Page 6 of Enticing the Devil

Chapter Three

While Roderick struggled to regain his composure, Beynon noticed a stirring across the room. Everyone seemed to be convening around their hostess, Lady Harte, who’d risen to her feet with a very large punch bowl cradled in her hands.

“What on earth?” he muttered in confusion.

Roderick tilted his head to follow Beynon’s gaze. “Ah. The games.”

“Games?”

His brother’s reply was a bit too casual. “I didn’t tell you about the games?”

Beynon’s brow drew downward in answer.

“It was something Lady Harte came up with during last year’s summer party. It was such a success among the guests, she decided to bring it back again this summer.”

“Bring what back?” Beynon pressed as one of the ladies gathered around their hostess stepped forward to draw a small slip of paper from the bowl.

“A series of competitions spread out over several days at the end of which the winners receive a small purse.”

“And what does that have to do with a punch bowl?”

“The games are played in pairs. Married couples partner up, of course, but the unattached members of the party are paired up randomly. The names of each unmarried gentleman are placed in the bowl. The ladies blindly draw and whichever name a lady chooses from the bowl becomes her partner.”

“Every gentleman?”

Roderick’s mouth twitched a bit, sparking a suspicion the man knew exactly how Beynon was feeling just then. “Only a rare few guests are allowed to pass on participation. You’re not one of them, I’m afraid.”

“You failed to tell me about this on purpose,” he accused sharply.

“Now, why would I do that?” His brother was all innocence.

Beynon wasn’t even slightly fooled by the act. “Because I’d never have accepted the invitation if I’d known I’d be obligated to play some ridiculous game.”

“Don’t be so dismissive. It’s rousing good fun, actually,” Roderick replied with a clap on Beynon’s back and a subtle shove forward. “You do like to have fun, don’t you, brother? Come on, let’s see who you’re partnered with.”

#

LADY ANNE HESITATED at the edge of the twittering crowd. If she could have excused herself from the games, she would have. At last year’s party, she’d been partnered with Lord Reiner, an older gentleman who enjoyed his wine a bit overmuch. He’d stumbled through half of the competitions and didn’t bother learning the rules to the rest. It had been an extremely disappointing experience.

She’d have preferred to avoid repeating such unpleasantness and had briefly considered sending her regrets when she received her invitation to the house party. But Lady Harte was one of her best friends and she knew how badly Lily wanted this country gathering to become an annual success.

So, when it came round to her turn to draw a name from the bowl, she stepped forward with a smile for her friend and plucked the first slip of paper her fingers happened to touch.

It took her another moment of staring at the arrangement of letters to accept it wasn’t some trick of the light and they’d somehow read out differently if she gave it another couple seconds. But the name remained unchanged. And undeniable.

Mr. Beynon Thomas.

With a tight sigh, she glanced upward to see the man approaching with his brother, Mr. Roderick Bentley. Mr. Thomas’s angry countenance was no surprise as she’d already determined the man apparently always carried that dark, forbidding expression.

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