The ride back through the underground canal was quiet. The boat had been left unmanned, leaving Jameson to pole. Avery was silent beside him.
Jameson looked at her out of the corner of his eyes, and he knew. Just from the set of her lips and the way she stared out at the water, he knew.
“Tahiti, Heiress.”
Her chest rose and fell, one slow breath. “I’ve been offered entrance to the Game.”
On some level, Jameson had known it the moment he’d seen the Proprietor standing next to her at the top of the stairs. “Tell me you accepted,” he said, his voice low. “Tell me you didn’t ask him to extend the offer to me, too.”
Avery looked down, shadows rippling across her features. “Why wouldn’t you want me to—”
“Damn it, Heiress!” Jameson bit out. Muscles tensing, he pulled the pole from the river. Water dripped onto the boards, onto him, but he barely noticed. He set the pole down then straightened and stepped toward her, the slight vessel rocking beneath his feet. “I didn’t mean that.”
“Yes,” Avery said, her chin coming up and her hair falling away from her face. “You did. And my asking the Proprietor to include you didn’t work, so clearly, it was the wrong call.”
Jameson hated that he’d snapped at her, hated feeling like her win was his loss. Refusing to continue feeling that way, he brought his hands to the nape of her neck, his fingers curling gently into her hair.
“You don’t have to be so gentle.” Avery’s voice was low, but it echoed
through the canal, the two of them illuminated only by the lantern on the front of the boat and the slight glow from the stone all around them.
Jameson angled her head back. Her neck was bare, her face still cast in shadow. “Yes. I do.”
The next instant, Avery’s fingers were buried in his hair—and she wasn’t gentle. There were times when the anticipation of their lips touching was as powerful as any kiss, but neither one of them was in the mood for anticipation right now.
He needed this. He needed her. Kissing Avery always felt right. It felt like everything, like more, like there was a purpose to his hunger, and this was it.
This was it.
This was it.
And still, he couldn’t turn off the part of his brain that said he’d failed.
That yet again, he wasn’t enough. Ordinary.
Avery was the one who pulled back—but only slightly. Her lips grazed his as she spoke. “There’s something else I need to tell you. It’s about the man you were playing whist with.”
Jameson’s body pounded with the ghost of her touch, every one of his senses heightened. “Playing whist against,” he corrected, recalling the tone with which Branford had called him boy.
“Did he tell you his name?” Avery asked.
“Zella called him Branford.” Jameson knew Avery’s tells, all of them. “You know something.”
“I was informed that Branford is a title, not a name.” Avery picked up his hand, turning it palm up “A courtesy title, which I guess means he hasn’t inherited the big one yet.”
Jameson looked down at his hand, held in hers. “And what exactly is the big one?”
Avery sketched a W on the palm of his hand, and Jameson felt her touch in every square inch of his body.
“According to the Proprietor,” Avery murmured, “Branford is the eldest son and heir of the Earl of Wycliffe.” Another pause, another moment when Jameson’s body registered just how close to hers it was. “And that makes him Simon Johnstone-Jameson,” Avery finished, “Viscount Branford.”
