Portia met his eyes. “You cheated.”
He shook his head. “You really are going to have to learn caution. First I’m a liar. When proved truthful, I’m a cheat. How do you arrive at that conclusion, oh wise one?”
“Youknewit was true!” she protested. “There’s no honesty in laying bets when you know you will win.”
He laughed. “What a strange notion of gaming you have. No wonder your brother loses all the time.” He swept her into his arms and carried her squirming to the sofa, where he sat with her in his lap.
When she tried to slide off he used his strength again and she had to stop. “This is so unfair,” she hissed. “You know I lack the strength to break free.”
“If I have an ace, I play it. If you were wise, you would learn not to bet against a certainty.”
“I was certain I knew my Bible.”
Portia was in despair, not because of her fate here but because her resistance was melting like candle wax. His closeness was sweeter than a fine wine, and in a moment he might even make her laugh. That would signal total defeat.
“If you seek to be a successful gamester,” he advised, settling back comfortably as if at ease with the world, “study the players as well as the cards. You need a strong hand indeed to bet against me.”
“I have no desire to be a gamester, successful or otherwise.” She tested his grip again, and found it unbreakable. “My lord, release me. This is intolerable.”
“I find it highly tolerable, and you have the soul of a gamester.”
“No!”
“Then why do you leap into wagers with such enthusiasm? I’ve been making enquiries. Your father was a gamester in his time, and then turned to industrial speculation.”
“And ruined himself. I learn by that.”
“He was unlucky. Or perhaps just rash, like you.” He compelled her to rest against his chest. “Or are you?” he whispered. “It depends what you want to win….”
This was unbearable. He was too intimate, too disturbing, and too close to the truth. “Just kiss me, my lord, if that is your price, and let us have done with it.”
“But I never specified the terms of the wager. You should watch that kind of thing, you know.”
She twisted to glare into his eyes. “I will not pay an outlandish price, my lord.” She saw that he understood her.
“I would hardly expect that here, my dear. You will pay with a kiss?”
Portia distrusted his tone, but she wanted this settled before she became even more foolish. “Yes.”
“Your word on it?”
“Yes.”
He let her go. “Then kiss me.”
Portia stared at him, then leaned forward to give him a peck on the lips. She was snared before she could escape. “Not fair payment,” he whispered. “A proper kiss. A lover’s kiss.”
“You didn’t specify.”
His eyes glinted with infuriating amusement. “But I’m setting the terms.”
“Iloatheyou. I want you to know that.”
“We’ll see,” he said with infuriating calm. “Are you going to kiss me? If not, I will have to think of some other forfeit…”
She longed to call his bluff, but knew she was mastered here. “You promise? One kiss and it will be over?”
“I promise.”
