The notorious scoundrel by Alexandra Benedict

Author:Alexandra Benedict [Alexandra Benedict]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Histoire
ISBN: 9780061689321
Published: 2010-05-11T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

“You don’t belong here, mate.”

Edmund bristled. As he fisted his palms, he glanced at the looming figure that had sneaked up on him. He had failed to detect the other man’s stealthy approach, his thoughts engaged elsewhere, and in a wicked den like the Red Dragon that was a dangerous misstep.

“I don’t belong here, do I?”

Edmund relaxed his taut muscles and kicked the empty chair across from him, inviting the Bow Street Runner to join him at the table.

John Dunbar accepted the invitation and settled his long bones into the seat, removing his cap, allowing his mussed, sandy brown hair loose.

“You look more and more like a bloody nob, Eddie.”

“The devil I do,” he groused.

“It’s the hair.” John fingered his own unruly crop of curls, smoothing the locks. “The fashionable cut gives you away.”

Edmund humphed. He might look like a gentleman, but he didn’t feel like one. He possessed the same tainted blood as the thugs and wenches who filled the flash house with their hoarse guffaws and salacious antics.

John squinted in the dim room. “Have you quarreled with one of these roughs?”

“I’ve quarreled with a rough, but don’t worry about it.” He thumbed the glass of gin. “Would you like a drink, John?”

“No.” He set his cap on the table and placed his patched elbows on the soiled surface. “Is there a reason we always meet in the seediest pub in London?”

He shrugged. “I like it here.”

“You’re determined to get me killed, aren’t you?” he queried askance. “I suspect it’s retribution for almost arresting you last year.”

Edmund snorted at the absurd idea. He had no ill will toward his friend. A year ago, Edmund was involved in a dockside brawl that had aroused the River Police. The Bonny Meg had waited in queue in the Thames, the quays too small to accommodate the pressing ship traffic. With the ship a prime target for robbery, thieves had attempted to unload the schooner’s cargo, and a scuffle had erupted between the ruffians and the Bonny Meg’s crew.

The Bow Street Runners had arrived to assist the River Police in keeping the fray from turning into a riot and spilling into the city. John had attempted to apprehend Edmund during the struggle, but in the tussle, pistols had fired. It was Edmund who had pushed John out of the way of a bullet, and it was that episode that had united the pair as comrades…though Edmund had yet to admit he hadn’t intended to save John from the bullet; he’d merely tackled the Runner to the ground in hopes of disabling him and avoiding arrest.

Still, their pairing proved a curious one. Not for John, who wasn’t privy to Edmund’s past as a pirate, but for Edmund, who was reminded of their juxtapositions every time they gathered in public. In truth, he enjoyed keeping John as an acquaintance, for he admired and respected the man, but there was another, less wholesome, reason he maintained the amity—he knew it would turn his brothers’ hair white if they ever learned he was chums with a Bow Street Runner.

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