One
HART AND SUMMERS, SOLICITORS, LONDON—APRIL 10, 1817
KIT
The bellabove the door gave a disgruntledclangof protest.
The contract I was reviewing was far too tedious to look away from if I didn’t wish to get distracted and have to re-read it a fourth time. Barley trade agreements were hardly the most interesting aspect of my job.
When no tired greeting was forthcoming, I called out, “Welcome to Hart and Summers, Solicitors. I’ll be with you in a moment,” without glancing up from the parchment before me.
Light footsteps against the worn wood echoed through the empty office.
I finished reading the sentence before finally lifting my gaze. My jaw dropped at the sight before me and I found myself blinking several times.
When the vision did not change, I was forced to admit that this was real—or I’d broken too far from reality for my eyes to be trusted.
She was dressed as a pirate. A floppy, sea-blue tricorner hat sat jauntily atop her head. Everything else had clearly beenstolen from her brother’s wardrobe. The white shirt, emerald-green waistcoat, and tan trousers—all tailored for a man who dwarfed her in height and weight. Save the shoes; those were dainty black riding boots.
An attempt had been made to hide her identity. She wore the shadows cast by the afternoon light streaming in from the front windows like a cloak. A black domino mask concealed her cheeks and sharp, dark brow. The ridiculous hat topped a blond wig.
And the sword—that was plenty real. Sunlight glinted off the blade, blinding me momentarily as she brandished it.
“This is a kidnapping,” she insisted in an affected masculine tone, infusing a hint of gravel to the words.
Lady Davina Hasket was nothing if not dramatic. Years of sorting her messes already in progress had left me with a curiosity. The beginning was nearly always a mystery to me. It seemed today was the day I would, at last, experience the full effect.
She strode forward, sword swaying in her lazy grip, to halve the distance between us.
“Get up,” she added, weapon pointing vaguely in my direction.
I set my quill in the rest with a performative sigh before leaning back in my chair.
Her lips parted on a gasp and I bit back a grin. She clearly hadn’t anticipated such nonchalance out of her victim.
Even swimming in her deceased brother’s clothes, her breasts bound in a way I had no business noticing, she was lovely. All soft lips and creamy skin. The domino covered her dark brow, but I could almost sense it arching in challenge beneath the fabric.
“Get. Up,” she demanded a second time, still rasping her lustrous alto tone. Her order banished the intrusive thoughts.They’d been coming faster and sharper in recent months, and it wouldn’t do to give them purchase.
I’d never understood before whytheywere always fooled. The gentlemen who frequented the gaming hells and failed to notice it was a lady who won every round. The milliner who so easily believed a duke’s daughter to be a shopgirl. The sailors who urged her aboard and handed her a mop. And now, having seen the full effect, I knew with absolute certainty that they were buffoons.
There was no concealing the fiery essence of Lady Davina Hasket. Not behind a mask, not in a wig, and certainly not in some ill-fitting trousers.
Wordlessly, I slipped the contract I had been reviewing into my desk and rose as bid. She did, after all, have a sword pointed at my throat.
“Now what?” I asked, my hands raised in a half-hearted placation.
“This is a kidnapping!” she insisted.
“Yes, you mentioned that before. Also, it’s technically anabduction. What would you like me to do now that I’ve complied with the first order?”
“Turn around so I can bind your wrists.”
My gaze skimmed down her person. There was no rope obviously present, though her clothing was loose enough that she could have it tucked somewhere. Regardless, it wasn’t an overly appealing prospect—at least, not for what I suspected she had in mind. “Is that necessary?”
“Yes,” she insisted and stamped a tiny foot, abandoning the affected gravel in her frustration.
“What if I promise to cooperate fully? After all, you do have a sword and I value my life.”
