“This noble gentleman is King Rock.” She drew his attention back to the board. “And this lovely lady, of course, is Queen Tabetha.”
Of course.
“Can we play now, or did you wish to name my pieces as well?” Although he shouldn’t ask, as she was quite capable of delaying their game for the greater part of the afternoon doing precisely that.
She scrunched up her nose. “Doesn’t really matter, since they’re all going to die anyway.” She moved her pawn to F3 with a smirk. “Let’s make this more interesting though.”
“Make chess more interesting? I thought you said it was already too complicated.”
“That’s why I saidinteresting, husband.”
The gleam in her eye warned him that what she really meant waslet’s make this more dangerous.
“Every time you steal one of my pieces, you get to kiss me.”
“And if you steal one of mine?” Dangerous indeed.
“You must remove one item of clothing.”
His initial response was that he ought to flip her ridiculous rules the other way.
His second response was to count the items he was wearing. Shoes, stockings, trousers, waistcoat, handkerchief, of which he had two, shirt…
Stone defeated her soundly, but over the course of two more games, wearing nothing but his trousers, he insisted that they switch to playing cards.
Pausing after shuffling the deck, he reached across the table and touched his fingertips to her mouth.
Her lips were swollen, and the skin around them pink from his beard. “That wasn’t fair, you know.”
“Chess is war, husband.” Her gaze was more knowing than it ought to be. “It is war’s prize to take all vantage.”
“Henry V?”
“Henry VI.”
Her memory most definitely was returning.
As the sun lowered on the horizon, Stone was glad he’d given her a concrete reason for staying put. Because it was obvious she was feeling better. And the better she seemed, the more restless she became.
Archimedes, however, wearing the pink gown again, this time, accessorized with a silk bow, was quite content to remain in the room. Perhaps the animal sensed the danger awaiting him if he was caught, whereas his mistress did not.
At least the cat was willing to cooperate.
“As soon as I can confirm that Culpepper and his men have left, we’ll go out walking tomorrow.” The last time they’d done this had resulted in a catastrophe. He sat up straight.
He would make certain they were both sober when they embarked on this outing.
Definitely sober.
“A picnic, maybe?” Tabetha asked hopefully.
“As long as the weather holds.”
“And we leave the day after that.”
“At sunup.”
“Meanwhile, we could always…” Her gaze shifted to the bed.
