IN YR ARMS AGAIN MM

by SMITH KATHRYN

• ISBN13: 9780060527426
• ISBN10: 0060527420
• Format: Paperback
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

Summary

Since North Ryland and Octavia March were wrenched apart and their childhood friendship destroyed, much has changed. North has had a successful career as a Bow Street runner, and has made quite a name and fortune for himself. So much so that when Octavia's fianc_ (for she is now engaged to one of the most desirable men of the town) needs to hire a man to investigate threats on Octavia's safety, he is the only man that will do.

Excerpts

In Your Arms Again

Chapter One

London
April 1818

She was a fraud. He was a fraud.

From his position near the upper balustrade, NorthSheffield watched his prey as she twirled around the taupeand cream marble dance floor, smiling in the arms of a handsomeyoung lord. Diamonds glittered in her hair, and hergown was the height of fashion.

She looked as home there as he knew he did, weaving inand out among the upper ranks of society. There was one bigdifference between her and him. She wanted to belong. Northhad given up caring about what society thought of him yearsago -- when the upper ranks of the ton let him know in no uncertainterms that while he might look as though he was one ofthem, the simple accident of his birth ensured that he was not.

Bastards weren't equals unless they were born under theguise of legitimacy, and neither North nor the girl laughingfar below him could claim such distinction. At least North's father had claimed him. This girl's father stood not even tenfeet away from her. If he had any idea of her identity, he dida good job of hiding it.

Poor girl. She would be forever ruined before the nightwas over. No one would come to her rescue, especially nother father. She would be tossed into the street, if not sent directlyto Newgate. Once he unmasked her, her fate would beout of his hands. The knowledge left him feeling dirty.

Sighing, he pulled the silver watch from his pocket andchecked the time. A glob of wax from the sconce on the wallby his head dropped onto the glass facing, obscuring thenumbers in a splattering of milky white. He wiped it awaywith his thumb before it hardened.

It was five minutes before midnight. His associates wouldbe waiting for him outside, and he did not want to keep themor the person with them waiting any longer than he had to. Itwas a consideration he normally didn't extend to those helpinghim solve a case, but this one was special.

And he felt all the dirtier for it.

Turning his back on the glittering ballroom, he crossed thesoft claret red carpet to the stairs.

"There are three men waiting in a carriage out front," hetold a footman when he had descended to the next floor."Have them come in."

The footman looked as though he'd dearly love to tellNorth to do it himself, but North was still the fellow's better,bastard or not. With a stiff nod, the young man went off to doas he was bid, leaving North watching him with a narrow andsomewhat anxious gaze.

He stood alone, in a small opulent vestibule decorated inshades of crimson, cream, and gold, waiting for his companionsto join him. He hoped Francis had left the restraints behindas he instructed. He would give the girl -- Lady Amelia,she called herself -- as much dignity as he could. Whether she chose to accept the consequences of her charade with thesame dignity was up to her.

Christ, but he'd be glad when this was all over. The entiresituation left a foul taste in his mouth. He could just let thegirl go, forget all about proving her a fraud. It wasn't asthough she was hurting anyone -- at least not anyone whocouldn't afford it. She was simply trying to claim a life shebelieved herself to be entitled to. Of course she had raisedsuspicions. If she hadn't, no one ever would have thought tohire North to ferret out the truth. The "Caraboo" fiasco of lastyear had made Society paranoid, everyone new was suspect.

Which was why North could not just let Lady Amelia walkaway. Even when he'd first discovered her secret, he knew hewouldn't be able to let her go. To do so would not only be alie, but if the truth was ever discovered, it would destroy hiscredibility among the ton as a man of discretion and honor.He could not afford to have his name tarnished any furtherthan his birth and occupation had already tainted it.

The bastard son of the late Viscount Creed and NellSheffield, a Scottish actress, North had lived much of hislife on the fringes of society. In his mother's world he hadbeen readily accepted and loved. After her death he'd goneto live with his father and brothers -- much to Lady Creed'sdisapproval. It was in that world -- his father's world -- hehad so desperately wanted to belong. But eventually he gaveup trying.

Now, those same people who hadn't wanted him hired himto solve their dirty problems, protect their nasty secrets. Hewas suddenly very much in demand and wanted by the aristocracy.He kept their secrets as though they were his own,and reminded himself to never mistake their offers of friendshipfor anything other than fragile overtures with no moresolidity than the flecks of wax still clinging to the edge of hiswatch.

Now if only Francis and the others would hurry up so hecould get this job over with. He had yet to meet anyone whoknew him, mostly because he'd spent the better part of hisbrief time there skulking in the shadows, but now he was outin the open, and if anyone saw him, the whispers would soonfollow. People would begin to suspect that he was there for areason -- he was rarely in society without a case being involved.He didn't want to answer any questions, and hedidn't want the girl to suffer any more than she had to.

"Ready?"

North looked up. It was Francis. Six feet tall and barrelchested,somehow the investigator had managed to sneak upon him. That wasn't good. It only proved how much this particularcase affected him.

In Your Arms Again. Copyright © by Kathryn Smith. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

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Excerpted from In Your Arms Again by Kathryn Smith
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