Bronwyn Scott Read online

  SEDUCING THE CAPTAIN

  It would be unwise to mistake me for an innocent debutante—for years I have graced the smoky gloom of many a billiards club and honed my skills at my father’s side.

  But now he has a new protégé—Captain Greer Barrington—and while my father would see me attract the attentions of an eligible lord I, Mercedes Lockhart, have other ambitions…. Even if that means seducing the captain to earn back my father’s favor! I know I must avoid falling for Greer’s charming smile...but his sensual kisses could be worth the risk....

  Ladies of Impropriety

  Breaking Society’s Rules

  “Mr. Ogilvy tells me you play a good game.”

  Greer glanced around the room, smiling broadly. “Good enough to have beaten most of the gentlemen present on more than one occasion. He has compelled me to come and defend men everywhere.” He gave the chalk on his cue tip an efficient blow, looking entirely likable.

  “Hear, hear,” came a few cries from the back of the room.

  The dratted man was going to steal her crowd if she wasn’t careful. Usually she admired Greer’s ease, how people wanted to cheer for him. She wasn’t admiring that trait at the moment. Beneath his aura of bonhomie he was primed, a veritable powder keg, and the fuse was lit. He was going to ignite this room and she’d get caught in the explosion.

  She hadn’t lost the room yet. And she wouldn’t. She’d beat Greer and give these boys a show they wouldn’t soon forget.

  Mercedes met Greer’s gaze down the length of the table, eyes wide with secret laughter, her mouth a perfect, discreetly rouged O. A gentleman or two sighed when she chalked up and raised the cue to her lips in her trademark gesture and blew, knowing Greer would get the unspoken message: game on.

  * * *

  A Lady Risks All

  Harlequin® Historical #1145—July 2013

  From the fabulous Bronwyn Scott comes a

  wickedly naughty and sensational new duet

  Ladies of Impropriety

  Breaking Society’s Rules

  Practiced gambler Mercedes Lockhart takes on the

  big boys—and the irresistible Captain Barrington—

  in England’s billiards clubs

  in

  A LADY RISKS ALL

  July 2013

  Elise Sutton is a lady in a man’s world when she finds herself fighting for her family’s company at London’s Blackwell Docks—but that doesn’t mean she can’t show

  the roguish privateer Dorian Rowland who’s boss

  in

  A LADY DARES

  August 2013

  Two scandalously sexy stories. Two alluringly provocative ladies who dare to flout the rules of the ton—and enjoy it!

  Also, don’t miss out on the seductive Lucia Booth, proprietor of Mrs. Booth’s Discreet Gentleman’s Club and former spy in A Lady Seduces. Available July 2013

  from Harlequin® Historical Undone!

  Available from Harlequin® Historical and BRONWYN SCOTT

  Pickpocket Countess #889

  Notorious Rake, Innocent Lady #896

  The Viscount Claims His Bride #929

  The Earl’s Forbidden Ward #986

  Untamed Rogue, Scandalous Mistress #1001

  A Thoroughly Compromised Lady #1030

  Secret Life of a Scandalous Debutante #1058

  *How to Disgrace a Lady #1104

  *How to Ruin a Reputation #1108

  *How to Sin Successfully #1113

  †A Lady Risks All #1145

  **Unbefitting a Lady

  *Rakes Beyond Redemption

  †Ladies of Impropriety

  **Castonbury Park

  And in ebooks from Harlequin Historical Undone!

  Libertine Lord, Pickpocket Miss

  Pleasured by the English Spy

  Wicked Earl, Wanton Widow

  Arabian Nights with a Rake

  An Illicit Indiscretion

  *How to Live Indecently

  And in Harlequin Historical Royal Weddings ebook

  Prince Charming in Disguise

  Did you know that these novels are also available as ebooks?

  Visit www.Harlequin.com.

  Author Note

  Billiards is just about as English as horse racing. References note that by the seventeenth century there wasn’t a village in England that didn’t boast at least one billiards table in an assembly hall or tavern. Here are some fun facts about Greer and Mercedes’s story:

  The year 1838 is part of the “gateway” period of billiards as it moves closer to the modern pool game.

  John Thurston is a real historical figure and has a cameo appearance early in our story. In 1799 he established the House of Thurston in London, and is credited with new inventions for the table such as his 1835 rubber cushions, the use of warming pans to keep the cushions supple and replacing wood table beds with slate (c.1826). The table Greer mentions from his time in Greece is based on a true story.

  The year 1838 also sees the introduction of the “run” style of today’s pool game. The run is first officially mentioned by game master Hoyle, in association with “the French following game” in an 1845 edition of game rules. It crosses the Atlantic to America in 1857.

  I should also take a moment to mention Alan Lockhart. He is modeled after the nineteenth-century billiards champion Edwin Kentfield.

  I hope you enjoy this first of two stories in my Ladies of Impropriety duet. Stay tuned for Elise Sutton’s story, A Lady Dares, coming August 2013.

  DEDICATION

  This one is for my dad, who kept asking me

  when “that billiards book” was coming out.

