The buzzing of voices hushed momentarily. Rhys glanced to the doorway as she walked in, dressed in the same gown and mask as the night before. Sound muffled and the lamps grew brighter.
His body indeed thought of her in a carnal way. ‘There she is.’
He left Xavier and crossed the room to her. ‘Madam, you have returned. I am flattered.’
She put a hand on her chest. ‘I have indeed returned, Mr Rhysdale. Would you be so kind as to find a whist partner for me once again?’
Xavier appeared at his side. ‘It would be my pleasure to partner you, madam.’
Rhys glared at him before turning back to the masked woman. ‘May I present Mr Campion, madam. He is a friend and an excellent card player.’
She extended her gloved hand. ‘Mr Campion.’
Xavier accepted with a bow. ‘I am charmed.’ He smiled his most seductive smile at her. ‘Do me the honour of calling me Xavier. No one need stand on ceremony in a gaming hell.’
Rhys groaned inwardly.
‘Xavier, then,’ she responded.
He threaded her hand through his arm. ‘Do you wish to play deep, madam?’
She did not answer right away. ‘Not too deep, for the moment. But neither do I wish a tame game.’
Xavier nodded in approval. ‘Excellent. Let us go in search of players.’
He looked back at Rhys and winked.
Rhys knew Xavier well enough to understand his intent was merely to annoy. Xavier would always honour his wishes in matters such as this. Rhys was less certain about the lady. Most women preferred Xavier to Rhys. Most women preferred Xavier to any man.
Rhys went back to patrolling the room, watching the play, speaking to the croupiers running the tables. He kept a keen eye out for cheating in those winning too conveniently and desperation in those losing. Gamblers could easily burst out in sudden violence when the cards or the dice did not go their way. Rhys’s plan was to intervene before tempers grew hot.
His eyes always pulled back to the masked woman. She sat across from Xavier, posture alert, but not tense. Tonight her handling of the cards was smoother than the night before. She arranged her hand swiftly and never belaboured a decision of what card to play. She’d said she preferred games of skill and she was quite skilled at whist.
She was a gamester, for certain. Rhys could wager on that. He’d also bet that she remembered every card played and that she quickly perceived the unique patterns of play in her partners and her opponents.
He strolled over to the table to watch more closely.
‘How is the game?’ He stood behind the masked woman.
Xavier looked at him with amusement. ‘We make good partners.’
Judging from the counters on the table, Xavier and the masked woman made very good partners indeed. Card partners, that was.
Rhys stood where he could see the woman’s cards. If it bothered her, she gave no sign. He watched the play for several hands. She was clever. Deal her four trump and she was certain to win with three of them at least. Give her a hand with no trump and she took tricks with other cards when trump was not played.
She was a gamester all right.
He instantly looked on her with respect.
But, as fascinated as he was watching her play, he needed to move on. No gambler wanted such acute attention to his or her play, especially by the house’s proprietor.
Rhys sauntered away.
An unmasked Ned Westleigh approached him. ‘How are things faring?’ Ned asked in a conspiratorial tone.
Rhys lifted his brows and raised his voice. ‘Why, good evening, Lord Neddington. Good to see you back here.’
‘Well?’ Ned persisted.
‘We are near to recouping the original investment,’ Rhys replied. ‘So all is as it should be.’
‘Excellent.’ Ned rubbed his hands together.
‘There is more to our bargain, do not forget,’ Rhys added.
He expected these Westleighs to try to renege on the earl’s obligation to claim Rhys as a son. More than once Rhys wondered why he’d made that part of the bargain. Another man might wish for the connection to the aristocracy such an acknowledgement might bring, but Rhys cared nothing for that. Neither was the money he’d reap from this enterprise a motivation. He could always make money.
No, all Rhys really wanted was to force his father to do what he ought to have done when Rhys was a child—take responsibility for Rhys’s existence. Once that was accomplished, Rhys was content to spurn him and his sons as they had once spurned him.
‘Hugh and I do not forget,’ Ned said in a low voice. ‘Our father … requires some time.’
Rhys lifted a shoulder. ‘I will not release the money until that part of the promise is assured.’ The Westleighs, in their desperation, had ceded all the power in this matter to him.
Rhys glanced over to the masked woman and caught her looking back. She quickly attended to her cards.
Rhysdale was talking to the gentleman Celia had seen earlier at the musicale, she noticed. It was fortunate she had changed her gown, even though she doubted the gentleman would have noticed her. The widow of a dissolute baron who never brought his wife to town did not capture anyone’s attention.
Rhysdale caught her watching and she quickly turned back to the cards and played her last trump. She guessed Xavier still had two trumps remaining. That should ensure they won this hand.
They’d won most of the games and each time Celia felt a surge of triumph. Their opponents, however, grew ever-deepening frowns. Xavier took the next trick and the next and the game was theirs.
Their opponents grumbled.
Celia shuffled the deck and the man on her right cut the cards. She dealt the hand and the play began, but this time Xavier did not play in the manner to which she’d accustomed herself. The opponents took tricks they ought to have lost. Xavier suddenly was playing very sloppily indeed. He was losing her money. She gave him a stern glance, but he seemed oblivious.
When the hand was done, the opponents won most of the tricks and won the game, to their great delight. Luckily that game’s wagers had been modest, but Celia’s blood boiled at losing so senselessly.
‘That was capital!’ the man on her right said. ‘I’m done for now, however. Excellent play.’ He stood, collected his small pile of counters and bowed to Celia. ‘Well done, madam.’ He turned to Xavier. ‘You chose a capital partner, sir. We must play again.’
‘I’m done, as well,’ the other man said.
Both begged their leave and wandered over to the hazard table.
‘They must wish to lose more,’ Xavier remarked.
Celia gathered her counters. ‘You let them win that last game.’
‘You noticed?’ Xavier laughed. ‘Better they leave happy. Otherwise they might choose other opponents next time.’
Her eyes widened. ‘You made certain they would be willing to play us again.’
He nodded. ‘Precisely.’
He smiled and his incredibly handsome face grew even more handsome. He’d been an excellent partner, she had to admit. She now possessed even more money than she’d won the night before. Still, she sensed he’d had motives of his own for partnering her, something that had nothing to do with trying to win at cards.
Another