Her smile matched his. “Don’t be absurd, you can’t pay her the salary I can.” His clothes were nice enough, but he couldn’t possibly be of more than modest income. If he had done well, in spite of her avoiding all talk of him, she surely would have heard something about it. That sort of information did not stay quiet for long, let alone years. “Whatever you offer her, I shall simply offer her more.”

“Because you have a great deal of money and I obviously have none?”

“It’s so impolite to talk about money,” she said in a lofty manner. “But yes.”

He studied her for a long moment. “Salary aside, I would be willing to wager I can get the woman to come work for me.”

At once, she was swept back to the days of their youth and silly wagers over insignificant contests: how many times in a row who could beat whom at chess, or who would spot the first clouded yellow butterfly in June, or who could identify the most constellations. She hadn’t thought about their wagering in years. He had won more often than not. In hindsight she wasn’t sure if that was attributable to his luck and skill or her own reluctance to best him. Resolve swept through her. Those days were over.

“What an interesting idea.” She smiled. “I shall take that wager, Grayson.”

“I thought you would. And I know that as you are a fair woman, and as I don’t appear to have the same resources you do, you will agree that we do not use salary as a weapon. We both offer her precisely the same amount.”

“I certainly wouldn’t wager on my being fair, if I were you. You have no idea if I am a fair woman or not. Indeed, I rather prefer victory to being fair. However, I can agree to that.” For now. She raised a questioning brow. “The usual stakes?”

“Absolutely.” He nodded. “Shall we set a deadline?”

She thought for a moment. This would all be over the day after Christmas. “Let us say Christmas, shall we?”

“Christmas it is then.” He stood, leaned forward and extended his hand across the table.

She leaned toward him, accepted his hand and nodded. “Christmas it is.”

“I don’t intend to lose, you know.”

She laughed. “Goodness, Grayson, neither do I.”