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"Truly?"

She sighed and squeezed his elbow gently before releasing hiave her made her heart ache Had she ever been so…open? She felt so disconnected frooal was all she had She tasted it every ht The need for retribution was the force that pus with air

And Christopher St John could be the o, he had been a chore to complete as quickly as possible Now the possibilities were beyond intriguing; they were seductive It would take careful planning on her part to utilize them and St John effectively, but she had no doubt she couldtime, she s the weight of Lady Winter’s stare fol owing after hi with her He had merely hoped to see her up close and take note of hoell she guarded herself It was a wonderful turn of events that she had chosen that moment to leave her box They’d not only met, but he had touched her, held her in his arer dreading boredo the point of that hidden blade But beyond that, he found that er than he had assumed, her skin beneath powder and patch unble traces of both wariness and curiosity Lady Winter was not yet completely jaded Hoas that possible, when she idely considered to have kil ed at least two men?

He intended to find out The agency wanted her ued him no small amount

As he exited the theater, Christopher noted the black lacquered carriage that bore the Winter crest He paused beside it Making a barely discernable gesture, he listened for the answering birdcal that told him his order was seen by at least one of his men stationed around the area

The coach would be followed until he said otherwise Wherever the fair lady went, he wanted to know about it

"I shal be at the Harwick house party this weekend," he told the driver, who stared back at hiid body "Make certain her ladyship knows this"

As the man nodded violently, Christopher smiled with deep-rooted satisfaction

For the first ti to look forward to

Chapter 2

"There is the possibility that she was sold into slavery"

Maria paused her pacing before the fire to stare hard at her investigator and former paramour Simon Quinn wore only a multicolored silk robe, his tanned throat and chest visible in the parted opening His eyes, a startling blue, stood out in stark contrast to his dark skin and black hair Irish coloring The coer by several years, but extreht

Aside froh Only the intense way he studied his surroundings hinted at a livelihood fraught with danger In the course of their association, he had broken nearly every law there was

So had she

"Odd you would say that tonight," she murmured "Welton said the same to me earlier"

"That certainly does not bode Well, then, does it?" he asked in his s with conjecture, Siive chase"

Behind her, the fire in the grate quickly heated her dressing gown and then the backs of her legs to an uncoree, but inside she was icy with terror The thoughts that fil ed her mind made her ilHoould she ever find Ae?

Siland would greatly di the cordial in her hand to her lips, Maria drained the contents to bolster her spirits and set the sazecoreen drapes It was an extremely masculine study, an effect that served two purposes One, it established a soave her a sense of control she needed desperately Often she felt like a puppet on Welton’s strings, but here she was in co, her black dressing goirling around her ankles "You act as if I have sooal you wish to acco over her asmore pleasant than death"

"I cannot think of the future beyond finding Amelia"

"You could It will not lance she shot hie hed He had once shared her bed, and with it, the inevitable domestic discord that caazeon the wal froth of thick ribbon The swirls of paint created an ireen eyes

"I , "and the support he provided"

The Earl of Dayton had saved her froh Welton’s exterior, the kind er had rescued her, paying a high price to take a girl young enough to be his granddaughter as his second wife Under his tutelage she learned everything she needed to know to survive Weaponry

and the consummate use of it were only two of the ed," Si her shoulders in a vain attempt to all eviate the tension there, Maria moved to the desk and sank wearily into the seat "What about St John?

Can he be of any use to me?"