?—”

“Is he doing enough?” asked my friend Kineallen over William’s flow.

I glanced over at my friend.

“I had hoped to see more nobility here,” Kineallen continued. “What exactly?—”

“He is doing what we could not,” I interrupted, “which is convince people to associate with us. If he fails, well, then, we can cut him off.”

Still, I couldn’t help finding myself willing William to do well.

Anyone would, I told myself. I wasn’t particularly interested in William himself. I didn’t want him to do well, didn’t want my friends to be impressed by him, didn’t want him to succeed. See him smile.

Probably.

“You should listen to me, I'm the one in charge, remember, William?”

“You like that, don’t you, Lilah? Being in charge? Being on top?”

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat and made the mistake of catching William’s eye. His grin made my solar plexus shiver.

God, he was a good kisser. If only he had been a better gentleman, I could have justified kissing him again. And again. And again.

But I couldn’t go back to that sort of life. I couldn’t allow William’s charm and winning way to overpower me.

When a man had betrayed you with another woman, you definitely shouldn’t want him to pin you against a dining table and kiss you again.

William

God, I’d never known a club like them.

Every single one of them—Kineallen, Georgiana, Lilah—looked straight through me, as though they knew I was trembling as I meandered from table to table.

I’d never been so cowed by absolutely nothing before.

They just had a way with them. A way of looking at me as though I was nothing, as though I was fortunate to even be stood here before them, showing them how I could completely transform their club’s reputation into one that would actually gain more wagers.

It was ridiculous. And I’d never felt more alone.

That was, until I winked at Lilah.

It was a stupid thing to do. The last thing she would want. Lilah had made that perfectly clear in the very awkward minutes we’d spent walking along the corridor to this very room.

All she’d asked about, repeatedly, was if I thought I was prepared enough for this.

Evidently she didn’t trust me.

But this was more than that. Lilah hadn’t looked at me, met my eye, or even laughed at my inane joke, whatever it was. I couldn’t remember now.

And as I stood here, desperate for her warmth and support, hoping she wasn’t willing me to get absolutely decimated by an onslaught of questions from her potential gamblers, I tried not to think about that kiss.

That moment I had felt completely in control, yet without any ability to dictate my own next steps. I had been completely in her thrall, unable to do anything as Lilah had looked at me.

And now?—

“Well, I think I’ve stayed long enough,” said Kineallen curtly, rising.

Oh. Evidently he was unimpressed, then. Even though I had another two gentlemen now talking about taking up wagers with the club.