Natalia's Secret Spinster's Society (The Spinster's Society) (A Regency Romance Book)(3)

Her gaze returned to Reinburg.

Reinburg had no part of the actual blackmail. Like Leah, he was simply being used. The blackmailer in question had been feeding the lord information, and some of that information had leaked to his arrogant heir, Lord Henry St. George.

And it was the chatty Lord Henry who was spreading the rumor that the murder of Leah’s aunt, the Marchioness of Darvess, had not been committed by an unknown villain, but by a group of very well-known lords of Great Britain.

Lady Darvess had been Leah’s relative, and though she didn’t remember much about the woman, nothing she did remember was good.

The woman was not missed by any means, yet if certain ears got wind of how the woman had truly died, it would mean pain for Leah’s cousin, Julius Hext, and she wanted to protect him from that outcome.

She and her brother Lorenzo would do anything to protect him and set the past to rights.

A woman with an elaborate fruit hat passed by Lord Reinburg, and Leah ignored her… until she saw a note being passed between them.

Was her blackmailer a woman? Impossible.

Yet all she had to do was think of the Marchioness of Darvess to know just what a woman was capable of.



And there was only one way to find out if this woman was the one Leah had been looking for.








CHAPTER TWO





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William Tift watched Lord Reinburg pocket the note and wondered if the woman who’d handed it to him had been the same female he’d seen follow Reinburg from the foundry. He spoke to the man at his side without turning that way. “You follow the lord; I’ll take the woman.”



“And what do you expect me to do once I approach the man?” Franklin Lockwood removed his spectacles and gave them a sweep with his handkerchief before placing them back on his face. “I’ve never been good at picking pockets. You should have brought Raymond along if that’s what you wanted. I’m sure he’d have known how to retrieve the note.” Raymond was one of their friends, the younger brother of their best mate, Hugh. But Ray knew nothing about the situation at hand, and Hugh wanted to keep it that way.

William glared at his companion. “Frank, had I known your study of psychology would render you incapable of something as easy as picking a pocket, I’d have never encouraged it.” For the last two years, Frank had been spending most his time with books, surrounded by the greatest minds that England had to offer. Which meant he’d been doing nothing more than sitting around and debating on theories about the inner workings of the mind and how people came to the decisions they did.

Frank placed his hands in his pockets. “When was the last time you picked a pocket?”

William took a moment to think. It had been awhile.

Frank cut in. “Exactly. I’m not stealing from the Earl of Reinburg. If I’m caught, I’ll go to prison, and I’ve no title to protect me.”

William had a title, but not one he’d been born with. He was a knight, but that hardly put him above Frank. The Lockwood holdings were legendary, and both had enough wealth to bribe a magistrate or two for an offense such as picking a pocket. “Frank, depending on what that note says, we’ll not be in court for pickpocketing. We’d be hanged for far worse.”

Frank’s features shifted in the darkness of the observation room. “Damn, you’re right.” He looked at Reinburg. “But I can’t do it. I’ll never get it done. You take the lord. I’ll follow the woman.”

“Are you sure you can do that?” William taunted. “I don’t believe there is anything in your books to aid you.”

Frank chuckled, and even in the darkness, William could see his features change once again, hardening into sharp lines. “I’ve never needed books for this.”

William cut him off from taking his leave with an outstretched hand. “What do you do if she doesn’t cooperate?”

There was silence and then… “I can handle myself.” Then he was gone, moving like the predator William knew he could be. The woman, whoever she was, didn’t stand a chance of getting away from Frank. The heir of the coveted Greenmoor Estates may have been unable to pick a pocket, but Frank held other talents.

The crowd parted for the eldest Lockwood son, and William moved in the other direction.

He caught Lord Reinburg passing underneath one of the lamps that lined the far walls. Reaching up, William brightened the flame. In the darkness, the flash of light was blinding and made more than one person jump or guard their eyes. A few people stumbled. William was one of them.

He gently bumped into Reinburg, retrieved the note, and kept moving. “Pardon me.”

He smiled. That had been easy enough. Now, he could follow the woman as well.

He moved out of the observatory and allowed his eyes a moment to adjust to the brightened room before he spotted Frank moving down the stairs. On the second level and not far ahead, he saw her. Standing just behind a stand of books was the blonde woman with the stylish fruit hat he’d seen with Lord Reinburg… and beside her was the one he’d seen following the lord from the foundry.

Were there two blackmailers? A team of women?

Or perhaps not.

The women were speaking, but their conversation did not seem to please either of them. The one with brown hair grabbed hold of the other’s arm, but then jumped as Frank caught them.