Unmasking Miss Appleby
Chapter OneOctober 10th, 1805
London
Marcus Langford, Ninth Earl of Cosgrove, strode down the steps of Westminster Palace. Clouds streamed across the face of the moon.
“Excellent speech, sir,” his secretary, Lionel, said.
Marcus didn’t reply. His mind wasn’t on the address he’d made to the Upper House, it was on the sniggers he’d heard as the debating chamber emptied, the whispers that followed him down the corridor. Cuckold Cosgrove.
A black tide of rage swept through him. “We’ll walk back,” he said abruptly, and lengthened his stride. The icy wind gusted, making the torches flare in their brackets, almost snatching his hat from his head, filling his mouth with the stink of the Thames.
Lionel tucked the satchel of papers more firmly under one arm and trotted
