Page 35 of The Scoundrel and the Lady

But, damnation, he could not have her. Iris was a lady. Seducing her would lead to marriage. Marriage to a lady would seal his fate as an earl. He’d no longer be a merchant’s son who’d stepped into his inheritance to make his newspaper a better seller. No, if he married Iris, they would simply be Lord and Lady Ashby, and everyone would forget who he’d once been. Most of all, he’d likely forget, and he’d be damned if he’d become a lazy, deceitful aristocrat simply because he wanted beneath a certain lady’s skirt.

“You did well.”

“Thank you.”

“Too well,” he said, leaning forward.

Her smile faded. “I beg your pardon?”

“That thief. Where did you learn how to do that?”

Her eyes flitted to the rig’s window. “Do what?” she asked with a frown.

“You know to what I’m referring.”

She waved her hand dismissively. “It was nothing. Truly. I saw an injustice, and I righted it ’tis all.”

“That’s all?”

“Absolutely.”

He reached forward and put his hand beneath her chin, turned it toward him. “Iris, what sort of fool do you take me for?”

Her eyes rounded, but she said nothing.

“What you did back there required a certain level of skill, one that ladies of good breeding do not generally possess.”

She chewed at that delectable bottom lip. “I cannot tell you.”

“Very well.”

It was quiet between them for several moments as the carriage continued to rumble through the London streets.

“You are not going to press me?” she asked.

“While I would prefer to hear the truth from you, I have other means of discovering what I want.”

“What are you talking about?” she asked.

“From where do you think all the information in my paper comes? Do you think I invent the scandals?” he asked.

She set her jaw in a stubborn line and crossed her arms over her chest. “I never really thought about it. As I’ve told you before, I don’t read those types of papers. I do try to not encourage gossip and the like.”

“Well, as admirable as that might be, you are among a scattered few who don’t. In any case, it’s called investigation, Iris, and I’m quite good at it.” He closed the small distance between them in the confines of the carriage. “So you see, whatever it is you’re hiding, I can find out. I’d rather hear it from you, but I’ll find the answer with or without your help.”

Her lips parted, and for a moment he thought she was going to lean forward to kiss him. His heart ticked faster. Whatever else he knew about Iris, she made him feel as though he were a schoolboy in the first blush of lust.

“You will never discover anything,” she said.

“Don’t be so certain.”

She opened her mouth to speak, and he put one finger to her lips.

“Lest you intend to enter into another wager with me, I suggest you wait and see,” he said.

“You’re feeling rather confident in your abilities, are you not?”

“I passed you off as a gentleman tonight, even though you look positively delectable in those trousers. Men do not have backsides like yours.”

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