Page 68 of Rogue’s Holiday

“You will find me there,” Jack assured Robbie.

Abigail Darkin insisted on formalities, so Robbie waited outside her office for Wilson to present his card and explain the urgent nature of his mission.

A moment later, the butler opened the door and beckoned him enter.

Miss Abby stood behind her polished cherry wood desk, her head bent over his card. Behind her, a fire crackled in the stone fireplace. She smiled as she looked up. “Sir Robert is it now?” Her sharp eyes fixed him with a steady gaze. “You must have done some worthy deed for His Majesty, yes?”

He averted his gaze. “A favor, no more.”

“May I offer you a brandy? ’Tis French.”

“That is kind of you, but no. I come on an urgent matter.”

“Yes, Wilson mentioned that. What is it that brings you here?”

With hope in his heart and scrambling for words, he said, “Do you…have a young woman?”

She smiled. “We have many, as well you know.”

“Not one of the girls who live here. Another. Hair the color of pale honey with skin like the purest cream and striking blue eyes like a sea on a distant isle. When she smiles, she lights up the room.”

“Does this paragon have a name?”

“Chastity,” he choked out. “Miss Chastity Reynolds.” Distraught, he added, “It may be that a man brought her here asking you to take her into your house. I pray it was so for any other place does not bear considering.”

Abby fixed him with an intense look, one that he had seen before on her wise face.

“I have combed all of London, calling at every brothel to which he might have taken her. I cannot allow myself to think how desperate her situation might be, how scared she must be.” Robbie pleaded, “Tell me you have her or I shall be a man most miserable.”

“I do.”

His brows lifted, hardly believing his ears. “You do?”

She studied him with careful assessment. “Who are you to Miss Reynolds and what is she to you?”

“I am sometimes in great disfavor with her but the truth is I…I love her and would make her my wife. She was abducted because of me and my work for the Crown.”

“I see.” Given her clientele, Abby likely did see all too well. His older brother, Martin, had once patronized Willow House and he, too, had been a government spy.

Robbie leaned forward over her desk. “You haven’t—”

“No, I have kept her apart.”

He let out a deep sigh. “May I see her? I wouldn’t want her to stay any longer.”

“I will have to ask if she would welcome your visit. Chastity has had a great shock, a scare that her upbringing did not prepare her for. Had the wicked man not brought her here, I can well imagine what might have befallen her. She has imagined it, too, I daresay.”

“I cannot thank you enough for taking care of her.”

“Wait here. I will ask her.”