A Dangerous Pursuit (Regency Spies & Secrets Book 1), Laura Beers [romantic books to read TXT] 📗

maid entered the room with a tray in her hands and placed it in front of them on a table.

“Would you care for me to pour, milady?” she asked Jane.

“No, thank you,” Jane replied. “I shall see to it.”

The maid dropped a curtsy and departed from the room.

As Jane poured the tea, Madalene walked over to the door and closed it. “I don’t want any prying ears to overhear our conversation.”

“You mean Baldwin?” Jane asked in an amused tone.

Madalene smiled. “Perhaps, but what I am about to reveal must be kept in the strictest confidence.”

“You have my word.”

Returning to her seat, Madalene shared, “Do you remember Edith Hardy from boarding school?”

Jane picked up a cup of tea and extended it towards her. “Of course, I remember Edith. You hired her as the headmistress of your mother’s orphanage.”

Madalene took a sip of her tea. “Edith has gone missing,” she revealed.

“Missing?”

“My solicitor informed me that Edith didn’t show up for work, and her room appeared to be ransacked.”

Jane gasped. “How awful!”

“The constable came to investigate, but I received word that he has no leads,” Madalene continued. “But he does believe that she has been abducted.”

“What terrible news,” Jane murmured.

Madalene lowered her cup and saucer to her lap. “I went to a coffeehouse where Edith’s mother and sister rent a room upstairs.”

“That was rather a foolhardy thing to do,” Jane said, giving her a pointed look.

“I had to,” Madalene defended. “Edith didn’t want anyone to know that her mother and sister reside at a coffeehouse.”

“Why didn’t they come live at the orphanage with her?”

“I offered to let them come work, but Edith is stubborn.”

Jane smiled. “No more than the rest of us.”

“Good point,” Madalene remarked. “Anyway, that is where I met your brother.”

“My brother was at a coffeehouse?”

“He was, and he escorted me to my coach.”

Jane eyed her curiously. “That doesn’t sound like my brother.”

“After he escorted me to my coach, he soundly insulted me and told me never to return to the coffeehouse.”

“Now, that, sounds exactly like my brother,” Jane said, laughing.

Madalene grew serious before admitting, “The last thing Mrs. Hardy told me was that Edith could have been abducted by the same men that her late husband owed money to.”

“Oh, no!” Jane exclaimed.

“I informed Mrs. Hardy that I would have no issue with paying a ransom, assuming there is one,” Madalene revealed. “Furthermore, Mrs. Hardy said she would seek out the constable to speak to him.”

“That is a good start, then.”

Madalene bit her lip. “Edith confided in me that she has been making payments to the Queen’s Gambling Hall on Bond Street.”

“For what purpose?”

“To settle her father’s debts,” Madalene explained. “Once he died, the debt was transferred to his wife, and they have been harassing her.”

“But if Edith was making payments to the gambling hall, why would they then have her abducted?”

“Perhaps she wasn’t paying them back fast enough?” Madalene mused. “Regardless, I am going to the Queen’s Gambling Hall to ask them.”

Jane’s eyes grew wide. “You can’t be in earnest.”

“I am.”

“That is entirely too dangerous,” Jane protested. “They could decide to abduct you, as well.”

Madalene placed her cup on the tray. “I have to do something, Jane,” she asserted. “The constable informed me that his workload was full and that he didn’t have time to complete a thorough investigation.”

“He said that?”

Madalene nodded. “My solicitor intends to hire a Bow Street Runner, but that could take days.”

“Do you truly intend to march into a gambling hall and ask the nearest person about Edith?” Jane questioned.

“I haven’t worked out all the kinks to my plan.”

“Do you even have a plan?”

Rising, Madalene walked over to the window and stared out into the courtyard. “Lots of women go to gambling halls,” she contended.

“Not the reputable ones.”

“That is not entirely true,” Madalene said, turning back to face her friend. “The Duchess of Winchester is a frequent visitor of the Queen’s Gambling Hall.”

“Yes, but she is also notoriously in debt,” Jane pointed out, “and a duchess.”

“But isn’t it worth the risk if it means that I could save Edith?”

“I worry that there are too many variables at play.”

“You are right, of course,” Madalene said with a sigh.

Jane gave her a knowing look. “But that isn’t going to stop you, is it?”

Madalene’s lips twitched. “Not really.”

“Just be careful,” Jane urged.

“Aren’t I always?”

Jane let out a light, airy laugh. “Hardly,” she proclaimed. “You were always the first person to get into mischief at school.”

“That may be true,” Madalene replied as she returned to her seat near her friend, “but you were always right behind me.”

Reaching for the teapot, Jane poured herself another cup of tea. “That is why we will always be the best of friends.”

“Agreed.”

Chapter Five

Baldwin stared out the window, the drink in his hand long forgotten. He wasn’t able to quite decipher the irritating Miss Dowding. She appeared to be an innocent in so many ways, but he couldn’t seem to shake the feeling that she was more than she appeared.

And how did she have the uncanny ability to unnerve him?

“Devil take it,” he muttered to himself.

A familiar voice came from the doorway. “Is this not a good time?”

Baldwin turned and saw Corbyn watching him with an amused look on his face. “Come in,” he encouraged, waving him in.

“I couldn’t help but notice that you were distracted,” Corbyn remarked as he walked further in the room.

Baldwin frowned. “I don’t like to be scrutinized.”

“I wasn’t scrutinizing you,” Corbyn contended. “It was merely an observation.”

Leaning back, Baldwin sat on the windowsill. “I was just thinking about this woman—”

“Enough said,” Corbyn interrupted. “Women have the ability to drive men to distraction.”

“It’s not like that. This particular woman is infuriating—”

“Aren’t all women?” Corbyn joked.

Baldwin shot his friend an annoyed look. “Will you stop interrupting me?” he asked. “I find it rather annoying.”

“Go ahead, then.”

“This woman, a Miss Dowding, showed up at Floyd’s Coffeehouse and went upstairs to speak to one of the tenants,” Baldwin shared.

“What did they speak about?”

Baldwin crossed his arms over his wide