Sebastian's Lady Spy (16 page)

March into romance this month with Loveswept—our authors are savvy, and their hot books will warm up the cool winter evenings.

Jennifer Chance's Rule Breakers series turns up the heat in
Risk It
as a wealthy playboy and a beautiful con artist engage in a high-stakes game of seduction
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bestselling author Lauren Layne revisits her salacious Sex, Love & Stiletto series with
The Trouble with Love,
where a jaded columnist discovers a steamy way to get over an old flame: falling for him all over again.
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bestselling author Stacey Kennedy returns to the tantalizing world of Club Sin with
Tamed.
In Cecy Robson's latest urban fantasy romance,
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the search is on for an unholy grail, while evil is licking its wounds—and looking for revenge. Another of our Loveswept
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bestsellers, Jamie K. Schmidt, revisits Club Inferno, the erotic playground where glitz and glamour mix with leather and whips in
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Seduction
returns to Violetta Rand's Devil's Den, a Texas strip club where hearts can't hide when the chemistry is right. In the latest Disgraced Lords novel from
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bestselling author Bronwen Evans,
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a vivacious thrill seeker clashes with her dutiful defender—causing irresistible sparks to fly. Then Maeve Greyson unleashes a thrilling tale of magic in
My Highland Lover,
as a feisty Southern gal falls into the arms of a rough-hewn Highland chieftain. And in Sharon Cullen's steamy historical romance
Sebastian's Lady Spy,
love is a hazard best avoided—until an unforgettable affair exposes their undercover hearts.

But there's more!

Come Flirt with us—Saying yes has always come easy for Fallon. Now, as Renita Pizzitola's steamy, poignant Crush series continues in
Just a Little Flirt,
winning her dream job means Fallon must say no to the guy she wants the most. And in the new Extreme Risk novel,
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from
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bestselling author Tracy Wolff, a burned-out underdog and a vulnerable tomboy defy the pressure to be perfect and go after what they really want.

Until next month ~Happy Romance!

Gina Wachtel

Associate Publisher

by Sharon Cullen

Bloody hell but he was in a fine dilemma.

The stone floor was wet and hard and poking into his arse. The wall behind him was just as hard, just as wet, and just as uncomfortable.

He had no idea where he was. Most likely Newgate. First off, it smelled like Newgate—like the wretched odor of the Thames—and Newgate was where the worst offenders resided until their trial.

He also had no idea how long he'd been here. Days, at least. No longer than a week. Maybe.

Time stood still when all you saw were the same four walls and food was sporadic at best.

He'd arrived in England after a long absence when he was arrested on his way to visit his family. At first he'd had no idea why he had been arrested.

Well, of course he had
some
idea. He was a pirate and he'd just returned from the Indian Ocean where he'd “acquired” a goodly amount of fine silks and spices and gold and made a very tidy profit off the sale of his plunder.

It'd been that last bloody ship he'd attacked that landed him here. How was he supposed to have known the ship was owned by the favorite cousin of the Duke of Farrington's wife?

His fault. He should have been more careful. He shouldn't have stopped in the pub for a drink. He should have gone straight home. He shouldn't have been greedy and attacked that last ship.

Phin Lockwood, pirate turned prisoner, rested the back of his head against the wet, mossy wall and fought his rising panic. He couldn't die like this. He refused to succumb shackled and beaten down.

The clanging of metal keys had his gaze going to the door, which remained locked except for once a day when food was tossed in. It was not feeding time, so that meant a change in the schedule and
that
did not bode well for him.

The screech of metal upon metal was near to deafening after the silence he'd endured. The door opened, more metal grinding against stone, and a guard appeared, sporting a wicked smile and evil little eyes. This was not the same guard that had served him since he'd arrived. Another reason that whatever was happening could not be beneficial to his health and well-being.

He had been denied food for so long that he was shaking with fatigue and hunger. And now very real fear.

“Come on now. 'E wants te see ye.”

Phin cocked a brow. “He?”

“The king hisself. Hurry now. Can't keep the king waiting.”

Phin pressed his back against the wall for support while he raised himself up. He had no idea why King George would want to see him.

He shuffled toward the open door, tasting freedom but unwilling to hope for it. Part of him believed he was taking that last long walk and so he said a silent goodbye to the family he would never see again and the friends who'd been good to him. He also sent up a silent prayer asking for forgiveness. It'd been ages since he'd actually prayed but he figured it couldn't hurt now.

The guard cuffed him on the shoulder, causing him to stumble. He growled but there was no threat to it. He was too weak and he was unarmed.

He followed the guard through the dank halls and out into sunshine so bright, his eyes closed automatically. He was loaded into a carriage that resembled a large box with bars on it and transported to Kensington Palace.

Part of him truly believed he was walking to his execution, so he was surprised when they stopped at the palace. He was marched into a large, cold chamber to face a chair so ornate it could only be the king's.

Voices echoed throughout the chamber, but Phin was too weary and too focused on staying upright to turn around to see who it was. So it was with great surprise that he found his friend, Sebastian Addison, the Earl of Claybrook, standing next to him.

“What the hell?” he muttered.

“Just follow along, mate, and we'll get you out of here.”

“In truth?”

“In truth.”

