A Loving Scoundrel by Johanna Lindsey Page A

not so much a uniform, but not a fancy lady’s dress, so Danny took a chance and hailed her.
    “G’day, ma’am. The ’andsome Malory live ’ere?”
    “That’s rich, dearie,” the woman replied in a good-natured tone. “They’re all handsome.”
    “’Ow many Lord Malorys are there?”
    “In this household, three.”
    “With black ’air and—”
    “No, the earl lives here, with his two sons, none with black hair. You must mean his brother Sir Anthony. His house is over on Piccadilly. Or you could mean his nephew Jeremy. Those two lords both have black hair.”
    “I’ve this package to deliver,” Danny said, tapping her pet’s box, the best excuse she could come up with to gain access to Malory. “It were a young lord that placed the order, around twenty-five ’e was.”
    “That’d be Jeremy Malory then. Lives with his father in Berkeley Square.”
    Danny blushed, forced to lie again to get directions. “I’m new to the city. Could ye point me to Berkeley?”
    The woman did, and it didn’t take all that long to find the square, which was crowded at that time of the morning with pedestrians and carriage drivers pulled up to the curb, waiting on their passengers to leave their fancy houses. So she easily got pointed again to the house she needed. It wasn’t quite as imposing as the other one. She knew enough to go around to the servants’ entrance from all her job hunting.
    But it just wasn’t her day for luck, she was beginning to fear. Jeremy didn’t live there anymore, had moved out just last week to his own residence over on Park Lane, near his cousin’s house. As if Danny gave a flipping hoot for all the extra information the friendly cook’s helper passed on as she tried her best to flirt with Danny.
    More directions, more walking. Tarnation! She’d never walked so bleedin’ far in her life. It was a nice street though, that she finally reached, at least she thought it was, because one side of it bordered a park in full summer bloom. But even getting there in good time, another hour was wasted before she found someone who pointed her to the right house. Since Malory had only just moved in, most of the passing servants on the street didn’t know which house was his.
    Now after all that running around, she didn’t expect to find Malory at home. At the rate her luck had been going, tomorrow would be more like it, or even the day after. Which meant another night or two sleeping in parks. But at least one was near to hand. And as long as she kept her expectations low, she could keep her anger to just simmering. But that young lord was in for a ripping earful, when—if—she ever clapped eyes on him again.

Chapter 11
     
    H E WAS HOME ! Not only that, Danny was actually let in the front door!
    A young girl around her own age did so. Slightly plump of frame, with lackluster brown hair, she barely glanced at Danny, said merely, “Wait here, and don’t touch anything if you know what’s good for you.” Then she disappeared up some nearby stairs.
    Danny stood there tensely, still amazed that she’d gotten in the door. She ran her hand through her mop of curls to make sure they were orderly. Lucy always saw to her hair when they were alone, keeping it trimmed short. Lucy wasn’t very good with scissors though, so the chopping she did was usually uneven. But Danny wasn’t vain about her hair, and besides, not much of it could be seen when she was wearing her hat, which she missed keenly at the moment.
    She wasn’t going to touch anything. She didn’t want to even look at anything, she was suddenly so nervous. This was a bad idea. Hadn’t she concluded, when she was still in his company, that Malory was too dangerous to deal with? Her anger had made her forget that, but she recalled it now in her nervousness.
    She turned to leave, the smart thing to do. But she was arrested by the mirror on the wall next to the door. Not very big, it hung over a narrow table that held only a plate with