by Rose Gordon
He shrugged. “I don’t know why not. The person who retrieves that little button gets a boon. And—” he leaned his head closer to his wife— “I know exactly how I plan claim to mine.”
She blushed.
“That’s enough of that,” Uncle John said, curling his upper lip. “How about five stone?”
“That’s boring,” Brooke said, waving her hand through the air. “What about twirl the trencher?”
Her father snorted. “Brooke, as amusing as it would be to see you and your sister try to sit on the floor and get back up, run across the room, and grab an object before it reaches the floor in your conditions, I am an old man now, and I would be struggling right along with you. No, thank you.”
Madison shook her head and sighed. “Let’s see, that eliminates charades, bowls, hide and seek, snapdragon, five stones, and twirl the trencher. What else is there?” She looked directly at Caroline. “Any ideas?”
Caroline shook her head. “The only other game I can think of Alex hates.”
“Pall mall,” Uncle John supplied, smirking.
Aunt Carolina sent her husband a warning glance before turning her attention to Alex. “What about you? Do you have any ideas?”
“Hmm, I don’t know,” he drawled slowly, glancing at Caroline. “By any chance would anybody care for a game of lawn chess?”
“You can’t mean?” Caroline cried excitedly.
He shrugged. “Would you like to go outside and see for yourself?”
“Yes,” she chirped.
Grinning, he stood up and held his hand out to her.
She took his hand and merely glanced at the table full of smiling faces before leaving the room.
Outside, he led her in the direction of the black and white painted wooden platform some of the footmen had set up after Benjamin and Madison arrived with the chess set.
When they rounded the corner and the set came into sight, Caroline’s arms flew around Alex’s neck and her lips landed squarely on his.
Chapter 13
Caroline froze. She was kissing Alex right in front of his entire family! Well, they weren’t out there of course, but from what she’d gleaned from them in the past hour, she wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to glance at the house and see all of them with their faces pressed up against the glass.
“Sorry,” she breathed. “I just got excited.”
His strong hands framed her face. “No need to be sorry,” he murmured. “I wanted you to be excited.”
“Oh, Alex, thank you.”
A lopsided smile took his face. “I can’t accept your gratitude, darling Caro. The set belongs to the duke and duchess.”
A sultry smile took her lips. “Then perhaps I should have kissed them.”
“Never,” he growled. “Your kisses are for me alone.”
“May I?”
He nodded.
She walked around and looked at all the pieces.
“Is it what you remembered?” he asked after a minute of watching her inspect the thirty-two gigantic pieces.
“Yes.” She fingered the intricate carving of the queen. “Thank you for convincing me to get out of the carriage.”
He smiled. “This was the real reason we came here today.”
She walked up to him. “You mean it wasn’t because your entire family wanted to meet me?”
“Oh, they did,” he said with an affirmative nod. “I came to talk to Andrew about finding a lawn chess set, and Brooke knew right away who had one. From there, she invited Benjamin and Madison here with the set.” He shrugged. “This family does nothing in half measures.”
She grinned and was tempted to kiss him again.
“Shall we play?” Brooke waddled in their direction.
Caroline hid her smile. Just last night, she’d listened to Olivia wax for an hour about the Countess of Townson having another baby. Olivia had even gone so far as to use all ten of her fingers and one toe to discover the two children would be only eleven months apart.
“Absolutely,” Alex said jovially. “How shall we divide?”
“Mama and Papa don’t want to play,” Liberty put in, coming to stand in front of her husband, allowing him to wrap his arm around her shoulder.
“How about those born Bankses versus the others,” Uncle John suggested, smiling at his three sons-in-law.
His sons-in-law groaned. “I don’t think so,” Andrew said, pulling his wife closer to him.
“Ladies versus gentlemen won’t work, either,” Madison put in. “Unless Caroline is some sort of a chess master...”
Caroline was good at chess, but wouldn’t consider herself a master. “I’m fair, but certainly not a match for four men.”