Phin leaned forward and nodded to the man on the other side of Sebastian. Sir Colin Atwater. Interesting, his presence here. Atwater was in charge of the Office of Intelligence, better known to Phin as the Office. Atwater was also the man Sebastian reported to, which had Phin wondering just what the hell was going on here. Sebastian had been England's premier spy before he went soft and wed Gabrielle, another of England's spies. But Sebastian was retired now. Or as retired as one could get when in the spy business. Was he coming out of retirement, or was he using his influence to save Phin? Phin could only hope for the latter.

“His Majesty, the King.” The announcement of the king's arrival stopped all conversation. King George II walked in and sat slouched in his chair appearing ten kinds of bored.

“Don't fall down,” Sebastian whispered out of the side of his mouth.

“I'm trying not to.”

“State your business, Atwater. And this better be worth the interruption,” King George said.

Phin experienced a surge of annoyance. The king was irritated that he'd been interrupted? Surely Phin's life was worth an interruption. However, the king might think differently since Phin was nothing but an irritating pirate who had once sailed with the notorious Lady Anne, and who had been a burr in the side of a few English shipowners since then. Hence the fairly large bounty on his head and more than likely the reason he'd been residing in Newgate the past few days.

How in the bloody hell did Sebastian think he was going to get Phin out of this fine mess?

Atwater bowed to the king. Phin was never all that comfortable around Atwater. He was too quiet, too unassuming, and too interested in the goings-on around him. In other words, he liked to lurk in the corners and watch. Bizarre, that.

“Your Majesty, we appreciate your audience. I am here to back up everything that Lord Claybrook is here to tell you.” He stepped back and motioned with a nod of his head to Sebastian.

“Your Majesty, I have asked for an audience in regards to Phin Lockwood, the gentleman on my right,” Sebastian said.

The king leaned forward to peer at Phin. “Lockwood. Aren't you the pirate we just seized?”

Phin suppressed a shudder at the word “seized.”

Sebastian cleared his throat. “He is, Your Majesty.”

The king sat back. “What business have you with a pirate, Addison?”

“As you know,” Sebastian said, “I'm still in pursuit of Grant McFadden.”

“Reprobate and traitor.” The king spat on the ground.

Phin had to suppress a smile. The king held no love for any Scotsman who fought for Bonny Prince Charlie, and Grant McFadden would definitely fall into that category. He was more of a burr in the side of the king than Phin had ever been.

“I feel that with Mr. Lockwood's assistance I just might be able to capture said reprobate and traitor,” Sebastian said. “But Mr. Lockwood can't help me if he's residing in Newgate.”

King George turned narrowed eyes on Phin and studied him for long minutes. Phin tensed, every muscle screaming in agony from spending long days and nights on the cold, wet floor, from the beating he'd received before arriving at Newgate, and from the very real fear that the king would deny Sebastian this request.

“Lockwood. You're the one who plundered Farrington's cousin's ship?”

“Something he would have never done if he'd known the ship was owned by someone so esteemed,” Sebastian said.

Phin stiffened at the lie, but Sebastian shot him a warning look.

The king huffed. “How might Lockwood help in capturing McFadden?”

“He has skills and contacts in the underworld that I don't possess.”

Phin shot Sebastian a surprised look. What contacts in what underworld? All he knew were other sailors.

The king drummed his bejeweled fingers on the arm of his chair. His gaze slid to Atwater.

“I trust you, Atwater, so I must believe if you're willing to back Addison, then this must be true.” His gaze slid back to Sebastian. “You may have Lockwood.”

Phin's relief was so great that his shoulders sagged and he feared he would fall over.

“However, if Lockwood does not bring McFadden to me, then his life is forfeited.”

Phin snapped taut. He looked at the king in disbelief.
His life was forfeited?

Bloody hell.

Sebastian bowed. “Of course, Your Majesty. He won't disappoint you.”

Sebastian grabbed Phin's arm and squeezed. Phin managed to bow without falling on his face, but just barely. He was reeling from the fact that in one moment he was free and the next a noose hung over his head. He was teased with the taste of freedom and he was damn angry about it.

Sebastian led the way out of the palace. Somewhere in the dark hallways they lost Atwater before stepping into the brightness of the day where Phin stood blinking. The carriages rolling past, the finely dressed people strolling the street seemed foreign to him after so long on the sea and then days locked in a small, airless room.

Sebastian tugged on his gloves and looked up the street. “That went well.”

“How in the bloody hell do you think that went well? How am I supposed to find Grant McFadden?”

“Your ship and crew are waiting for you. You're to set sail for Scotland where you will encounter McFadden's sister. Bring her to England. We will use her to flush her brother out.”

Phin blinked. His stomach growled and his knees shook with weakness. “If I fail, I lose my life,” he said.

“Yes. That's unfortunate.” Sebastian frowned. “We'll just have to see that you don't fail, then.”

Unfortunate?
“Addison,” he growled.

“Let's not worry about that just yet,” Sebastian said. “Our first order of business is to get you bathed and shaved. You'll frighten the ladies.”

“I don't give a damn about the ladies.” What was this nonsense about McFadden's sister?

“Splendid. Because you don't have time to worry about ladies right now. We need to get you to Scotland.”