Nick reached out to grab her hand, but Rich beat him to it. Holding the barmaid’s forearm, he turned her closed palm to reveal his pocket watch.
The barkeep chuckled. “Sorry ‘bout that, but enquiry agents and runners like to pass themselves off as one of us, and I can’t blab to them without betraying one of my own. You seem like a decent sort, so I won’t toss you out on your ears.” To the barmaid, he added, “You’re losing your touch, lass.”
She scowled and slapped the watch into Richard’s open hand. “Your coat stinks,” she spat and made to leave.
Nick stepped in her path. “One moment. Ye’re one to notice a gent. Have ye seen any about last Sunday?”
She shook her head, still pouting.
“None dressed simple like?”
Saucily, she replied, “A gent’s a gent—even in rags.” She sized up the colonel. “Like this one. I knew he was a gent the second he came inside.” She turned her gaze to Nick, raking him over from toes to face. “You’re no gent.”
If Nick had ever dreamed he mightimprove himself enough to deserve a family like Darcy’s, her disinterested assessment squashed that hope.
“Come on, Nick. They cannot tell us what they do not know,” Richard said.
Nick tried not to let the barmaid’s comment bother him as they made inquiries at The Black Sail, then the Fighting Cock, then over to The Brazen Lass. By the time they left Bucket of Blood and alighted a hired carriage to convey them to their next destination, Nick could not think of anything else but the barmaid’s comment. “Would Darcy be ashamed to have me for a brother?” he asked.
“Why would he be ashamed?”
Nick scoffed. “Ye can’t be serious, Rich. He’ll sure not go around boasting about me.”
“Georgiana had no compunction accepting you as her brother.”
Nick grimaced. She was so polite, acting interested as he showed her how to braid and knot her ribbons into figures. “I’m not fit company for her,” he owned.
“A gentleman ought not to be judged by his looks and manners but by the values he displays.”
“I’ve lived as a thief and blackguard all me life. The only thing I’ve valued is me own skin and the next prize.” And Alex, blast the infernal woman!
“And yet, here you are, helping me find a man you have never met for a family of people who are all strangers to you.”
“Ye’d give me proper motive when I have none.”
“You are not as bad as you think you are, Nick. Remember that.”
Nick heaved a sigh. If Richard only knew his mutinous thoughts, he wouldn’t think Nick possessed a shred of honor. It was time to test the colonel’s loyalties. “Ye won’t speak so highly of me when I try to convince ye to accompany me to The Devil’s Tavern.”
“We gave our word—”
“Ye gave yer word,” Nick interrupted. “I didn’t. It’s the best place to go, and ye know it. Nobody there’d speak to yer father’s men, but they’ll talk to me.”
“They will think you are Darcy.”
“Exactly. All we need to do is watch for reactions. Our man’ll be mighty surprised to see me when they must think me kidnapped or dead.”
The colonel sighed.
“Still think I’m a good man?” Nick teased, trying to make light of the pain in his heart.
Richard shifted his weight.
“If he asks, I’ll tell him I forced ye to go against yer will,” Nick offered.
That earned him a glare. “If you think I would allow you to take all the blame or lie to my father, then you severely underestimate my honor.” He tapped the roof and told the coachman their new destination.
Nick had heard about The Devil’s Tavern before. It was the kind of hovel sailors liked to brag about. But seeing the miniature noose and gallows hanging off the balcony still made Nick swallow the lumprising in his throat. Darcy was either foolhardy or as brave as Nick hoped he was to enter such a place.
