Kasey Michaels - [Redgraves 02] (30 page)

“All but overcome by your kind consideration, my lady,” the
butler said in a resigned voice. “A special messenger delivered this only
moments ago.” He held out a small silver salver, a letter resting on it. “For
you, my lord.”

“Thank you, Dearborn. And for the record, she made me do it, so
I’d still hope for a cigar after dinner.”

“Simon!” Kate laughingly snatched the letter from the salver,
deliberately breaking the seal and opening the single sheet. “It’s from
Valentine,” she said, sitting up straight, holding the page away from Simon as
she read it (and Dearborn lingered, attempting to read the thing over her
shoulder). “Oh, my God, the
idiot!
Here, Simon, read
this.”

“Now there’s a good idea, since it was addressed to me.” And
then he read aloud: “‘I imagine by now congratulations are in order. You may
thank me later, but for now, welcome to the menagerie. And now congratulate me,
if you please. I do believe I am about to be invited to join the Society, happy
degenerate that I am. For now, it’s only to a party at some unnamed country
house, but my hopes are high. My new bosom chum, Lord Charles Mailer, has
offered to take me up with him in his traveling coach. Said party commences only
a few days before the next full moon— You do remember writing to me about that,
I’m sure. Coincidence? I don’t think so. But it’s as I told you, my new brother,
some things need a lighter hand. Kisses to Kate. Tell Gideon I’ll be in touch.
In all modesty, et cetera, I remain your genius, Val.’”

“Genius?
Hah!
Who’s this Mailer
fellow? Is he one of the Society? He is, isn’t he?”

“He is. One of the only two names we’ve discovered. In the
Society’s odd code, he’s Post. The other, Archie Urban—known as City—is already
dead.”

“And if your anonymous
captain
is
correct, this man Mailer would kill Valentine without a moment’s hesitation,
were he to realize he’s been tricked. Wouldn’t he?”

Simon took her hand in both of his. “He’ll be careful.”

Kate leaned against his shoulder, sighed. She wasn’t in
control, couldn’t be in control. They were Redgraves, on a mission. They would
all take their chances. “I know he will. Just pray there’s not a woman in
distress anywhere, or else our Sir Galahad will forget how careful he’s supposed
to be....”

* * * * *

As the Society becomes more daring, and
more dangerous, the search for its treasonous members grows in
importance.
The only alternative left is to work within the
Society itself.
This is Valentine Redgrave’s mission: infiltrate
the Society.
Alas, as his sister knows, with Val, there’s always
a woman involved.
Catch all the intrigue, adventure and romance
in
WHAT A GENTLEMAN DESIRES, coming soon from Harlequin
HQN.

AUTHOR NOTE

In case you’ve gotten to the end of Simon and Kate’s story and were left wondering: where did I see the name Ainsley Becket before, or thinking, wow, I’d like to read more about this Ainsley Becket character, here’s the scoop.

Ainsley Becket is the patriarch of the Becket family, their stories told in a seven-book series with the overall title of THE BECKETS OF ROMNEY MARSH. That series begins in 1811, but when I chose the same general area for my current series, setting it in the year 1810, I thought it would be fun to give a little snippet about Ainsley—actually, I’d use any excuse to see more of Ainsley, as he and his story fascinated me so much.

The titles, in order, are
A Gentleman By Any Other Name, The Dangerous Debutante, Beware of Virtuous Women, A Most Unsuitable Groom, A Reckless Beauty, Return of the Prodigal
and
Becket’s Last Stand,
all available electronically from Harlequin HQN.

You can even watch a book trailer on the Beckets of Romney Marsh series at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXC7RoDFqyk

Enjoy!

Kasey

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ISBN: 9781460311981

WHAT A LADY NEEDS

Copyright © 2013 by Kathryn Seidick

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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