The Wallflower List by Jess Michaels

Author:Jess Michaels [Michaels, Jess]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Passionate Pen, LLC
Published: 2024-10-08T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

Marianne had spent many a pleasant hour playing faro and other card games with friends, but most especially Claudia. And she found, as she sat at the table surrounded by strange men and women, smoke clouding the air around her, drinks flowing freely, that she was benefiting from the practice. She collected her winnings yet again with a laugh as the next event began.

While the cards were shuffled, she glanced around the room. She had pictured a great many things while hearing about hells and the underground in whispered tones from people who thought she was too innocent to hear them.

But once inside, she found it was just a large parlor, kind of like a tearoom in Bath, only with more men and louder arguments and somewhat raucous behavior from the visitors.

She jerked her attention back to the matter at hand as the banker began to lay out the cards before him. Only she saw something that caught her eye. The man to his closest left was slipping his gaze toward the banker’s shoulder. Toward the cards.

“Excuse me, sir,” she said, motioning to the banker. “I believe the gentleman on the left can see.”

The man in question jerked his gaze toward her, his bleary eyes growing wide. “I beg your pardon, chit?”

“Perhaps you didn’t mean to,” she said as the others at the table began to stare at her and uneasiness rose from deep within her. “It’s—it’s so easy to accidentally do just that when directly beside the banker.”

The banker twisted in his seat and started waving his hand. “What did I tell you, Wilcox? Over and over, you lousy cheat?”

“I weren’t cheating!” the man she’d accused said. “That little whore is lying!”

Marianne gasped at the nasty accusation and pushed her chair back slightly as the accused, Wilcox got up and leaned across the table toward her. “Do you know who I am, bitch? Do you know what I can do?”

Fear streaked through her, its cold hand chilling every part of her body. She’d never been spoken to in such a manner before and she realized how badly she had miscalculated this interaction in her naivety. Slowly she stood and held up her hands to block her face, just as Sebastian had taught her when they sparred. But she didn’t think one of her punches could stop this man. Perhaps, though, she could still calm the angry bull who looked ready to charge.

“I wasn’t trying to cause trouble, only to play a fair game, sir.”

“And we’ll have one. You’re banned, Wilcox!”

The banker lifted a hand to motion for someone to come over, likely to escort the angry man out, but before he could, Wilcox lunged at her. She staggered back, crashing into her own chair as she covered her head with her hands and waited to be struck. Only it didn’t happen because before he could reach her another man shoved his way between them and pushed the cheat so hard that he stumbled backward and fell across the table behind him.

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