Seduction abounds in Sharon Cullen’s steamy historical romance! For the Crown’s top agents, love is a hazard best avoided—until an unforgettable affair exposes their undercover hearts.
Sebastian Addison has a powerful secret. To society he is the Earl of Claybrook, the patriarch who raised his siblings after the death of their parents. But to the king, Sebastian is Britain’s top spy—a position that has taken an emotional toll on him. Contessa Gabrielle Marciano has also been living a lie, her title a cover devised by the Office of Intelligence. The femme fatale was plucked from a life of crime and prostitution and trained to restrain her passionate nature. Until she meets the earl.
For three deeply sensual days and nights, Sebastian and Gabrielle drop their masks, indulging in pleasures that seem too good to be true. Then the lovers go their separate ways. Seven months later they reunite when inside sources report that an English aristocrat has been aiding France in a plot to topple the Crown. Their objective: to find the turncoat. Their greatest challenge: to keep their wild, wounded hearts from derailing a mission of life and death.
Sebastian Addison, earl of Claybrook, eminent spy to the English crown, rolled off his lover and breathed deep in satisfaction.
Contessa Gabrielle Marciano snuggled against his side, all warm and moist from their lovemaking. Automatically his arm went around her, and he dragged her closer, drawing in her exotic scent of jasmine and sandalwood.
His lover.
He’d had many lovers in his past, many women he’d bedded, many of whose faces he could not recall, let alone their names. But Gabrielle . . . she was different. She was everything he’d ever wanted in a woman. Intelligent and funny and warm. She understood him in ways no other had. And yet he could not have her. Not permanently.
The thought saddened and angered him at the same time. He’d given up many things to become a premier spy, and one was any sort of long-term commitment. It had never bothered him before, but it bothered him immensely now.
Beside him, she hummed in contentment. He knew it was contentment. They’d been together three days, and already he knew so much about her—and yet so little. She hummed when she was content. She curled her toes when her release was imminent. She adored dark chocolate and liked to lie on the bed and watch him with those dark, dark eyes as he talked to her.
Yet there was much he didn’t know about her. And there was much she didn’t know about him. And that was the way it had to be.
He knew from past experience that ending the relationship could be messy. But he also knew that Gabrielle would be different. She wouldn’t cry. She would calmly accept. He’d told her from the beginning that whatever happened between them would be short-term, and she had readily—almost too readily—agreed. That was strange in itself, but he didn’t question it.
Today was the end of the best three days of his life. It had come far too quickly for his satisfaction. There was no other option. He had to be in France in a few days. Another mission the crown needed him for. There was always another mission, another villain, another person bent on destroying England. Sometimes he was so damn weary of it, but this was the life he’d chosen, and in his heart he knew he was doing good.
Today, however, he wasn’t feeling that way. Today he wanted to pull the covers up over them and make love to Gabrielle until they were breathless, and then they would eat and talk and laugh and make love all over again.
Wishes were for other men. Not for Sebastian.
He looked at Gabrielle, who was staring at him with those beautiful dark eyes that always seemed to see too much.
“It’s time,” she said, seeming to read his mind.
“Gabrielle—”
“Shhh.” She pressed her finger to his lips, silencing his words. “We said from the beginning that this was only temporary. We knew the end would come sooner than we would like. I can’t . . .” She pulled her finger away and looked softly into his eyes. “I can’t give you more than I already have. The truth is, I’ve been called away from Venice and must leave within a day or two. It’s time,” she repeated.
He picked up her hand and kissed her fingers. “What happened here, these last three days, I’ll never forget.”
Her eyes were sparkling with tears. “And neither will I. Thank you.”
There was an unexpected lump in his throat and pressure behind his eyes. Really, there was nothing else to say. There was no use wishing for something that couldn’t be, and there were no more words to be said.
He slipped out of bed and dressed silently. When he was finished, he turned to soak in the vision of her. Her nearly black hair was tousled about her shoulders and trailing to the bed. Her eyes were wide, her lips swollen and red. She held the bedsheets over her bosom, but he still saw their swell. He paused, suddenly unwilling to leave.
“Goodbye, Sebastian.”
Her words were like a dagger to the gut, swift and painful and shocking. “Goodbye, my lady.”
Sharon Cullen is the author of the historical romances The Notorious Lady Anne, Loving the Earl, and Pleasing the Pirate, as well as many novels of romantic suspense, paranormal romance, and contemporary romance. If you’d like to find out more about the author and her books, you can visit her blog or her website. She is addicted to social networking so you can find her on Facebook and Twitter. Friend her! Like her! Follow her! She’d love to hang out with you and talk about her passion: books.
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