Page 59 of Portrait of a Lady

I have it on good authority that there are certain women of the ton—who shall remain nameless until such time as I have determined for certain who was involved—who have lowered themselves to the practice of hiring male courtesans to service them!

If you are scandalized beyond belief by this prospect, you are in good company, for I was most shocked to learn of such outrageous behavior. I declare in this very column, where I have exposed outrageous scandal after scandal for your delight, that I will not rest until these men are unmasked as the debauchees they are.

Benedict grimaced as three heads lifted, and he was confronted by three faces displaying varying degrees of shock and rage.

“Bloody fucking hell,” Nick groused, running a hand through his hair.

“I’ll second that,” David whispered, staring off across the room with unseeing eyes.

Aubrey lifted the copy of this morning’sThe London Gossip, sneering at the page as if it were excrement he’d just scraped off the bottom of his boot.

“It is as I said,” Benedict said, folding his hands atop the desk. “We have a very serious problem.”