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When the carriage stopped, Charlie peered out theat the facade of the brothel, then descended reluctantly and handed the driver a coin

"I don’t think they’re open yet,in the silent and still at as well It was as if all its inhabitants and even the building itself were sleeping, or waiting He shook his head "They are ht’s business Are you sure you wouldn’t rather go elsewheres?"

"Nay This is fine Thank you," Charlieaway to walk slowly up to the door She took a ed not to shrink when it was opened by a giant who eyed her doubtfully and ru her throat, she lifted her chin and announced with as ance as she could muster, "Radcliffe at your service I am expected"

His bushy red eyebrows rose at that, but he stepped aside at once

Charlie could not be sure whether he doubted her veracity in clai to be expected, or that he did not believe that the slender young lad before him was Lord Radcliffe She did not care either way She siet this business over with and return home to her imperfect, but at least , he led her across the hall and upstairs Recognizing the room he led her to as the very one she had encountered Bessie in, Charlie hesitated about entering until she spotted theby the ith his back to the roonation, she stiffened her spine and strode into the room with a false air of bravado, then jumped in surprise when the door slammed shut behind her The man at thehad not even reacted to the sound After several moments ticked by and he still had not turned to face her, Charlie gave up her feigned indifference and shifted unhappily "Well?"

"Well," thethe flintlock pistol he held in his hand

A jolt of disbelief ran through her as she stared at the weapon A second rocked through her when she raised her gaze to peer at his face

"Norwich!" she gasped, her gaze shifting between his face and the pistol he held as it dropped liuely fah she’d had no occasion to have seen it before now One hardly displayed guns at balls and soirees, and those were the only places Charlie had ever had occasion to meet up with the brother of thehere?"

He stared at her blankly, then down at the weapon he held and away toward the , a frown furrowing his brow "I" He hesitated, then grih that ended on a sigh "You knohy I aested dryly "It was you all along, was it?"

He shrugged slightly "London living is quite expensive"

"How did you knoe were?"

"I have a passing acquaintance with your uncle I was even at your country estate once It was a very brief stop," he added when he spotted her doubtful expression "He owedenough to be properly introduced, but I did spot you and your sister returning fro, he ht to set his pistol on one of the bedside tables, then leaned back against the wall beside it, crossing his ars at the ankles in a senize you at first It had been well over a year since I saw the two of you Then, too, it was clever of you to disguise yourself as a boy" He corin that, under other circuenious"

"Not ingenious enough if you recognized us"

"Oh" He waved a hand airily "That was not your fault, really After all, it helped that I knew Radcliffe had no relatives That led ured it out had you changed your nahed at that Their names had been the weakest part of the entire plan But after having already given them to Radcliffe, they had decided that Charlie and Elizabeth were coet aith it Besides, the off-chance of recognition had see alternate na each other by their real na to the fake ones Still, if it had not been for the fact that they had never been to London and that few people had ever come to the estate since their parents’ deaths, they would never have chanced it

"You really should have let Radcliffe keep this lanced sharply at hiret and weariness in his tone "Aye, well, he was not available He was not even home and the letter did say that if he did not show up, you would tell the entire ton

Besides, why should he pay you off? We had him fooled as well"

"Did he really notknow you were a woman?"

She shook her head soleed me off to a brothel had he realized I was a woman?"

"Good point," he said wryly, and shook his head "This here I first saw you, you know"

Charlie tilted her head at that "Really?"

"Aye I saw you creeping out of one roo each door until you slipped into this one What were you looking for?"

"Radcliffe," she ht

"I realized you were a woave a start at the clai to hide her disbelief "Oh, aye The rest of London was fooled, but not you"

He ed "It is all in the presentation, I suspect Had I first met you at the theater or a ball like everyoue else, I may have been fooled But I first saw you in a brothel" When she merely stared at him blankly, he continued, "The women here wear all manner of costume to please their customers, and when I first saw you it was from behind as you backed out of the room down the hall"

She arched her eyebrows "So?"

"Your hips are far too generous and shapely to be a boy’s Quite pert and attractive, actually, and as I have never found a rinned wickedly again as she flushed, but continued, "I thought perhaps you were a new girl playing a role for one of the men"

"I see" Charlie cleared her throat "Then ere introduced to you as Radcliffe’s cousinswhen you knew he had no faether and decided to blackmail us"

"You rihed without hu to be," he ain

Charlie’s gaze dropped to the pistol auto in the cut steel stock inlays and the initials on the butt ’The inn"

He frowned at her softly spoken word "What?"

"That is where I recognize your pistol from," she explained "An inn on the way into London The innkeeper showed it to ambled all of his money away to another patron at the inn and had tried to sneak out on his bill That pistol looked just like yours In fact it had initials on it," she recalled, and frowned as she tried to recall what those initials had been

"RN"