by Nerys Leigh
The Pinkerton Matchmaker
An Agent for
Kitty
Nerys Leigh
THE PINKERTON MATCHMAKER:
AN AGENT FOR KITTY
Copyright: Nerys Leigh
Published: 2019
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval systems, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted, without written permission from the author. You must not circulate this book in any format.
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WANTED:
Female Agents to join National Detective Agency
Daring women who seek adventure and are of sound mind and body.
You will help the criminal elements answer for their crimes and secure safety for their victims.
Chapter One
August, 1872.
She’d lost her mind; that was the only explanation.
The Denver headquarters of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency was a perfectly ordinary-looking, if rather large, house, but at that moment it may as well have been the gateway to the very depths of the underworld. What on earth was she doing here?
“Miss? You getting out?”
The cab driver’s question made Kitty jump.
With an inaudible sigh, she nodded.
“That’ll be twenty cents.”
She took two dimes from her coin purse and handed them over. “Thank you.”
He leaned forward a little, turning his head. “I’m sorry?”
“Thank you,” she said again, louder this time.
“My pleasure, miss.”
She stepped down from the cab and reached in to retrieve her carpet bag.
As he drove away, she took in a deep breath, squared her narrow shoulders, drew up to all of her five feet and one inch of height, and lifted her chin.
“I can do this,” she declared, although it may have been the quietest declaration in the whole history of declarations. But at least she’d said it.
Nodding firmly, she started up the path to the porch.
On reaching the front door, she knocked. Then she knocked again, this time loud enough for someone inside to hear if they were farther than two feet from the door. She glanced back at the street automatically, checking to see if anyone had heard. Not that it mattered if they had, but old habits were hard to break. Well, for her they didn’t break at all.
After a twenty second wait that had Kitty panicking that she had something wrong, a woman answered the door.
“Good morning,” Kitty said, reminding herself to speak up when the woman leaned forward a little to hear her. “I’m Miss Kitty Denton. I received a letter inviting me to come?”
The woman motioned her inside. “Of course, come in, Miss Denton. I’m Marianne Chapman.” She closed the door and directed Kitty along a corridor. “Please forgive me. I wasn’t expecting you to arrive so early.”
Kitty’s stomach curled in on itself. “Am I too early? The letter didn’t specify a time and I didn’t want to be late. I can come back. Would you like me to come back? What time should I come back?” She winced at how ridiculous she sounded.
Marianne’s smile went a little way towards reassuring her. A very little.
“Absolutely not, now is perfect.”
Kitty swallowed and nodded and attempted to tamp down her anxiety as she followed her past a desk and into an office. Not a good start to an interview that could shape her entire life. At this rate they’d send her right back to Cincinnati without even giving her a chance, and she wouldn’t at all blame them. She was the last person anyone would choose to be a Pinkerton agent.
“I’ll just go and fetch Mr. Gordon, our lead agent,” Marianne said. “Do have a seat. Can I get you anything? Tea? Coffee? Water?”
“No, thank you,” Kitty replied, silently adding, not if you don’t want me to be sick all over this clean floor. Her stomach was churning with nerves.
Marianne smiled her marginally reassuring smile again. “I’ll be right back.” And then she left.
Kitty considered her seat-taking options. Which chair should she choose? Not the one behind the desk, obviously. There were two in front, but they were in the middle of the room. She took a step towards them and stopped, glancing behind her to the door. If she sat there anyone could come in and see her, but she wouldn’t see them.
I have nothing to worry about, she told herself. This is the Pinkerton headquarters. What could happen to me here?
It was a perfectly logical thought, and had no effect whatsoever. Sighing, she went to sit on a chair in the corner by the window, her back to the wall.
What on earth was she doing here? How could she possibly be a Pinkerton agent when she couldn’t even sit in a stupid chair?
Shaking her head in disgust at herself, she placed her carpet bag on the floor beside her and looked around.
The glass-fronted hutch on the sideboard behind the desk contained sixteen books, twenty-two cardboard files, and two framed photographs, one of a young woman and the other of two men, one of whom she recognized from her research as Allan Pinkerton, founder of the agency. There was a smattering of notches on a tall cupboard, probably made by a blade, which was a little disconcerting. Marks on the wall could have been made the same way. Had there been a fight in here? If so, someone had been throwing knives. A lot of knives.
She continued to peruse the room, details jumping out at her and then receding as she dismissed them as unimportant. Not forgotten, just relegated to the deep recesses of her mind to make way for new things. It was the one skill she had. She hoped it would be enough.
Marianne returned a few minutes later, bringing with her a man. Late thirties, smartly dressed, neat facial hair. Professional-looking. His shoes, however, marked him as a man of action, in contrast to the businessman-like suit. They were polished but well-worn. Comfortable, to enable him to run if the need arose. Mr. Archibald Gordon, lead agent of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency Denver office, no doubt.
