The Secrets of a Scoundrel Read Free

beginning.”
    “That is usually best.”
    “Very well.” She leaned her shoulder against the bars of his cell and began drawing off her gloves. “A month ago, I took a missing person’s case in Town. An eighteen-year-old girl, Susannah Perkins, had disappeared. The mother sought my help. The stepfather claimed she had run off with a boy, but the mother insisted her daughter would never do that without at least telling her friends—”
    “Hold on. Beg your pardon, Lady Burke, but you’ve lost me. You ‘took a case’? How’s that, then?”
    She lifted her eyebrows in surprise, a sardonic smile skimming her lips. “Ah, right. I forgot. It always confounds the stronger sex to find a female with a brain and a purpose of her own. Let me catch you up, then. A few years ago, after my husband’s death, I found myself at liberty to follow my own interests as I pleased.”
    Widow, Nick thought, barely hearing the rest. Praise God.
    “Now, this may shock you, Lord Forrester,” she continued, “but life for an intelligent woman of my station can soon grow exceedingly dull.”
    “And thus adultery is the ton’s favorite sport,” he countered with a ready smile. “So I’m told.”
    She shrugged. “Some ladies do embroidery work to fill up their time; others devote themselves to works of charity. Or gardening, or gossip as their favored pastime. For me—” A guarded gleam came into her eyes. “I became interested in helping people who’ve been victims of crime or some similar injustice. It entertains me to investigate the facts behind their various misfortunes and, where possible, discover the responsible party, sharing this information with the authorities.”
    He furrowed his brow and stared at her, intrigued. “So, what, then? You’re some sort of a . . . lady detective?”
    He had never heard of such a thing, but this designation seemed to please her. “Yes, I suppose I am. Don’t look so shocked,” she chided, a hint of defiance in the lift of her chin. “I can do as I please with my time and my fortune. Who else will help the lower orders when they are wronged and too frightened to come forward? Or God forbid, a woman who should have troubling questions concerning her husband. I help those—discreetly, of course—who have nowhere else to turn.”
    Nick decided on the spot that he adored her. He made no further sport of her little Bow-Street-ish endeavors. “So where do I come in?”
    “I understand from your work in the field that you developed a number of assets among the criminal underworld in London and abroad.”
    How the hell does she know that?
    He was not foolish enough to ask impertinent questions, though, if there was a real chance that she could get him out of here.
    “Correct.”
    To the criminal underworld, he was Jonathan Black: assassin for hire and Very Bad Man.
    “You gained the trust of people who trust no one,” she continued. “I need you to use those connections on my behalf.”
    “Which connections? Can you be more specific?”
    “Not at this time.”
    “I see.” He folded his arms across his chest as he mulled it. “So, I take it this missing person’s case of yours took an unexpectedly nefarious turn?”
    “Yes.”
    “It must be dire, indeed, or you could have simply taken the information to the lads at Bow Street.”
    “That would not be adequate.” She hesitated. “Lord Forrester, I have uncovered a trafficking ring abducting young girls and selling them overseas. Miss Perkins is not the only young girl who’s disappeared in recent weeks. I have managed to learn that the head of the ring goes by the nickname of Rotgut. His true name is unknown. He’s English, and he captains a ship called the Black Jest. That’s all I know about him, except for one additional fact. That he is currently set to sell his captives on the underworld auction known as the Bacchus Bazaar. I understand you’re familiar with it.”
    Nick cursed under his breath.
    She lifted an