Page 7 of Give Him a Chance
Chapter Two
“We have prisonsto keep men like this rogue under our eye. We have to make sure the blaggard does not make a mistake again. Whether you like it or not, my lady,someonehas to keep an eye on him.”
Which Bernard was trying not to take personally, but still, it stung.
Where was Hovell? The rogue had promised him he would spring Bernard from the blasted prison days ago, yet he’d been forced to linger in the dank and unpleasant Brighton gaol for eight days.
Eight long days.
“Yes, someone should,” the slender woman by the man in the wig shouted across the court. “Someone without such blatant bias, someone who believes in a person’s ability to change, someone who—”
It wasn’t possible for her to continue with the roar of the crowd overpowering her light and genteel voice, and Bernard could not help but grin. And not because the crowd was full of voluptuous devotees of ‘Bernard Dixon’ and his dastardly deeds.
Was the woman who had the judge’s attention one of them? He hadn’t noticed her before today. He was sure he would have remembered her. She was beautiful. Dark-brown hair that had not been curled to the fashions but had instead been left in what appeared to be natural waves, plaited then hastily pinned. A red,silk-fitted jacket that spoke of wealth, even as the frayed lace at the cuffs spoke of carelessness.
Well, at leastthis was interesting. Bernard had sat through a number of false court proceedings in his time as a spy for Queen and Country, and this had been far the most interesting. Why, he’d just received a marriage proposal.Bernard Dixonhad, anyway.
‘Bernard Dixon,’ honestly. It was the name he had lived under these last four years, but it was exhausting keeping up the pretense. One more mission, that was what Hovell had said. Just one more, and Bernard Dixon could disappear on a ‘transportation’ ship, never to be seen again, and he could return to the life he had left behind all those years ago.
The judge didn’t know that.The judge also looks as though he’s going to have a heart attack, Bernard thought lightly as he watched the man’s cheeks turn crimson while he berated the entire gallery into leaving the proceedings, all over a little outburst from one of his devotees. Bernard thought he’d try just walking out with them, but he was caught easily enough. Oh, well. It was all a bit of fun.
It was nice to have some sort of entertainment before he was thrown into a carriage back to London—
“Release the prisoner.”
Bernard blinked.
No, that wasn’t right. Hovell had been most clear; they would falsify the records, stating that a Mr. Bernard Dixon was sent off to Australia on a transportation ship, and said ship would declare upon arrival that the man had died and been buried at sea.
That had been the deal.
What had not been the deal was the next sentence out of the judge’s mouth, and it sent a shiver down Bernard’s spine he had never expected.
“Release the prisoner into Lady Lucy’s custody.”
No—no. This could not be right.
Bernard looked over once more at the beautiful young woman who had instantly attracted his attention the moment he had stepped—well, been half-dragged—into the courtroom.
She was also young. Innocent, naïve, clearly, to be standing in a place like this expecting anything that even looked or sounded like justice, and clearly out of her depth.
Wonderful.
A slow smile crept across Bernard’s face. Released into the custody of this ‘Lady Lucy,’ was he? Well, that was delightful.Don’t mind if I do.
To be in the possession of such a woman…and it had been so long since he had even permitted himself to look at a woman, too. Oh, the Bernard Dixon charm had been used to get information out of plenty of women in his time, but he had never lifted a leg or their skirts to do it.
Not that he could do such a thing with this lady, most sadly. Bernard Dixon was prized by Her Majesty—albeit indirectly through his contact, Hovell—for his ability to notice things, to spot the small details and extrapolate to a greater truth.
And it could not have been clearer that this young lady was out of her depth and utterly foolish.
“Thank you, my lady,” the judge was saying grimly from a long way off. “For volunteering.”
This… This was not happening.
Where was his secret release? He could not believe this naïve if righteous lady was part of the plan. Where was his payoff after enduring so many years as a spy for Her Majesty’s government?
Where was Hovell?
