Bronwyn Scott's Sexy Regency Bundle (193 page)

Scott

few more minutes. Perhaps he could at least steal a kiss for pleasure and for purpose. His minx needed a quick lesson in playing with fire.

"Would you like a glass of champagne?" Julian solicited, moving them toward the veranda and the privacy of the night.

She looked up at him with her green eyes, her whole face shining with enjoyment. "Champagne would be perfect. Shall I wait for you outside?"

Julian grinned. He couldn't have

it

better himself. He found a footman with a tray and grabbed two glasses, congratulating himself on a quick mission. He'd feared the time it would take to wend his way to the

room. Those

congratulations were short-lived, however. When he

to the veranda, it was empty. There was no sign of his lovely partner. She'd given him the slip. It was then that Julian realized she hadn't given him her name.

Omens didn't get any clearer than that. Julian swallowed his champagne in a single draft. His mysterious dance partner had played the role he needed. He'd been noticed on the floor.

Apparently that was all he was going to get her. Now it was time to get to work.

Chapter 2

Sophie

watched Julian disappear into

the crowd on his quest for champagne. She had to act quickly. Dancing with

premier lover

had been an unlooked-for complication but not necessarily an unenjoyable one. He was as handsome in person as he was reputed to be, and just as rakish.

In spite of her intentions to remain aloof, she'd found it impossible to ignore the seductive maleness of Julian Burke. His hot, dark eyes, his grace on the dance floor and the intimate feel of his hand at her back had been a elixir.

But he had not

well enough alone.

His hand had not stayed strictly at her back.

Rather, it had strayed

her back to her waist,

his thumb lying discreetly at her hip bone, conveying a secret message of its own; that the owner of that hand knew a woman's body, and could with a simple touch bring that body

Scott

pleasure. Then he'd started with that litany

of feats he'd

and she'd thought she

would melt right there on the dance floor. Surely if a girl was going to be seduced, Julian Burke was the man to do it. And he had the arrogance to know it. He'd known exactly what he was doing with her. He probably knew what he was doing
to
her as well, and she would have indulged in his temptations to a certain degree if she hadn't had other plans tonight.

Sophie looked around her once more and slid back into the crowded ballroom. Julian Burke would have to wait. Tonight, she was nearly at the end of her quest. By midnight, she'd have the jewels in her possession. In the morning, she'd present them to the Italian count who'd hired her and claim her reward. Then her life could begin, her real life, the life she'd dreamed of for the past seven years.

Sophie navigated the ballroom and made her way upstairs, ostensibly in search of the ladies'

retiring room. At the last moment, she changed direction, making her way cautiously down the hall toward the west wing of the house and the family's private chambers. Her luck held. She encountered no one. The hall was darker toward

12

Libertine Lord, Pickpocket Miss

this end of the house, no doubt to discourage anyone

wandering far

the party.

The dimly lit hall posed no barriers to Sophie.

She'd memorized the upstairs floor plan days ago in preparation for this evening; down the hall, a turn at the first corridor and then three doors on the right. The third room was the private office where the safe was located behind a portrait of a relative; a great-uncle

whom the house was

inherited, to be precise, and Sophie

was

always precise. It was the trait that had made her so very

in her line of work.

Sophie turned the handle of the door and stepped inside. As expected, the room was dark, lit only by a small lamp on the desk. Sophie shut the door

behind her, expecting to savor the

moment of peace before taking the final steps in her mission. She inhaled deeply and stopped.

Something was wrong.

Her eyes went immediately to the portrait of the great-uncle across the room. She couldn't see it well as her eyes adjusted to the gloom, but it didn't appear to be disturbed. No, it wasn't the portrait. The room was alive with energy, with a presence.