Cirrus@Austlit

'Rakes are intent on something a young debutante must never give them… their virtue!

'Armed with this advice from her aunt, Letitia Bromley embarks on her first Season in London. Fresh from the country, she is intent on a romantic adventure after reading the diaries of her great-great Aunt Lydia, who sailed the high seas with a pirate. But when Letty’s kind patroness begs for her help to right a wrong done to her dead husband, Letty can only respond to the lady’s distress. Can it be true that the rakish Brandon Cartwright spies for the French? Danger lurks, and Letty becomes unsure whom to trust. Her head urges her to be sensible, to go home to the man everyone in her village expects her to marry, but her heart says otherwise.

'Declared the family’s black sheep by his father after a tragedy, Brandon is drawn into the spying business. He has had little regard for his life, taking on dangerous assignments, until circumstances change when he becomes involved with a stubborn young lady who is determined to help her chaperone. Brandon can’t help but admire Letty for her bravery and compassion, but while he’s intent on keeping her safe, he has no intention of drawing her into his disreputable life.

'Once he sees her safely on her way back to Cumbria, he can pick up the threads of the life he lived before she came into it… or will he follow his heart – and her?'

Source : publisher's blurb

'London, 1817

'When Miss Joanna Dalrymple’s father inherits a fortune from a relative, he sells his haberdashery and turns his attention to seeing his beloved daughter settled in the manner he’d promised her mother. He leases a townhouse in Mayfair for the Season and engages a lady to ease their way into Society. At her first ball, Jo makes a new friend, Letitia Cartwright, who introduces her to the baron, Lord Reade. Dark-haired and handsome, he towers over most men, and his teasing manner is not what one finds on a ballroom dance floor. Jo learns from Letty that Reade is not looking to marry. It intrigues Jo. There is something mysterious about the baron. An air of danger surrounds him. But Jo has decided her husband must be a quiet gentleman who would welcome her widowed father into their house, so when the elegant Mr. Ollerton, pursues her, Jo welcomes his advances.

'Gareth, Baron Reade, an agent for the crown, is investigating the disappearances of several young women at the request of the Prince Regent. The lovely redhead, Miss Joanna Dalrymple, has captured Reade’s attention. Against his better judgement, his interest in her deepens. His good friend, Brandon Cartwright, has the annoying tendency to read Reade’s mind, and to voice what’s on his. Brandon urges Reade to marry and cast aside the low spirits which have plagued him since Waterloo. But Reade refuses to inflict his dark moods and nightmares on a wife. Trouble is, Joanna, a forthright young lady, becomes increasingly difficult to ignore. Especially when it appears she might be in danger. Has she become involved with the Virden’s, the couple Reade has under suspicion? While he has no intention of caring for anyone again, he becomes determined to protect her.

'Will it take a matter of life and death for them to realize they cannot live without each other?'