Read Online Art and Artifice by Regina Scott - Free Book Online Page B

Robert is doing right now?” she asked.
    “Going to a cunning loan broker to borrow
gambling money against Lady Emily’s dowry,” Ariadne predicted. “Or
to whoever helps him dispose of the virgins he’s probably selling
into slavery.”
    “Consulting with his tailor, more likely,”
Priscilla said. “We need only find the shop.”
    And that would not be easy, Emily saw.
Fashionable shops hugged the street, their windows displaying all
manner of wonders, from satins that caught the light in a rainbow
of colors to cakes topped with sugared plums. Everywhere strolled
ladies in feathered hats, gentlemen in shining boots. Maids with
parasols and footmen laden with packages followed at a respectful
distance, and children in tattered clothes leaped among them,
offering to hold horses, begging for coins.
    “There!” Daphne cried, and Emily jumped.
Following the line of her friend’s finger, she saw a certain tall,
russet-haired gentleman just coming out of Number 13.
    “That’s Gentleman Jackson’s,” Ariadne said.
“You know, the Boxing Emporium where gentlemen go to learn
fisticuffs.”
    Emily found it hard to imagine Lord Robert
taking a punch to the jaw, but perhaps he was quick enough that he
did more of the punching himself. He certainly didn’t seem any the
worse for wear as he paused to tip his hat to a particularly pretty
woman. Emily rapped on the panel overhead to get Mr. Phillips’s
attention and directed him to let them out at the next corner. But
the moment they set their feet to the pavement, Daphne seized Emily
and Ariadne by an arm and dragged them into a recessed doorway to a
linen draper’s.
    “Priscilla,” she hissed, “quick, or he’ll see
you!”
    Priscilla slipped into the shadows with them.
“Why are we hiding?” she asked as a group of young Hussars strolled
by, the gold braid of their uniforms winking in the light. “The
entire point of shopping on Bond Street is to see and be seen.”
    “The point in shopping today is to learn more
about Lord Robert,” Emily said. “Which will be a bit difficult in
here.”
    “I cannot imagine why this works in books,”
Ariadne muttered, shifting to keep her elbow out of Emily’s
stomach. “It’s quite uncomfortable.”
    “Well, I certainly don’t want anyone to
notice us following him,” Daphne said. She paused to peer out. “Oh,
it’s all right. He’s moved on.”
    They spilled back onto the pavement in time
to see Lord Robert strolling south toward Conduit Street. Emily
tugged down the edges of her jacket and smoothed the wrinkles from
her blue gown. “I appreciate your zeal, Daphne, but as I do wish to
speak to him, I rather have to let him see me.”
    Daphne colored. “Sorry.” She absently
adjusted her green wool pelisse as well, stroking over the jade
braiding of the long, fitted coat as if her hands needed something
to do. Priscilla and Ariadne were also tweaking their pale muslin
skirts or straightening a bit of lace across their shoulders.
Anyone would think they’d come to speak to Lord Robert too!
    With a shake of her head, Emily started after
him. The scent of lavender was strong from the perfumery next door,
but she fancied she smelled the tang of cloves over it. Then she
spotted him just ahead. He had stopped at a bow window and stood
looking at the merchandise displayed therein. His head was cocked,
as if whatever he contemplated required his complete
concentration.
    “That’s Stedman and Vardon,” Priscilla
whispered over the rumble of passing carriages as the four of them
ventured closer. “Jewelers to the Aristocracy.”
    Ariadne sighed. “What if he’s purchasing an
engagement present for you, Emily?”
    “He’s wasting his time,” Emily informed her.
“At any formal function, I have to wear the Emerson emeralds, at
least until my sister Helena produces an heir, who will then have
to give them to his wife.”
    “Still,” Daphne pressed, “it is rather
romantic.”
    Emily had no time to comment, for