Arabella’s hand tightened slightly in his, like she was trying to draw his attention back to her. But it was quickly becoming too late for that.
“Why not settle it here?” Lord Archibald staggered around the table and shoved Silas. He released Arabella and shoved back. The eyes of the entire hell were now on them as official employees of the club started toward them.
But they weren’t needed. Without fear of two slightly tipsy men who were much larger than she was, Arabella wedged herself between them. Her hand flattened against Silas’s chest and she lightly pushed him back even as she met Lord Archibald’s eyes.
“Now, now Archie, you don’t want to make a scene, do you? That won’t do at all.”
Some of the starch went out of the other man’s expression though he glared at Arabella. “My money—” he began.
“Look over there at the table two rows over,” she said and motioned one elegant hand. “That’s the Duke of Beckingham and he is so deep in his cups that he’s barely upright. Everyone knows he’s far too loose with his wagers even when he’s not. So why don’t you take what you have left and go sit there? I would imagine you’ll end up tripling your money before two hours have passed.”
Lord Archibald stared off at the table which contained the duke and then back to her. As Silas watched in wonder, she stepped up to the angry gentleman and patted his cheek lightly. “Off with you now.”
Without further argument, Lord Archibald gathered up his sad little pile of money and headed off to do just as she had suggested. Once he was gone, she gathered up the blunt she’d won from the other men at the table and smiled to the group at large. “Best of luck to the rest of you. Good night.”
Then she grabbed Silas’s hand again and together they moved away. He glanced over to her. “You handled that with great aplomb. I’m impressed.”
She shrugged. “There are times for a brawl at a hell and times where such a thing must be diffused. I’m adept at diffusing angry men.”
He frowned at the idea that she’d had to be over her life. Men who had been meant to protect her, he was certain. Perhaps other men before that. In the life she’d led before she was a courtesan, long before he’d seen her in the garden.
He stepped to the right to dodge another gentleman and when he moved rapidly, he found the room spinning just slightly. She laughed and clung to his hand a little tighter. “I’m just as good at tending to men who are in their cups. You’re good at cards even when you’ve had two too many.”
“Was it two exactly?” he asked with a smile.
She returned it easily. “Exactly. You were perfectly in control and then the waver started just after two drinks ago. Not drunk, but tipsy enough to start to make mistakes.”
“And that’s why you decided to end the game? To protect me.”
There was a moment when a flicker of something came over her face. A trouble that shadowed her usually bright expression, but then it was gone. “That’s what I do.” She looked past him. “And here comes one of the subjects of my unwanted protection now. Good evening, Julia.”
He turned and watched as Arabella’s sister approached. She was a lovely young woman, with a heart-shaped face and eyes very much like her sister’s. But though their familial connection was clear, especially closer up, Julia lacked something Arabella had. It was the bright spark, the bubbling joy, the intense explosion that was in Arabella’s every move and word.
“May I present Mr. Silas Windham,” Arabella said. “Silas, this is Julia Comerford, my youngest sister.”
“Miss Comerford,” he said with a slight bow toward her.
“Mr. Windham,” she replied, her gaze flitting up and down him briefly. “So this is you.”
“Julia,” Arabella said softly.
Silas laughed. “Good Lord, is it really true all she said about talking about me for all these years? I thought that was a way to make me feel better about myself.”
“Arabella is singular,” Julia said. “Once she has something to think about, she really does gnaw it to pieces.”
He winked at Arabella, who was going a shocking pink in her cheeks. “Sounds like fun.”
“Stop it both of you, or I shall storm out very dramatically.” Arabella’s words had no heat and he could see she was smothering a laugh.
Julia shook her head with a giggle and then said, “I’ve heard you’ve recently been in the former colonies, Mr. Windham.”
“Silas, please,” he said. “And yes. I was in Virginia for a while and then a territory that just became a state before I departed for London: Louisiana. Both beautiful places.”
“Is it as wild as everyone says?” Julia asked, her blue eyes shining.
He smiled. “As wild as you’d like it to be.”
She shook her head. “To travel sounds like a treat. I’ve really only been here in London and out in Granger before that. Granger was boring as dry toast and London is…London.”
