Lady Notorious by Theresa Romain

Author:Theresa Romain
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2018-12-14T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

In the end, Cass decided to accompany George to Chichester even before she visited Charles again. Simply wanting to do something was, after all, no reason to go darting in the other direction.

Well, it could be. But in this instance, the trip was part of the tontine case—or so George had said, and she very nearly believed him.

And it was true that Angelus and Jenks had both told her to watch over his safety. Really, then, she was just being responsible. Even if George had first posed the journey as a—dare she think it?—pleasure trip.

So it was that she called upon her own lodging, feeling very much like a visitor while dressed in Selina’s borrowed finery. The main room held an air of neglect; her own bedchamber seemed a cubby belonging to someone else entirely.

When she poked her head into Charles’s room, odors of liniment and perspiration struck her. He was prone on the bed, from which he greeted her, “I’m bored.”

She sat on the end of the bed in a rustle of silk, taking care to avoid jostling his injured leg. “I believe it. But what do you intend for me to do? Play cards with you?”

“I’d thought you might, rather.” So hopeful, he looked. And so rough. Under his eyes were shadows, and his chin bore several days’ stubble.

“You’ve not been taking care of yourself,” she pointed out. “You know what you need? A mother.”

Charles grabbed a bolster and stuffed it behind his back. “Spare me your lectures. Either entertain me or leave.”

“You are spoiled and crochety. I thought seeing Janey every other day would keep you in a fair mood. Where is she, by the bye? Has she visited today?”

“She’ll be here tomorrow.” His fingers worried the coverlet, even as his expression remained sullen.

“Is she good company?” Cass pressed.

“Very.” Faint color stained his cheeks. “Not in any improper way. She’s just . . . sunny.”

“Don’t take that for granted, Charles. Especially in gray old London, sunniness is hard-won.”

“I know. She’s quite a help, actually. Keeping an eye on that fellow in the Watch house.”

That stung, though Cass had known from Janey’s own lips that she was assisting Charles. “I said I would think of a way to handle that.”

He shrugged, tugging loose a knitted thread. “I thought of one instead.”

“You mean Janey thought of one.” Yet Cass wasn’t sorry Charles had pursued answers a different way—especially since she herself had thought of nothing. “Are you paying her?”

“I am,” he said. “She’s working for me. She’s still not caught Felix leading a girl off to a bawdy house, though, so there’s nothing clinging to him but suspicion.”

“Hmm. So, no results.”

“None. I’m worried,” he admitted. “Fox might not hold my post.”

“Of course he will,” Cass said. “You’re the best investigator he has now that Jenks has left Bow Street.”

The lie tripped easily off her tongue, and usually Charles played right along. Not today. “You are, Cass. Not me.” A ghost of a smile. “I might have been good

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