Never Love a Scoundrel (41 page)

“Of course.” He took her hand, and they walked more purposefully toward their destination.

“Goodness, your last vice party is going to be remembered as quite a singular event. It will have been your most shocking party yet.”

“My ‘last’ vice party?”

She peered at him askance. “I know you don’t really want to give them up, but I don’t want to preside over vice parties as Lady Lockwood.” This was one point on which she refused to concede. He didn’t have to go to balls or pretend to be nice to people, but she wouldn’t become the viscountess of debauchery.

He was quiet for several strides, and Lydia worried that he was going to argue.

“All right. No more vice parties.” He sounded sad.

“You’ll really miss them?”

“Just the idea of them. After I was ostracized, they were the only place I felt I belonged.”

She thought for a moment, hating that he was going to lose something that had been a beacon for him during his loneliest years. “Perhaps we could have parties and invite those same people. We’d still have the gaming room—just no lasciviousness.”

Jason laughed. “Something between your vice-free party and my vice parties?”

Her lips quirked up as Lockwood House came into view. “Something like that.”

“All right. Now that I’ve made a concession, it’s time for you to do the same.”

She slowed her pace. “What’s that?”

“You’ll let me handle your aunt.” He took her hands and looked into her eyes with love and sincerity. “I won’t allow her to badger you any longer.”

Warmth flooded her and she smiled up at him. “Thank you, but you needn’t worry about her. I’ve ensured she won’t bother us at all.”

He shook his head. “I shudder to think of how you managed that.”

“I’ll explain it later—I’m afraid it’s a rather awful tale.” She wondered what he would think of his father’s role in Margaret’s past, but imagined he wouldn’t be surprised.

They arrived at Lockwood House, where Scot and North were standing outside.

“Is everything all right, my lord?” North asked.

“Yes, Lady Lydia is safe, as you can see, and Ethan escaped.”

North’s mouth dipped into a serious frown. “I’m afraid the deaths of Kerr and Wolverton were discovered, my lord. Several of the guests left, and the others have congregated in the billiards room to discuss their theories on what happened.”

Jason closed his eyes briefly and shook his head. He gazed at Lydia with regret. “I’m sorry. This is going to be a mess. Are you sure you want to marry me? You’ll be plenty notorious, but not in the way you’d probably like.”

She slid her arm around his waist and hugged him. “It’s the only way I want—with you.”

Scot elbowed his brother. “We’ll make sure the entry is clear so you can go upstairs undisturbed.”

“Thoughtful man, your Scot,” Lydia murmured as Jason held her close to his side.

“Nosy as hell, but yes, very thoughtful.”

She pulled back and looked up at him. “Actually, I have one more demand. I’d like to keep the fantasy room as it is.”

He looked adorably confused. “But you just said you wanted vice-free parties.”

She gave him a sly grin. “Oh, it’s not for parties. It’s for us.”

His answering smile was so wicked and so full of promise that Lydia wished she could take him up there right this instant. But this was Lockwood House’s final vice party, and she’d let it reach its natural conclusion.

“I can see I’m going to need to secure a special license for our wedding. I’m afraid I simply can’t wait for the stupid banns to be read. Please tell me that’s all right.”

Love for this man poured through her. She cupped his beloved face. “It’s more than all right.”

Relief mingled with his joy. “Thank God you agreed. I don’t know what I would’ve done if you’d insisted on waiting.” He sobered briefly. “What about your father? Don’t you want him here for the wedding?”

Her father’s cold letter, including his reference to her as a “replacement” wife for Mr. Jarvis doused any charitable feelings. Furthermore, while Father would be pleased she was finally marrying, she doubted he would care if he attended the ceremony. A letter as cool as his would suffice. “We’ll write to him in the morning.”

He turned her toward the house and walked her up the steps to the front door. “You say that as if we’ll be together.”

She stopped and pivoted to look up at him, her arm linked securely through his. “And why not? You never answered me earlier—do you mind if I sleep here tonight?”

The door swung open as he reached down and swept her into his arms. “I insist.”

And then he kissed her in full view of anyone—inside or out—who cared to watch. It was, Society would later say, a fitting end to the notorious vice parties at Lockwood House.

The end

Thank You!

Thank you so much for reading
Never Love a Scoundrel
. I hope you enjoyed it!

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Never Love a Scoundrel
is book five in the Secrets and Scandals Series. The first four books, in order, are: 
Her Wicked Ways
,
His Wicked Heart
,
To Seduce a Scoundrel
,
(a novella). Read on for a sneak peek at the final book in the Secrets and Scandals series,
Scoundrel Ever After
. You can also read excerpts from books three and four in this series,
To Seduce a Scoundrel
, where Jason Lockwood and his notorious vice parties, as well as Jagger, are first introduced and
To Love a Thief
, which again features Ethan Jagger as a secondary character.