  Here it is, finally, with much love.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Excerpt

  Chapter One

  Brighton—March 1837

  There was nothing quite as exhilarating as a man who knew how to handle his stick. Mercedes Lockhart put an eye to the discreet peephole for a second glimpse, separate trills of excitement and anxiety vibrating through her. Rumour was right, he did have an amazing crack.

  Outside in the billiards hall, that crack would sound like a cannon. But here in the soundproof peeping room, she could only watch and worry about what his presence in her father’s club meant.

  There’s someone I want you to meet. The phrase rang through her head for the hundredth time. When fathers said that to their daughters it usually meant one thing: a suitor. But those fathers weren’t billiards great Allen Lockhart. He was more likely to bring home a gem-studded cue than a suitor. Perhaps that was the reason she’d been so surprised by the summons. ‘Come down to the club, there’s someone I want you to watch,’ he’d said. It had been a long time since he’d needed her in that way. She didn’t dare refuse. So, here she was, ensconced in the ‘viewing room’, eye riveted to the peephole, taking in the player at table three.

  He was a man she’d have noticed even without her father’s regard. Most women would. He was well built; broad shouldered and lean hipped, an observation made inescapable by the fact he was playing with
his coat off. At the moment, he was bent at the waist and levelling his cue for the next shot, a posture that offered her a silhouette of trim waist and tautly curved buttock, framed by muscled thighs that tensed ever so slightly beneath the tight fawn of his breeches.

  Her eyes roamed upwards to the strong forearms displayed tan against the rolled back cuffs of his white shirtsleeves, to the taper of lean fingers forming a bridge through which his cue stick slid effortlessly, expertly as he made his shot.

  He straightened and turned in her direction, accepting congratulations on the shot. He pushed back the blond hair that had fallen over his face. Mercedes caught a glimpse of startling blue eyes; a deep shade of sapphire she could appreciate even at a distance. He was confident, not cocky in the way he accepted the congratulations of others. There was no doubt he handled his cue with ease, his playing strategy sound but straightforward, his use of the ‘break’ progressive and in line with the new style billiards was starting to take.

  But Mercedes could see immediately there wasn’t a lot of finesse in it. It was understandable. A player with his skill likely didn’t see the need for finer machinations. That was something that could be improved upon. Mercedes halted her thoughts right there. Why? Why should she improve him? Is that what her father wanted her opinion for? What interest did the legendary Lockhart want with a handsome young billiards player? The anxiety that had plagued her trilled again. Was he a suitor for her? A protégé for her father?

  Neither option sat well with her. She had no intentions to marry although she was aware of her father’s ambition for her to wed a title. It would be the final feather in his cap of self-made glory—Allen Lockhart’s daughter married to a peer of the realm! But she had other goals and neither a suitor nor a protégé was among them.

  Mercedes stepped back from the peephole and scribbled a short note to her father, who sat in the main room in plain sight. There was no skulking in private viewing chambers for him, she thought with no small amount of frustration. It hadn’t always been like this: spying through peepholes and pretending she didn’t exist. It used to be that she had the run of the place. But she’d grown up and it was no longer seemly or prudent, as past events had proven, for her to roam the halls of Lockhart’s Billiards Club, no matter how elegant the setting or how skilled the player. The bottom line was that men didn’t like to be beaten by a woman. Thus had ended her career of playing in public. For now.

  This was why the thought of a protégé met with her disapproval. If there was to be one, it should be her. She’d honed her own skill at her father’s side. When she’d shown some aptitude for the game, he’d taught her to play as only a professional can. She’d learned his secrets and developed her own until she was on par with the best. Then she’d committed the crime of turning seventeen and her freedoms had been curtailed; in part by society and in part by her own headstrong judgement.

  It was something of a curse that the one thing she was good at—no, not merely good at, excellent at—was a talent she did not get to display. These days she practised for herself, alone in the privacy of their home and she waited, forever ready if the chance to prove herself came her way.

  Mercedes folded the note and sent it out to her father. She bent her eye to the peephole one last time, a thought occurring to her as she watched the man pot his final ball. Maybe he was her chance. Her earlier excitement started to hum again. She’d been waiting five years for her opportunity, alert for any possibility. In all that time, she’d never thought her chance would come in the form of a handsome Englishman—she’d had her fill of those. But if her father could use him, perhaps she could too.

  Slow down, she cautioned herself. A good gambler always assessed the risk and there was risk here. If her father intended him to be a protégé and she assisted with that, she could effectively cut herself out of the picture altogether. She would have to go carefully. On the other hand, it would be a chance to show her father what she could do in a situation where he would be unable to deny her talent.

  It was a venture that could see her exiled or elevated, but she was nothing if not her father’s daughter; a gambler at heart who knew the risks and rules of any engagement and chose to play anyway.

  * * *

  Gamblers of any successful repute generally acknowledged the secret to luck resided in knowing three things: the rules, the stakes and when to quit. No one knew this better than English billiards legend, Allen Lockhart. He couldn’t remember a time when the stakes hadn’t been high—they always were when all one had to risk was a reputation. As for quitting—if there was a time to quit, he hadn’t discovered it yet, which was why the usual ritual of a brandy with long-time friend and partner, Kendall Carlisle, did not fill him with the usual satisfaction on this dreary March afternoon.

