Punishing His Ward (Domestic Discipline 3)

"No one's entertaining you here." Although he could think of several ways he'd like to entertain her. But not with his mother and the upright Manfred lurking the halls, not to mention the various maids and footmen who would all report him to the Countess if they caught him doing... well, what he'd like to be doing. He might be the Earl but he had no illusions about where the household staff's loyalties lay. Not that he blamed them; hell, he'd be tempted to tell on himself. Even if he hadn't definitively decided to marry the chit yet.

"But you're here so there's at least the possibility of entertainment."

Scrape.

Wesley put his letters down, feeling quite in sympathy with his mother and her megrims. "Fine. What do you want to do?"

"I want to go out."

"Not going to happen." Wesley looked over her impassively, trying not to let his gaze linger on the hint of cleavage at the neckline of her dress or the way it clung to her curves. "We could play cards."

"Oh yes please!" Cynthia came abruptly upright. "I'm completely out of practice. Do you know how to play poker?"

"Do you know how to play poker?" Wesley asked, staring at her. The game had become quite popular with gentlemen, but it was not at all a proper game for ladies to play. Especially not young, unmarried ladies.

"Oh yes."

"I should spank you just for that," he muttered under his breath. Standing, he offered his hand to Cynthia and she placed hers in his as he helped her up from the chair.

******

Her guardian was watching her with a gimlet eye as he dealt out the cards, so Cynthia smiled back at him as sunnily as she knew how. Over the past week she'd learned that the Earl's stern mien often covered his true emotions; she enjoyed surprising a smile from his mobile lips and occasionally even startling a burst of laughter from him. When Lord and Lady Hyde came to visit he would unwind even more. It was only when they were alone that he would take on the persona of a hidebound bore. And sometimes she could tease him out of that into acting more naturally with her.

Why it mattered so much to her she wasn't quite sure. Perhaps because he constituted something that most men didn't: a challenge.

Besides which, she often found herself drawn to him. Like today, for instance. If she'd truly set her mind to it, she probably could have found some activity to entertain herself. But she hadn't wanted to; she'd wanted his specific company. And so she'd sought it out.

It was also risky, seeking the Earl's company. A hint of danger for her own person, a way of tempting herself. She wanted another spanking and yet she didn't. Sometimes she just wondered if she wanted him to touch her. He had very big hands and she was quite certain they would fit perfectly over certain parts of her anatomy. Such long fingers... much longer and thicker than her own.

Shaking her head, Cynthia concentrated on her cards. They were playing for pennies, of course.

"So who taught you how to play poker?" the Earl asked, discarding two of his cards.

"Your footmen on the estate," she said, sliding one card out of her hand to be replaced. "And some of the gentlemen here in Bath have been willing to play with me on occasion."

The Earl started. "My mother allowed that?"

"I didn't say your mother knew."

Those expressive lips tightened, his eyes darkening as he glared at her across the table. Silence reigned for the rest of the hand, which he won. Shuffling the cards, he gave her a long look.

"Have you been losing your pin money to these men?"

"Of course not," Cynthia said calmly, picking up the cards he'd laid down for her. She smiled brightly at him. "This is the first time I've played for money."

"What did you play for before?"

"Matchsticks with your footmen while they were teaching me. And the gentlemen of Bath seem to prefer kisses."

The slamming of his palm down on the table made Cynthia jump. "You will not be playing Poker outside of this house again."

"There seems to be a lot I can't do outside of this house," she said, rather crossly, glaring at him.

"Count your blessings that I don't blister your bottom for playing poker with rogues and... wagering... kisses."

Cynthia snorted. "You can't spank me for something I did in the past."

"I can spank you for whatever I want and you'd do well to remember that, baggage." Something about the way he said that made her look at him suspiciously; his mood had suddenly changed to almost cheery again.