The Watchmaker's Daughter (Glass and Steele #1)(48)

"Where did you learn about this place?" I whispered as Willie knocked.

"If you splash your money around at the hotels near the railway stations, someone flash will approach and tell you about a nice, friendly place where you can drink with his friends and enjoy a quiet game of dice or cards."

"You mean they go looking for likely gamblers?"

"They do. I made sure to find the ones where poker is played. It weren't easy. Poker's not well known here in England."

"What's poker?"

"A card game."

"Are you good at it?"

Her white teeth flashed in the dimness.

A narrow rectangular panel in the door slid open and a pair of eyes peered at us. They widened ever so slightly upon seeing me, before the panel slammed shut. The door opened and a tall, slender fellow, dressed like a gentleman, greeted us. He nodded at Willie and she nodded back. We handed him our coats and hats.

"Will you introduce me to your friend, Miss Johnson?" he inquired.

"Miss Steele, this is Mr. Unger," she said as she looked past him.

He bowed to me. "Welcome, Miss Steele. Have you come to play?"

"Observe only," I said. "Are you the proprietor of this establishment?"

"No." He didn't elaborate and merely stepped aside so we could pass.

Smoke rose in slender columns from a dozen cigars. It clung to the beams, disturbed only by the occasional draft. Gentlemen sat at tables, their concentration on the rolling dice or cards in their hands. Chairs clustered around some of the tables in the windowless room, and a door on the far side led to a second room. The fireplace was unlit, but the air felt cloying. Men dressed in crimson waistcoats and crisp white shirts stood at each table and seemed to be in charge of the play. The one at the hazard table held a hooked stick.

Willie headed to a table of card players to the left and took a spare seat, but it was several seconds before the hum of voices quieted. One by one, all the men turned to me until eighteen pairs of eyes focused entirely on my person. Clearly women dressed as women were an oddity in their den. I bobbed an awkward curtsy and hurried after Willie. She chuckled and shook her head at me. The fellow in charge of her table found me a chair and the portly middle-aged gentleman next to her made space for me to squeeze in.

"Good evening, miss," he said with a gap-toothed smile. "It's not often we're graced with such gentle company."

Willie muttered something under her breath that I didn't quite catch.

"I'm here in an observational capacity only," I assured him.

"Like our other new friend tonight." He pointed his cigar at the gentleman sitting directly opposite me. "Seems poker is becoming all the rage in London now. I can see why. Jolly good game." His rolling laugh filled the room. It must have been his laughter that I'd heard from outside. No one else seemed in such a jovial mood, most likely because he had the largest stack of money in front of him.

The other observer nodded at me with a friendly smile and I nodded back, then we both concentrated on the game.

"Five card cowboy stud," said the dealer to Willie as he dealt.

The man next to me leaned closer. "What do you know about this great American game, Miss…?"

"Steele," I said. "I know nothing about it."

"Name's Travers." He placed a monocle into his eye socket and studied his cards then turned his scrutiny onto me. He scanned me from head to toe, then shifted his chair even closer. He smelled like cigars and brandy. "You don't sound American."

"I'm English."

"Aha. A pretty young English rose. Perfect."

Clearly the lighting wasn't very good if he thought me pretty and young. "Thank you," I said, nevertheless.

"Has your friend taught you to play?" he asked, nodding at Willie.

"No. We've only just met.”

He squinted at me through his monocle. "You're not a hustler, are you?"

"A what?"

"A confidence man, or woman, who pretends not to know the rules then fleeces everyone at the table."

"I assure you, I don't know how to play poker. Whist is more my game."

He chuckled and the monocle fell onto the table. He returned it and studied his cards again before plucking a single coin off his pile and placing it beside the others. "She fleeced me last night," he said with a nod at Willie, "but I think I know her ways now."

Willie smirked. "Then I wish you luck, my lord."

Lord? I stared at Travers, but he was engrossed in the game and paid me no mind. I caught the gaze of the newcomer opposite and he shrugged. His bright blue eyes sparkled with intelligence.

I watched several rounds and thought I'd worked out which combination of cards constituted a winning hand. Then everything I'd learned was thrown upside down when the lord beside me won with nothing more than a pair of eights. Willie watched him rake in his winnings with a scowl on her face.

"Why did he win?" I whispered. "You had a pair of threes and sixes."

"He was bluffing. I folded too early." She picked up one of her coins and rubbed its surface with her thumb as if she were trying to remove the queen's face. She seemed in no mood to answer any more of my questions.

Lord Travers draped his arm across the back of my chair and leaned so close to me I could hear his moist smile. "My dear girls, why not call it a night? This is no place for lovely roses. We thorns might prick you." His guffaw had heads at the other tables turning.