Needs Must: Regency Ladies by Wendy Soliman

Author:Wendy Soliman [Soliman, Wendy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-09-24T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Henry Aykroyd emerged from the shadows, watching the earl’s carriage departing the Ship’s mews with Donna Harte inside it, dressed to the nines. He’d been keeping in the background in the taproom for most of the day, drinking little and saying even less, but listening. Always listening. Speculation was rife regarding the mysterious widow residing in the tavern with her dragon of a maid. No one knew quite what to make of her. Even Mrs Cooper, who was apparently renowned for extracting information from her guests and spreading it far and wide, had discovered frustratingly little about Donna Harte.

Henry could have given them chapter and verse on the little harlot but had kept his counsel. He’d been commissioned by his nemesis to run her to ground and relieve her of certain letters that she had in her possession. Ian Harte hadn’t told him what was in those letters, but Henry would find out for himself as soon as he got his hands on them. Then he would decide whether to return them to Harte in exchange for the balance of the fee he’d been promised or sell them to the highest bidder.

He and Ian had never gotten along, but Jonathan’s death had forced them into an uncomfortable alliance. Henry didn’t care. He’d do business with the devil himself if he saw a profit in it. Since Ian had inherited his brother’s estate, it was a sign of his desperation that he’d asked Henry to do his leg work for him. Work that appeared to centre exclusively around Donna.

Big surprise!

Both men had always had her in their sights, but she had treated them in a highhanded manner, only speaking to them when she had to and making Henry feel like the dregs of society. But look at her now. How the mighty had fallen. She was reduced to renting a hovel of a cottage in Arndale but how she intended to support herself was a mystery to Henry. She had left Jamaica with little more than a few clothes and a target on her back.

Word had reached the authorities that Jonathan’s death might not have stemmed from natural causes, but she had scarpered before she could be questioned on the matter. Presumably she would now be obliged to resort to the oldest profession, which meant that she would no longer be in a position to be so selective. The thought of turning the tables on her had Henry salivating in expectation.

He hadn’t believed the rumours about the Earl of Arndale having taken a shine to her. But he’d slipped outside when he saw the earl’s carriage arrive and he’d watched, open-mouthed with envy, when Donna appeared in her finery and was helped into it. No prizes for guessing who the little doxy would be entertaining that evening, he thought bitterly.

He couldn’t decide whether to tell Ian that he’d found her, and found her easily. All it had taken was a bribe or two at Southampton docks to find out where she had gone.

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