Free To Catch a Highlander by Karen Hawkins

noting his athletic grace and the way the lace at his cuffs dropped over his masculine hands with such effect.
    Idly, she shuffled the deck, her fingers moving nimbly over the cards.
    Dougal found himself watching her hands, the way her slender fingers caressed the cards. He thought of those fingers caressing him, sliding over his—
    "Dougal?"
    His name slid through her lips like velvet over bared skin. His heart thundered in his ears; his body tightened. "Yes?"
    Her eyes, so pale and yet so bright, met his. "I was wondering…" The sound of the cards flipping through her lissome fingers filled the quiet.
    He leaned forward, impatient. "Yes?"
    "Did you bring money with you, or shall we play for markers?" She flipped the stack of cards to the table with a professional twist of her wrist. "I don't play for less than a guinea a hand."
    His lips twitched. "The question is not if I have money. The question is, do you?"
    "I don't need funds, as I don't plan on losing," she said, her gaze mocking.
    For a moment, he thought he'd heard her incorrectly. Slowly, he said, "I beg your pardon, but are you saying you could
beat
me at a game of chance?"
    A dismissive smile rested on her lips. "Please, Dougal, let's speak frankly," she drawled softly. "Naturally, I expect to win; I was taught by a master."
    Dougal was entranced. He'd been challenged to many things before, but no one had so blatantly dismissed his chances of winning. "A guinea a hand?"
    "At least."
    "I didn't realize I'd need a note from my banker, or I'd have brought one with me."
    Her eyes sparkled with pure mischief, which inflamed him more. "If you've no money with you, then perhaps there are other things we can play for."
    The words hung in the room, as thick as the smoke that seeped from the fireplace. Like a blinding bolt of light from a storm-black sky, everything fell into place.
This
was why she and her minions had worked so hard to convince him that the house was worthless. If he thought it of low value, he'd be eager to wager the deed.
    Of all the devious plots!
    Yet Dougal found himself fighting a grin. He'd been feted and petted, fawned upon and sought out, but until now, no one had gone to such lengths to
fleece
him.
    Dougal couldn't look away from Sophia. He knew his own worth; women had paid attention to him for so long that he took it for granted. He'd dallied and toyed, taken and enjoyed. But never, in all of his years, had he so desired any woman as he did this one. The irony of it was that she desired him, too—but only for the contents of his pocket.
    Dougal didn't know whether to laugh or fume. He should be insulted, but instead, he found himself watching her with new appreciation.
    Who was this woman? She was such a mixture of question and half-answer that he might never know her. While her appearance and behavior were those of a gently bred woman, he couldn't forget his first sight of her, dressed in soot-smeared clothes, helping Angus brick up the chimney.
    There was so much about Sophia MacFarlane that intrigued him—and it dawned on him that perhaps this was why the women of London had palled. He needed someone less concerned about propriety and more willing to bend rules. Someone deceptive. Someone more like himself.
    "Sophia, what are you offering as a wager?"
    "You first," she said calmly, bold amusement glimmering in her gaze. "What do
you
have to offer?"
    He was even more aware of the seductive line of her shoulders and the tantalizing curve of her breasts, hidden by that damned piece of lace. "I have funds in my London bank. I could draw markers against that."
    "No, thank you."
    He raised his brows.
    "I have no plans to travel to London anytime soon, to gather the funds from a marker."
    "So you won't take my markers."
    "No, but…" Her gaze sharpened, though her voice remained soft. "You could use the deed to this house, such as it is. I'm sure you must still have that in your possession?"
    There it was. "Of course."
    Sophia deftly shuffled