Benjamin laughed. “It’s not the three of us you have to worry about—” he gestured to himself, Paul, and Andrew— “it’s him.”
All eyes went to a casual looking Alex. “Are you that good?” she asked sheepishly.
Alex shrugged.
Andrew snorted. “Yes. Now, let’s divide up and get on with it.”
“What about Lords and Ladies versus the untitled?” Alex suggested. He bent his head down to whisper in her ear. “Like Andrew, I want to play on the same team as the lady who’s caught my fancy.”
A shiver ran down her spine at his words. They were no declaration of some great love to come, but it gave her hope all the same. “And I want to be on yours, too.”
“Good. It’s settled then,” Alex said loud enough for everyone to hear. “We’ll join Paul and Liberty versus the duke, duchess, earl, and countess.”
“You just couldn’t resist, could you?” she asked as they took their spots by the white pieces.
“No. Looks like we’re going first. Where shall we move?”
Without much input from Paul and Liberty, Caroline and Alex moved the pawn in front of their queen’s knight forward two spaces.
Twenty minutes later, the lesser gentry had the nobility’s king cornered.
“Can we just all acknowledge your team won, Alex?” Andrew asked as he hauled a captured piece off the game board.
“No.” His tone was very serious. “We have not won yet.”
“To death shall we play, then thee shall pay,” Andrew muttered as he frowned at the two lonely black pieces that were still in play.
“Pardon?” Caroline asked Andrew. “What did you just say?”
“To death shall we play, then thee shall pay,” the earl and duke answered in unison.
“It’s what Alex used to say whenever his opponent would ask to end the game early,” the duke explained.
Caroline smiled. “That’s hard to imagine.”
Andrew scoffed. “It’s true. But that’s not as far as it went. When he won, which he always did, he’d make the loser kneel at his feet and pay up his bet by saying, ‘This shilling now belongs to the smartest boy at Eton. This shilling now belongs to the smartest boy at Eton’.”
“You’re having me on!”
“No, we’re not,” the duke said, shaking his head, a very serious, genuine look on his face. “Not only was he the ‘smartest boy at Eton’, he was also the richest. Everyone’s allowance went to him at least once, accompanied by the words, ‘This shilling now belongs to the smartest boy at Eton’.”
“I can’t believe it,” she said in shock. “It’s just hard to picture him doing such a thing. Alex?” She looked at him to confirm or deny their charges.
Alex only smiled at her.
“See, Caroline,” Andrew began, “the Alex you think you know is shy. And he is, for the most part. But when it comes to science or chess, it’s as if that clam shell of his ceases to exist and he talks and acts in ways you wouldn’t recognize.”
“Clearly,” she remarked dryly.
“And do you plan to make us do that today?” Brooke asked hesitantly, clearly concerned about having to kneel in her condition.
“No, Brooke.” Alex shook his head. “I won’t expect you and Madison to do such a thing. Your husbands...�
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Benjamin scowled. “We weren’t foolish enough to place any bets.”
“Not to worry,” Alex said offhandedly. “You don’t have to surrender any of your hard earned pounds to me. You can just kneel and say, ‘Alex Banks is the smartest man in England’.”
The duke rolled his eyes. “That will not be happening outside your slumber. Even if you are,” he added under his breath. He cleared his throat. “My days of kneeling at your feet ended more than fifteen years ago.”
“Fifteen years ago? I was of the mind he did this all through school,” Caroline said, confused.
“He did.” Andrew nodded. “But to a different group of boys each term.”
“After we’d all been wiped clean of our allowances a few times, none of the boys our age wanted to play him anymore. We’d rather lose our money on games of luck, not skill. But with each term came a new group of boys who thought they’d beat him and end up emptying their coffers to him.”
“Did Marcus ever do that?” she couldn’t stop herself from asking. The thought of Marcus doing that was beyond laughable.
