My Once and Future Duke (The Wagers of Sin #1)(3)

“Six,” said Eliza, staring at the four of hearts and the two of clubs.

“And now?” She flipped down a seven of hearts.

“Thirteen,” said the other girl slowly.

“Good! Now?” An eight of diamonds appeared.

“Twenty . . .” Eliza hesitated. “One.”

“Very good.” Sophie beamed.

“That’s far more fun than totting up numbers on a page,” declared Lady Georgiana with a delighted laugh. “Where did you learn this?”

“My father.” She caught the quick look the other girls exchanged. “He and my mother died,” she added. “My grandfather didn’t want me, so he brought me here.”

“Oh, how dreadful,” said Eliza.

Sophie mustered a smile. Her parents’ deaths were dreadful. Her grandfather was dreadful. Mrs. Upton’s was by far the least dreadful thing in her life at the moment. “I’d rather be here than with him. Would you rather be at home?”

“Oh.” Eliza looked startled. “My mother also died, when I was a child. My father sent me here to learn to be a lady. I miss him, but . . .”

“My brother wanted rid of me, too,” offered Lady Georgiana readily. “But like you, I prefer to be here. He’s an odd duck, my brother. I revel in being unwanted by him.”

Sophie grinned. “Mrs. Upton’s Academy of the Unwanted.”

Georgiana burst out laughing, and Eliza gasped. “That’s terrible . . .” But she joined Georgiana on the end of the bed. Sophie dealt more cards, and they practiced sums in happy camaraderie. Gradually Sophie began teaching them the rules of the game as well, and then how to calculate odds. Eliza’s confidence grew until she was adding the cards almost as quickly as Georgiana.

“What should you do with this hand?” Sophie asked.

Eliza looked at her cards, a ten of clubs and a five of hearts. “Take another, because almost half the cards have values of six or less?”

“Precisely! You’re doing very well,” Sophie assured her, just as the door abruptly opened.

“Young ladies,” said Mrs. Upton, aghast. “What is this?”

Eliza went pale; Georgiana winced and gave an audible sigh. All three girls scrambled to their feet.

Mrs. Upton crossed the room and swept back the fold of blanket Sophie had instinctively tossed over the cards. “Gaming,” she said in a deeply disappointed tone. “This is improper behavior for young ladies.”

“We were not gaming,” said Sophie. “None of us have any money.”

The headmistress did not look amused. “That is a very fine distinction, Miss Graham, and not one I accept. Not only is gaming immoral, it exposes one to people of low character and risks one’s reputation and fortune. No respectable gentleman will wish to be connected with a lady who gambles. He will recognize that she harbors a dangerous susceptibility to wickedness, and he will not want to be held liable for her losses.”

“What if she wins?” murmured Sophie.

Mrs. Upton gave her a look of warning. “Any gambler who thinks like that is heading for a loss. It is the lure of winning that drives people to risk ever larger sums of money until they have bankrupted themselves and their families. What are the chances of winning every hand, Miss Graham?”

Sophie said nothing. She remembered too well the nights Papa had come home late, in dismal spirits, not having won enough.

“Gambling has destroyed many a decent and eligible man,” continued Mrs. Upton. “You cannot begin to imagine how much worse it is for a female. Mind my words, young ladies—-gambling is the path to ruin. Avoid it at all costs.”

“Yes, ma’am,” whispered Eliza tearfully.

“Yes, ma’am,” echoed Georgiana.

Mrs. Upton raised a brow. “Miss Graham?”

Sophie began to shrug, but caught herself in time. “Yes, ma’am.”

The headmistress surveyed them. “Since you are unfamiliar with our rules here, Miss Graham, I shall let this pass. But do not stray again.” She collected the cards and left, dousing the lamp as she did.

“I’ll practice sums another way,” said Eliza as the girls got into their beds. “Papa would be so upset if Mrs. Upton wrote to him that I’d been gambling. He hopes I’ll marry a gentleman, which means I must be a lady. If only sums didn’t matter so much to gentlemen . . .”

“They don’t,” declared Georgiana from her own bed. “No gentleman I know can abide sums. They don’t even like discussing them with their secretaries, who do all the work.”

“A few hands of cards doesn’t hurt anyone. And we were not gambling.” Sophie said a silent prayer of relief that Mrs. Upton had confiscated her old deck of cards and not Papa’s deck. She would have fought like a wild animal to keep that deck—-or any of her few reminders of her parents—-and that might have got her tossed from school and back onto Lord Makepeace’s mercy.

A wave of heartsickness washed over her at the thought of her parents. Four months ago they’d been alive and well, their finances strained but their home happy. Then it all disappeared. Consumption, the doctor said; she was lucky she hadn’t got it, too.

Lucky. How she hated that word.

Sophie forced herself to inhale evenly and deeply. Everything in life was a matter of chance. Happiness depended solely on one’s own efforts, because Fate was rarely kind or generous. Sophie had learned that early, and she would never, ever forget it. One could never count on luck.