Free When Marrying a Scoundrel by Kathryn Smith Page A

delicious kisser, so why not take their relationship to the next level? It wasn’t as though she was a married woman.
    Oh, why did she have to go and think that? And what on earth was she going to do about Jack?
    Nothing. That’s what she was going to do. Nothing, unless he forced her to do otherwise. The less she had to do with him the better. She would hope that he failed to turn Mr. Kane against her and that he left town as soon as possible. She didn’t want to look for another location for her shop, but she would. She would not give up her dream just because an obstacle named Jack Farrington—Friday now—got in her way.
    What the devil kind of name was Friday anyway?

Chapter 5
    T he telegram Jack sent to Trystan was as succinct and to the point as possible. Basically he told his friend that he had misgivings about “Mrs. Moon’s” business and wondered if renting to her was a wise course given the potential for fraud and police involvement.
    He felt a little guilty after it was done and sent. Even when they were young Sadie had, on occasion, mentioned how she’d like to have her own shop someday. It didn’t really seem to matter what kind of shop, and if she’d told him she planned to open a simple café or perhaps even a restaurant, he wouldn’t have reacted nearly as badly as he had.
    She saw him as a villain. His letter to Tryst no doubt proved him just that. There was no way he could make her see that he was thinking of her as well. Good lord, what if someone brought fraud charges against her? London was rife with those who claimed to be clairvoyants, mediums, and psychic communicators and who were really nothing more than actors. When their charadeswere revealed, it was ruination for them, and often they were arrested.
    Her and those damn tea leaves. They’d always meant so much to her. Sometimes he believed they meant more to her then he did. In their youth it had been a lark—a way of relieving rich women of a few coin and keeping food on their own table. When he’d seen how much success Sadie had, Jack added to the show with a few “mystical” occurrences. He’d even talked her into doing the odd spiritual connection. Then they’d attracted the wrong attention, and if it hadn’t been for Trystan Kane’s intervention, they both could have ended up in jail. Instead, Jack ended up with the chance for a new beginning and Sadie…
    She was still running the same old game, preying on the hopes and fears of others to earn a living. On one hand, he didn’t begrudge her the right. If people were foolish enough to believe their fate could be divined from the bottom of a cup, then they deserved to have their purses lightened. On the other hand, he had left England—left her—to make a better life for both of them and she’d turned her back on that. How long had it taken her to fall back on the old scheme? Had his ship even left port before she went back to that life?
    He’d left her and their life to run off into the unknown and make a better one for both of them. If she hadn’t wanted something better, why hadn’t she told him? Had she wanted to be rid of him? If that were true, why act the injured party now?
    If the system of punishment wasn’t so damned awfulhe’d be inclined to think she deserved to be caught.
    But she didn’t deserve that. The idea of Sadie being put in gaol, possibly transported, turned his stomach. So his telegram to Trystan was as much for her benefit as it was to protect his own business interests. She may have chosen this, but that didn’t mean he had to give her the opportunity to hang herself. He still had some feeling for her, after all. Damn her for it.
    Upon his return to the Barrington he found Vienne La Rieux waiting for him in the lounge. He had to admit it wasn’t just business that made him want to fight Sadie. And obviously from the way La Rieux looked at him, she knew it as well.
    “ Bonjour , Monsieur Friday ,” she greeted him with cool cordiality.