* * *
Gone.The bitch had disappeared, and Francis was furious. He gripped the handle of his tankard tighter, careful not to slosh any of his ale, while the whore on his lap licked at the rim of his ear.
He’d been a fool to come here, but it was the first place that he’d thought of in which to fuck through his anger. These women cared naught about his rough handling of them, and he was in need of it. Once he had his desires sated, he would return forher.
The woman was far too easy to ruin, if he so chose. He merely had to reveal her secrets to the wagging tongues of thehaut ton, and they would destroy her. But Francis didn’t want her merely destroyed. No, he wanted so much more than that.
The wench on his lap nipped at his neck, and he silently cursed her for distracting him from his tumultuous thoughts. She’d have her turn, damn it.
While he was pleased that Maria sodding Roberts—dressed as a man, for Christ’s sake—had been frightened enough to flee him in the street, she hadn’t been nearly fearful enough. He wanted more.Neededmore.
CHAPTER18
Soft voices swirled around Jasper as he paced the cream-and-green drawing room in the Bow Street building, which also seemed to serve as the women’s offices. Juliana, her new husband, and Mr. Percy Baxter sipped tea around a small table while Miss Huntsbury served, and Miss Heather Morgan stood gazing out one window.
“The summons came some time ago,” Juliana said to the room. “What do you suppose is keeping her?”
Jasper glanced at her while he paced. “She was to bring a gossip article toThe Morning Heraldoffices this morning as a means to secure our excuses for the evening with her family and society. I imagine that she will receive the summons once she has returned to her apartments from the offices.”
Juliana shook her head and swallowed a sip of tea. “Knowing Maria, she would become distracted by the pile of work assigned to her. If it was urgent, Thomas would undoubtedly have delivered it to Maria at the offices?—”
“Hsst!” Heather spun from the window to pin Juliana with a wide-eyed stare.
Jasper’s heart skipped a beat, and he realized belatedly that he’d stopped his pacing. Thomas was Maria’s brother’s name, was it not?
Both women turned to glance at him with a mixture of guilt and trepidation. What in the bloody hell was going on?
The front door slammed open and shut, and within a heartbeat, Maria was framed in the doorway. Exclamations of shock and disbelief rose up around the room at the sight of her. Damn, but she was a right fine mess: dirt streaked her cheeks and coated her suit of clothes, her bottom half was almost entirely caked in mud and muck, and her queue was all but wholly matted.
“Maria!” Juliana breathed, hurrying forward.
A snort escaped Miss Morgan before she attempted to cover it with a cough. “Whatever happened to you?”
Maria reached inside her dirt-smudged satchel, withdrew a poorly-wrapped parcel, paced forward, and tossed it onto the surface of one of the low tables in the seating area.
“Thathappened to me,” she said emphatically.
Miss Huntsbury and Miss Morgan bent to open the parcel as Maria continued. “I returned to my apartments fromThe Morning Heraldoffices, and that parcel awaited me. I didn’t recognize the writing, but I opened it anyway. I knew at once that I must come here.”
“Holy Christ, Maria!” Miss Morgan reared back from the parcel’s contents, her cheeks pallid.
“This is clearly the work of Francis,” Juliana said grimly, and clucked her tongue. “Poor thing.”
The contents of Jasper’s stomach roiled uneasily at the sight of the bloody mess. Livingston and Mr. Baxter peered over Juliana’s shoulders to get a look.
“It’s a message,” Mr. Baxter noted.
Maria grunted. “I should say it was. The bastard gave me a demonstration of what he wished to do to me before he ran my hack off the road and sent me fleeing through the streets of London!”
“Hewhat?” Red-hot fire burned across Jasper’s chest as fury and fear flared to life inside him.
His rage scorched ever hotter the longer Maria spoke, detailing the harrowing events of her morning.
“I believe that I lost him on the way here,” she continued, “but we must accept that he already knows our location and could pursue us at any time.” She shook her head and curled a dislodged lock of brown hair behind one ear.
“We’ve news, as well,” Jasper put in, the muscle in his jaw bunching as his gaze caught hers. “Lady Cartwright was found deceased in the mews behind my home this morning…” He swiftly outlined the events, and with every word, Maria’s mien grew increasingly grim.
“R,F,O,N, andJ,” Maria mused. “I daresay the man intends to spellfor Jean, though that is hardly a secret. He said as much when he and Miles attempted to take Juliana’s life.”
