Page 130 of Theirs to Tempt: The Marriage Claim

Neither man mocks me.

Lucian places another chip on player. “Again.”

We play.

I lose the next hand, but so does Caleb. Lucian wins.

He does not gather his chips immediately.

“When did you begin enjoying today?”

I look down at the felt. “That question assumes facts not in evidence.”

“It does not.”

“I tolerated today.”

“Sophie.”

I pick up the pencil and draw a meaningless red line on the scorecard.

He waits.

“On the helicopter,” I finally admit.

“At the canyon?”

“Before that.”

Caleb grows still.

Lucian asks, “When?”

“When Caleb told me I could change my mind.”

The memory returns with startling clarity. The open helicopter door. The roar of the blades. My heart pounding with fear. Caleb asking whether I wanted to leave—and meaning it.

I look at my hands.

“I still got on. But knowing I didn’t have to made a difference.”

Silence settles around the table.

It is not uncomfortable.

Lucian reaches beneath the edge of the table and closes his hand around mine.

His thumb moves once across my knuckles.

No possession. No pressure.

Just acknowledgment.

“Thank you for answering,” he says.

The simple courtesy leaves me more unsettled than one of his commands.

I withdraw my hand and pick up another chip. “I’m beginning to suspect you designed this game solely to interrogate me.”