The Diamond Slipper by Jane Feather

settlements, so I hope he’s not inclined to withhold it.”
    Leo frowned. He didn’t think Michael would withhold his bride’s estate, but neither did he believe he would hand it over to her without supervision. “It’s not customary for a woman to have access to her own fortune. I’m sure your husband will make you a generous allowance.”
    “An allowance of my own money! It’s so unjust.”
    Leo shrugged. “Maybe. But it’s the way of the world and not to be changed by a slip of a girl.”
    “Don’t be too sure, my lord.” Cordelia thrust her irritation from her and tossed the dice again. “Come, let us throw. We don’t have a flat surface, but we can toss them on the seat beside you. The disadvantage will be the same for both of us.” She leaned over, the shawl slipping from her, revealing the deep cleft between her round breasts. The scent of her hair, so close to his face, filled his nostrils, the curve of her cheek entranced him.
    The dice rolled on the velvet seat beside Leo, and he turned with relief to look.
    “A four and a six.” Cordelia sat back with a smile of triumph. “Let’s see if you can do better, my lord.”
    Resigned, Leo tossed the dice. They came up three and a two.
    “Ha! I win.” She gathered up the dice and held out her hand for her winnings.
    Leo drew out his own purse and handed her four louis, which she pocketed with such an air of gloating jubilation that he couldn’t help laughing. “What a graceless winner you are. I trust you don’t lose as badly.”
    “I rarely lose,” she said smugly, tossing the dice in her hands again. “Shall we raise the stakes to five?”
    It seemed a relatively harmless way to pass the time, and Cordelia’s shameless exultation at every win was irresistible. And she won every throw.
    Belatedly, it occurred to Leo that such a run of good luck was way beyond the average. She had gleefully pocketedtwenty louis before the first suspicion entered his head. Casually, he turned sideways to watch closely as she tossed the dice. There was something about the way she flicked them that caught his attention. It was a little twist of her wrist that ordinarily would pass unnoticed, but he was beginning to find his continual losses somewhat tedious.
    “Ha! I win again! You owe me another five louis, my lord.” She held out her hand in her usual fashion.
    “I wonder if I do,” he said slowly, scooping up the dice from the seat beside him. They felt normal enough. He’d been throwing them for the last half hour without a qualm. He glanced up. Cordelia was looking transparently anxious and had withdrawn her open palm.
    He tossed the dice in his palm, fixing her with a hard stare, watching the color rise in her creamy cheeks, waiting until her eyes dropped to her lap.
    “These are weighted in some way, aren’t they?
Aren’t they
?” he repeated when she seemed disinclined to answer.
    “How could you accuse me of such a thing?” Her color was high, her bottom lip clipped between her teeth.
    “You cheating little fibster!” he declared, tossing the dice into her lap. “Show me how they work.”
    “I was going to give the money back to you.” Her glowing eyes were enormous, fixed earnestly on his face.
    “You’ll forgive me if I doubt that,” he said dryly. “Now, show me how they work.”
    “Oh, very well. But it’s such a neat little trick. If you didn’t know, you couldn’t feel it. You couldn’t, could you?”
    “If I had been able to, I wouldn’t be twenty louis the poorer,” he said as aridly as before. “I’m waiting.”
    Cordelia leaned forward, almost into his lap, the dice cupped in her hand. “They’re clipped at this corner. If you flick them onto the edge, they always fall either on the six or the four. It doesn’t win every time, but most of the time.”
    She was far too close to him. Her scent, the deep cleft of her bosom, the midnight-black mass of curls were making his head spin, and when she looked up at him, a