Coming in Fall 2013

The exciting conclusion to the Secrets and Scandals Series

about bad boy Ethan Jagger . . .

Once upon a time there was a very bad boy . . .

Ethan Jagger will do anything to leave his criminal past behind and take his place as a gentleman in Polite Society. Success is within his grasp until his boss discovers his double cross and frames him for murder. As if running from the law and the outlaws weren’t bad enough, he must protect an innocent young lady from the very criminals who want him dead. Worst of all, though, is the dangerous attraction that sparks between them. If he can escape the hangman’s noose and start anew, will she consent to love a scoundrel ever after?

Who met a very nice girl . . .

London only thinks of Audrey Cheswick as a wallflower—if they even think of her at all. She’s tried to find satisfaction—if not happiness—as a spinster-in-waiting, though her intrepid spirit yearns for a grand adventure. But when she runs away with England’s most wanted criminal, she learns adventure comes with a price—not just her reputation or her virtue, but her heart.

Chapter One

London, September, 1818

ETHAN JAGGER
ran like hell. Every pump of his arm pulsed blood from the knife wound in his bicep and brought a fresh burn of agony. Still, he couldn’t stop. Stopping meant capture. Capture meant the hangman’s noose.

He didn’t chance a look back. Though he couldn’t yet hear them, he knew the Bow Street Runners were closing in. Wounded as he was, Ethan wasn’t sure he could outpace them. St. Giles was too bloody far away.

He almost stopped cold. He couldn’t go to St. Giles. Despite his allies, and he had more than a few, everyone in the rookery would know Gin Jimmy was after him. And if they had to choose their loyalty, and they did, they’d award it to the man who could cause them the most harm: Gin Jimmy. Pursued by the law
and
the outlaw: Ethan was well and truly buggered.

There was no help for it. He had to get out of London and figure out what to do next. To do that, he’d need to get to one of his hiding spots where he kept his emergency funds. The closest one—and more importantly in the opposite direction of St. Giles—was in Berkley Square, which meant he had to double back.

But first he had to elude the Runners. He veered left onto a narrow street. And ran straight into a whore.

She grasped his arms to steady herself. Her hand closed around his wound. He sucked in air and white lights speckled his sight.

“Ho there!” She drew her hand away. “Wot’s wrong with ye?”

Lamplight from the wider street up ahead filtered back into the alley, but it was too dark for him to discern much of her features. He could, however, tell she was studying her hand. She had to have felt the blood seeping from the gash Gin Jimmy had given him scarcely a quarter hour before.

Aware that this pause was allowing his pursuers to gain on him, Ethan pushed her aside.

“Hey now, ‘ere’s no need to be rude!” she shrieked.

Ethan didn’t spare her a glance as he hastily set off once more. But then a very large man stepped in his way. “That’s right. Ye shouldn’t be rude to me trollop.”

Bloody fucking hell.
Ethan did not have time for a prostitute or her pimp. However, before he could take off running once more, the pimp positioned himself so close to Ethan that he could smell the man’s filth as well as the gin he’d swilled earlier.

“’Is arm’s ‘urt,” the woman said.

Ethan braced himself, expecting the pimp to hit or grab him in the arm, but the hulking bloke only leaned in closer, sticking his face a mere inch from Ethan’s. “Jagger?” he asked.

It didn’t surprise Ethan that the pimp knew him, though the recognition was not reciprocated. One didn’t rise as far as Ethan had within the criminal ranks without developing a reputation and a . . . following. It had been, so far, a universal advantage.

“Yes, Jagger. Now, back off.” He kept his tone even, yet commanding.

The pimp stepped back, and Ethan inhaled fresher air. His pulse was slowing, which meant he’d been motionless too long. The Runners were going to be on him.

“Ye don’t spend as much time at the flash houses as ye used to.” The pimp’s tone carried an edge of skepticism that Ethan didn’t like. “I hear ye’ve taken up with a diff’rent class o’ folk, and that ye might not even go by Jagger no more.”

Ethan didn’t have time or patience for the man’s inquiry. His arm was killing him and if he didn’t start running again, Bow Street would be upon him. “I need to be on my way. Move aside.”

Ethan made to dash past, but as he stepped to the side, the pimp’s arm shot out and grabbed Ethan’s bicep. With a howl, Ethan spun and sent his fist into the pimp’s jaw. He would’ve followed up with another jab to his middle, but Ethan couldn’t make his right arm work.

A shout of “There he is!” came from behind. Damn everything to hell. The Runners had found him.

Read the entire first scene
here
.

To Seduce a Scoundrel