Page 2 (1/2)

"Lo--" He stopped He couldn’t tell anyone that he was Lord Tristan Easton, second in line for the dukedoht he was only a commoner He cleared his throat "Tristan"

"Well, Lo Tristan, who you be running froether The captain had caught his ain If he was to be nothing else, he would become a master keeper of secrets

"So be it," the captain said "I’ll call you Jack"

Tristan jerked his gaze up to the toweringto hide, lad, you hide everything"

Tristan looked back toward the loo black void into which his brother had vanished He could do that He could deeply bury everything about himself He could become someone else He would becoht, he could find hiain

Chapter 1

I had always heard that the eyes were ainto one’s soul As I stared into his, I could not determine if they were merely shuttered or if the rumors about him were true: that he possessed no soul to speak of because he’d traded it to the devil for immortality By all accounts, the life he pursued was one that should have led hiaze unwavering, challengingdangerous A ti away, but I longed forto be put off I often look back on that storht be now had I realized that the journey he would take me on was one that I would soon discover I had little desire to travel

--The Secret Memoirs of an Adventurous Lady

London

April 1858

He didn’t look at all like a hero

Lady Anne Hayworth had expected him to bewell, at least tidy She’d never seen a man so unkempt, with three buttons on his shirt undone to reveal a narrowing V of chest that to her surprise seemed as bronzed as his hands He sat alone at a table in the corner of the tavern as though he owned the establishh she ell aware that he didn’t Or at least she didn’t think he did The particulars about hi before him she was sorely tempted to take a pair of sharp shears to the ebony hair that hung to his shoulders and a razor to the stubble darkening his jaw

She was accusto when she approached Instead, he continued to slouch in his chair, leisurely trailing one long thick finger up and down hiswhat ither throat It was an absurd thought, and she had no idea fro at her as though they were contes with her