“No, nothing,” the nobleman replied, scowling faintly, although he must have known he’d been tricked into playing the wrong card.
Ash flashed a slow, taunting smile to drive home his victory, which earned him a more perceptible scowl.
It was perhaps a quarter hour later when Ash managed to identify the ace of hearts—the same card that Deering had once used to accuse Collyer—and conceal it beneath his coat sleeve before giving over the deal. Then, with his own sleight of hand, Ash flicked the ace beneath the table to land at his opponent’s feet.
By then, several curious players had gathered around the noblemen to watch their contest, including one of the club’s paid dealers. Thus, Ash had an impartial audience when a moment later, he made a deliberate show of spotting the fallen card beside Deering’s evening shoe. After leaning to one side of the table and peering down, Ash froze as if unable to believe what he was seeing.
Frowning, he pointed to the stray card to draw the attention of everyone around them. “You seem to have misplaced part of the deck, Deering,” he commented as he bent down to retrieve the card.
Upon turning it faceup on the baize surface, Ash let his jaw harden. “How very convenient that you should have a spare ace lying around,” he drawled.
Deering stared at the card as if he’d seen a ghost.
“How did that just happen to fall there within your reach?” Ash pressed.
“I have no earthly idea how it came to be there on the floor,” the viscount declared, his expression indignant.
“No? Do you deny that you dropped it there so you could play it later when you most needed it?”
Deering lifted his gaze to skewer Ash with an icy look. “Of course I deny I dropped it.”
Ash raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Forgive me if I fail to believe you. You have made a habit of employing the ace of hearts to your own ends before this. I recall this same card was used to accuse Mr. Noah Collyer of fixing your game two years ago.”
The viscount’s cold glare intensified. “What are you saying, Beaufort?”
“That you have been cheating outright since the beginning of our game tonight.”
There were numerous gasps from the spectators standing around the table.
“How dare you,” the viscount ground out, his defensiveness turning to anger.
“How dare I?” Ash countered in a cool voice. “I could ask the same of you, Deering. I have observed you closely all evening. You have been scoring the backs of particular cards this entire time.”
He turned over the ace of hearts to display the back, where the plain red surface was visibly marred by a scratch in the lower left corner. “Our proprietor will vouch that both decks were free of defects before the game began, so this identifying mark had to have been made during our play. There are identical scratches on other court cards as well.”
At first Deering made no reply, but his livid complexion suggested that he was seething. “You could just as easily have been the one to score the cards,” he finally retorted. “Indeed, I suspect you are the guilty party, since you are the one who pointed out the marks.”
A valid argument, Ash agreed silently before attempting to direct the blame back where it belonged. “That doesn’t explain the ace lying at your feet. Did you actually think to get away again with the same fraudulent scheme you used against Collyer?”
His face contorted with fury, Deering uttered a curse that was audible throughout the entire room. A hush had fallen, as if a blanket had been lowered over the crowd to snuff out all frivolity and good spirits. The tension in the club was now palpable.
Ash smiled with
out humor. “Perhaps I am mistaken. I would be willing to retract my charge now if you admit that you were inaccurate when you accused Collyer two years ago.”
“Collyer? What the devil do you care about him?”
“A good man’s reputation suffered mightily that night. You could easily clear up matters by explaining the truth of what happened. Even if it comes posthumously for Collyer, his family will be relieved to have his name exonerated.”
“What of my reputation? You are impugning my good name, sir!”
By now Deering was almost choleric, yet apparently the allegation of cheating was not enough to compel him to change his account of the game with Maura’s father.
Frustrated by his failure, Ash continued pressing. “The similarities between the games are too obvious to believe anything other than duplicity.”
His charge had the desired effect, for Deering practically spat out his reply. “You leave me no choice but to defend my honor. You will give me satisfaction, Beaufort.”
Ash nodded, gratified that he had goaded Deering into issuing the challenge, since it gave him greater leverage over the viscount. “I am happy to oblige,” he responded.