Page 53 of Engaging Sir Isaac

Millie pursed her lips and put her left hand in her lap, taking up the cards only in her right. Simple.

When her turn came, she attempted to do as Isaac had, using only her thumb to push the card she wished to play up in the fan of the hand. Three cards came up. She frowned and tried to lower the two she did not wish to access, only to have a card at the edge of her hand drop to the table, face-up.

“Bother,” she muttered, laying the whole hand down and playing the unfortunate card that had already been revealed to all.

“Not so easy as it looks, is it?” The corners of Isaac’s eyes crinkled. “Still, valiant effort, Miss Wedgewood.”

Millie blushed and very nearly stuck her tongue out at him.

Mr. Ashford dropped his left hand to the arm of his chair. “I bet I can manage it better.”

Miss Parr, not to be left out, did the same. “How long did it take you to manage playing with one hand, Sir Isaac?”

“I have no idea.” He thumbed his next card easily into the pile, without revealing the rest of his hand to them as Mr. Ashford did a moment later. “My friends were patient with me as I practiced. That is all I remember of it now.”

Millie inadvertently dropped another card, but face-down. She frowned at it and played a different one before trying to return it to her hand. “I cannot fathom the amount of patience you must have exercised. I have seen you ride, manage all your utensils at meals, hold a baby, and now play cards.”

“Hold a baby?” Mr. Ashford smirked. “I had no idea you were domestic, Sir Isaac.”

Isaac shrugged one shoulder. “My nephew is a fine lad. I have no objection to entertaining him. I quite enjoy it.”

“It is my opinion,” Millie added, slanting a mocking glare at Mr. Ashford, “that a man is never so handsome as when he proves himself kind to women, children, and animals.”

Miss Parr tipped her delicate nose in the air. “I quite agree.”

“I shall have to make use of my own nieces and nephews then.” Mr. Ashford sighed deeply, then dropped his entire hand of cards. He muttered a less than appropriate word, causing Miss Parr to blush and giggle.

Millie studied the card Mr. Ashford played, then looked to Sir Isaac. Did he wish for her to lay down a lower card? Had he a trump card? When all he did was raise his eyebrows at her, giving her no indication of what he wished, she glared at him and put down the highest card she had.

Miss Parr swiftly covered it with the smallest possible trump. “We win this one again, unless you have a higher trump card, Sir Isaac.”

“Alas, I do not.” He played a throwaway card of the wrong suit entirely. Millie’s shoulder dropped.

“I am the worst of all Whist players. Do forgive my ineptitude, Sir Isaac.”

“Only if you promise you will play chess with me after.” He tipped his head in the direction of a chessboard near the window overlooking the dark gardens. “Or do you claim to be the worst of all chess players, too?”

Millie played her second to last card. “My father regularly outmaneuvers me in less than ten minutes.”

“Chess is such a dull game,” Miss Parr muttered.

“What games do you enjoy, Miss Wedgewood?” Sir Isaac asked, not even batting an eye when Mr. Ashford claimed the pile of cards for their partnership. “Which do you win?”

Millie put down her last card, already knowing they’d lost. “Badminton.”

“We won.” Miss Parr cheerfully counted out their tricks.

“Bad luck, Sir Isaac.” Mr. Ashford grinned and jerked his head to the chessboard. “Are you two off to play at kings and queens?”

Isaac rose from his chair and came around to help Millie from hers. “Perhaps. I might ask about a possible game of badminton instead.”

Millie took his arm and the two of them walked slowly to the window, though Isaac made no move to the table and chairs set aside for the chessboard. The room buzzed with conversation and activity, yet Millie sensed a few stares upon them. They both turned to the window, the better to speak without anyone knowing what they said.

“Are you well?” Isaac asked, his voice rich and warm.

“Well enough. Lady Olivia did not believe me when we spoke earlier, when I told her you had feelings for me. But perhaps when she comes into the room and sees us….”

“I intend to make certain she cannot doubt my feelings for you.” Isaac’s crooked grin made him positively dashing.