Trouble in Disguise: 5 (Eclipse Heat) by Gem Sivad Read Free Book Online

arrived, when one of Lydia’s inside guards, Benjamin, had stepped outside.
    “Lydia wants to speak to you.”
    “I’m done for the day.” She’d tried to fob him off, pointing at Possum.
    “Not until you’ve talked to the boss.” He’d stood holding the door open for her expectantly. She’d tied Possum to a hitching post and like a lamb to the slaughter she’d gone back into the Pleasure Dome, hoping to avoid another pawing from the madam.
    Lydia had been waiting in the hall and as soon as Miri walked through the back entrance, the madam’s hand had been on her butler’s arm, her fingers lingering a little longer than necessary.
    “A knife, Calvin? You continually surprise me.” She’d felt up Miri’s suit sleeve, this time looking for more than muscle. “Crispin was only admiring my handsome butler. I’m sure he meant no harm.” She’d patted Miri’s arm playfully but her tone had been sharp.
    “If you want to get rich quick, Calvin, there’s plenty besides that awkward sod who’d pay good money for what’s inside these clothes.”
    “No ma’am. Just interested in downstairs work.” She’d removed the hand fondling her arm.
    Miri stood at least a half foot taller than the petite madam and no doubt outweighed her by fifty pounds. The wig Calvin wore was one of the best theatrical props sold and it wouldn’t come off unless she wanted it to. But it wasn’t fear of Lydia discovering her gender that had alarmed Miri. The madam’s cold appraisal had given Miri chills.
    “In the future, use your good sense, Calvin. Such public evictions give a place a bad name.” Then she’d given a throaty laugh. “I have to admit, the way you booted that nincompoop out was precious. I loved it when you had him by the nuts, walking him backward down the steps.”
    Miri had been all set to leave. Possum was tied out back, ready to go. The job was finished. She’d captured her quarry and outmaneuvered her employer’s rule of sanctuary.
    It was a sorry truth that Lydia’s brothel was considered neutral territory. The law was well paid to leave the customers alone until they departed the premises. To Miri’s way of thinking, men had a funny way of conducting business. They might consider the brothel a safe house for all—but she didn’t.
    She’d caught her counterfeiter, he was going to justice and she was hauling his bones there. Unless he squawked about where he’d been caught, no one would know. If they found out, she’d swear to the truth—Ned Jackson had been on Rusk Street not inside the grounds of the Pleasure Dome when she’d taken him prisoner.
    Success still waited under the back steps. Ned was worth fifteen hundred dollars as soon as she delivered him to the Fort Worth sheriff’s jail.
    But here she lay in the bed next to Deacon, recounting the many ways her plan had gone right at the same time it had been skidding awry. After her talk with Lydia had interrupted her extraction of Jackson there had been too many tradesmen coming and going in the morning to return to him. So she’d left Possum saddled and ready while she continued to play doorman and waited for a chance to remove Ned discreetly from under the porch.
    When the morning rush had calmed, she’d been ready to head for the back of the house. She’d worked all night. No one would have faulted Calvin had the butler let Lydia’s security detail answer the knock at the front door.
    But she hadn’t and fate had intervened again. She’d opened it to confront her nemesis—rival bounty hunter Deacon McCallister—and the man she’d been ogling and sighing over for better than a year. At that point, things all went to hell.
    Thank God, Deacon had barely glanced at the Pleasure Dome butler. But then again, had he done so, Miri assured herself, it wouldn’t have mattered. It had been bounty hunter Beau Beauregard Deacon had exchanged insults with, not a harmless doorman named Calvin. Nevertheless, she’d hurried him to Lydia’s