High Stakes Chattel Read Free Page A

lip and shook her head. He made her feel a lot of things, but pain definitely wasn’t one of them.
    “Your ankle doesn’t appear to be swollen,” he said with a frown. “Where exactly does it hurt?”
    Heat suffused her face as she leaned forward and brushed her fingertips over the top of her foot. “It might not be my ankle exactly. More here.”
    As he ran his own hands over the place she’d indicated, she had the insane wish to feel his hands on the rest of her body. What had she gotten herself into?
    “Well, I’ll wrap it up, and hopefully that will allow you to put some weight on it until you can get safely home. As soon as my coachman and Joseph return, I’ll have him drive you home.”
    “That isn’t necessary,” she hastened to say, feeling guiltier with each passing moment. “I can walk.”
    “You most certainly will not,” he said sternly as he began to deftly wrap the bandage around her foot. She was certain if her ankle had actually been strained, his careful ministrations would have made it feel better.
    “Well, if you insist that I wait for a ride home, it seems as though you’ll be stuck with me for a while,” she said cautiously.
    “Yes, it does,” he said, his voice sounding grim and resigned.
    She hid a smile by ducking her head. “Well, do you think you could play a quick game of Chattel with me while we wait? I understand why you don’t want to mentor me, but perhaps if we play before I go, I can pick up a few pointers.”

 
     
     

     
    Nico stared at his beautiful, unwelcome houseguest in dismay. He hardly felt as though he could deny her request, yet the last thing he wanted was to get out his Chattel board after so many years.
    “I doubt if one quick game will teach you anything,” he said with a sigh. “It’s been so long since I played, I probably don’t even remember the subtleties myself.” That was a lie, of course. He was cursed with a strong memory, and the intricacies of the game haunted him.
    “ Good,” she said with a twinkle in her eye. “Then I shall beat you quickly and you’ll be begging for a chance to learn from me.”
    He laughed at that, doubting it, and as he did so, he realized how long it had been since anything struck him as funny. Even though he didn’t want to teach her Chattel, he didn’t want her to go. Not until he’d had a chance to see that she wasn’t really as lovely and interesting as she seemed.
    “All right,” he finally said, bowing to the inevitability. Maybe if he played the game with her, he could show her just how unskilled she was, and she’d give up her foolish plan. “Come this way. I think I have a board around here somewhere.”
    Her green eyes grew luminous with gratitude. “Thank you,” she breathed. “You don’t know how much this means to me.”
    “You’re welcome,” he said, feeling a bit awkward. This small favor hardly seemed worth such praise.
    He he lped her limp into his study, still entranced by the sight of her in those scandalous trousers. They hugged her bottom in a way that left nothing to the imagination, and he took every opportunity to steal glances at her backside. After he got her comfortably situated in a deep leather chair in front of the fireplace, he pulled up another chair and a small table to make a cozy area for them to play.
    “Would you like some wine?” he asked, as he put the carved teak board with its ebony and ivory squares down on the table in front of her.
    “ That sounds nice,” she murmured; picking up one of the carved marble hunters and rolling it between her long, slim fingers. “Your board is beautiful. I’ve never seen the like.”
    “Well, I suppose that’s one of the perks of having invented the game. This board was a gift from the Prince of Wales. Apparently, he’s an avid enthusiast.”
    She looked awed and quickly put the piece down, as though she’d somehow break it. “You’ve played with some very powerful people, haven’t you?”
    He went to the