Compromising the Marquess Read Online Free PDF

asked, striding along beside Leah and whistling to Pickle when he disappeared into the hedgerow, presumably in pursuit of rats.
    “To the Boar’s Head.”
    He nodded, making no comment as to the wisdom of such action.
    “I especially wish to discover what goes on behind that establishment.”
    “There’s a big open area that leads to the edge of the cliff. A path goes down to a cove.”
    “I know that, but what’s in the cove? That’s what interests me.”
    Jonny sniffed. “Might get a bit rough.”
    “That’s why I’ve brought you and Pickle with me.”
    “Best keep to the shadow,” Jonny said as they approached the tavern.
    Raucous laughter could be heard from within. A rough-looking sailor spilled out the door, a wench held tight against his side as he kissed her mouth and clumsily fondled her body.
    “Oh my!” Leah said quietly.
    The amorous pair disappeared round the side of the building, fortunately not in the direction that interested Leah.
    “If we go round this way,” Jonny said, “we can hide in those bushes near the edge of the cliff. That way we’ll see if anyone arrives but they won’t see us.”
    “Good thinking.” Leah could vaguely make out the shape of a ship at anchor. “I wonder whose boat that is.”
    “It’s the marquess’s schooner.”
    Leah shot Jonny a penetrating glance. “How do you know that?”
    He shrugged. “Common knowledge hereabouts.”
    Well, it was news to Leah. She wasn’t even aware that he possessed a ship. So much for her investigative powers. Still, she hadn’t previously been aware that the marquess might be of interest from a professional standpoint, so she forgave herself for not knowing.
    “Perhaps that’s where he disappears to whenever he wants to avoid the local townswomen.”
    “I wouldn’t know about that.” Jonny cast a considering look at the looming ship. “Do you want me to keep an eye out and see where he goes?”
    “No, Jonny, thanks all the same. That won’t be necessary.” At least Leah didn’t think it would be. “Is it here all the time? The boat, I mean.”
    “It comes and goes.” Jonny sniffed and Leah pretended not to notice when he wiped his hand across his nose. “Rumour has it that he did something important for the government during the war and used his ship to slip in and out of France.”
    “Did he now?”
    As they settled down to wait, Leah pondered that snippet of information, wondering if he did take after his father. It was colder than she’d anticipated. A sharp wind pushed in from the sea, chilling her bones. She shivered and pulled the collar of her jerkin up round her ears, winding the muffler over it. Light spilled from the windows at the back of the tavern, sufficient for her to see that the area of common land behind it was totally deserted.
    “Perhaps nothing will happen tonight,” she said quietly after half an hour of no activity at all. She was severely disappointed. She had been so sure she was on to something. Besides, after all the trouble she’d gone to, she really needed something interesting to occur.
    “It’s early yet,” Jonny whispered back.
    “We’ll give it a bit longer then.”
    Leah had cramp in her toes and was starting to lose all feeling in her fingers. The life of a newspaperwoman certainly wasn’t glamorous. Even so, she refused to be defeated and was unwilling to accept that she might have got it all wrong.
    “Someone’s coming,” Jonny whispered.
    Leah pushed the branches of her bush aside, her eyes widening with shock. A whole group of men, and some scantily clad women, spilled out of the tavern. Others entered the area direct from the road and formed a rough circle round the vacant plot.
    “What’s going on?” she asked.
    “Dunno, but I think it might be a mill.”
    “A mill?”
    “A bare-knuckle fight.”
    “I know what a mill is.”
    But she’d never seen one and wasn’t sure if she actually wanted to. A moment’s indecision was all it took to bring her