The Golden Leopard by Lynn Kerstan

Author:Lynn Kerstan [Kerstan, Lynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Romance, General, Historical
ISBN: 9781611941395
Google: X65K_zshKCAC
Amazon: B008FRT51U
Publisher: Bell Bridge Books
Published: 2012-07-14T21:00:00+00:00

“Do you imagine I failed to consider that? When I left for High Tor, my secretary gave most of the servants a holiday, and only two or three have returned. She can call them together for instructions while you slip away.”

“Miss Pryce knows? And approves?”

“There’s no hiding anything from her, so I don’t bother to try. As for what she thinks, she either lets you know or she doesn’t. And about you, she didn’t. Why did that tiresome Mr. Garvey accuse you of treason?”

The abrupt change of subject caught him off guard. It shouldn’t have done, being one of his own favorite tactics, but he might have erred by using it on Jessica. She was a quick study.

And this was a question he preferred not to answer. As a diversion, he began to remove his shoes. “You heard it all,” he said, grinning at her over his shoulder. “My guess is frustration over bad investments and too much claret.”

Jessica, unsurprised by the evasion, watched him while considering what next to do. Her world and her life teetered on the thin, untrustworthy wire of his disreputable past, the larcenous inclinations of his present, and his mysterious plans for the future. The only sure way to regain her balance was to jump off that wire and walk away.

But she needed the man he was—morally flexible, criminally experienced, smarter and stronger than Gerald. She had overdue debts to pay, to those who had needed her help when she was too selfish to notice.

But did she have the courage?

She wasn’t sure. If she took this path, there would be no turning back. Her fledgling business, which had only just tasted success, had been built on her integrity and dedication to her clients. Once she had lied to those who trusted her, set herself to cheat at least one of them, the foundation would crumble.

She didn’t want to do this. Perhaps she wouldn’t. Probably she wouldn’t.

Selfish, selfish, selfish.

It wasn’t as if she’d be thrown on the streets to starve. Not an earl’s daughter, with a family who loved her in a begrudging way and would love her all the more if she conformed to their notions of propriety. Her father would be pleased to welcome her home, and Aubrey positively delirious at her failure. Jessica back in the fold where she belonged, behaving as she ought, taking orders from the men of the family who fed, clothed, and sheltered her.

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