“Of course. No one was immune. They all thought they could best me, but none could.” Alex’s tone was sure, confident, but not cocky or demeaning, making her all the more drawn to him.
“You never lost a game?”
“No,” Alex answered. “Never. Not even the game they made me play after they tied me to a chair and covered my eyes with a stocking because they suspected Marcus and I had been conspiring together to cheat everyone out of their allowance.”
She looked at Benjamin and Andrew. She’d already deduced Paul wasn’t there. He was a bit younger than the others, and likely if he were there, he’d have already said something. “You really did that to your friend?”
“They weren’t my friends back then. Furthest thing from it,” Alex informed her easily.
“He’s right.” Andrew agreed, at least having the decency to look shamefaced for his youthful actions. “We didn’t become friends until Cambridge.”
“Actually, I think I got off rather easily being tied to a chair and made to play chess with a blindfold,” Alex mused. “They never bothered me again after that. And compared to what some of the other boys suffered, I was rather relieved to have paid my dues so early on.”
The duke snorted. “And don’t forget, after that game, we all had to give you all of our funds and you bought that fancy telescope.”
A wistful look came over Alex’s face. “If I remember correctly, Professor Chalk bet his barometer on that match. I won that, too.”
Shaking his head in disbelief, Benjamin looked at Alex. “And what exactly did you do with that?”
“Used it.”
Madison cleared her throat. “All right, children. How about if we come back to the present and finish playing out this game so Benjamin and Andrew can kiss Alex’s feet then rub mine and Brooke’s?”
“Sorry, ladies,” Alex said. “This will be over in two moves, then you’ll all be able to sit down for a spell.” He cast a long glance at Caroline.
She had no idea what he meant by that look and ignored him and his glances as they finished out the game.
“Excellent game,” Alex’s uncle said, walking up to the group before anyone could leave. “While I must say I was not surprised to hear what a good player Alex is, I can’t help but wonder how good Caroline is.”
Caroline couldn’t stop her eyes from widening. Chess was fun. And she wasn’t terrible. But it had only taken her a few minutes to learn she was no match for Alex. “Not so good,” she said airily.
“That does nothing for my curiosity,” Alex’s uncle said, matching her tone. “What if the two of you were to play a game?”
“Perhaps Caroline would like to sit for a while.” Alex put his hand on the small of her back.
“I’m fine. I’m not in a delicate condition and require rest,” she said a bit defensively.
“Excellent,” the elder Mr. Banks said excitedly. “Gentlemen, set the game back up for Alex and Caroline, would you?”
Alex went to help put the pieces back on the board with the other gentlemen, and Caroline spotted Liberty standing off to the side, watching.
“I’m sorry if we excluded you,” she said, walking up to Liberty. They’d been on a team but had hardly said more than three or four sentences to each other.
Liberty smiled at her. “I didn’t feel excluded in the least. I’m the youngest of three daughters. I grew up being excluded. I recognize it when I see it, and for once I chose to sit back and watch rather than be an active part.”
Caroline nodded. “Good.” She didn’t know what else to say. Of the three sisters, Liberty was closest to her age, making them most likely to have something in common. The problem was Caroline didn’t know what Olivia may or may not have said about her or her past to Liberty and how Liberty might truly feel about her. Olivia had claimed to be close friends with Liberty—up to the time of the ice skating incident, that is. If they were that close, who knows what she might have told her.
“Thank you for coming today,” Liberty said suddenly. “I know you came for Alex. But really you came for everyone.”
Caroline’s eyebrows rose. “Pardon?”
Sighing, Liberty looped her arm through Caroline’s. “It’s obvious you and Alex share feelings. And that’s good and all. But it seems to me your presence here today has made everyone closer, not just you and Alex.”
“I see,” Caroline said slowly, not seeing anything at all.
