Dance of Seduction by Sabrina Jeffries Read Free Book Online Page A

bit too zealous for my tastes, though.”
    Morgan said nothing. Her zealousness fascinated him. To think that an English noblewoman would risk her own safety daily for children whom others ignored…it boggled the mind. “Is she successful in persuading others to help her?”
    “More than one would expect. When Lady Clara turns that angelic smile on you, you find yourself offering your help whether you want to or not.”
    Morgan faced him, eyes narrowing. “I take it she’s turned it on you?”
    Ravenswood shot him a rueful glance. “She convinced me to hire one of her pickpockets as a groom. You wouldn’t have thought it would work, but the stable-master actually ravesabout him.” He paused. “Surely you’re not worried about her interference in this . She talks a good game, but she’s all bark and no bite. I can’t imagine that a lady like her would take on the sort of hardened criminal you’re supposed to be.”
    Morgan wasn’t so sure. “I suppose not. And even if she does, I can handle her.”
    “If I’d thought you couldn’t, I wouldn’t have set you up so close to her Home. So how is the location otherwise? Any nibbles from the light-fingered sort, aside from Lady Clara’s boy?” Just that quickly, he’d dismissed the young noblewoman.
    Morgan prayed he could do the same. “Two river pirates, a peterman, and several plain thieves, not to mention the usual pickpockets. Since I offered all but the pickpockets too much for their goods, I wager I’ll have even more ‘business’ as word gets around.”
    “Why ‘all but the pickpockets’?”
    “That isn’t the business I want to encourage. The Specter won’t feel the pinch of lost income if I’m merely drawing off the shilling trade.”
    “No sign of the Specter yet?”
    He lifted one eyebrow. “After ten days? The Specter will only act when he considers me an important competitor. And that will require my sowing the soil with silver for a while.”
    “Not too long a while, I hope. I’m eager to have this resolved.”
    “And you’re tightfisted.”
    Ravenswood smiled thinly. “That, too. Especially since I’m funding this investigation with my own money.”
    Morgan scowled. “Are you sure you should have set this up without the knowledge and support of either the Home Office or the Navy Board?”
    “After what happened to you with the smugglers, I’m not taking any chances. The less people who know, the better.One man has already died in the course of this investigation. I won’t risk another, and certainly not my best man.” Strolling over to a stool, Ravenswood perched on the end of it. “I only hope your plan works.”
    “Give it time. If the Specter really has been trading in stolen bank notes, then my doing the same will present him with a serious problem.”
    Since bank note numbers were recorded, thieves could only receive hard currency for their stolen notes by sending them to accomplices in countries less concerned about a note’s legitimacy. The accomplices used the notes on the Continent, and eventually the notes landed in unsuspecting foreign banks, which cashed them at the Bank of England. Since the Bank of England couldn’t risk its notes not being accepted abroad, it honored them…and lost thousands of pounds every year in the process.
    Morgan suspected that the Specter had his own connections on the Continent. “Once I cut into his profits, he’ll have to deal with me. Either he’ll offer to include me in his operation, or he’ll try to get rid of me. Both will bring him out in the open.”
    “But in one of those scenarios, you end up dead. Like Jenkins.”
    Morgan shrugged. “Jenkins handled everything wrong. You shouldn’t have sent a gentleman spy to deal with the likes of the Specter.”
    “Since you weren’t in England at the time,” Ravenswood pointed out, “Jenkins was all I had. And what’s wrong with gentlemen spies? I used to be one myself.”
    “Yes, but you were ferreting out traitors