“Would it do me any good?”
“No. Still, it’s only good manners to offer.” She smoothed at her skirts as she took her own seat, adjusting her chair a bit closer to the table. “I will cheat, you know.”
“I expected as much. I intend to try my hand at it, myself.” But he sounded uncertain, and he flexed the fingers of his injured hand, struggling to keep his face placid through the pain of it. “This is…rather like a duel, don’t you think?”
One in which he was hopelessly outmatched. “I suppose it is,” she said as she collected the deck of cards and ran it through a series of intricate shuffles designed to flummox the eyes. “Ishall do you the kindness of allowing you to select the game,” she said as she set the deck back down and brushed back a loose curl that had fallen over her shoulder, “since you are at such a disadvantage.” Two cards, palmed so expertly that Henry had noticed nothing, disappeared beneath the neckline of her gown.
Henry hesitated. “I thoughtvingt-et-un,” he said. “To a predetermined number of hands.”
Interesting. A game based more on luck than on skill. On the one hand, there would be fewer opportunities to cheat—for the both of them. On the other, each hand would be rather quick.
“I assume we’d alternate dealing?”
“Naturally. It’s only fair.” He reached for the deck and paused, his fingers hovering over it. “May I begin?”
“Certainly. How many hands?”
“Best of twenty,” he said. “I’ll need a few hands to find my stride.”
She’d still take him in eleven hands, whether or not he did. “Twenty suits me well enough.”
Henry’s eyes narrowed upon her. “Have you already begun cheating?”
“I’d be a fool to tell you, but feel free to shuffle again if it pleases you.” He’d not notice the difference in weight with only two missing cards. Nor would he notice the extra deck she’d slipped into her pocket while he’d been occupied with fetching his own chair.
Henry took his time with the cards, lingering over the shuffle as if to reacquaint himself with it. Slowly he dealt them two cards each, face down.
“Your false shuffle needs work,” Grace said idly as she thumbed up the corners of her cards. “But it is still better than last I saw.” She feigned an itch, delicately scratched her neck. Replaced the two he’d dealt her with the king she’d secreted away.
“Card?” he asked.
“No, thank you.”
A frown etched itself between his brows. A hint of worry lurked within his eyes. “You’re certain?”
He’d dealt her an ace and a two. Plainly, he’d expect her to be in want of extra cards to reach the necessary twenty-one points. And now he knew she’d already cheated, and he hadn’t caught it. “I’m certain,” she said.
He dealt himself another card, but his hands were suddenly clumsier than they had been. He didn’t know how, yet, to cut to the cards he needed. His selections were limited to the top card or the bottom, and neither would allow him to beat her.
“Twenty,” he said slowly, as he flipped over his cards.
“Twenty-one,” Grace said as she revealed the ace and king.
“I dealt you a two,” he said.
“I know. I cheated. That’s one hand down.” She stretched out her hand, palm up, expectantly. “I believe it’s my shuffle.”
Reluctantly he set the deck into her hand. “I thought I could win at least one if I dealt,” he admitted.
“I did tell you not to wager against me.” A smooth riffle of the cards, thewhooshof the shuffle. It was easiest to cheat when one controlled the cards oneself. Now he was helpless against her, more or less. He couldn’t touch the deck. He would have to play the hand he’d been given.
“One,” he said as he peeked at his cards. And as she dutifully slid a five face-down across the table to him, which would take his total only up to seventeen, he added, “That night at the tavern. I know what it sounded like. But that’s not how I meant it.”
“You said you didn’t want your child to be born a bastard,” she reminded him.
“I don’t think less of you for the circumstances of your birth,” he said as he turned over his cards, revealing another losinghand. “But I think…I did think less of myself. I always have.”
“What do you mean?” she asked as she slid the deck back toward him.
