Blood for Ink (The Scarlet Plumiere Series #1) by L.L. Muir Read Free Book Online

away.”
    North’s face grew uncomfortably hot before he opened his mouth to confess.
    “If you must know, it was right after Landover donated his Scottish property.”
    A few moments later, Callister sent for four dry towels.
    ***
     
    Over dinner, Stan made his report.
    “The owner of The Capital Journal is a hen-pecked man by the name of Malbury. He is a minor baronette. Lady Malbury is said to run the establishment, but only in the afternoons. Her mornings are apparently spent in the parlors of the gentry, collecting gossip for various scandal sheets that are printed between editions of The Journal. She was accused once of being The Plumiere, but she denied it, of course. As far as I have learned, no one suspects her now.
    “Whose houses does she frequent? Do you know?” North speared a beet with his knife. The mystery gave him an appetite he had not known in years.
    “Everyone’s.”
    “Everyone’s?” That was hardly helpful.
    “ I beg your pardon. She frequents only those households in which ladies reside.”
    “Well, thank you, Stanley. That narrows it down a little.” Harcourt snorted.
    “My driver spoke with her driver. She visits different ladies each day. None of them twice in a week.”
    “Does she have a daughter?” Ash was back to his sober self. Not a trace of a laugh line on his tan face.
    “Two sons who fight over who will inherit the business. No daughters.”
    North was relieved. There was still a good chance she was a member of the ton .
    “We should assign three men to the building. One to follow anyone suspicious. One to report to us. One to stay on the building.” North plotted and ate at the same pace, shoveling food into his mouth as quickly as he could empty it.
    “Already done.” Stanley, too, was eating like a starved man. “And Malbury’s driver was happy to join my employ.”
    “Have you written your response yet?” Harcourt studied a roll as if he could not detect a way inside it.
    “Not yet. I have written it in my mind a hundred times of course.”
    “Excellent.” Harcourt ripped open the roll and buttered it generously. “I have an idea.”

CHAPTER SIX
     
The Capital Journal, February 5 th , Morning edition, Personal advertisements
To The SP from Mr. Lott
If the quarry is found not to be marriageable in some way (say, she is already “taken,” so to speak) then the appropriate thing to do would be to murder this husband whose failure to control his...chattel...has resulted in these works of fiction. Thus another might take up the reins, or the whip, so to speak.
I do pray this is not the case, as I am more than willing to woo and win you in a traditional manner. But rest assured, I will stand by my word as I gave it to my fellows.
     
    Oh, but The Scarlet Plumiere was furious. There had been nothing in the evening edition, and now she had choked on insults for breakfast!
    “Stella!”
    Though she had never been introduced to the Earl of Northwick, she had been led to believe he was one of the few men of the ton whose honor was without question. Since she had entered society years before, she had listened for his name. But alas, he had been so rarely the subject of conversation, her suspicions should have been roused long before.
    Of course, he had never been betrothed before. And he was not betrothed now, admonished a little angel in her ear, but she was in no mood to be listening to angels. She would send a note to Lady Malbury by the usual means and have the man investigated on the morrow. But her response to his insults could not wait.
    “ En guarde , Mr. Lott. If you have got skeletons in your closet, they will not remain for long!”
    A presence behind her made her jump. It was Stella. She did not look as though she had heard her little monologue, but merely waited to hear why she’d been summoned.
    “I have an errand to attend to. Please make me presentable.” The lad who usually picked up her letters for The Journal would not come around until it