Her other clue was that he was the man shaking Allan Pinkerton’s hand in the photograph.
Marianne stopped inside the room and frowned in confusion. “I left her right…” Her eyes found Kitty in the corner. “There you are! I didn’t see you.”
That wasn’t a surprise. Kitty tended to blend into the background wherever she was. She liked it that way.
Mr. Gordon walked over to her with a smile and she offered him her hand. She’d decided in advance to do that when she met him. Offering one’s hand gave an illusion of confidence.
She hoped.
“Good morning, Miss Denton.” He shook her hand firmly. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to greet you.”
To her relief, he didn’t make her move from her seat in the corner. Instead he took a chair close by while Marianne brought one of those from in front of the desk and set it beside him for herself.
“So, Miss Denton,” he said, “why do you believe you would be an asset to the Pinkerton National Detective Agency?”
Kitty swallowed against her suddenly dry mouth and reminded herself to speak up. She’d prepared an answer to this very question.
Now if she could just remember what it was.
~ ~ ~
The carriage came to a halt, to Ben’s disappointment. His mouth slipped from Angeline’s.
Or was her name Angela?
“We’ve stopped,” he murmured.
“Have we?”
&nbs
p; She leaned forward to recapture his lips and he let her, briefly. She was an exceptionally good kisser.
“I’m sorry,” he said, reluctantly drawing back. “Really, you have no idea how sorry I am. But I have to go. I’m late as it is.”
She slipped her arms around his neck and pressed herself against him. “Just a little longer.”
He shook his head with a groan. “You’re killing me here.”
She tittered through her nose. She had the strangest laugh. “Will you be around tonight? We could go dancing again.”
“Ange… sweetheart, I’d love to. But I’m getting married today.”
She jerked back, eyes blazing. “You’re what?”
Ben had never seen anyone go from hot to cold quite so rapidly. He held up his palms. “It’s not what you think. I have to train some woman to be a Pinkerton agent and my boss is making me marry her, to protect her virtue or some such. Not my idea, believe me. It’s just temporary, for appearance’s sake. In name only, I swear.”
Her ire turned to a pout. “Well, how long is it going to take? What about me?”
“Sweetheart, we’ve known each other for,” he pulled his watch from his pocket, “exactly ten hours and forty-eight minutes. Not that that ten hours and forty-eight minutes hasn’t been a whole lot of fun. This is just temporary. I’ll be back in a couple of weeks and we can pick up where we left off.” He leaned in hopefully for a mollifying kiss.
She pressed a palm to his chest and pushed him away. “Who says I’ll still be available then? Two weeks is a long time to wait for a man I’ve only just met.”
That was true enough. “Well, how about this – neither of us makes any promises, but if we’re both still available when I get back, we’ll get together. How does that sound?”
She shrugged one shoulder, looking out the window beside her. “Maybe.”
“I’ll be counting the minutes.” And hopefully he’d be able to remember her name by then.
Unsurprisingly, he didn’t get another kiss before he exited the cab. He paid the driver to take Angeline/Angela home and blew her a kiss as the carriage drove away. Women loved that sort of thing.
Flipping his jacket over his shoulder, he strolled up the path to the Pinkerton headquarters house, whistling. It had been a good night. He’d won some money in a couple of poker games, downed just enough alcohol to make him pleasantly relaxed, and danced the night away with Angela/Angeline. He should do this final night of freedom thing more often.
Climbing the porch steps, he wondered what this prospective lady agent would be like. Probably an older spinster who had given up on marriage and wanted a career instead. He had no objections to that. Women were the marvel of God’s creation and could do whatever they wanted, as far as he was concerned. He was looking forward to working a case with one of them.
He’d go and check in with Archie now, find out if the woman had arrived, then get a few hours’ sleep.
Marianne wasn’t at her desk outside Archie’s office, so he ambled through the open door. Inside, Archie and Marianne were seated in chairs by the window.
“So where’s this woman I have to marry?” Ben said. “She here yet?”
Marianne cleared her throat, nodding to her right.
Ben followed her gaze, almost jumping out of his skin when he saw the young woman sitting in the corner. She hadn’t been there when he walked in, had she?
She stared at him as if he’d grown a second head.
“Ben,” Archie said, “this is Kitty Denton, our new recruit. Miss Denton, may I introduce Ben Riley, your training agent.”
Rallying, Ben donned his most charming smile, the one that could have a woman swooning at thirty paces. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Denton, and you have my deepest apologies. I guess I’m not quite awake yet.” He hadn’t actually slept in over twenty-four hours, but she didn’t need to know that.
Her expression didn’t alter, but she did whisper one word. “M-marry?”
Ben’s mouth went dry. Oops.
Archie glowered at him. “We hadn’t quite got to that part yet.”
