Then Came You (The Gamblers #1)(71)

Somehow Alex managed to pry himself loose from her insistent grasp. “Thank you,” he muttered, stepping back to avoid her possessive hands, “but I’m occupied with…” he floundered and finished uncomfortably, “…something. Good evening.”

Hastily he turned and nearly knocked over a slim woman dressed as a milkmaid. He reached out to steady her, and she trembled. The blue eyes regarding him through the rosebud mask were soulful and awestruck. “My lord,” she murmured fearfully. “You don’t know me, but…I…I think I’m in love with you.”

Alex stared at her dumbly. Before he could reply, a temptress disguised as Cleopatra—but possessing a round face and high voice that betrayed her as the countess of Croydon—threw herself into his arms. “Gamble for me!” she cried. “I’m at your mercy, my lord. Cast your passions to the whim of fate!”

With a harassed groan, Alex pushed through the room, pursued by a coterie of eager women. He headed for the door, where Derek Craven appeared. For a man who was supposed to represent the god of merrymaking, he looked rather morose, his face dark and surly underneath a crown of grapes and leaves. They exchanged a scowling glance, and Derek tugged him aside, blocking the women from following.

Derek adopted a twisted smile as he spoke to the fretful, excited ladies. “Easy, loveys. I beg your pardons, but the prince of darkness an’ I wants to talk. Go on, now.”

Alex watched with an incredulous stare as the women departed. “Thank you,” he said feelingly, and shook his head. “After last night, they should be denouncing me as a scoundrel.”

Derek’s mouth twisted sardonically. “Instead you became the prize bull-beef o’ London.”

“That was never my intention,” Alex muttered. “Women. God knows what goes on in their minds.” He didn’t care about any woman’s opinion of him. All he wanted was Lily. “Is Lily here?”

Derek regarded him with cool sarcasm. “I would say so, milord. She’s sitting na**d at a table o’ drooling bastards, trying to scalp five frigging fousand pounds off ’em.”

Alex’s face went blank. “What?”

“You ’eard me.”

“And you’ve done nothing to stop her?” Alex demanded in explosive fury.

“If you wants ’er safe,” Derek said through his teeth, “you ’as to take care ow ’er. I’m through with this ’ole crack-brained business. Keeping ’er from trouble—like trying to milk a pigeon, it is.”

“Which card room?” Alex snapped, tearing off his mask and tossing it to the floor impatiently.

“Second on the left.” Derek smiled bitterly and folded his arms across his chest as he watched Alex depart.

“Discard two,” Lily said calmly, and picked up the necessary cards from the deck. Her luck seemed to have improved ten times over since last night. In the past hour she had accumulated a meager stash of money, which she would now begin to build on. The other five men at the table were playing clumsily, their leering gazes wandering over her transparent costume, their faces registering every thought.

“Discard one,” Lord Cobham said.

Lily took a sip of brandy and studied his face. She smiled slightly as she noticed his gaze moving once more to the green velvet leaves that covered her br**sts. The small room was crowded with men. Lily knew they were all staring at her. She didn’t care. By now she was beyond shame or modesty—her only thought was money. If flaunting herself would help her get the money Giuseppe had demanded, so be it. She would do anything to save Nicole, even sacrifice the last few shreds of her pride. Later she would allow herself to shrink from this memory and blush fiercely at the exhibition she had made of herself. For now…

“Discard one,” she said, flipping down a card. As she reached for another, she hesitated, feeling a hot prickling of awareness down her spine. Turning her head slowly, she saw Alex standing in the doorway of the room. No biblical angel of destruction could have looked more magnificent, his hair and skin gleaming with the rich darkness of antique gold against the blood-red garments he wore. The gray irises of his eyes smoldered wrathfully as he looked at her barely concealed body.

“Miss Lawson,” he said in an utterly controlled voice, “May I have a word with you?”

The way he stared at her made Lily tense with unease. She felt pinned to her chair, and knew a sudden urge to bolt for safety. Instead she drew on every bit of her acting ability to appear indifferent. “Later, perhaps,” she murmured, and returned her attention to her cards. “Your play, Cobham.”

Cobham didn’t move, only regarded Alex in the same transfixed manner that everyone else did.

Alex’s gaze remained on Lily. “Now,” he said, more softly than before. There was an edge to his voice that could have cut glass.

Lily stared at him, while their audience followed the exchange with intense interest. Damn him for speaking to her in front of them as if she were his property! Well, Worthy was in the room. It was his job to ensure smooth play in the gaming rooms, and remove all sources of interference. Worthy wouldn’t let Alex do anything to her. After all, she was a legitimate member of the club. She dared to give Alex a taunting smile. “I’m playing.”

“You’re leaving,” he said curtly, and took command in a blur of motion. Lily gasped in surprise as her cards were snatched from her hand and scattered over the table. Reaching for her apple, she hurled it at his head, but he ducked it easily. Suddenly she found herself smothered in his red cloak. With bewildering swiftness Alex wrapped her until she was immobile, her arms and legs tightly bound. She shrieked and struggled violently as he bent and lifted her, slinging her over his shoulder. The long wig dropped from her head, falling to a silky heap on the floor.