Read Online Trapped by Scandal by Jane Feather - Free Book Online Page B

cat’s, were also making it very clear to her that Viscount St. Aubery would make a formidable opponent should such an unpleasant confrontation arise. She inclined her head in rueful acknowledgment, saying simply, “I came to Paris to find Alec and to help him, if possible, to find Marie Claire and her family. I still intend to do that.”
    â€œWe are all agreed that finding the St. Julien family will be our next priority,” William said, his tone no longer sharp. “We work on priorities. Those families at immediate risk of arrest are always our first focus. We had nothing to go on with the St. Juliens, and the Latour family were in the most urgent danger. Alec understood that. But we’ll concentrate on them now.”
    â€œIt’ll be the devil’s own job,” Marcus put in somberly. “Families not yet arrested give us a better chance of getting them out of the country. And we don’t even know where the St. Juliens are.”
    Hero sipped her coffee, wrinkling her nose at its bitterness. “It seems hopeless.”
    â€œNot quite. We have a contact in the Committee of Public Safety who has access to lists of the people condemned to execution,” William explained. “They aren’t always complete, of course, but so far, no St. Julien has appeared on any list we’ve seen, so we’re assuming they’re in one of the prisons awaiting trial.”
    Hero’s spine prickled at the memory of her brief incarceration, the tumbrels, and the terrifying mob. Marie Claire was a fragile flower, sweet-natured and very pretty; it was hard to imagine how she would survive the filthy rat-ridden straw of a Parisian prison, let alone the brutality of the guards. “How do we go about finding out which prison?”
    â€œWe have sources,” Marcus explained. “A few guards in both La Force and the Conciergerie can be bribed, but it takes time. We’ve been waiting for something from them for several weeks.”
    â€œAnd there are other smaller prisons around the city,” William said grimly. “It’s impossible to get information on them all.”
    Hero pushed aside her coffee mug, leaving the last swallow, and dipped her finger into the apricot jam pot, licking off the sweetness to relieve the coffee’s bitter aftertaste. “So did you come to any conclusions about the situation ?” She couldn’t help the slightly sardonic emphasis.
    William chose to ignore it. “It’s time you put on women’s clothes,” he informed her. “Alec has gone to procure some.”
    â€œWhy?” She looked indignant. “I feel safer in this disguise on the streets.”
    â€œBelieve me, you’ll fool no one for long,” he stated.
    â€œI’ll bind my breasts again.”
    He shook his head. “It won’t do, Hero. I’ll spare Marcus the embarrassment of a detailed description of your womanly assets, but trust me, my dear, they cannot be hidden from any interested eyes. And none of us can afford to attract attention. Besides,” he added with a sudden wicked chuckle, “if you continued with your disguise, it would be necessary to cut your hair, and that would be positively criminal.”
    Hero wasn’t sure how to take the last comment in present circumstances. She decided that in Marcus’s company, it was safer to ignore it. She was forced to admit, however, that while her disguise could probably pass muster in a crowded street, anything out of the ordinary would draw attention to her—a scuffle, a fall, an altercation with an unruly cart horse, all perfectly normal occurrances in the life of the streets—but if her disguise slipped in any way, it would be disastrous.
    â€œWell, I can’t see myself being much use as a woman,” she pointed out.
    â€œThat remains to be seen.” William stood up. “For the moment, you need to stay safely in here. Marcus and I have