A duke\'s second son with no responsibilities and a lady starved of the excitement her soul craves join forces to unravel a deadly, potentially catastrophic threat to the realm - that only continues to grow.
Cathy Kelly Stephanie Laur.
Praise for the works of Stephanie Laurens Stephanie Laurens\' heroines are marvelous tributes to Georgette Heyer: feisty and strong.
A full length novel of 101,000 words.
A historical romance with gothic overtones layered over a continuing intrigue.
Second volume in a trilogy.
A shared love.
A shared future.
A shared life.
And when they finally locate the barrels, they find themselves tangled in a fight to the death-one that forces them to face what has grown between them, to seize and defend what they both see as their path to the greatest adventure of all.
But the further they go in tracing the gunpowder, the more deaths they uncover.
Then she delivers on her part of the bargain, and he finds there are benefits to allowing her to continue to investigate beside him-not least being that if she\'s there, then he knows she\'s safe.
Horrified, Michael attempts to resist, but ultimately finds himself agreeing-a sequence of events he quickly learns is common around Cleo.
She will lead him to the carters he seeks if he agrees to include her as an equal partner in the mission.
She wrings from him the full tale of his mission-and offers him a bargain.
When Michael Cynster walks in and asks about carters, Cleo\'s instincts leap.
With her three brothers all adventuring in America, she\'s been driven to the realization that she craves adventure, too.
Initially, managing the office was a challenge, but she now conquers all in just a few hours a week.
Cleo has fought to achieve her position in the company.
His quest leads him to the Hendon Shipping Company, where he discovers his sole source of information is the only daughter of Jack and Kit Hendon, Miss Cleome Hendon, who although a fetchingly attractive lady, firmly holds the reins of the office in her small hands.
Michael sets out to trace the carters who transported the gunpowder from Kent to London.
Then he learns of the mission his brother, Sebastian, and Lady Antonia Rawlings have been assisting with and volunteers to assist by hunting down the hoard of gunpowder now secreted somewhere in London.
However, the allure of his previous hedonistic pursuits has paled.
With his older brother\'s betrothal announced, Lord Michael Cynster is freed from the pressure of familial expectations.
A duke\'s second son with no responsibilities and a lady starved of the excitement her soul craves join forces to unravel a deadly, potentially catastrophic threat to the realm - that only continues to grow