  Normally this time of day was his favourite. It was a time when he could sit back in one of the club’s deep chairs and savour his domain. His domain. Carlisle managed the place, but it had been his billiards money that had built this and more.

  Across from him, oblivious to his restless observations, Carlisle took a swallow of brandy followed by a contented sigh. ‘This is the life, Allen. Not bad for two junior boot boys.’

  Allen smiled in response. It was a well-loved reminiscence of his. The two of them had done well over the years kowtowing to the rich gentlemen in the subscription rooms of Bath for shillings. They’d watched and they’d learned, eventually establishing their own small empire. Now they were the rich gentlemen. Now they ran the subscription rooms, not in Bath, but in more lucrative Brighton. They earned much more than shillings from customers these days. At the age of forty-seven, Allen Lockhart took great pride in having used the rules of billiards to rise above his poor beginnings.

  From their grouping of chairs by the fire, Allen could hear the quiet snick of ivory balls on baize, the unmistakable sounds of lazy-afternoon billiard games going on in the room beyond him. Later in the evening, the club would be crowded with officers and gentlemen, the tables loud with the intensity of money games.

  Allen felt his hand twitch in anticipation of the games to come. He didn’t play in public often anymore, not wanting to tarnish his image by making himself vulnerable to defeat. A legend couldn’t be beaten too often without damaging the illusion of being untouchable. But the desire was still there. Billiards was in his blood. He was the legendary Allen Lockhart, after all. He’d built this club on his fame. People came here to play, of course, but also to see him. It wasn’t enough to be good at billiards; one also had to be a showman.

  He knew the power of a well-placed word here, a timely stroke tip there. It was heady stuff to think people would talk about a single sentence from him for months in London. ‘Lockhart says you have to hit the ball from the side’ or ‘Lockhart recommends African ivory for balls’. But lately, the usual thrill had faded. Such excitement had become de rigueur. He was restless.

  The resounding crack of a hard break shattered the laconic atmosphere of the room. Allen briefly acknowledged it with a swift glance towards table three where a young officer played before turning back to Kendall. ‘I hope you’re coming up to the house tomorrow for the party.’

  ‘I wouldn’t miss it. I’m looking forward to seeing the new table.’ Carlisle raised his glass in a toast. ‘I hear Thurston has outdone himself this time.’

  Lockhart grinned broadly like a proud first-time father. ‘Slate tables with rubber bumpers are the way of the future. They’re fast, Kendall.’ Another loud break from table three interrupted. This time Lockhart spared the table more than a passing glance. ‘Good Lord, that lad’s got some power.’ He chanced a look in the direction of the secret viewing room and wondered what Mercedes would make of it. Kendall hadn’t lied when he’d said the lad could play.

  Their chairs were angled to take in the expanse of the elegant club if they chose. Both men fell silent, focusing on the game, looking out into the well-appointed billiards floor. Long windows let in enormous amounts of light for quality
shots. Subtle forest-green wallpapering with matching floor-to-ceiling curtains gave the room the air of a sophisticated drawing room. This was no mean gambling hall. This was a place meant to invite a higher class of gentleman to engage in the noble sport of billiards and right now table three was heavily engaged.

  The ‘lad’ in question was not a boy at all, but a blond-haired officer with the broad-shouldered build of a handsomely put-together man. A confident man too, Lockhart noted. Effortless charm and affability poured off him as he potted the third ball and proceeded to run the table. Affable and yet without any feigned humility.

  ‘He reminds me of you back in our salad days,’ Carlisle murmured after the officer made a particularly difficult corner shot.

  ‘How old do you think he is?’ Kendall would know. Information gathering was Kendall’s gift. His own was using it. The combined talent had been invaluable to them both over the years.

  ‘Mid-twenties. He’s been in a few times. His name’s Barrington. Captain Barrington,’ Kendall supplied as Lockhart had known he would.

  At that age, he and Kendall had been living on the road, Lockhart thought wistfully. They’d played any money game they could find in just about every assembly hall between Manchester and London. They’d run just about every ‘angle’ too—plucking peacocks, two friends and a stranger and a hundred more.

  ‘He’s bought a subscription,’ Kendall volunteered.

  ‘On half-pay?’ Any officer in town these days with time for billiards was on half-pay. But on that salary, a subscription to his fine establishment was a luxury unless one had other resources.

  Kendall shrugged. ‘I cut him a fair deal. He’s good for business. People like to play him.’

  ‘For a while.’ Lockhart shrugged. Barrington would have to be managed. If he was too good, players would tire of getting beaten and that would be just as bad for business. He didn’t want that to happen too quickly.

  ‘With the big championship coming up in July, I thought he might generate some additional interest,’ Carlisle began, but Lockhart’s mind was already steps ahead. Perhaps the Captain could be taught when to lose, perhaps he could be taught a lot of things. Carlisle was right. The young man could be very useful in the months leading up to the All England Billiards Championship. The old thrill began to course.