The Earl With the Secret Tattoo Read Online Free PDF

for speaking with the Sherwood family itself,” James said, “I know we’ve also
     reached a dead end. But I hope you don’t regret now that we drew a line in their case—no
     seduction of the young ladies. No setting up friendships with the boys only to drop
     them later.”
    Patrick scratched his jaw. “Damn us for taking the high moral ground.”
    “Which we abandon when we have to,” James reminded him, and remembered how he’d kissed
     the selfish Clare, much to his distaste. “We know in our gut when we can and when
     we must.”
    “Well, the Sherwood brood can’t know you were at the robbery, Tumbridge,” Reeves warned
     him. “Your maintaining cover is more important than our finding that talisman.”
    “Is it?” asked James. “For five years, I’ve agreed with you. But now I don’t.” Eleanor’s
     face came to him. “How much longer can we pretend we’re oblivious of Pritchard’s perfidy?
     If I risk being exposed by pushing too hard on the Sherwoods, then so be it.”
    “You’re too clever to bungle this, James,” said Patrick. “It’s our only hope, really.
     We’ve come to the end of the road. We’ve ransacked the Brady house on Grosvenor Square—what,
     four times now when the skeleton staff was there?”
    They were each expert burglars.
    “And if I have to take another bloomin’ trip to Ireland to paw through Lord Brady’s
     estate looking for that thing, I’ll wind up shooting myself.” Stubing made a face.
     “The blue-smocked housekeeper there don’t take kindly to servants with Cockney accents.”
    “That’s not it.” James grinned. “She fired you—”
    “’Cause I didn’t make that soda bread the way the marquess likes it,” the baker interrupted
     him with a great deal of temper. “Damn her for her impertinence. I make the best soda
     bread in the world!”
    “Well, she dismissed me for being too slow with the candlestick polishing.” Reeves
     huffed. “I’m detail-oriented, more than she. I think she was jealous.”
    “Good thing she takes a few drinks once a year on her birthday,” said Patrick. “It’s
     coming up, by the way. Are we making another trip?”
    Stubing groaned. “Oh, God, please no. Someday, she’ll catch us. I fear her more than
     I do the end of a rifle. Or Mary when she’s in labor.”
    James chuckled. “All the more reason to call on the Sherwoods this morning. Only Lady
     Janice and her younger sister Cynthia are in Town, but they and their mother will
     have to do. Perhaps one of them will drop a clue about the talisman’s whereabouts.”
    “I don’t know.” Stubing scratched his head. “Maybe we should keep going, wait for
     him to slip up, or to die—”
    “No,” said James. “Because Lady Eleanor is next on the chopping block. I doubt Pritchard
     will be long satisfied with Clare’s dupe to settle his debts. He’s probably accruing
     new ones as we speak.”
    “Yes, Viscount Henly’s wealth isn’t as vast as he lets on.” Reeves shrugged. “He cuts
     corners at the shop when he can.”
    “Not a good sign,” James said. “Plus Lady Eleanor’s caught on that I’m involved in
     her life a little too much, and she’s out to find out more about me.”
    “That’s a bit of a mess, Tumbridge.” Stubing stuck out his stubbly chin. “I might
     have to dock you a week’s pay for that. How did that happen?”
    James sighed and told them about the night before, from the moment Lady Eleanor burst
     in on him kissing Clare to her hiding behind the curtain when Lord Andrew Wells showed
     up. “The fool hoisted himself on his own petard, but she blamed me, as I purposely
     brought up the whole matter of his proposing to her. She took the opportunity to let
     me know she hated me for always ruining her life.”
    “But we’ve nothing against him, ” Reeves protested. “The other one who was after her, however—”
    “The one we invented a job for in Australia, Rupert Hawthorne—,” said