Secrets of a Viscount by Rose Gordon

tenth as interesting as Sebastian seemed to be to those ladies, she’d jump onto the table and begin singing. She nearly snorted, that alone would be more entertaining than the conversation she was engaged in.
    “ The duck is splendid, no?” Mr. Frisk said from beside her.
    “ Quite.” She cast a sideways glance down toward the end of the table where Sebastian sat chatting with those two featherbrains. She twisted her lips. The one on his left was showing far more of her fleshy bosom than Isabelle.
    “ So tender and succulent, no?”
    Isabelle whipped around to turn her attention back to Mr. Frisk then realized he was talking about the duck! “Yes. Quite.”
    “Tell me—” he speared another piece of meat and lifted it to his lips— “have you ever tasted anything so divine?” He closed his eyes and chewed so slowly Isabelle thought she might fall asleep before he finished.
    “ No, I don’t think I have.” She shook her head and said a silent prayer that the meal would pass quickly.
    It did. Pass, that is. But not ‘quickly’ at all, unfortunately.
    However, by the time the meal was done, the torture had only just begun.
    “ Shall we play charades or cards?” Mrs. Appleton, who was also apparently Lady Norcourt this evening, asked.
    Cards was the consensus with a vote from everyone except the two simpletons seated beside Sebastian.
    Once in the drawing room, partners were announced.
    “ Lady Mary, why don’t you partner Lord Belgrave,” Mrs. Appleton announced. “And Miss Knight, why don’t you partner Lord Norcourt.”
    Not sure whether to be relieved that she wouldn’t have to sit across from Sebastian and be forced to look into his chocolate eyes for the next hour or annoyed at the obvious attempt at matchmaking that Isabelle had little doubt Sebastian was behind, she walked next to Giles and allowed him to help her into a chair. She’d never played a card game of any type before and desperately prayed that Giles, Lord Norcourt didn’t mind if they lost.
    Giles pulled a deck of cards from the drawer in the underside of the table and tossed it on the table in Sebastian’s direction.
    Sebastian unbound the cards and shuffled.
    From the corner of her eye, Isabelle watched Lady Mary as she stared at Sebastian’s hands while he shuffled the cards.
    “ I think that’s enough,” Sebastian said, handing the deck back to his friend.
    Giles shook his head. “You.”
    The two men locked eyes for a moment as an unspoken message passed between them, and then Sebastian picked up the deck of cards and began passing them out to everyone.
    Isabelle picked up her hand of cards and looked at them, not sure what on earth she was looking at. Unsure what she was supposed to do, she moved this card here and that card there until the thirteen cards she held were lined up in numerical order: three, four, four, five, seven, nine, nine, nine, Jack, Jack, King, King, Ace. Biting her lip, she locked eyes with Giles and mouthed. “What do I do?”
    He knit his brows in confusion, his face otherwise blank.
    She wanted to groan. She pointed to her cards, then gave a quick shrug.
    “I don’t know,” he said tonelessly, but not at all trying to quiet his answer.
    Were he anyone else, she’d might have questioned if his answer was genuine, but something about the look on his face hid nothing: he didn’t know how to play the game any better than she did. She pressed her lips together so not to embarrass him with the little giggle in her that begged to be released. What a pair these two were.
    She cleared her throat and racked her brain for the words to ask Sebastian to inform her (and his friend) of the rules without drawing too much attention to her lack of knowledge. Fortunately, she was saved when Lady Mary fluttered her eyelashes at Sebastian and said, “I hope you’re a good player, my lord. I have a terrible time with this game. Mama always says I need a strong partner—which I have no doubt you