Free Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand by Carla Kelly

nodded. "The little hand is by the seven, and the big hand is on the six."
    He winced. "Seven-thirty! You certainly keep army hours here."
    She put the watch to her ear and kept time with the ticking. He took his spectacles from her. "I will give your mother another five minutes to come bursting in here. What do you think?"
    She grimaced and snapped the watch shut, dangling it in front of her face by the long gold chain. "She will be here sooner."
    "Well, I say five minutes. This is a wager, my dear, a bet. If she comes in after five minutes, I win. If she comes in before, you win."
    "What do I win?" the little one asked, flopping onto her back and resting her head on his thigh again.
    "What do you want?"
    She thought a moment, still dangling the watch from its chain. "I would like a pony for Helen."
    Her answer moved him beyond words. He thought suddenly of Amabel and Lettice, and their constant bickering. He touched her hair again, winding a curl around his Finger.
    "It's too much, isn't it?" she said, more to herself than to him. "Then I would like a skein of yarn, instead."
    "For what?" he asked, marveling at the size of the lump in his throat.
    "So Mama can make me some mittens. It snowed last night." She handed back the watch, and then her eyes opened wide. "But suppose you win?"
    He couldn't think of anything he wanted more than just to stay where he was, but was spared the necessity of an answer. He heard a door open, and someone calling, "Felicity? Felicity?" in a low voice.
    "I lost," he said. "Here she comes. You are Felicity?"
    She nodded. "I could hide under the covers."
    He clutched his blankets. "Not a good idea, Felicity! It's too late to duck from the wrath. By the way, my name is Fletcher Rand. Perhaps we should shake hands."
    "That is a strange name," she said as she solemnly shook his hand and Mrs. Drew knocked softly on the door.
    "So I have always thought," he agreed. "Call me Winn. Come in, madam. I think I have what you are looking for."
    The original pair of round, brown eyes peeked into the room. Mrs. Drew, still in robe and nightgown, opened the door, her marvelous complexion a deeper pink at the sight of his bare chest.
    "I am so sorry, Lord Winn .. ." she began, then let her gaze go to the window. “I never thought. . . Felicity does that. . . Oh, I hope she didn't push on your back with her feet! She nearly tumbled me out of bed once."
    He laughed out loud and slid down under the covers again to spare the widow his hairy chest. "So that's what it was! I had an aide-de-camp who used to wake me up with a chop to the kidneys. I'm a heavy sleeper, ma'am, or so he used to tell me. Felicity and I have already introduced ourselves, and I have taught her to wager."
    "Such dissipation!" Mrs. Drew exclaimed. "I suppose you were wagering how soon I would miss her?"
    He nodded. Felicity, still resting against his thigh, nodded too. "I won, Mama."
    "Of course you did, you scamp! You know me a little better than our sorely tried guest." She held out her hand to her daughter. "Come, my dear. Let us leave this gentleman in peace."
    Felicity sat up and looked back at him, her eyes merry. "Yarn and a pony, or just yarn?"
    To his intense amusement, Mrs. Drew put her hands on her hips and pursed her lips. "Felicity! Next you will tell me you wagered for a castle in Spain!"
    "Mama, I would never. What good is that?"
    Mrs. Drew turned away for a moment to hide her smile. "Spoken like a true Yorkwoman!" she murmured, then shook her finger at him. "Lord Winn, if you have set Felicity on a life of dissipation and crime, I will lay the blame entirely at your door."
    "I think it will not come to that," he protested. "And truly, I have been marvelously entertained. "Don't be too hard on her."
    "She is a scamp!"
    Felicity stood up on the bed and opened her arms wide for her mother, who came into the room, picked her up, and whirled around with her, nuzzling her neck until she shrieked. She carried her to the door, set her