The Bachelor Bargain (Secrets, Scandals, and Spies)

brooked no argument as she straightened her shoulders to stand tall, her five-foot-nine inches towering next to both Etta’s and Livie’s rather average statures. “Though it would assist if we had a short list of suspects to start with.”
“I will meet with Lady Chilton and see what I can discover,” Livie said, her eyes straying to the far side of the cemetery where Alice’s sister was seeing off the various mourners and presumably thanking them for attending.
“Good,” Kat replied. “Once we have a list, we can discover who the scoundrel is, and all of his dirty little secrets.”
“But then what?” Etta asked. “How will we stop him from ruining another young lady?”
Livie adjusted her left leg, trying to ease the slight cramp that had gripped it, before standing straighter herself. “We will ruin him, just as he ruined Alice. We shall reveal his secrets to the world.” And if he did kill Alice, then he would spend the rest of his life in a rat-infested prison.
“But why would Society listen to us?” Etta asked. “You know we’re considered oddities.”
What Etta said was true. Even though Livie was the daughter of a duke, in the eyes of Society, her lame leg made her disabled and considered definitely not marriageable material. If it weren’t for her father’s position, or for her godmother’s iron influence on Society, Livie would have never been tolerated. And though Kat was the daughter and niece of earls, her lack of artifice and her bluntness had marked her as someone to be wary of, hence why no one would dare cut either of them.
Then there was Etta. Etta, whose father owned the largest newspaper in all of England. A man who none would dare slight for fear of being shredded to pieces in the pages of his paper. So Etta, like Livie and Kat, was acknowledged but never properly accepted, seemingly always on the periphery.
Probably why they’d been drawn to one another at school, for none of them had fit into what Society considered normal. So no, their peers probably wouldn’t listen if they began to speak the truth about a gentleman, especially as each of them was considered firmly on the shelf.
But Society would listen if those truths were printed by an anonymous source. After all, there was nothing Society loved better than gossip. And gossip in the form of scandal would be zealously consumed.
Livie glanced at both women. “We are going to enter the publishing arena, my friends, and start an anonymous monthly gazette, dedicated to exposing the nefarious bachelors of Society and all their dirty little secrets.”
“Oh Livie,” gasped Etta, her eyes twinkling in delight. “That is brilliant! Society will flock to it like a moth to a flame. And it will make those no-good bounders think twice before ruining another young lady.”
“It certainly will.” Kat nodded in agreement.
“The gazette will have one mission and one mission only.” Livie took a breath as the idea solidified in her head. “To expose the men in Society who seek to deceive and exploit those weaker than themselves. We will ensure all their secrets and scandals are aired for one and all to read about in detail. For too long, the bachelors in Society have been able to get away with seducing and ruining ladies at their leisure, with no consequences. Well, no longer. Let us give them a dose of their own medicine. We will seek justice not only for Alice but for all those women who have been used and discarded like rag dolls.”
A slow smile spread across Kat’s face, a rare occurrence on her friend’s more-often-than-not serious countenance. The gentlemen in Society didn’t call Kat “the Ice Maiden” for nothing.
“You’re a genius, Livie,” Kat said.
Livie’s lips twisted up as the idea took shape. “Indeed. There will be nowhere they can hide. Nowhere they can run. When we’re finished with them, they’ll not dare show their faces in Society again.”
“Justice for Alice,” Etta seconded. “But what about the cost of starting such an endeavor?” Though Etta was the writer in the group, she was also the most practical of the three of them, especially when it came to finances. “Even a small gazette will take a lot of capital to start up. Considering none of us has any independent funds apart from our pin money, which certainly won’t be enough to start up a publishing endeavor, how will we afford it?”
Taking in a deep breath, Livie glanced to the grave again and made up her mind. She’d known it would cost a lot to implement her idea, but she also knew of a potential source who had ample funds to assist them. An extremely dangerous source. But seeing Alice’s coffin solidified in her mind that something had to be done to seek justice for her friend. Whatever it took. “Leave it to me. I know who has the blunt and the temerity to invest in such an endeavor. I need only convince him.”
“Who are you going to approach?” Kat asked.
Livie straightened her shoulders. She’d never kept secrets from her friends before, and now she would be keeping two from them. But even Kat herself, who was the most unconventional woman Livie knew and could amply protect herself from threats, would think twice before approaching a man some called the most dangerous in all of London. “Please don’t ask me that, for it is a name I cannot reveal just yet. I’m asking you both to trust me. Please.”
“Of course we trust you, Livie,” Kat replied, her eyes narrowing, whether in concern or misgivings, Livie wasn’t certain. “But you do tend to believe the best in others when you probably shouldn’t. And to be honest, I can’t think of a single gentleman who would be happy to fund a gazette solely focused on destroying the reputations of other gentlemen.”
“Trust me. That will not be a problem.” Because the man Livie intended to ask was no gentleman at all. No.
The Bastard of Baker Street was said to hail