“Why Lady Calpurnia—” she was certain he used the name to provoke her, “I believe you are a sore loser.”
“No one likes losing, my lord.”
“Mmm. And yet it seems you have.”
She sighed. “Get on with it. What do you want?”
He watched her, waiting for her to meet his gaze. “Take down your hair.”
Her brow furrowed. “Why?”
“Because I won. And you agreed to the terms.”
She considered his words briefly before lifting her hands and removing the pins that held her hair in place. As it fell in soft, brown waves around her shoulders, she said, “I must look silly, dressed in men’s clothing with all this hair.”
His gaze hadn’t left her as she’d released her locks from their tight restraint. “I assure you, ‘silly’ is not the word I would use.”
The words, spoken in the dark voice she was coming to adore, set her pulse racing. She cleared her throat. “Shall we continue?”
He dealt the cards again. She won. Attempting to sound cool and collected, she said, “Do you have a mistress?”
He froze briefly in collecting the cards, and she immediately regretted the question. She didn’t really want to know if he had a mistress. Did she?
“I do not.”
“Oh.” She wasn’t sure what she had been expecting him to say, but it hadn’t been that.
“You don’t believe me?”
“I believe you. I mean, you wouldn’t be here with me if you could be somewhere with someone like…” She stopped, realizing that her words could be misunderstood. “Not that I think you’re here to…with me…”
He watched her, his expression revealing none of his thoughts. “I would still be here with you.”
“You would?” she squeaked.
“Yes. You’re different. Refreshing.”
“Oh. Well. Thank you.”
“Mistresses can be rather difficult.”
“I don’t imagine you like difficult,” she said quietly.
“No. I don’t,” he agreed. He set the deck of cards down on the table. “Why are you so interested in mistresses and courtesans?”
Not mistresses. Your mistresses. She shrugged her shoulders. “They’re rather fascinating to women who aren’t so…free.”
“I’d hardly call them free.”
“Oh! But they are! They can behave however they’d like, with whomever they like! They’re not at all like women in society. We’re expected to sit quietly while men hie off and sow their wild oats. I think it’s high time that women have the chance to sow some oats of their own. And those women do.”
“You have an overly romanticized view of what women like that can and cannot do. They are bound to the men with whom they consort. They rely on them for everything. Money, food, clothing.”
“How is that different from me? I rely on Benedick for all those things.”
He was clearly uncomfortable with the comparison. “It’s different. He’s your brother.”
She shook her head. “You’re wrong. It’s quite the same. Only women like the one across the corridor get to choose the men to whom they are beholden.”
His tone turned serious. “You don’t know the first thing about the woman across the corridor, Callie. She is the opposite of free. I assure you. And I suggest you stop romanticizing her before it gets you into trouble.”
Whether the result of the adventure of the evening or the verbal sparring with Ralston, Callie’s mouth seemed to have become completely disconnected from her sense of self-preservation. “Why?” she asked. “I confess, I’m rather intrigued by the whole idea. I wouldn’t necessarily dismiss an offer to become someone’s mistress out of hand.”
The words stunned him into silence, and Callie couldn’t hide the little smirk of victory that sprang to her face as she noted his surprise. His brows snapped together as she reached across the table to lift the cards and begin dealing them. He grabbed her hand, stilling her motion and drawing her gaze to his, which glittered with an emotion she couldn’t quite place except to know it was not a good thing. “You don’t mean it.” His tone brooked no refusal.
“I—” She sensed danger and spoke the truth. “Of course not.”
“Is it on the list?”
“What? No!” Her shock was real enough to convince him.
“You are too valuable to play the mistress to some society dandy, Callie. It’s not a glamorous role. Not a romantic one. Those women live in gilded cages. You should have a pedestal.”