The Duke's Bride: Regency Romance (Regency Brides Book 1) by Joanne Wadsworth

Author:Joanne Wadsworth [Wadsworth, Joanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-08-27T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

At the card table set up in the drawing room, Ellie took the seat Ashten had graciously pulled out for her. Her sisters and Winterly had drawn the three smallest cards of the deck so would sit this game out and play in the second match of whist instead. Sophia and Olivia sat on the blue brocade settee fawning over Beast who kept trying to gnaw on their fingers, while Winterly poured port at the side table into glasses. Across from her, Ashten, her partner and dealer in this game as per the initial cards drawn, took his seat and handed the cards to Tidmore on his left to shuffle. Ashten accepted the cards back, asked Mama on his right to cut the deck, then dealt all the cards out, one at a time, face down, until each of them had thirteen cards, other than for him. The final card belonged to Ashten and he left it turned face up near his cards, that card being the card denoting the suit of hearts as trumps.

“This is a wonderful pairing.” Mama jiggled in her seat across from Tidmore, her partner. “We shall make a winning pair, Mr. Tidmore.”

“That we shall.” Tidmore began the game for the first trick by leading with one of the cards in his hand, a king of diamonds.

Ellie followed suit next with her four of diamonds, then Mama added a two of the same suit and Ashten, who was last, picked the face card up and slotted it into his hand of splayed cards before playing an ace of diamonds.

“Well played.” She blew Ashten a kiss, which she really shouldn’t have done, and her cheeks burned with heat a mere second after the terrible gaffe.

“It appears,” Mama said rather loud in order to cover her faux pas, “that Your Grace is in fine form tonight.”

Oh goodness. Her cheeks heated even further. He’d been in fine form all day, in the park when they’d kissed, over dinner when he’d sat beside her, and almost every other moment in between.

“Care for some port, Ashten?” Winterly offered her card partner a glass, which he accepted with thanks, then her brother proceeded to serve everyone else in the room. As Winterly handed her a drink, he gently squeezed her shoulder and whispered in her ear, “Take care that your competitive spirit doesn’t rise too sharply tonight.”

“Why is that?” she whispered back. Thankfully Mama was regaling Ashten and Mr. Tidmore with an interesting tale and neither man had caught her brother’s words thus far.

“Because I don’t want you scaring off the two men in this house who are currently unwed and possibly looking for a wife.”

“I should have known you were going to say that.” Yes, there were definitely two eligible men present here tonight, but one of them had no desire to take a wife. A certainty for sure.

As their game resumed, she and Ashten took the second trick, then the third.

Mama and Tidmore claimed the fourth, fifth, and sixth

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