“So would everyone else who’s been similarly deceived,” she said as she flipped the cards over once more, hiding the faces. Lightly, she added, “Don’t ever wager against me. You’re certain to lose.”
“But you didn’t even move them,” he protested, and Grace allowed herself a bit of private delight for having fooled him so easily. “Do it again,” he said, leaning forward to rest his hands upon his knees. “I’ll catch it this time.”
No, he wouldn’t. Nobody had ever caught her at such card tricks. But there was something so deliciously satisfying in gulling someone who knew they were being taken and still couldn’t quite work out how. “All right,” she said, hovering her fingers over the cards. “Find the—”
“It’s hardly a fair game if you haven’t put the queen back first,” Lord Lockhart admonished.
It never had been a fair game; Lord Lockhart simply did not know precisely how unfair it had been. “What do you mean? She’s already back.” Grace flipped the center card again, revealing the queen of hearts back in her spot. “And look—this time she’s brought her sisters with her.” Turning the two cards on either side, Grace exposed the queen of diamonds and the queen of clubs.
Lord Lockhart blew out a breath. “That’s incredible,” he said. “How did you do it?”
“Sleight of hand,” she said. “And palming cards. It’s a common swindle played in the streets, meant to lure the unsuspecting into making wagers they’re certain they can’t lose. I’ve been doing it since my hands were big enough to conceal the cards.” She held up one hand to reveal a few cards bent slightly to fit into the cup of her palm. “If you’re skilled enough, quick enough, your mark will never notice. The lady shows up upon the table only when I want her to do so, and I can make her disappear and reappear whenever I wish. And should someone catch on I can simply—” In a fluid motion she lifted her hand, showing him only an empty palm for a moment, only to turn her hand around and reveal the cards now caught between the clasp of her fingers, held against the back of her hand.
“You want me to distract a roomful of gentlemen with a game offind the lady?” he asked.
“No; that would require a degree of showmanship far beyond that which you could learn in an afternoon,” she said. “But you couldlearn a passable false shuffle, and how to deal from the bottom of the deck. How to palm cards and to tuck them into your sleeve to shake loose when you need them.”
“I don’t think I could ever manage to be half so good as you are,” he said. “Certainly not so quickly.”
“You don’t need to be as good as I am.” Grace collected the cards once again and stacked them into a neat pile. “I have to be good because everyone expects me to cheat. I must fool their minds every bit as much as their eyes. But no one will be expecting it of you.” Honest, ethical, and morally upright as he was, no one would suspect him of concealing cards, or of dealing from the bottom of the deck. “People largely see what they expect to see,” she said as she leaned forward to hand the deck across the table to him. “You have them half-fooled already. Now you need only to mislead their eyes. And no one will be watching particularly closely, so long as you lose when you need to.”
“Ah,” he said. “Like withfind the lady.”
“Exactly. Bait your uncle with a few of your own losses—honest or otherwise—and he’ll never know you’re pulling the wool over his eyes when you begin winning. You don’t have to win every hand. You only need to keep the gentlemen occupied while I sneak about.” Grace gave a little shrug and rested her arms upon the table. “If you’re cunning about it, you might even be able to win back some of what he extorted from your mother and put him at a disadvantage.”
The corner of his mouth twisted in a wry grin. “I suspect that if I began to win too much, he’d grow suspicious. Weareattempting to divert suspicion, are we not?”
Grace gave a little shrug. “Then deal a winning hand to someone else instead. There’s no rule amongst thieves that says you must win every hand yourself. Supposing your uncle does grow suspicious, simply make some other player your unwitting accomplice.”
“That’s diabolical. Could I, really?”
“I assure you, if another fellow who was once down several pounds were to find himself suddenly with a lucky hand indeed, he’s hardly likely to complain of it. You’ll want to take off your gloves.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Your gloves,” Grace said. “Gentlemen don’t play in them, do they?”
“Oh. No, I suppose not.” Lord Lockhart stripped off his gloves one at a time and laid them across his knee. Those frosty blue eyes examined the deck of cards in his hand as if they contained some secret trick within them. Carefully he peeled off a card and fit it into the cup of his palm.
“Bend it just a bit,” Grace said. “Not enough to crease it, but enough to keep it stuck there when you’ve turned your hand upside down.”
He did as she instructed, his brows lifting as the card remained firmly situated and obscured from view as he turned his hand over.
“And now,” Grace said, “you’ll want to keep your arm flat, release the pressure on the bottom of the card just a bit, and gently nudge the card inside the cuff of your sleeve with your fingers. It will likely take you some practice, but—oh.” Grace blinked as he followed her instructions to the letter, and the card disappeared up his sleeve. “Well done,” she said. “Can you get it out again?”
He shook his arm once. Again. And again, with a sort of frantic urgency that bordered on panic. “I don’t think so. It’s caught up around my elbow somehow.”
Grace muffled a laugh into the palm of her hand. “You will have to be careful,” she said. “If you lose half the cards up your sleeve, eventually someone is going to notice the deck is substantially smaller than it ought to be. Keep your arms lowered as much as possible so that the card stays where it’s meant to.” She canted her head contemplatively. “Have you got one of those shirts with frilly sleeves that your uncle favors?”
“Probably my valet has got one tucked away somewhere. I don’t prefer so much lace, myself.”
“Accustom yourself to it,” she said. “More lace will hide the cards better when you palm them or slip them up your sleeves. Probably they’ll also disguise a false shuffle and dealing from the bottom of the deck quite nicely as well. Those are the things you must practice before tomorrow evening. The false shuffle to arrange the cards according to your needs, the dealing from the bottom to ensure you receive the cards you want, and slipping cards up your sleeve to be retrieved when they are required.”
“You ain’t givin’ away our secrets, now, are you, Gracie?”
Grace turned to see Uncle Chris standing in the doorway, one hand braced upon the door frame and the other fisted tightlyaround the silver handle of his cane. He’d arrived for the tea that would be commencing upstairs briefly, no doubt. “Oursecrets?” she asked. “Come, now. You must admit they’re mostly mine.” He was a dab hand at thievery, but she’d always been better at card trickery.
“Family secrets, then,” he clarified. “None o’hisnevermind, that’s for certain.”