A sudden urge to be somewhere else, anywhere else, gripped him. “Well, perhaps I should leave you alone while you explain…”
“Sit down,” Archie ordered, eyes flashing.
Ben sat. He had a relaxed attitude to rules and authority, but even he knew when Archie meant business.
Archie turned to Kitty with an apologetic smile. “As I was about to explain, Miss Denton, for propriety’s sake we require that all prospective female agents marry their training agents for the duration of their first case. You’ll be working and traveling closely and…”
While Archie attempted to reassure her, Ben watched his soon-to-be partner.
The first word that came to mind was mouse, as in ‘quiet as a’ and ‘small as a’. Noting the way she hunched in on herself, he mentally added ‘timid as a’ to the list. She was also dressed head to toe in brown and had mousy brown hair, none of which helped. She practically faded into the wall behind her.
Still, he mused as he studied her face, she wasn’t at all unpleasant to look at. Her eyes were a soft gray, her lips pink and full, and she had the cutest button nose. He could almost regret that they’d be married in name only. Almost. There wasn’t a woman on God’s green earth with the power to convince him to give up his freedom for the chains of a real, permanent marriage.
She looked his way, a rosy hue touching her cheeks when she noticed his scrutiny.
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as her gaze darted away. It wasn’t an uncommon reaction from women when around him. What could he say? He was a good-looking man.
“So, do you agree to the marriage?” Archie said finally.
Kitty’s eyes darted between him and Ben. “I… um…”
Ben felt sorry for her. When Archie first told him he’d have to marry one of the new female recruits, it had taken him a full day and an unhealthy amount of whiskey to recover.
“Miss Denton,” he said, “believe me, I know this is a shock. But it’s only temporary and I will treat you with the utmost respect for the entire time we’re married. You have my word on that.” It was as deep a commitment as he could make. His word meant everything to him.
Her shoulders relaxed a little. “I, um, I suppose it’s all right then.”
He smiled and again a blush touched her cheeks. He had to admit, it was kind of cute.
“Good,” Archie said, sounding relieved. “Very good. Well, we’ll let Miss Denton get settled and then…”
“How about we have the ceremony right now?” Marianne said. “Since we’re all here.”
She gave Archie a pointed look, no doubt afraid Ben would disappear again like he had the night before.
Archie looked at him and Ben shrugged, stifling a yawn. Made no difference to him. He just wanted to get to bed.
Archie rose from his chair. “Well then, if the two of you would like to join me.”
Ben stood and held his hand out to Kitty. “Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
The poor girl blushed again as she hesitantly took his hand. Cute as it was, if he was going to make a Pinkerton agent out of her he definitely needed to do something to increase her self-confidence. He’d never met anyone who blushed quite so readily.
Settling her hand into the crook of his arm, he walked her over to stand in front of Archie.
The ceremony was mercifully short and Ben forced down the brief moment of panic that seized him when Archie asked him if he took Kitty to be his lawfully wedded wife. It was only temporary, he reminded himself as he muttered “I do.” In a couple of weeks, or less, depending on how long the case took, he’d be a free man again. He could take being married, just so long as he had an escape route.
Kitty’s “I do” was so quiet he barely heard it.
And then Archie pronounced them man and wife and the whole thing was done.
Ben unwound his new wife’s hand from his arm and b
rought it to his lips, brushing a soft kiss across the back with a teasing smile. “Mrs. Riley.”
He had no intention of taking advantage of the marriage in any way, but he wouldn’t have been Ben Riley if he hadn’t flirted at all.
She stared up at him, her lips parted in surprise, then lowered her astonished gaze to her hand.
Had she never been kissed before?
He couldn’t help wondering how she’d react if he kissed her properly. If he slid his arms around her narrow waist and drew her close and…
Releasing her hand, he backed off to a safer distance. If there was anyone he shouldn’t be having those kind of thoughts about, it was the girl he’d just married.
Giving her the most innocent smile he could muster, he said, “It’s been a pleasure to meet and marry you,” nodded to Archie and Marianne, and walked from the room, heading for the front door and his bed in the adjacent building where all the single agents slept.
Releasing the yawn he’d been holding in since he got back, he laughed softly to himself. His new case certainly wasn’t going to be dull.
Chapter Two
Marianne showed Kitty to a room upstairs where she’d be staying for the night before she and Ben left the next morning, and, after apologizing that it was so small and plain, left her to settle in.
Kitty gazed around her, wondering how Marianne could think it small and plain. It was by far the nicest room she’d ever had, with cheerful yellow curtains at the window and a matching cover on the comfortable-looking bed. She unpacked her few belongings, spent some time simply enjoying her new surroundings, and then ventured downstairs.
She’d intended to take a look around the whole building, but the first room she found was such a magical place that she didn’t make it any farther. She rushed back out to find Marianne at her desk. In her excitement, she forgot to be quiet.
“Am I allowed to read the books in there?” she said, pointing back the way she’d come.
