Chapter Three

Settling back into a chair, James offered a lazy grin to Lord Radford, before turning his attention to Lord Mayhew. "Now, are you not offering us a drink this evening?"

Lord Mayhew rolled his eyes. "You have only just sat down, Granton. Do be patient and permit my footman time to pour from the decanter! In case you have forgotten, I have four other gentlemen across the room who also require a drink."

James chuckled and leaned back all the more, finding himself quite contented after what had been an excellent soiree. He had been in London for almost a month now and in that time, had found himself in a different house every evening, enjoying whatever entertainment they put on. This evening was no exception.

"I have sent the ladies to the drawing room and we shall soon have a few other guests coming to join us, so we should have around fourteen or fifteen of us to play," Lord Mayhew continued, as the footman finally brought over the tray of drinks for them all to take. "I am well aware that some of the ladies would have enjoyed a game of cards or two but it is not quite the same with their company, is it?"

Lord Radford's lips twitched. "Indeed not," he agreed, "for I find myself often much too distracted by a pair of pretty eyes and, when that happens, I often lose a little more money than I had anticipated!"

"In which case, mayhap you ought to bring those ladies back into the room!" James quipped, making Lord Mayhew laugh. "After all, we are each eager to gain as much of a fortune as we can, are we not? Even if it is at the expense of others." He winked at Lord Radford but his friend clearly knew he was jesting, given the broad grin on his face.

"Indeed, indeed, that is quite so. Ah, now, here are a few of the other guests arriving. Do excuse me." Lord Mayhew quickly rose from his chair and made his way to the door, ready to greet the gentlemen who had arrived. James watched with interest, taking in each and every face and trying to recall whether or not he had played cards with them before. If he had, then he would have a better chance of keeping his money, if not adding to it! But if he had not, then he would have to be very cautious indeed when it came to the game. So many gentlemen had little ways of telling him what they were about to play, though they did so without realising it, and this was always entirely to James' advantage. Much to his joy, there were four gentlemen that he recognised and had played with before, and only two he had not. The chances of him leaving the house with an increase in his coin was high indeed!

"Not that you need such a thing."

A little confused, James looked to Lord Radford, who had something of a wry grin tugging at his lips. "I beg your pardon?"

"I know what you are doing," Lord Radford replied, a slight glint in his eye. "You are looking at each and every gentleman and wondering whether or not you know what it is they do when they play cards. That way, you will be able to tell whether or not you will be able to gain from them. Is that not so?"

James shrugged. "You know me very well, Radford."

"I do."

"Though you still manage to best me at cards sometimes," James reminded him. "And let us make certain that we are both in different games, shall we? That way, we need not compete with each other."

His friend lifted his glass in a half-toast. "That sounds like a good idea."

"And it means our friendship shall not be affected," James added, seeing his friend nod. "Yes, you are quite right that I do not need an increase in coin but there comes such a delight in being the victor, is there not?"

Lord Radford laughed ruefully. "You have struck at the heart of the matter there, my friend. I will confess that I too find it more than delightful whenever I am given the full victory."

James lifted his own glass in a toast. "Then let us hope that this evening, fortune will favour us both," he said, as Lord Radford clinked his glass against James'. "Let us pray we will leave this house with more coin than we came in with." Throwing back his whisky, James set the glass down with a smile, only for his eyes to fix upon the final gentleman who stepped into the room. Lord Mayhew greeted him warmly, shaking the gentleman's hand which only increased James' astonishment. Looking to Lord Radford, he nodded in the direction of the fellow, seeing the way Lord Radford's eyebrows shot towards his hairline.

Clearly, he was just as astonished as James to see none other than the Earl of Hampshire stepping into the room. This was the gentleman that Lord Radford had pointed out only recently, the gentleman who had been close to ruination. Why then had he come to a card game where they were to gamble and take risks in such a way that could ruin him all over again?

"I think this will be a very interesting evening," Lord Radford murmured. "If Lord Hampshire is to play, then we may very well find ourselves richer without too much difficulty!"

James frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Why, I told you before that Lord Hampshire had a great many debts, did I not?" When James nodded, his friend continued. "Therefore, he cannot be much good at games such as this. It will be easy enough to take from him!"

