Page 41 of The Black Trilogy

When my turn came to deal, I ended up with a pair of aces. “Gonna wipe the floor with you, hot stuff.”

“Hot stuff?” Luke asked.

“I’ve met you four times now.”

He chuckled. “You’re finally starting to realise that there’s more to me than an incredibly handsome face?”

“No, I can see you’re self-deprecating and modest too.”

I was about to lay out the flop when Luke’s phone rang.

“Mark,” he mouthed, then put the phone to his ear. “Where? … How drunk are they? … Can they still walk? … Okay, I’ll meet you out front in five.”

He dropped the phone on the table and let out a long sigh. “I’ve got to go.”

“What’s happened?”

“Mark’s found the girls. Since we last checked them, they seem to have got hold of some alcohol. Tia promised she wouldn’t drink, but apparently she can’t stand up and she’s lost her shoes and handbag.”

He rose to his feet and shrugged his jacket on.

I got up as well. “I’ll pack up the poker stuff. Where’s the box?”

“Just leave it. It belongs to the hotel. What cards did you have, anyway?”

“Not telling.”

“Oh, come on…”

“Nope. I never give away my secrets.” At least the big ones.

“Fine. A rematch, then?”

“When?”

He grabbed his phone and scrolled through it. “Friday. I can get away on time.”

Why not? It wasn’t like there was much else to do in Lower Foxford. “You’re on.”

Luke grabbed my hand and led me into the corridor, his palm hot against mine. The contact made me suppress a shiver—few men in my life would dare touch me in that manner—but at the same time, it was nice for someone else to take control for a change. Fending for myself all the time had left me drained.

We found Mark and the girls in a hallway downstairs. He’d corralled them onto a window seat where the pair of them were bouncing up and down, talking non-stop. Portia’s cheeks were flushed, and sweat dripped from Arabella’s forehead. When we got close, Portia leapt up and enveloped Luke in a hug.

I caught his look of shock before it turned to concern.

“She doesn’t normally do that, does she?” I asked.

I hadn’t seen much of her, but she’d never struck me as the huggy, kissy kind.

“No, never,” Luke whispered.

Uh oh. I peered into her eyes. Yup, pupils dilated. I sat next to Arabella, caught her flailing wrist, and checked her pulse while she chattered away about how much fun she was having. Her heart was hammering.

“Come on, dance with me.” She got up and tried to pull me with her.

“I’ll pass.”

She grabbed Portia instead, and they started waltzing.

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