Dance of Seduction (44 page)

As they emerged from the woods, she heard what she first thought was thunder. She nearly panicked before she realized it was actually the sound of a great many carriages approaching.

“The children are here!” She grabbed Morgan by the arm to urge him forward. “I want to see their expressions when they first glimpse this place.”

They reached the carriages just in time to watch as fifty-one children poured out. Their freshly scrubbed faces lit up with delight, sending a fierce satisfaction through her.

Morgan moved up behind her. “They seem to like it, my love.”

“They do, don’t they?”

Then she spied David sidling up close to Sebastian, who didn’t even notice the boy eyeing his pockets with a calculated gleam.

Morgan groaned, having apparently seen the same thing. “Please tell me you offered the children a bribe to keep them from robbing our guests blind.”

“I promised them a week’s unlimited supply of sweets…as long as not a single one of them picked a pocket today.”

Mary came up to David, and they exchanged a few heated words. Fortunately, the girl won the argument and succeeded in tugging David off to join the other children.

Morgan laughed. “I see that Mary at least doesn’t intend to lose her sweets. You’ve got this bargaining business down
pat, angel. You always know how to dangle just the right temptation to get what you want.”

“I do my best.”

He bent his head to whisper, “And speaking of temptation, are you sure I can’t tempt you back into the arbor? I don’t know if I can wait until tonight to seduce you.”

She chuckled. “Ah, but the waiting will make the seduction so much sweeter, don’t you think?”

Sliding his arms about her waist, he drew her back against his chest. “It’s not the waiting that makes it sweeter,
ma belle ange
. It’s the loving. It makes everything sweeter.”

And as they stood there together watching the children swarm over the grounds with happy cries, she decided he was exactly right.

Author’s Note

C
ontrary to popular opinion, there were indeed police in London other than the Bow Street Runners before Sir Robert Peel established the Metropolitan Police in 1829. In 1792, an Act of Parliament established seven police offices around the city in addition to the Bow Street office, each headed by three paid magistrates and staffed by six or so police officers, who reported to the Home Office. At that time, the magistrates served not only as judges but also as supervisors of the investigations, as does Hornbuckle. The office at Lambeth Street is most famous for catching Ikey Solomons, a notorious Regency-era fence. I loosely based the Specter on Ikey (who wasn’t violent, but who did a thriving trade in stolen bank notes), and Jonathan Wild, an earlier thief-taker who played both sides of the law.

About the Author

I’ve been creating fiction for years (I started when I was two and it’s only gotten worse since then), and I plan to continue until my imagination stops filling my head with ideas, which should be sometime in the next century. Besides, writing novels gives me an excuse for not cleaning the house.

Fortunately, my dear husband and son tolerate my obsession because A) I still cook; B) they don’t know how to write novels; and C) they know I’m much happier with plots and characters in my head than with a mop in my hand.

So if you’d like to know more about my seventeen books under various names (or find out just how I turn the flotsam and jetsam in my head into actual books), visit my website at www.sabrinajeffries.com.

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Other Romantic Treasures by
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OVE
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OVE
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This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DANCE OF SEDUCTION
. Copyright © 2006 by Sabrina Jeffries. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

ePub edition September 2006 ISBN 9780061741081

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