get a steady return on investment.”
Anya glanced around at the opulent décor. “So I gather.”
Wolff leaned closer. “I’ve become quite adept at spotting liars and cheats, Miss Brown. It’s a necessary part of this business.” The subtle warning in his voice made her shiver. “People often give just as much away with their bodies as they do with their mouths.”
She exhaled nervously. “What do you mean?”
He tilted his head to indicate a young man at the nearest table. A woman stood at his side, leaning over to see the outcome of the dice throw. Like Anya, she was masked.
“Let’s take Lord Naseby and his companion over there as the perfect example.” A slight, cynical smile flickered over his mobile mouth. “He wants everyone to think he’s brought along a courtesan, but I rather suspect that’s his sister, Lady Penelope.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Look at the way he’s touching her. His arm’s around her waist, but there’s nothing lover-like about it. He’s shielding her, protecting her, but not in a jealous way. It’s more solicitous than sensual.” His warm breath tickled the bare skin of her shoulder as he bent closer, and her body tingled in awareness. “There’s a big difference between the way a man touches his sister and how he touches his lover, Miss Brown. Surely you know that. A lover would be proud to have such a woman on his arm, favoring him with her company. He’d use small, proprietary touches to signal to every other man in the room that she’s with him.”
His voice dropped even lower, and Anya felt her breath quicken.
“A lover would want to touch her skin. He’d put his hand at the small of her back. He’d lean in and kiss the exposed nape of her neck.”
His own breath ruffled her hair by her ear and his lips ghosted across her skin. Goose bumps broke out all over her body.
“You’re very observant, my lord,” she managed.
“Indeed, I am. And I’m sorry to say that I don’t believe you’re being completely honest with me, Miss Brown.”
Anya gulped, but was saved from having to answer when he spoke again.
“You want me to teach you a real life skill? I’ll teach you how to lie convincingly.”
She lifted her brows. “How?”
“When you think about it, we lie to people all the time, especially in the ton. Little white lies. We say, ‘Delighted to meet you,’ and ‘You’re looking well,’ when we really mean just the opposite. But those are easy. We do them without thinking, with the intent to make the recipient feel better or to spare their feelings. It’s the big lies, the serious lies, that I’m talking about.”
“Go on.”
He leaned closer. “The trick is to always put a little truth in with the lie.”
“How do you do that?”
“Well, let’s say I ask you, ‘Are you a courtesan?’ You can easily answer ‘yes,’ if you silently add some extra bit of truth in your own mind to clarify; you can think but only for tonight, in this room. That will make the lie far more believable.”
“I see.”
“Let’s try another example, and I’ll show you what I mean. Ask me something to which you know the truthful answer.”
“Do you live here in the Tricorn Club?”
“No,” he said easily. “I don’t live here in the Tricorn Club, in the gaming room. I live next door, in my own apartments. Your turn, Miss Brown.” The corner of his mouth curled upward. “Do you want me to kiss you?”
Anya’s breath caught. Oh, he was wicked. “You think you know the answer to that?”
“We’ll see. Tell me the truth or a lie. Your choice.”
“In that case, no,” she lied evenly, maintaining eye contact with him even though her pulse beat a reckless tattoo in her throat. “I don’t want you to kiss me.” Not more than fifty times a day, she added silently.
His smile widened. “That was excellent. I really can’t tell if you’re lying or not.”
He looked as if he would say more, but a disturbance from the card room broke the spell. He gave a deep sigh of irritation. “Let’s see what that’s about.”
He ushered her across the floor and growled deep in his throat when he spied a pair of young men slumped at one of the tables. Both were clearly well on the way to inebriation, judging by their loud, slurred conversation and heightened color.
“Here’s another life skill,” he growled. “How about I show you how we get rid of troublemakers here at the Tricorn?”
“Doesn’t Mickey just