Page 22 of Seduced By a Scoundrel

“We’re not,” Derrek said. “We are staying at my brother’s cottage between here and there while my sisters clear out Da’s place.”

“Staying together?” the woman asked, one eyebrow raised.

“Would you care to share that implication aloud?” Derrek challenged her.

The woman stared at him for a few seconds before bursting into a laugh. “I’ve a brother who’s the same way,” she said, reaching into the pocket of her apron and pulling out a key, then turning to put it in the door of the shop. “Mind you, he had to leave here for London, and the two of you might do well to do the same.”

“It isn’t like that at all,” Jeremy insisted, fumbling the bolts of fabric. He was glad when the woman opened the shop and he was able to carry them inside. He was also glad to be able to change the subject once he was inside the small, crowded shop by saying, “Are you the seamstress?”

“I am,” the woman said, setting Jeremy’s basket on the floor, since there were hardly any empty spaces on the tables or counters. “Clarissa Jones, at your service.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Clarissa Jones,” Derrek said, taking the bolts from Jeremy’s arms and lining them up along the edge of one of the counters. “Are you the only seamstress in town?”

“The only one with a shop,” Miss Jones said.

“It is a lovely shop,” Jeremy said, glancing around eagerly, now that he was on the inside. “I was admiring your work from outside just now.”

“Jeremy is a tailor,” Derrek pointed out.

“Are you now?” Miss Jones asked, looking surprised. She quickly added, “Are you looking for work? Because May Day is fast approaching, and anyone who can has commissioned new togs for the celebrations.”

“I wouldn’t want to impos?—”

“I believe that is a stellar idea,” Derrek interrupted before Jeremy could finish his apologies.

The three of them stood still for a moment, glancing at each other in surprise. Miss Jones could not have expected an affirmative answer to her likely jesting question, and Jeremy certainly didn’t expect Derrek to approve of the idea of him working while they were in hiding.

“There’s no telling how long our business here might last,” Jeremy told Derrek in a low voice.

Derrek shrugged. “One day, one week, or one month, you are a tailor. Were you not just telling me that you longed to have someone to work with at your craft?”

Jeremy blinked. The idea of working for a country seamstress for a time should not have filled him with such inspiration. “I was,” he began hesitantly.

“If you are offering, I would gladly take you up on that offer,” Miss Jones said. “As you can see, the place is packed to the rafters with trade. But if this modest, country shop is too far beneath you?—”

“It isn’t that at all,” Jeremy said, feeling like he’d been caught in a whirlwind. “I would be more than happy to lend my assistance, but I truly do not know how long we will be here.”

“Beggars cannot be choosers,” Miss Jones said, stepping close to Jeremy to take the final parcel from his arms. “I need an assistant to help with the May Day orders, and it would seem you are in need of work while yourcousinfinishes his business about his father.” She sent Derrek a cheeky look.

“I—”

“It’s settled, then,” Derrek said, overriding whatever protest Jeremy might have made. “While we are here, you can help Miss Jones with her May Day orders.”

Jeremy closed his gaping mouth and pressed his lips together. He narrowed his eyes slightly at Derrek, uncertain how he felt about being ordered about.

Then again, it was as likely as not that Derrek had some sort of ulterior motive that he could not share in front of Miss Jones. Perhaps he had discovered something at the pub and felt Jeremy would be safer, or use his time better, employed at Miss Jones’s shop.

“I suppose the matter is all settled, then,” he said, blowing out a breath, then turning to Miss Jones with a smile. “If you’ll have me, I will gladly be in your employ for as long as I can.”

And as soon as he was able to corner Derrek alone, he would demand to know what else was going on.

Eight

Derrek had more than one reason for throwing Jeremy into the arms and the shop of Miss Clarissa Jones as soon as he made the connection that the woman might be in need of help. He truly was sympathetic to Jeremy’s earlier thoughts about wanting a partner to sew with. He found that desire to be as quaint and adorable as Jeremy himself. A quick assessment of Miss Jones’s character as they’d stood talking in her shop satisfied Derrek that the two would get along.

He had other, deeper reasons to find someplace safe and sound for Jeremy to spend his days, however many of those days there might be until the threat presented by Conroy and his accomplice was nullified. He needed Jeremy to be occupied as much as possible so that he himself could continue investigating the nagging suspicion that had followed him since Jeremy had described Conroy’s accomplice to him.

The description had fit that of Lord Albert Howard. The details were vague, of course. Jeremy had not spent more than a few seconds in Conroy’s accomplice’s presence, but the pieces fit together. Lord Albert was a youngish man whose appearance had been made older by debauched living. He also had dark hair. But most suspicious of all was the fact that Jeremy had been able to tell that the accomplice was a nobleman, but one he was not familiar with.

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