One Night of Passion by Elizabeth Boyle Read Free Book Online Page A

brothers’ upbringing and add a stamp of respectability to the family name that it had long been lacking.
    Oh, his father had been respected in diplomatic circles, where the previous Lord Danvers had spent forty years working for British interests. But in the narrow world of the ton, he’d always been regarded as a bit of an oddity—with his far-reaching travels and Spanish-born second wife—and therefore not quite up to snuff.
    Colin had hoped that marriage to the sensible and esteemed Lady Diana would bring him the one thing the Danvers men never seemed able to attain: a normal life.
    His father had eloped with his mother, Lady Susannah Devinn, the daughter of the Duke of Setchfield. Scandal had surrounded their marriage from the moment they’d dashed to Gretna Green until fourteen years later when the still spirited and independent Susannah had died of a fever following the birth of a daughter. The poor babe had followed her mother into a cold grave in Westphalia, where the Danvers family-had been living and gathering information for the Foreign Office.
    No, Colin certainly wasn’t about to follow in the shoes of his globe-hopping, spy-chasing father. It wasn’t in his nature.
    At least so he’d thought until six months ago, New Year’s Eve, after a dinner party with Nelson and all his captains. Hours into a celebration spent toasting the upcoming year and the victories they would share, the admiral had taken Colin aside and revealed evidence of a viper in their midst.
    It was then that Nelson had asked Colin to become unfettered from the constraints of his uniform, to cut himself loose from naval regulations and codes of conduct, to become a social outcast.
    So freed, Nelson believed that Colin would be able to find the turncoat nestled within the admiral’s inner circle—a man selling secrets to the French and undermining British supremacy at sea.
    For who better to be viewed as a likely partner than a man with a grudge, a man without connections, a man who had supposedly just lost a considerable fortune?
    They hoped to lure out the turncoat, dangling Colin as a possible ally, someone with inside knowledge, who would very likely take French gold without the honorable burdens that plagued a true and loyal officer of His Majesty’s Navy.
    And though he’d readily agreed to the resulting disgrace, he hadn’t foreseen the rippling effects that would wipe away his relationships with his friends . . . his family . . . his betrothed. If he grieved for the loss of Lady Diana, it was mostly for the likely embarrassment he’d caused her. He only hoped their broken engagement wouldn’t be a detriment to her future happiness.
    “Now,” Temple was saying, “watch and learn from an expert on what it means to be a dishonorable scoundrel. And try to remember—you are bad ton now.”
    As his cousin waded into the crowded room, maneuvering through the ignoble assemblage with practiced ease, Colin knew he didn’t belong there.
    His practical nature took over, for he had a ship to supply and a crew to finalize, and all before he sailed in two days’ time. He hardly needed to be looking for a mistress. Besides, there were still some hours left to the evening, so perhaps he could start looking over the reports he’d been sent by Nelson before calling it a night.
    As he turned to make his escape before Temple came back with a pair of likelies on his arm, he found himself nearly bowled over by a tall dervish in purple silk.
    “Oh!” she gasped as he tried to catch his balance, his hand mistakenly cupping a breast, his other grappling around the curve of her lush hip.
    “Unhand me, you oaf!” she ordered, her heel landing solidly atop his newly polished boot.
    Whether it was a mistake or intentional, Colin couldn’t tell. Gritting his teeth through the pain, he pulled his foot free before it sustained any permanent damage, then planted himself on the marble floor as if he were standing on a pitching deck. But the