Surprisingly, the only person who seemed to show nothing to her was not Gabriel. Sitting across from her, Dashwood was playing with a blank expression. He was winning hands as much as her, and Dorothy knew she had to be on her toes. She liked to think she had a blank face when she played, but from how Dashwood kept glancing at her, it was like he could see inside her head. It was a little unnerving.
Finally, they got to the final hand, and it was between Dashwood and Dorothy. Whoever won the final hand would win the entire game. Dorothy tried not to let her hands tremble. She could feel the blood rushing through her. God, this was more exciting than she cared to admit.
The rest of the guests had been making most of the time reading, with a few watching the card game, but now everyone was watching them. Some of them had come to stand at the table, and Dorothy had to be careful not to show her cards to anyone standing behind her. It was only Frederica, but she had been known to call out what Dorothy had in jest on occasion. Dorothy wanted to win this without any interruptions.
Although Dashwood was making her push even more, it was surprisingly exhilarating.
When it came to revealing their hands, Dashwood laid his cards down. He had a two pair. Dorothy grinned and held back the giggle of glee as she put her cards onto the table in triumph. She had three of a kind, and that trumped his hand.
Frederica squealed as people began to clap. Lady Derbyshire looked delighted, and Gabriel’s expression showed he was pleased. Dashwood barked out a laugh and sat back in his chair.
“Well played, Lady Dorothy. Well played. A worthy opponent.”
Dorothy didn’t want to blush at a comment like that, but she couldn’t help it. She bit her lip and avoided his gaze. Then Derbyshire was standing up.
“Well, it looks like the rain has finally stopped. And I believe it’s time for afternoon tea, if everyone would care to go into the morning room? If you don’t wish for tea, we’ll see you at dinner, which will be served at eight with drinks at seven-thirty.”
Everyone began to move around, and Dorothy went with them, picking up her sweets, which she had accumulated during the game. Lady Derbyshire laughed as Dorothy tried to carry them all with both hands.
“Take the tin, darling.” She pushed it across. “You deserve it.”
“What? I can’t do that. There are more sweets in there.”
“Of course you can. Consider it your prize.” Lady Derbyshire winked. “I won’t tell if you won’t.”
Dorothy grinned back, and she took the tin.
“Thank you.”
“I’ll see you in the morning room? Are you going to take tea with us?”
“I plan to in a moment.”
The marchioness nodded and smiled.
“I’ll see you shortly, then, Dorothy.”
She left the room, talking to Frederica. Cowper, Dashwood’s friend, had caught up with them and whispered something to Frederica that made her laugh very loudly. Her laughter could still be hard going down the hall and out of sight.
She would take the sweet tin up to her bedchamber and put it to one side. She didn’t want to have them in sight and take a piece of butterscotch every now and then. That was one way to become a glutton, especially when she adored butterscotch.
“That was a good game, Lady Dorothy.”
Dorothy started, dropping the tin onto the rug. The lid came off, and the sweets scattered across the floor.
“Oh, forgive me! I didn’t mean to startle you!” Dashwood was immediately by her side. “That wasn’t my intention.”
“Well, you did it.” Dorothy pressed a hand to her chest. “I thought you’d gone.”
“I wanted to speak to you in private.” Dashwood gestured at the sweets around them. “But maybe we should gather these up first. They are your winnings, after all.”
“I can do it myself.”
“A lady shouldn’t be crawling around on her hands and knees looking for sweets,” Dashwood insisted. “Let me gather them up for you.”
Dorothy knew she should protest or make some snide comment. She should be doing it herself. However, she felt a strange satisfaction knowing that she could have a man like Lucas Dashwood on his knees for her, for once in her life.
Shrugging, she took a step back.