Then Came You (The Gamblers #1)(32)

The sound of laughter and shuffling cards echoed from the long gallery. Curiously he went to investigate. Alex’s first thought was that Henry had a friend visiting. Two small figures were sitting cross-legged on the polished floor, playing cards. One of them was clearly Henry’s square-shouldered form. But the other…the other…Alex scowled as he recognized her. Not only was Lily dressed in her raspberry breeches, she had borrowed one of Henry’s shirts and vests. Purposefully Alex strode to the gallery, intending to upbraid her for the wildly inappropriate attire. As he reached them, his eyes flickered over Lily, and he swallowed hard. The way she was sitting, the breeches were stretched tautly over her thighs and knees, showing the slim shape of her legs.

God help him, she was the most distracting woman he had ever met. In his time he had known many seductive females, had seen them dressed and undressed, in sumptuous evening gowns and in gauzy wisps of nothing, na**d in the bath, in French silk undergarments tied with narrow ribbons. But nothing had ever tantalized like the sight of Lily Lawson in breeches.

Alex felt his color deepening, his body tightening, filling with arousal. Desperately he struggled to bring an image of Penelope to mind. When that failed, he searched deeper for a memory of Caroline. But he couldn’t see Caroline’s face…hell, he could barely remember it…there were only the points of Lily’s knees, the top of her curly dark head, the nimble movements of her fingers as she fanned a deck of cards. It was a battle to keep his breathing regular. For the first time he couldn’t recall the exact sound of Caroline’s voice or the shape of her face…it was all drowned in a soft haze. His traitorous senses were drawn to Lily, whose vibrant beauty was the focus of all the light in the gallery.

Lily acknowledged Alex with a brief glance. Her shoulders tensed as she waited for some negative remark. When none was forthcoming, she continued her demonstration. Expertly she cut and riffled the cards. “Now look, Henry,” she said. “Just push this group of cards straight through the other group…and they come out the same as before…and you see? The ace is still on the bottom.”

Henry laughed and took the deck to practice the maneuver.

Alex watched the boy finger the cards. “Do you know what they do to card cheats?” he asked.

“Only to bad ones,” Lily replied, before the boy could reply. “Good ones are never caught.” She indicated a space on the floor next to them, as graciously as a lady offering a chair in an elegant parlor. “Care to join us, my lord? I’ll have you know I’m breaking one of my strictest rules by teaching your brother my best tricks.”

Alex lowered himself to the floor beside her. “Should I be grateful?” he asked dryly. “Turning my brother into a cheat…”

Lily grinned at him. “Certainly not. I merely want this poor lad to be aware of the ways in which other people could take advantage of him.”

Henry exclaimed in self-disgust as his fingers slipped and the cards scattered over the floor.

“That’s all right,” Lily said, leaning over to scoop up the cards. “Practice, Henry. You’ll have it in no time.”

Alex couldn’t stop himself from staring at Lily’s neatly rounded bottom as she industriously collected the scattered deck. A new flood of response went through him, turning the surface of his skin hot. He pulled the edges of his coat together over his lap. He should get to his feet and walk away this very instant. But instead he stayed in the sunlit gallery, sitting on the floor near the most maddening woman he had ever known.

Henry shuffled the cards together. “What about my tutor, Alex?”

Alex dragged his attention from Lily. “I haven’t found anyone suitable yet.”

“Good,” the boy said emphatically. “The last one looked like a frig-pig.”

Alex frowned. “A what?”

Lily leaned toward Henry conspiratorially. “Henry, don’t use the new words Auntie Lily taught you until Alex is gone.”

Without thinking, Alex caught hold of Lily’s slim upper arm. “Miss Lawson, you’re aptly demonstrating all the reasons I didn’t want you near him.” Startled by his touch, Lily glanced at him quickly, expecting a cold frown. Instead she saw a rueful, boyish smile that caused her heart to give an extra little thump. How odd, that making him smile would give her such a sense of accomplishment. Her brown eyes laughed into his, and she directed another comment to Henry.

“Do you know why your brother hasn’t found a tutor yet? He won’t be satisfied until he’s hired Galileo, Shakespeare, and Plato, all rolled into one. I do pity you, my boy.”

Henry screwed his face into an appalled grimace. “Alex, tell her it’s not true!”

“I have certain standards,” Alex admitted, dropping his hand from Lily’s arm. “Finding a qualified tutor is taking more time than I anticipated,”

“Why don’t you let Henry choose?” Lily suggested. “You could attend to your other business while he conducts the interviews. Then he would present his choice for your approval.”

Alex snorted sardonically. “I’d like to see what kind of tutor Henry would choose.”

“I believe he would be quite responsible in his decision. Besides, it’s going to be his tutor. I think he should have some say in it.”

Henry appeared to consider the question thoughtfully. His blue eyes met Alex’s. “I’d pick a smashing one, Alex, damn me if I wouldn’t.”