Page 139 of Highland Spy

She fanned out her cards in front of her face, so only her eyes were visible. “Oh, I know.”

He held his own cards close to him and fought to keep his face impassive when she showed her first hand. A pair of kings.

A good hand, except he had three queens. Ariana gave him a calculating look from over the rickety table before she suddenly dropped about two inches lower.

From the base of her voluminous skirt came the tip of a plain looking brown shoe.

The foot nudging it forward was slender and clad in a white silk stocking he’d love to glide his hands up.

Never had a scuffed brown shoe held such appeal.

He wanted to see the next.

And he did. Hand by hand, he stripped away her other shoe and the clip in her hair, which made her tresses swirl free like a silken curtain twisted and released.

She really was truly horrible at cards when she didn’t cheat.

Finally she gave a broad smile when he laid down a pair of threes he’d been bluffing on. Her hands fanned the cards over the stained table, revealing five cards of the same suit.

She held out her hand. “I’ll be taking your shoe now.”

“That isna fair when ye’ve lost so much already.” He grasped the bottom of his léine and tugged it upward over his head.

When he freed his face from the length of linen, he found her mouth partially open and her cheeks a bonny flushed red. He handed her the wadded up fabric.

He gathered the cards and placed those in her hand as well. “Yer deal.”

She licked her lips and let his shirt fall to the floor before shuffling the cards once more. Though he knew she would never admit to it, her gaze continually wandered toward his naked chest.

He had to concede, he felt a bit foolish in his plaid and boots. But with the way she kept staring at him, he wasn’t about to change one damn thing.

In the two rounds of cards he had swapped out, she had only traded her cards once. Showing her hand later had proved what a mistake that had been on her part. She had absolutely nothing and hadn’t even tried to pretend otherwise.

“Distracted?” he teased.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” she countered.

He laid out his two pairs. “Looks like I won.”

Her mouth curled up. “It would appear you have.”

She turned her back toward him where a complex series of ribbons secured the bodice of her gown. “If you’d be so kind.”

“By all means.” He came around the small table and grasped a silky bit of ribbon between his thumb and forefinger. The bow slipped free silently.

Row after criss-crossed row, he slid the ribbon free from the bodice until it sagged forward and Ariana was able to easily step out of the pool of green silk.

Her sark hung off her shoulders, leaving them bare, and her corset pushed her breasts up high and round on her chest.

She had lovely shoulders.

Perhaps it was an odd thing to note when her breasts and arse were so finely made as well, but her bare shoulders had the most delicate curve where they met her neck. He wanted to press his lips there, to where the skin would be warm and soft.

“Don’t forget your cards.” She nodded toward the table where a neatly dealt stack of cards rested in front of him.

When had she done that?

She put a hand on her hip and tilted her head. “Distracted?”