AllFreeNovel
Share Us
They had been walking down the street when Elijah saw her duck into the bookshop after a furtive glance over her shoulder. Instinct had made him stop and command the other two to wait with him to see what Josie was up to. Of all the adjectives he might use to describe Josie, ‘furtive’ was not one of them.
She was always brazen, flashy even, not only used to being the center of attention but demanding it, which always set him on edge. As a friend of his cousin and the daughter of his neighbor, he had always been protective, as he had of Evie’s circle of friends. It was Evie and Josie who gave him the most fits, though. Both were fearless and often got themselves into scrapes that Lily and Mary had been wise enough to stay out of.
He was still shocked Evie had managed to recruit the quieter two to her cause, but at least Mary should be well under the thumb of her new husband now. Rex—the moniker he used among his friends rather than his title—was not the type to brook any nonsense. After the scare he had when she was kidnapped, Elijah did not think Rex would tolerate her playing at being a spy. Lily was the least likely out of the four to get into trouble, but Josie… well, for all that she was playing the socialite, she was the most likely cause of trouble. He couldn’t find Evie, so he was paying especially close attention to Josie.
When she appeared in the doorway of the shop, he tensed. She glanced around the street, looking every inch the debutante in a delicate muslin dress, the cornflower blue color matching her eyes, her blonde curls tucked under her bonnet. Despite how pretty the dress was, he could not remember her ever looking so demure, which roused his suspicions even more. She was unaccompanied except for her maid, but she did not have a single book in hand. So, what had she been doing for so long in there?
“Joseph, catch up with her. She is most likely to talk to you.” The chit was head over heels for his little brother, which grated on Elijah as Joseph moved closer and closer to proposing to Miss Bliss, but he was not beyond using it. Despite Josie’s exceptional beauty and wit, he did not think she would be able to sway Joseph’s affections—still, it irritated him to watch her try.
While Elijah would have liked to question her, the two of them never got on well. She thought he was too bossy, and he thought she was too rebellious. Besides, he wanted to see if whoever she was meeting was still in the shop… or perhaps she had been passing notes?
Sighing, Joseph trotted off down the street after Josie.
“Do you think he will be able to better question her?” Mitchell asked, watching Joseph go, a hint of confusion in his voice.
“Josie has been in love with him since forever, even though he refuses to see it.” Elijah jerked his attention away from Josie’s gently swaying skirts and waved his hand at Mitchell to follow him across the street to the bookshop. “Whereas, she has never been fond of me. She will answer him far more readily. Come on. I want to find out what she was doing in there.”
Mitchell snorted but came along without protest, even though he had stated his opinion of the young ladies many times. He thought they were not worth bothering with, even though they were poking their noses into dangerous places—a trio of debutantes could hardly learn anything of value. However, he did not know them, and he certainly knew nothing about Evie.
Though Elijah was inclined to agree with him in general when it came to Evie. He had learned long ago his cousin would not be the usual ‘young lady’ of theton.
An hour later, Elijah had no more information than when he started. The bookseller said she had stayed in the back of the store, even pointed out the aisle she had gone down, but there was nothing and no one there other than the bookseller himself. He vowed he had not said more than two words to the young lady, and her maid had sat at the front the entire time.
The only other person who had been in the store had been a servant girl… The very same one he had seen leaving the shop and summarily dismissed as unimportant.
No…surely not.
Cursing himself under his breath, Elijah stalked away from the store, Mitchell hurrying after him.
Evie. It had to be Evie. Josie had been meeting with her, and he had let them get away. He needed to catch up to Joseph and find out what his brother had been able to learn.
Chapter 1
Josie
Staring down at the note in her hand, Josie did her best not to gasp. An unknown man had just delivered it. He had done no more than flash a smile when he handed her the note, then disappeared into the crowd, leaving her bewildered—even more so when she opened the note and read it. Her heart was now pounding so rapidly inside her chest, she thought it might burst.
Dearest Josie,
I have made a terrible mistake. Please come meet me in the garden immediately. I need your help.
Yours,
Joseph Stuart
Exactly what the mistake was, was unclear. Had Joseph finally come to his senses and realized his rumored upcoming engagement to Miss Priscilla Bliss was a horrible decision? He had been dancing attendance on the young woman for weeks now, completely enamored to all appearances.
Josie chewed on her lower lip. So far, her first season in London had been painful, watching the man she had loved for the past five years fall in love with someone else. What if he was not truly in love with Miss Bliss?
What if he had finally realized he should not be marrying her but did not know how to gracefully step back?
Yours.
He had signed itYours.
Did that possibly indicate Joseph finally returned her affections? At the very least, he had never signed a note in such a manner that she knew of, and she had grown up next door to him.
“Miss Pennyworth? Is it bad news?” Baron Stillwell’s concerned voice penetrated Josie’s racing thoughts.
