Page 52 of The Scoundrel and the Lady

“Of course you do,” Harriet agreed.

“But not like this,” Agnes argued.

“It is time. I cannot wait my entire life for my foolhardy brother to decide he’s ready to behave as a grown man.”

“If you’re that set on going, there is no need to hire a companion. I shall go with you,” Agnes said. “I traveled to Italy as a girl, and I remember some of the sights.”

She loved her friends, she truly did, but damnation if they were not annoying when she wanted, more than anything, to simply be left alone.

“You have your life here, Agnes. Traveling with me won’t be necessary,” Iris said. “I have plenty of money to hire a worthy companion.”

The parlor door swung open, and Lady Somersby entered. Her eyes lit on the three of them sitting together. “Harriet, Agnes, I’d like to have a word with Iris. Alone.”

Iris swallowed the panic rising in her throat.

She came over to one of the empty chairs and sat. “Close the door on your way out, ladies.”

Harriet nodded, and she and Agnes scurried from the room, wide-eyed and worried.

“We missed you at the meeting,” Lady Somersby said.

“Yes, my apologies. I’m afraid I wasn’t feeling well. I should have sent a message.”

Lady Somersby nodded. Iris had always thought the creator of the Ladies of Virtue to be a beautiful woman. Once upon a time, she’d lived her own adventure, working undercover and posing as Queen Victoria, since they shared a likeness.

“Have you seen this?” Lady Somersby asked. She dropped a newspaper onto the occasional table between them.

Iris stared at the Daily Scandal. Her heart fell to her stomach.

Ladies Fighting Crime

The words in the headline blurred, and bile rose in her throat. How could he? He’d taken a moment he’d spent with her and exploited it, betrayed her. He’d used her and obviously taken advantage of her wanton affection for him, all for the sake of his damned newspaper. He was the worst sort of cad. And the most devastating part was how knowing all of this about him didn’t seem to change the way she felt about him. It would, though, make it easier to move past this.

“I can see from your expression that you were not aware of this.”

“No, I wasn’t. I certainly never told him of our true endeavors in the Ladies of Virtue,” Iris said.

“One of the other members brought to my attention that you had been spending time with Lord Ashby, and that you were likely the source behind the story,” Lady Somersby said.

Iris put a hand to her chest. “I would never betray my oath.”

“Of course you wouldn’t.”

“However, he did see me apprehend a thief.” How could she explain masquerading as a man to the woman she respected most in the world? “No one else recognized me, but Merritt”—she cleared her throat—“Lord Ashby saw everything. He asked, and I only told him that I’d been trained to protect myself because I had lived on my own for so long.” She frowned. “Evidently he hadn’t been jesting when he’d boasted about his investigative skills.”

“Would that it ended there. But unfortunately, things are about to get much worse. Printing such a story in a gossip rag is relatively harmless, but I have a friend at the Times and have been informed that this particular piece is being reprinted in tomorrow’s edition.”

“Lady Somersby, I don’t know what to say.” Iris shook her head. “I was planning a trip abroad in a couple of months, but I suppose I could leave sooner.”

“No, that would only raise suspicion. And as you know, if you are identified, then the entire organization will unravel. We are all too connected. Everything I have worked for would be ruined.”

Much like her life, Iris mused. What had she gotten herself into?

“Iris,” Lady Somersby placed a hand over Iris’s. “You know how fond I am of you. You are one of the very best members of the Ladies of Virtue. And as much as I am loath to do it, I’m afraid that you are suspended. You will, of course, continue to attend meetings so that no one in the membership has reason to suspect you, but you must remain inactive. Am I understood?”

Iris nodded. “It is forever, my lady?”

“This has never happened, so I cannot answer that. I suppose much of that depends on how much damage this article does. People will begin to ask questions. Rumors will spread. For the most part, we can ignore those and whatever suspicions follow. The real concern is that we quite obviously have a leak somewhere in our ranks. We don’t know who to trust.”

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