The frown on James' face remained. "Unless it is that he will leave us only with nothing rather than paying what he owes just as he did before."

Lord Radford shrugged. "I suppose we shall have to wait and see."

Lifting an eyebrow, James looked to his friend. "Let us hope that he is at your table rather than at mine, then!"

This made Lord Radford laugh aloud and James himself chuckled, looking across the room again to where Lord Hampshire now stood, talking with some other gentlemen though none of them looked particularly pleased to be in his company. The gentleman himself appeared ill at ease, shifting from one foot to the other and again, James wondered what it was that had brought the gentleman here. Did he have enough coin to play an entire evening of cards? Or was he hoping that, somehow, his luck would change and he would win a significant amount?

"At least now we can see where Lady Newton's astonishing hair colour comes from," Lord Radford mentioned, a small smile tilting his lips. "Her red curls were certainly striking."

James considered this, then nodded. "Yes, I suppose they were, though I do not find red hair to be in any way attractive. I would prefer to gaze upon young ladies with golden curls or burnished bronze. Red is a little too… well, red!"

"I understand what you mean," came the reply. "I thought her a little ill-mannered also, in the way that she responded to us at the first and then the sharpness of her gaze thereafter."

"I quite agree." James considered the lady for a moment, recalling how she had lifted her chin as they had spoken, how her eyes had filled with shards of glass as she had looked at them. When he had first seen her, he and Lord Radford had thought to go and strike up a conversation with her, simply for their own enjoyment and laughter, though it had not gone as they had intended. Her mother had spoken with harsh words and made it very clear that they were not welcome to continue their conversation and James had been left feeling a little deflated. Though, he concluded inwardly, there had not been even the smallest flicker of interest in the lady herself and even now, as he considered her, he could only think rather poorly of not only how she had behaved but also of her very red curls. That was not something that he valued in any way.

"Come now, then, gentlemen! Shall we gather to play?"

With a look towards Lord Radford, James rose from his chair and made his way towards one of the tables which Lord Mayhew had pointed out. Seeing Lord Radford sit down at one of the two available tables, James quickly sat down at the opposite one, relieved that he would not be playing alongside his friend.

"Lord Grayson, Lord Templeton, Lord Huxbridge, Lord Carnuthy, Lord Newcastle and Lord Hampshire, if you might join the Marquess of Granton at this table, please? We shall begin with a game of Commerce!"

James forced a smile but groaned inwardly as Lord Hampshire was directed to sit down at the very same table as he. Casting a look towards the other table, he caught the broad grin spreading across Lord Radford's face and felt his own spirits drop low. Evidently, his friend was relieved that the foolish Lord Hampshire was not present at his own table.

Which means that I must play against him, James thought, his jaw tightening just a little. He would accept no excuses, he considered, wondering if he ought to make that very clear from the beginning of the game. That way, at least, Lord Hampshire would know that there was not to be any sort of debts held, no matter how much he might want it. With a nod to himself, James looked to Lord Mayhew, waiting for the gentleman to declare that the games would begin. Then, he would make his statement and, thereafter, the betting could begin.

"Capital!" Lord Mayhew exclaimed, clapping his hands and catching every gentleman's attention. "Now, each table will play a game of Commerce. A fine game, yes?"

James nodded, a little surprised to see how quickly Lord Hampshire nodded too, as though he were eager to begin. Did he really have such confidence?

"Might I suggest, Lord Mayhew, that we state there can be no excuses and no debts?" he asked, as his friend turned to look at him. "I do not think that it is fair to have debts left here at the table. If a gentleman is to play, then he pays what he owes before he leaves this house."

Lord Mayhew clearly caught what James meant, given the glint that came into his eyes. "I quite agree," he said, firmly. "Yes, I quite agree. Whatever coin you have brought, that is the coin you play with. You cannot place any bets without money upon the table."

Looking around and seeing the other gentlemen nodding, including Lord Hampshire and with a nod, James let a small, dark smile settle across his face.

I am certain to win, he told himself, his chin lifting a little as confidence filled him as he thought of what it would be like to leave the house knowing that he had won both the game and the coin of the other gentlemen. That thought sent a flood of pride in his heart and, with his smile growing, James picked up his dealt cards and the game immediately began.