She winced, remembering the bruising crush of his knuckles. “He kept hitting me, but I never begged for mercy, for I knew that would only incense him further. At some point, when he tired, I would be able to make my escape, but that day he didn’t even slow down. I finally kicked out at him in desperation, because I truly thought that he might kill me. I did catch him off balance enough to get to my feet, but he grabbed my hair before I could get far. We struggled for a time and the next thing I remember…he was on the floor…his neck…”
“That’s enough.”
Lyra blinked several times before Alister’s firm command broke through her reverie. In three strides, he was kneeling before her and silently extending a handkerchief.
She didn’t even know she’d been crying until then. “Th…thank…you.” She was shaking so uncontrollably that it was a struggle to even speak.
“I’m sorry to have put you through such a trying ordeal, Lady Weston,” the barrister said softly, as he closed up his case. “I shall take my leave and allow you to compose yourself. We shall reconvene at another time.”
Alister followed Talon to the front door after he’d put his things away and prepared to go. In soft tones, he asked, “Do you have everything you need?”
“As it stands, it sounds like self-defense might be a convincing enough argument,” Talon began slowly. “But I will need to question her again and see if she might remember exactly what happened after their struggle. That is what will really convince the judge to drop all charges. I just hope that our conversation today will have jogged something loose.”
“What about the supposed witness to the crime?” Alister persisted. “Did you ever find out their identity?”
“I’m still working on it. Since they wished to remain anonymous, I may see if their statement can be thrown out. If they can’t even come forward, the validity of their claim seems rather questionable to me.”
Alister stuck out his hand and they shook. “Thank you, my friend.”
Talon gave a brief nod before he walked away.
As Alister returned to the parlor, he felt his chest constrict at the sight of her bowed head. She looked so defenseless and vulnerable that it struck something inside his chest.
“Do you play chess?”
When she glanced at him rather curiously, he realized how odd that must have sounded after everything she had just been through. He rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. “I just happened to notice a set laid out in the corner when I arrived—”
She must have taken pity on his blundering, for she said gently, “I play quite often. It’s one of my favorite past times.”
Alister felt his lips turn up at the corners as he held out a hand to her. “Shall we?”
She hesitated before accepting his offer.
He led the way over to a round table in a corner of the parlor where a red and green set was, indeed, ready and waiting. “Which color do you prefer?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Lyra said, but as he raised a brow at her, her mouth twisted in reluctant amusement. “I usually play red.”
As they took their prospective places across from one another, Alister gave Lyra the option to go first. After they began, he remarked idly, “I do believe Queen Margaret was reported to have a set very much like this one.”
“You’re right. She did,” Lyra concurred. “Although hers was made of jasper and crystal. These are merely plain wooden figures, I’m afraid.” After a brief pause, she added, “Did you know that chess originated in India as far back as the 6th Century?”
“Indeed?” While he considered his next move, she continued with a brief history.
“It was originally calledchaturangawhich meant four divisions. It was constructed as a military strategy game and the original pieces were known as infantry, cavalry, elephantry, and chariotry, what we now know as the pawn, knight, bishop, and rook.”
“I’m impressed.” And he realized he genuinely was, although it had nothing to do with her knowledge of the game. The more he knew about Lyra, the more he learned that there were deeper levels to her character than what she showed to the rest of the ton. Her intelligence and courage notwithstanding, he yearned to peel back each layer of her personality and discover what lay beneath.
He shifted in his seat, for that wasn’t theonlything on Lyra he wished to peel off her…
Lyra, unaware of the direction of his thoughts, moved one of her pawns after a delicate shrug. “I read a lot, remember? One of my latest acquisitions wasL’Analyse des echecsby Francois-Andre Danican Philidor.”
“Ah,” Alister winked playfully. “In that case, I should be on my guard if you are reading books by one of the greatest French players of our time.”
He could tell she was beginning to warm up to their flirtation, for she smirked, “Just don’t expect for me to let you win.”
Lyra never would have thought, after that emotional interview with Mr. Lyridon, that she would be able to smile let alonelaughin the span of the same evening, but somehow the duke had managed to bring about the impossible. He had more than a touch of wit—especially when she captured his first pawn and he set a hand across his heart in a particularly dramatic fashion—and it made her wonder, not for the first time, why he didn’t highlight this side of himself to society. So, about halfway through the game, when her curiosity refused to abate, she finally asked him that very question.
For a time, he was silent and she worried that she might have offended him, but after a brief period of contemplation, he said, “I’ve never had an easy time of conversing with other people.”
