Excerpt from Girl in Disguise by Greer Macallister, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

I had to find out where.

Easy, easy, I told myself. I couldn't shove my way over to him right off the bat. I had to get him to come to me. Somehow.

Still laughing and jostling one another, the six men took their seats at a booth in the corner, much farther away than I would've liked. I was too far off to catch his eye, and it would look odd if I changed my seat for no reason. Given that, I sidled down the bar and forced myself to slide onto an empty stool next to a stoop-shouldered man. I sat much closer to him than I needed to and dangled one foot close to his.

"Evening," I said.

He glared at me through bleary eyes, clearly three sheets to the wind already, maybe four. Well, that wasn't all bad. He couldn't cause me trouble if he slipped out of consciousness. I hoped.

"Evening," he slurred, barely able to manage even the two required syllables.

"What're you drinking? Looks delicious. I sure could use a drink myself," I said and gestured to the empty bar in front of me.

He managed to raise two fingers to the bartender, who came right away—clearly, this was a regular—and said, "'Nother round, Jim."

"Coming right up."

I edged even closer to him and peeked over my shoulder as discreetly as I could toward Heck and his men. All seated, and some looked restless. Good. There were still possibilities.

My ever-drunker neighbor half raised his glass of bourbon to me. I took a sip and nearly choked. It took all my concentration not to gasp at the burning, searing sensation. I'd have to get better at that. Any man in possession of his faculties could easily see I wasn't used to strong drink. Tonight, this one's faculties were thoroughly drowned, but that was luck on my part, not skill. If I made it through this night, I'd put it on my list of things to learn.

Finally, one of Heck's men eased out of the booth. As I'd hoped, he came toward the bar, into the larger-than- usual space on my far side. He flagged down the bartender and rattled off a complicated order. As soon as he was done and his elbow was resting on the bar next to me, I ignored my marinated neighbor, as I'd planned, and leaned over toward him, my décolletage almost spilling out onto his arm.

"Evening," I said.

He nodded back silently. He was a striking man, with blue eyes like ice under his thick black brows, but there was something cruel about his face. Something cold. Locked away.

I'd have to generate enough warmth for both of us. "Say," I nearly purred, inclining my head toward the booth, "would you mind introducing me to your friends there?"

"Yes, I'd mind very much," he said, turned square toward the bar, and then ignored me as if someone were paying him a goodly sum to do so.

Damn it. The wrong target, I supposed, but what was I to do? I was beginning to panic in earnest. Heck was only ten feet away from me, but he might as well be ten miles if I couldn't get myself into his orbit. I had it all planned out. Delicate fingers laid on his arm. Breathless, admiring questions. He was known as a boaster with an eye, and other parts, for the ladies. If I was in the right place at the right time—which I was so, so close to being—I could get him to boast to me. Then I'd have what Pinkerton wanted, and in turn, he'd give me what I wanted: a position as the first female operative of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, at full salary.

But it all depended on Heck, and to get to him, I had to get through this man-shaped woodcut first. And all he was doing was staring at the barkeep, waiting.

We stayed like that a few minutes. My brain worked madly, thoughts zooming and swooping around my skull, but I had no good ideas. It could all fall apart this easily. Damn it. Damn it. The drunk on my other side finally laid his head down on the bar; he'd be no help.

Excerpted from Girl in Disguise by Greer Macallister. Copyright © 2017 by Greer Macallister. Excerpted by permission of Sourcebooks. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.