“Night.” She ran to the stairs and took them two at a time.
Jem let out a deep breath. Soclose.
Chapter 8
SINCE REESE WOKE EARLY BUT was required to attend at least a portion of each evening’s activities, she found she needed to take a nap after lunch. With no modern entertainment options, the evening social events were usually limited to things like cards or charades.
She had tried reading one night, figuring that if she was in the room with them that it counted as being part of the group. Nope. The others had insisted on making comments to her that pulled her from the story. She’d finally just set the book aside.
The more time she spent in Jem’s company, the more she never wanted to leave. She was finding it easier to ignore the voice in her head, her mother’s warnings not to trust him. Not to trust what Reese felt. Shewantedwhat seemed to be happening between them, and her walls were crumbling.
When she entered the drawing room with the other ladies after dinner, she found the servants were already setting up gaming tables. It looked like another evening of Whist. Reese was a terrible card player because she got too impatient. Some of the other guests liked to hear the sound of their voices too much, and it could take forever before they got through a round.
“You joining us, Miss Hamilton?” Sir Hughes, Kaitlyn’s friend, asked.
“Um . . .” Reese really couldn’t face another game of cards, but what else could they do?
“Want to do something else?” Jem asked, coming up behind her.
“Like what?”
He shrugged. She searched her mind but could only think of the board games she’d played at the Taylor’s home. There was only— Yes.
“How would everyone like to learn something new tonight?” she asked.
“Does it involve kissing?” Sir Jack asked, arching his brows in the flirty manner he had.
“I don’t think that would be appropriate.” Reese waggled her finger like a disapproving mother, and he chuckled.
“What do you have in mind?” Jem asked softly as he leaned closer. He smelled so good.
“States.”
“Huh.” He straightened, his hand brushing against hers. “They won’t understand our state names.”
“We can use animal names instead.” Reese waved to a maid who was carrying in a tray of refreshments. “Do you have any newspapers we can use?”
“Aye, miss.” The girl set the tray on a table, curtsied, and hurried from the room.
“What will you have us do,” Sir Jack asked, glancing around the group, his voice teasing, “read the newspaper?”
“No,” Reese said. “Let’s put the chairs in a circle, one chair less than the number of people.”
“Are we playing musical chairs?” Cyrus looked dubious.
“Nope.” Reese explained. He grinned, having been there many nights when they’d played this game with friends.
“Oh, I love States,” Kaitlyn said.
Reese pointed to the chairs. “Let’s pull those a little closer together.” She turned to Jem. “Since you know how to play this, will you be ‘it’ first?”
“Sure.” His hand brushed against hers again, almost like he meant to take it, but he pulled it away without looking at her and clasped them behind him. He seemed to be doing that a lot. One more time, and she might just take it before he pulled it away. He asked, “How will you ladies manage with those long skirts?”
“Mr. Taylor brings up a good point,” Reese said. “Ladies, try standing up quickly so we can see how difficult it is. Make sure your feet aren’t tangled in your skirts.”
It worked out better than she had hoped, and the skirts weren’t too bad. She then told everyone to choose a different animal and had them go around the circle a few times so everyone could remember.
“It’s important that you remember all these animal names,” Reese said.
