Free Wicked Earl Seeks Proper Heiress by Sara Bennett

a little too bright.
    Instead it had been to Beth’s arms she ran on those stormy nights when the lightning flashed outside and she woke, terrified. She’d always been afraid of storms, as long as she could remember. Had there been a storm on the night her mother ran off with her lover? She would never know now; there was no one left to ask. The one time her father had spoken to her about the matter, his voice stiff with repressed emotion, he had not mentioned a storm.
    “What happened? Was it not a pleasant evening?” Beth was eager to hear about the baroness’s supper.
    “It was pleasant enough.” Averil wondered whether Gareth had received as many pledges as he’d hoped for, after the earl arrived. Many of the guests left in haste and others did not seem very happy. All the more reason, she supposed, to make sure that the earl gave them a nice sum tomorrow.
    “And yet something is worrying you.”
    She didn’t want to mention the earl to Beth, but she knew that her cousin would. “The earl of Southbrook was there. Gareth invited him.”
    Beth goggled at her.
    “He wants to be shown over the Home for Distressed Women tomorrow and plans to make a generous donation.”
    “The man is not seen in polite society for years and now suddenly here he is, after bringing you home the other night, turning up at Doctor Simmons’s champagne supper. Averil, I don’t like coincidences. I hate to remind you yet again, but one day soon you will be a very wealthy young woman.”
    Averil was startled into a laugh. “You think the earl wants me for my money? I think you’re doing him a disservice. He tells me he’s using me as a distraction.”
    Beth’s other eyebrow went up. “So you do not feel he is making up to you, Averil? He’s not giving you lovelorn looks?”
    Averil couldn’t help laughing again at the very thought. “He says he used me to warn his son against going out at night in London. A sort of cautionary tale.”
    Beth pursed her lips. “I agree, it doesn’t sound as if he’s fixed his attentions on you. But be careful, my dear. He has a reputation.”
    “Beth . . . what happened to him? Why is he no longer invited into society? Why is he so wicked?”
    Beth looked uncomfortable. “Something about his wife, I think, and the manner of their marriage. And then when she died there were questions asked. I’m sorry but I don’t know the details, Averil. The earl has never been a leading light in London society. I did hear he worked for the government for a time, very hush-hush.”
    The earl had mentioned something about that, and that he was very good at finding missing people. So it was true then? He might well be able to find Rose. Averil felt a surge of excitement. Perhaps at last she was on the verge of discovering what had happened to her sister.
    Beth maneuvered the conversation on to some of the other guests and Averil mentioned the baroness.
    “Horrible woman, I don’t know why Doctor Simmons cozies up to her as he does,” Beth said.
    “Cozies up to her?” Averil repeated. “You make it sound as if he and she . . . as if . . .” Her eyes grew big.
    Beth’s gaze avoided hers. “There has been a great deal of gossip, my dear.”
    “But she is so old!”
    “You will find, Averil, that necessity makes strange bedfellows.” She put a hand to her mouth. “Oh, now I’ve made it worse, haven’t I? Tell me about General Bunnington instead.”
    “I’m sure you’re wrong,” Averil said primly, before doing as she asked.
    When Beth had gone to bed, Averil lay thinking in the darkness, going over matters in her head. Beth was worried that the earl would ruin her reputation and that he was after her fortune, that he was using her, but Averil rather thought the shoe was on the other foot. She was in no danger from Lord Southbrook. It was she who was using him, to help her find Rose, and she was willing to risk a great deal to achieve her aim.
    B eth couldn’t sleep either.
    She was very