| $0.20 Rewards  Tempted All Night
by Liz Carlyle
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Adobe ePub
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Miss HeyerFrom the book
Chapter 1
'Tis a vile thing to die, my gracious lord, When men are unprepar'd and look not for it.
LONDON, APRIL 1830
Lady Phaedra Northampton made her way down to Charing Cross, her strides long and purposeful -- mannish, her mother would have chided -- as she weaved her way through the afternoon jumble of bureaucrats and shopkeepers. All of them had seemingly set off in search of luncheon at once, crisscrossing her path in a sharp-elbowed frenzy as if conspiring to impede her march across Westminster. But sharp elbows were the least of her concerns.
Desperation -- and a rash, reckless idea -- had driven her from the house, and despite the chill, Phaedra had left Mayfair without a hat. How foolish. And how unlike her. Now she pushed back the high collar of her heavy gray cloak, cutting a glance over her shoulder. Just behind Phaedra, her maid scurried along, a hand clasped to the top of her bonnet against the wintry gust. Other than that, there was nothing. Why, then, did the hair on the back of her neck keep prickling so? Phaedra tucked her portfolio closer, and picked up her step.
"Ooh, miss, do slow down!" Agnes complained. "I want to find Millie as bad as you, but I'm taking a stitch."
Phaedra glanced back, realizing in some shame that her maid had been practically trotting since they'd left Brook Street. Checking her pace, she noticed a familiar black and yellow barouche pulled to the pavement ahead. Drat.
Agnes, too, saw it. "That'll be Lady Blaine, miss," she said warningly.
Lady Blaine, indeed! To Phaedra, she was still Eliza, a little slip of a girl from their home village. Unfortunately, there was no avoiding her.
"Do you think she knows the truth about Priss, ma'am?" Agnes's voice trembled. "Or that Millie's gone missing?"
"She could not possibly," said Phaedra with more confidence than she felt.
"Phae! Oh, Phae!" The wheedling cry rang from the door of a milliner's shop. Eliza came with unfashionable haste toward them, her husband staggering in her wake with a stack of bandboxes which nearly reached his nose. The girl wore a dress of yellow trimmed in deep green, and a green cloak which was a bit insufficient for the weather. The cloak's collar was turned up at a jaunty angle, and embroidered with a chain of white and yellow daises which, Phae inwardly considered, looked hideous, and a little silly.
"Phae, what luck!" said Eliza. "When did you arrive in London? Why did you not tell me?"
"Good afternoon, Eliza." Phaedra spoke cordially if a little hurriedly. "We came up some weeks past."
"Oh, how exciting for you!" Eliza had drawn up in front of them, eyes wide. "How very weary you must have been of being stuck in Hampshire the whole winter."
"Actually, I prefer Hamp -- "
"But London, Phae!" Eliza interjected. "And the season! I have scarcely left Town, you know, since my marriage last autumn." She shot a doting glance back at Blaine, a minor baronet so young his forehead was still pimpled. Phae almost suggested he lift the bandboxes higher.
But Eliza was quivering with excitement. "Listen, Phae! I have quite the greatest news ever. Guess! Guess!"
"Why, I could not possibly," said Phaedra.
"Oh, just try!" Eliza was almost hopping up and down with excitement.
This was the point at which, of course, Eliza would announce that she was enceinte. Phaedra had been through this little post-season ritual many times. "Just tell me, Lizzie."...
Lady Phaedra Northampton is a proper English miss -- but burdened by a dark secret. She's buried her shame in running her wealthy brother Lord Nash's household while hiding behind a sharp wit and dull wardrobe...until a reckless village maid's disappearance pulls her into London's seedy underworld.
A former mercenary and jaded spy-for-hire, Tristan Talbot, Lord Avoncliffe, now does little, and manages to do it scandalously. Though Tristan's an out-and-out rogue, when his dying father begs him to delve into the secrets behind a notorious brothel -- a perfect task for his talents! -- Tristan can't refuse. Is the brothel a front for a notorious Russian spy ring? Tristan is on the hunt -- until his path collides with the oh-so-tempting Lady Phae.
Soon what should be a simple assignment becomes deliciously complicated...when deception and desire lead to an explosive passion -- and deadly foes!
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