I thought you were angry with me for interfering,” she said to his shoulder.
There was a smile in his voice as he answered, “Not angry. Stunned.”
“Well, I couldn’t let them call you a cheat when I knew perfectly well you weren’t.”
“I imagine I’ve been called worse,” he said mildly. “Particularly by your hotheaded young friend Everly.”
Elizabeth wondered what could be worse than being called a cheat, but good manners forbade her asking. Lifting her head, she gazed apprehensively into his eyes and asked, “You won’t mean to demand satisfaction from Lord Everly at a later date, do you?”
“I hope,” he teased, grinning, “that I’m not so ungrateful as to spoil all your handiwork in the card room by doing such a thing. Besides, it would be very impolite of me to kill him when you’d just made it very clear he’d already engaged himself to escort you tomorrow.

Auteur: Judith McNaught