Texas Viscount Read Online Free Page B

the wharf, your lordship, that I am. The earl's agent has just arrived to verify the report we received earlier. Of course, we couldn't credit it until we checked it. Please understand. It is...er, rather unusual to discharge firearms into a crowd on the wharf at noontime. And, considering the disturbance the police were attempting to put down, well...”
           “As long as I'm free to go, I'd be happy just to mosey out of here, if that's all right,” Josh said with relief when the man in charge nodded, that false, overly hearty smile still pasted in place. Then, touching his right side, which felt unbalanced, Josh added, “Oh, as to that firearm—it's a pearl-handled Colt Lightning, and I'd like to have it back. Sentimental value.”
           The old man appeared taken aback for an instant. “A gun? Sentimental value?”
           “It saved my life in Texas and Cuba...and here in old London town, too.”
           Within minutes, his belongings were returned to him, including his money clip, which amazingly still held all but fifty dollars of what it originally contained. He waited while a guard was dispatched to collect his Colt and gun belt from wherever they'd locked them up. The fellow handed the weapon to him gingerly—didn't these bobby chaps even know how to shoot a gun? None of them seemed to carry them, which struck Josh as more than a little peculiar, considering how rough his introduction to the city had been.
           Grinning, he thanked the police officer, buckled the gun belt around his hips and started to make his way out the door, where he'd been told the earl's carriage was awaiting him. He had ambled about half the distance when the clear, cultured tones of a woman's voice caught his attention. At once he knew it was her .
           The classy whore on the gangplank.
           She sat behind a desk, poised on the edge of a battered swivel chair like a sparrow ready to take flight, engaged in conversation with one of the minions of the law. Her hair was pulled up in some sort of knot at that delectable nape, and she'd discreetly pinned her bodice closed, but he'd recognize her anywhere.
           In the dark. Blindfolded. The faint essence of wildflowers wafted subtly toward him. Since the crowded room was filled with cigar smoke, volumes of dusty papers, mildew and just plain old grimy dirt, the aroma was probably his imagination. He was remembering what she smelled like from their encounter on the wharf that morning.
           Pausing by the door, he asked one of the men in uniform, “That little gal over there.” He didn't have to point, as she was the only female in the room. “You wouldn't happen to know her name, or address, would you?”
           “Blimey, mate, ain't got no idea. We gets 'em in ‘ere all the time. Mostly nights, though.”
           Just at that moment, as if overhearing them, she looked directly at Josh. Instant disdain flashed into her eyes, then was replaced by something else. Shock? Fear? Outrage? It looked like a combination of all the above, and he was damned if he knew why. All he'd tried to do was rescue her from that bully boy manhandling her. Of course, Mitz's pimps had followed him, and that had complicated the situation a bit, but she had no reason to react this way, blast it.
           Shrugging, he nodded and winked, giving her a broad grin as he strolled out the door a free man. Somehow, he figured she'd be detained for a while. Served her right for being so uppity. Maybe next time they met, she'd be in a better mood.
           Sabrina would have choked him with her ungloved hands if she'd not been so busy explaining how she'd become involved in the frightful mix-up at the wharf. She had to be ever so careful not to get Edmund in trouble for missing his appointment to pick up the earl's heir. Of course, she could not imagine poor Edmund faring any better than she had after that wild Texan started a