“We need to go back to Seabridge Manor, or even Breaker’s Cottage. Perhaps we should wait another year…”
“No.” Caroline had an idea. As much as she’d like to head for the country herself, it was more important they put an end to the talk altogether. “We need to stop the Gazette from printing those articles.”
“What about the Sun? And the other papers?”
“If the Gazette leaves it alone, the others will as well.” Because the Gazette set the tone—in spite of the inept people running it.
“How do we do that?” Goldie’s bright blue eyes flashed to the opposite side of the ballroom where Reed stood talking to a slim, tall gentleman who was dressed more flamboyantly than most. “We need to protect him, Caroline. He doesn’t deserve this.”
“No, he doesn’t…”
“What do you have in mind?” Goldie asked.
Staring at the flames in the sconce across from her, Caroline rubbed her chin.
She had an idea—an exciting one. “If I can secure a position there, I can do something about it.” Before leaving Breaker’s Cottage and coming to London, Caroline had helped one of the local shopkeepers gather stories for a monthly publication of village happenings. Sure, the Gazette published daily, rather than monthly. But other than that, how much different could it be?”
“A position there?”
“The Gazette.”
Caroline could finally do something to help her family. She would stop the rumors from gaining more momentum and perhaps, in the process, do something to turn the Gazette into a dependable source of news.
For Lord Helton and all the other clueless aristocrats who depended on it. Because if they were going to shun someone, the least they could do is know the facts before doing so.
She was sick and tired of hearing the half-truths that were so very prominent amongst the ton.
“Would they hire the sister of an earl?” Goldie looked more than a little doubtful.
“He needn’t know the identity of my brother.” Caroline said.
“Mr. Black?” Goldie looked even more doubtful. “But—"
“I have to do something.” Caroline winced. “We can’t allow these rumors about Reed to get out of hand again.”
“I suppose...” Goldie’s gaze burned into Caroline’s. “But if that doesn’t work, I’m going to insist Reed and I leave London and hope that the idiom ‘out of sight, out of mind’ holds true. He’d hate it, though. He’d hate for people to think he was running away.”
“I never would have imagined my sweet brother Reed under attack like this. He’d never hurt a fly.” And yet here they were. And, unfortunately, these untruths weren’t only cruel, but they were dangerous—to Reed, but also to her sisters and mother—even to Goldie. Caroline couldn’t stop worrying about all of them. Because, if nothing had prevented some villain from killing the old earl and three of his heirs, what could keep him from killing the rest of them?
AN APPLICANT FOR HIRE
The vexing minx had been right.
Max slammed the paper onto his desk.
The date had been off on all four pages. It wasn’t the worst that had slipped past him, but the most embarrassing by far.
After leaving the ball early, he’d come directly to his offices and then spent the early morning hours going over every edition they’d printed in the past month.
And God help him, he’d found multiple spelling errors, duplicate paragraphs, and on one article, the wrong headline. One would think he’d been foxed when he’d approved these galley proofs.
“Tell me.” Maxwell met his managing editor’s stare. “How does this keep happening?” He gestured to the papers strewn atop his desk, one hundred and sixty red circles mocking him.
Mr. Gage Wallace appeared as a typical newspaper man, with silver-streaked hair and an unremarkable face. But he was the man Maxwell trusted with not only his paper, but his reputation.
And he looked as perplexed as Max felt.
“I approved the final galley myself, Wallace.” And these mistakes had been fixed.
