Page 11 of Seduction of a Widow

Chapter Four

Alice laughed. “Oh, how gallant.”

Alice’s flirtatious exclamation barely intruded on Leslie’s bemusement for MacLaren had lifted his eyes to hers once more. She studied that fierce blue gaze and the unmistakable challenge there sent her heart racing.

She drew a breath to steady her rising pulse. “I think we must play Ombre, as we are a party of only three.”

“No, no, Leslie. You and MacLaren must play two-handed Ombre.” Was there a hint of mischievousness to her friend’s voice? “This game is simply too romantic for any interlopers to have a hand in.”

“I agree,” Mr. MacLaren drawled. “This should be between Lady Carr and myself.”

“Then it is settled.” Alice clapped her gloved hands softly. “I shall find myself a glass of wine. Alice winked at her and, before Leslie could comment, her friend rose.

Mr. MacLaren stood and bowed slightly. Alice chuckled, then left the table. Leslie’s throat went suddenly dry and she wished she might follow. But she would select something stronger than wine. This was a novel situation. Usually she was the one dragging Alice into some madcap adventure or another. Now she felt oddly vulnerable.

Continuously, she had misjudged Mr. MacLaren’s next actions and motives. Now unease wound through her, as though she suddenly were traversing shifting sands in dancing slippers. Damn Alice. What had motivated her sudden change of mind? She had been flirting with Mr. MacLaren, clearly in competition for his attention.

“Are you ready, my lady?” Mr. MacLaren asked.

“We shall have to remove a suite of cards from the deck,” Leslie said in what she hoped was a brisk, businesslike demeanor.

“Hearts or diamonds?” he asked.

Indeed. Which?

She couldn’t help but trace a fingertip along her diamond necklace. His gaze followed her fingers. Her heart or her diamonds. Which did he really value more? She mentally shook herself. What a foolish thought. Neither hearts nor diamonds were at stake here.

She forced a soft, sensual laugh. “You choose.”

“Hearts.” He began searching the deck for hearts.

“An interesting choice, Mr. MacLaren. I am curious why you pick hearts to eliminate?”

“Hearts can be weak.”

“A wise heart can be the strongest fortress known,” she murmured.

“How rarely one encounters a wise heart.”

“Yes, so rarely one might be caught unaware in the presence of one such heart.”

“Oh, I am never caught unaware,” he said.

She bit back a laugh. The young man was arrogant.

Evan continued to separate the hearts from the rest of the deck, all the while trying not to show how the prickling at the back of his neck had unsettled him. What sort of a game was he really playing with her? What were the terms for their play?

He wanted her. She had to know that.

Without strings or melodrama.

Earlier, the gentlemen had called her an adventuress. She clearly enjoyed taking risks. That could lend itself in his favor. But it could also mean that she was the type of woman who liked to play fast and loose with a man’s sanity and reputation. She might end up painting him a devil for her own amusement. Oh, he’d seen enough of those women. Wasn’t his brother shackled for life to such a heartless, manipulative creature? An easily bored woman saw men as playthings, and they all wanted marriage as their ultimate goal.

“Mercy, sir.” The slight laugh in her tone send a chill through him that was part wariness, part sensual thrill. “You seem determined to strip me to the bone with that look.”

He set the suit of hearts aside and began shuffling the cards. “I am wondering what sort of a player you are, my lady.”

She cocked her head, that lush mouth curving upward. “Are you asking if I cheat?”