Page 42 of The Scoundrel and the Lady

“I shall remove every piece of money from this house today so you do not have to resort to sneaking around to find some.”

“You can’t do that.”

No, she probably couldn’t do it, at least not legally. But thus far he had not called her bluff. Further proof he had no skills for gambling. She handed the bank notes out to him. “The last time, Jasper. Am I understood?”

He snatched the money out of her hand without another word and stormed out of the room.

She fell back on the settee and closed her eyes. It seemed as if everything was falling apart. Tonight was her big charade and she had yet to convince Merritt to cancel the advice articles, though he hadn’t printed another one since their wager. So perhaps that meant she was winning, and he just hadn’t admitted it yet. If only that meant that her brother’s bad behavior was coming to an end.

…

Merritt stepped down from his rig on the appointed street and glanced around for his host or hostess. The notice he’d received hadn’t been quite so clear on the details of where to meet and what time. At the moment, he was searching for a carriage with the crest of a gold eagle holding a bunch of grapes in its beak. He’d already researched that particular crest and found it nowhere, which likely meant it was a fake.

This wasn’t the first time he’d dealt with a cryptic source. The level of secrecy never truly indicated the level of truth, so he always took the time to further investigate each story he was given.

When he’d initially put out that he was looking for information on a group of women schooled in the art of fighting and potentially thwarting criminals. Seeing Iris move so swiftly and expertly, he suspected her instruction had been quite substantial. And he highly doubted that a man had trained her, so it seemed logical that she wasn’t the only woman in London with those skills.

He spotted the carriage as soon as it rounded the corner. It came to a stop directly in front of him, and he opened the door and climbed inside. Seated on the opposite bench was a short, pleasantly plump older woman. She smiled broadly as he sat.

“Lord Ashby?” she asked.

He bowed over her hand. “And you are?”

She grinned. “You may call me Lady X.” The carriage lurched forward as it rumbled down the street.

“Very well. Now then, you contacted me claiming to have information that I seek.”

“Yes, about the Ladies of Virtue and their true purpose.”

“They are a group of do-gooders, raising funds for orphans and the like,” he said.

“They do much, much more.” She eyed him for a moment, then her brows furrowed. “Are you not going to write anything down?”

“There is no need. I prefer to simply have a conversation with people, and I’ll remember any details that are important.” He leaned back in his seat and eyed her. She was quite obviously wearing some manner of disguise, though he was uncertain to what extent, other than the wig that made her hair gray. Her ridiculous hat, fully equipped with a fake bird, sat artfully atop the gray curls in such a way that most people would not notice the charade. “Tell me, Lady X, how is it that you know the secret details of this organization?”

“Perhaps I am one of them.” She shrugged. “Or perhaps I merely have an inside contact.”

“What precisely do you know?”

She gave him a tight smile. “The Ladies of Virtue, despite its outward appearance, is in truth an organization of trained ladies who claim to be ridding the streets of London from nuisance crime and bad behavior.”

“Bad behavior?” he asked.

“Pickpocketing and street thievery. Some have interceded on behalf of women who are being mistreated by the men in their lives.” She scoffed. “As if that is their place. Others have assisted in getting off the street girls that have been earning their livings on the back, as it were. Then they bring those harlots into good households and try to pass them off as scullery maids. That sort of behavior.”

“And who trains these ladies?”

“No names,” Lady X said. “Suffice to say, some of the most respected women in Society are part of their ranks.”

Yes, he knew one of them. And likely her friends that he’d met as well. “Can I not simply ask for a roster of the group, considering they are a well-known altruistic organization?”

“Yes, but it would be incomplete. There are measures of protection in place. I could give you a list of every member.” She paused a moment. “Perhaps I shall do precisely that on another day. But for now, let us stick with the what rather than the who.”

“Very well. It would seem that you take offense, in some regard, at what these women do.”

“It’s ridiculous and dangerous the way they go about, overstepping their bounds, behaving in such unfeminine ways,” she continued. “They quite obviously do not know their place.”

“My other source says differently. That they are focused on doing good in Society.” Iris hadn’t said much of anything, but he knew enough about her to extrapolate.

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