“No, you don’t. But you will,” Liberty said, pushing a hank of her light brown hair behind her ear. “See, our family has had its share of, shall we say, trials. They’ve not all gotten along or only feigned politeness with each other because of the family connection. I speak mainly of Andrew and Benjamin, of course. However, I think your coming today allowed them a chance to put their walls down and truly get along. And as much as I hope things work out well for you and Alex, I’ll never be grateful enough to you for loving lawn chess so much that Alex inadvertently created this opportunity.”
“I suppose I’ve earned the family’s approval, then,” Caroline jested, trying to not let it be obvious that she craved it.
“That and more. It looks like they’re ready for you. Good luck. And, thank you again. It will be good to spend time with both my sisters again without worrying their husbands are going to kill each other.”
Caroline smiled at her and walked over to where Alex stood in the middle of the gigantic chess board.
***
Alex leaned against an oversized pawn and took in Caroline’s form as she sauntered over to him. He tried to keep his expression bland as she approached. That was not an easy task for a man who’d often been told his facial expressions often said more than his mouth. He scowled at the notion, but didn’t dispute it.
Before walking off to join their wives, both Andrew and Benjamin had clapped him on the back and winked. He hadn’t understood what they were trying to communicate and just nodded to them like a simpleton. Paul, however, was a bit more observant than the others and whispered three words in Alex’s ear that chilled him to the bone. Lose on purpose. Now how was he supposed to accomplish that after everyone had just spent the last half hour talking about what an excellent player he was?
Hell’s afire.
Only once had he ever tried to lose on purpose, and even then he won because his opponent was such a dolt he couldn’t see any of the four easy wins Alex had set up for him. He scowled. Even after fifteen years, Raymond Treymore was still as thick as a tree trunk.
Alex planned to use arranging for them to play lawn chess as his grand gesture, but letting her win would only help him gain her favor more, wouldn’t it? He shook his head to clear his thoughts. “White goes first.”
She directed Paul, who had graciously agreed to move her pieces, to move her pawn from B-2 to B-3, thus freeing her bishop. Smart girl.
He moved his knight from B-8 to C-6 and smiled at her
as he waited for her next play.
She commanded Paul to move her next piece, her bishop from C-1 to B-2 like he thought she might. “I do wonder what is so humorous over there,” she murmured when a loud chorus of laughter erupted from where the other seven sat beneath the shade.
“I have no idea.” Alex moved his other knight into play.
Twenty minutes later, the laughter was louder, Caroline and Alex had only captured one piece each, the rest of their pieces were all over the board, both with several easy captures, and Andrew walked up to take Paul’s place.
“What is so blasted humorous over there?” Alex asked Andrew through clenched teeth after he moved his rook right into the path of Caroline’s queen.
Andrew shrugged. “Why would you ask me? I never find anything humorous.”
Snorting, Alex crossed his arms. “I would have believed that answer two years ago, but ever since you married Brooke, you’ve walked around grinning like a simpleton.”
Caroline called Andrew over to move her knight, of all pieces.
Alex frowned. She was afraid to move her queen to take his rook because it would expose her queen to be taken by nothing more than a lowly pawn. He shook his head. She really was a decent player.
“Are you sure you don’t know what’s so comical?” Caroline frowned.
“I couldn’t say,” Andrew said evasively.
“No, you won’t say,” Caroline muttered.
“Exactly so. Your turn, Alex.”
Alex moved his piece and shook his head at the sight of Brooke bouncing off her lounge chair and running inside. “Where’s she going?”
“I have no idea.” Andrew shrugged and drummed his fingers on the pointy edge of Caroline’s queen. “But don’t worry. I’ll be sure to find out when I sit back down in a few minutes.”
“I just bet you will,” Alex retorted. “And I bet you’ll not be sharing the information with us.”
“You just might be the smartest man in England, after all,” Andrew mused sarcastically, grinning at Caroline who was leaning against a giant knight.
Brooke came flying back out the door with a piece of parchment, a large tome, and quill and a pot of ink.
