Prologue
Josie
“You need to be careful. Elijah is watching you.” Evie’s expression was serious, but Josie waved her off. The past few years, Josie had spent far more time around Evie’s cousins than she had.
Their households were neighbors in the country, and Evie’s eldest cousin, Elijah, had been the bane of her existence growing up. Even more so once Evie had joined her uncle’s household and become her friend. Almost ten years older than her and Evie, he was a veritable stuffed-shirt and had spent his life disapproving of Josie’s ‘wild ways.’ He was also almost insufferably handsome, but Josie far preferred the middle Stuart brother, Joseph. She had been in love with him ever since she was old enough to know what love was.
“Elijah is so wrapped up in himself, he only notices I exist when I annoy him.” Though, to be fair, she did manage to do that on a fairly frequent basis. He’d never had much patience for Josie when she was a child and had even less now that she was a young woman and a debutante. “He thinks I am a ninny without a thought in my head for anything other than fashion and gossip.” A perception she encouraged. She did enjoy both past times, but enjoying them did not make her a ninny.
Evie slanted her a look, the flash in her dark eyes the only sign of her annoyance. Even when she was dressed as a maid rather than a lady, she managed to intimidate with a mere look. Out of their steadfast group of four best friends, Josie and Evie clashed the most often, both strong-willed young ladies, but they also loved each other fiercely. When they were in agreement, their other two friends, Mary and Lily, almost always fell into line, but when they were not, the arguments could be spectacular.
As they’d grown older, both of them had learned to compromise more often, which had mellowed their relationship considerably.
Shaking her head, Evie sighed.
“He knows we have been trying to find the traitor—” Evie’s voice cut off, and they fell silent as footsteps approached the nook in the bookstore where they had met. Since their friend Mary had been kidnapped, uncovering one traitor to the Crown but not the mastermind behind a plot to assassinate the Duke of York, they had not been able to meet in Hyde Park as they once had.
Elijah was the eldest son of England’s spymaster and a stodgy bore about proprieties. Like his father, he did not think spying to be an appropriate enterprise for a lady, which was why Evie was in hiding from them. She was determined to prove them wrong and had enlisted Josie and their friends Mary and Lily to help her after the attempted assassination of the Duke of York.
London was rife with intrigue at the best of times, but this Season was proving to be especially fraught. With a delegation from France and another from Russia, as well as turncoats among theton, it felt as though a dark force was gathering. Josie shivered. She rarely feared anything, but when Mary had been kidnapped a week ago, she had known true terror for the first time in her life. What had seemed like a lark was no longer so exciting. Thankfully, Evie had been able to rescue Mary, but it had been a stark reminder of the stakes at hand.
Fear tingled up her spine as she and Evie waited for the footsteps to fade away. Whoever was walking through the store was moving on their way. Josie let out a sigh of relief, waving her hand in front of her face. The weather was becoming quite warm as the Season drew to a close. Soon, the ton would be vacating London and heading to their estates and house parties for the summer. Surely, that would mean an end to the danger… she hoped.
“You are the one he sees the most,” Evie finished in a whisper, her eyes still alert, head tilted as though she was listening for any sign of nearby movement.
“Becauseyoutold me to watch him, your uncle, and other cousins.” A task that had not been a hardship at first. Not until recently, when Joseph began courting Miss Priscilla Bliss. The ballrooms of London were already buzzing with anticipation of an engagement announcement.
The very thought made Josie’s stomach twist with jealousy and anger.
She continued to visit Stuart House regularly, using their neighboring estates in Derbyshire and the long friendship between their families as her excuse. They were used to her presence in the Stuart Household. Even though, following her rescue, Mary had revealed how much the other ladies had been involved in looking for the traitor to Evie’s uncle, he did not look askance at Josie’s visits. She had been very careful not to be caught eavesdropping, not that she had learned much of interest. Lord Camden and Elijah spent most of their time worrying over Evie’s disappearance.
As far as Josie could tell, Joseph and Adam, the youngest, were not involved in the ‘family business’ and did not know Evie was not traveling as she was supposed to be. Elijah, on the other hand, seemed poised to eventually become his father’s successor.
“Considering how little you have learned from them, maybe we should focus your efforts in other directions,” Evie said thoughtfully, her eye unfocused as she thought.
Emotions assailed Josie. Self-recrimination—she didn’t like feeling as though she had failed at a task. Relief, she would no longer have to listen to Joseph wax eloquent about the insipid Miss Bliss’ ‘charms.’ Unhappiness, she would no longer have a good excuse to torment herself with Joseph’s company. A bit of indignation, Evie felt she had not learned much, despite the truth to the statement.
It was hardly her fault that Evie’s uncle and cousin were so distraught over her disappearance, they hardly spoke of anything else when Josie was around.
“I need to go, but I will think about this.” Evie reached out and hugged Josie tight, washing away Josie’s indignation. After all, Evie had not had to ask for Josie’s help. Despite what had happened to Mary, Josie was very grateful for something to focus on this season other than making a match for marriage—especially as her chosen groom was mooning over someone else. If Evie wanted her to change her focus, then she would.
“Be careful,” Josie whispered. Evie was working as a servant in the Greywood household, but Josie was sure she was doing far more dangerous forays in whatever free time she had. Lady Greywood was a fairly lenient employer, which was why Evie had chosen her. The drab clothing she wore did not entirely hide her stunning beauty, though Evie had done something with soot and cream to make her appearance less appealing.
“Of course.”
Evie’s confident tone didn’t mitigate Josie’s concerns. Sighing, she watched her friend scurry off, her posture changing from that of a confident lady to a meek and mild servant girl. Josie slowly counted to twenty in her head. Only then did she meander her way through the little corner of the bookshop, fetching her maid from the front, before making her way out to the street.
Elijah
A servant girl exited the shop, head down and hurrying along the street. She kept her gaze on the large stack of books in her arms as if she was afraid of dropping them. Likely she had a bookish master to please. He moved his attention back to the door of the shop.
“Josie has been in there for far too long.” Bloody hell. He knew he should have followed her in.
“How long is too long in a bookshop?” his brother Joseph asked, amused.
“She’s a debutante, not a scholar,” Mitchell sneered. It took all of Elijah’s willpower not to snap at the man. He did not like Julian Mitchell—as far as he could tell, there were very few people who did. Secretary to a powerful lord, he’d abused his position more than once, forcing his attentions on maids and other members of the lower class. Working with him was almost an insult. But the man was very good at information gathering and had made himself a valuable resource to Elijah’s father.
Josie might be a debutante, but she was far smarter than Mitchell was giving her credit for. However, she really was not the type to frequent bookshops for long periods of time. She read the little romances currently all the rage, none of which took very long to find.