Joanna’s expression fluttered and her green gaze slipped down. The bright mask fell and true concern made her look more like a mother for just a moment. “Oh,Oscar. You didn’t say which brothel.”
He ignored the interjection. “And Mrs. Huxley burst out of the doors and into my arms.”
Joanna flicked her gaze to Imogen and nodded slowly. “Ah, so you were trying to escape that terrible place. I see now why he might have come to me as a contact. Something happened to you there?”
Imogen shifted. “I…I didn’t know how to go about finding a protector,” she explained. “And I have fallen so far it is my only hope.”
Joanna’s expression softened even further. “I understand.”
And it was clear she did, even without a bit of further explanation. When their eyes met, Imogen felt the bond between them. Of desperation turned to action. Of reaching for a slender reed of hope and trying to accept how it would change every moment of the rest of one’s life.
“But the Cat’s Companion is not a place to find a protector,” Joanna said gently. “My dear, that is a hole of desperation and danger. A place for nightly pleasures, if you can dare call them that. Not for a permanent arrangement that offers safety and even satisfaction.”
Imogen’s breath left her lungs in a shaky sigh. “I recognize that now, of course. But I was so desperate and so innocent. I had no idea how to pursue a proper arrangement when my late husband’s family was threatening me at every turn.”
“Ah,” Joanna said. “I see. From a good family then…a very good family. Their insistence at keeping their young women uneducated in the ways of the world is a danger to them in the end. I’m very sorry for your plight, Mrs. Huxley.”
“Imogen, please,” she said. “If you are kind enough to offer me such ease, I cannot stand not to do the same.”
“Imogen,” Joanna repeated, and cast a glance toward Oscar. “A very pretty name.”
“What do you know about the Cat’s Companion, Mama?” Oscar asked softly.
Imogen looked at him and found he had leaned back in the settee. He was the image of casual calm, but she could see the flicker of interest in his dark stare. The tension in his jaw and in the way his hand flexed against the settee back. The dangerous edge to him that was so…alluring.
“Aside from the more personal?” Joanna asked, and arched a brow at her son. “It is a terrible place. Where women go to disappear, at least sometimes.”
Imogen caught her breath. “Like…like Louisa. And like that other woman I saw.”
Joanna tilted her head. “He told you about Louisa?”
Oscar pushed to his feet and set his half-drunk tea down with a clatter on the side table. He paced to the fireplace and leaned a hand on the mantel. “Imogen saw a woman’s body, Mama. Murdered, we think, by the Earl of Roddenbury. Only she was discovered in her attempt to escape.”
“Roddenbury.” The color drained from Joanna’s face in an instant, and she leaned across to take Imogen’s hands. “So you are in very great danger.”
“And your son has been too kind in trying to assist me. But what can be done? If Society doesn’t care about women who make their way on their backs—” She clapped a hand to her mouth as Oscar pivoted to face her. “I didn’t mean to offend, Joanna.”
Joanna shook her head. “You didn’t. It is true that to be a woman in general means our lives are valued less by Society. When the woman spreads her legs to earn her way in the world, many think we are utterly disposable. It’s why those in my profession have to look out for each other.”
“It’s lucky if you have people helping you,” Imogen said, wishing her voice didn’t waver. “When so few care.”
“It is also lucky that not everyone even in thetonsees it that way. There has been talk for a few months about the Cat’s Companion and those who perform whatever wicked acts there. I know of a pair in the War Department who are investigating the issue.”
“Spies?” Oscar said. “The government has taken an interest?”
“Those who would do harm to women, sell them off against their will, kill them as Imogen has been witness to…do you not think they might be involved in other crimes more interesting to the Crown?”
Oscar’s cheek twitched. “Of course they only care about that. But in the end, if it shuts down their house of horrors, if it stops the danger Imogen is in, I don’t really care about their motives.”
Joanna gave Imogen a half-smile. Almost conspiratorial again. As if they both knew that wasn’t true. Oscar did care very much. Justice, it seemed, was important to him. And not just for those he knew. Imogen could see now he was frustrated by what ladies such as his mother endured. He must have seen a great deal in his younger life. Enough to make him a defender of those who needed one.
“And I’ve heard your new brother-in-law’s partner has also taken on a related case,” Joanna said. “He has that investigation firm, you know.”
“Selina’s husband?” Oscar asked, his tone suddenly tense. Imogen saw the flicker of interest in his eyes. He had not mentioned his siblings with any specificity before, though it was rumored they were legion, thanks to his father’s ways.
“The very one. Derrick Huntington, I believe his name is. His partner’s name is Barber.”
Oscar’s jaw set, and Imogen fought the urge to cross to him and question him further. He was close-lipped about his past, his family, anything personal at all. She wasn’t likely going to change that by asking him about anything directly in front of his mother.
