Read Online Tempting Her Reluctant Viscount by Catherine Hemmerling - Free Book Online

case? What are you talking about?”
    Looking immensely surprised, Hope said, “Oh, dear. Perhaps I shouldn’t have said anything…but I felt sure you knew.”
    “Knew what ?” Michael ground out. Honestly, if Hope didn’t tell him what she was talking about, he would drag her to Lady Lancaster’s that instant and have Elizabeth tell him what was going on around here.
    Hope gave him an aloof look before saying, “You are aware of the Young Ladies Garden Society?”
    “The little tea party Elizabeth holds every week for all those pampered girls? What of it?”
    “Well, first of all, it is not a ‘little tea party’ and second of all, it is not for ‘pampered girls’.”
    Michael felt a flush start at his neck. “Ahhh, you are part of the Garden Society, I gather?”
    “Yes, I am.”
    “Oh…I see.”
    Hope looked as if she highly doubted that he did, but she continued nonetheless. “Myself and four other young ladies—my very good friends—were recruited by Lady Lancaster to help her solve crimes, mysteries, and intrigues all throughout London. The Garden Society is just our cover.”
    Michael opened his mouth to say something, anything, but nothing came out. Hope and her friends were spies for Elizabeth? How…? Why…? What was the woman thinking? Spy-work was a dangerous business. What right did the venerable Duchess of Lancaster have to put these impressionable young girls in danger? Michael could hardly believe what he was hearing.
    “Aren’t you going to say something?” Hope asked.
    Michael shook his head as his mind raced. Perhaps Hope was exaggerating about the types of cases the duchess was assigning to her and her friends. Girls often made mountains out of molehills, didn’t they? Oh Lord, Elizabeth would have my head over that notion. Thank goodness the woman could not actually read minds, although most people were convinced she could.
    Hoping a youthful embellishment was indeed occurring here, Michael asked, “What kind of, ah, things are you and your friends doing for Lady Lancaster?”
    “We-e-l-l-l,” Hope replied slowly, “Hannah foiled a smuggling plot by blowing up the old Custom House and Rose is trying to catch a killer. Oh, and you and I are trying to solve a crime involving the stock market and one million pounds of illegally gained money. Those kinds of things, I suppose.”
    Damn! It was worse than he thought. Those were the types of cases that got people killed. Well, maybe not the case he and Hope were working on, but surely smuggling rings and murderers brought with them substantial danger.
    “I cannot believe that Elizabeth is exposing you ladies to such danger,” Michael said through tightly clenched teeth.
    “I don’t see why not. Lady Lancaster has told us on many occasions that women make the best spies, so why not us?”
    Hearing Hope repeat what he, himself, had thought just a couple of days prior did not improve Michael’s mood. He didn’t care about any of the other lady-spies he had met (aside from Lady Lancaster, of course), but Hope was different. And Hope’s friends were different. As much as he hated to admit it, he cared about Hope and, by extension, her friends.
    When exactly had he begun to care about Hope so much? Until yesterday, he hadn’t really even known that much about the girl. He supposed he still didn’t, but there was something about her…something about the way she made him feel. It was different with her than it was with any other woman of his acquaintance.
    Shaking his head again, Michael vowed to have a talk with Elizabeth as soon as possible, but for now, it was probably wise to stop thinking about Hope and her friends and just concentrate on the subject at hand. “I will go get the reports,” Michael muttered, rising to his feet.
    “Fine,” Hope replied briskly. “I will put my books away so we can work here.”
    “Fine,” Michael replied as he walked out of the room, kicking himself again for putting himself in this