TO SAVE HER FAMILY, SHE MUST BE VERY, VERY BAD...
Miss Judith Pengarden has a problem: her family is in debt, and soon will lose their home. What's a dutiful sister to do to save her loved ones from ruination? Why, steal a few items from an aristocrat's house--items he'll surely never miss--and sell them to pay her family's debts. Luckily for her, she meets Simon Montgomery, the new Earl of Cartwright, a recluse familiar with antiquities. He can help her keep her family from debtor's prison, and he might just claim her heart too. Except instead of stealing from Simon's neighbor, she breaks into the wrong house...
Simon is determined to change the way the world sees his family, even if it means he can no longer pursue his dreams of being a scholar to take on his new title. When a thief breaks into his home and steals a precious family heirloom, he vows to get the item back. The last thing he expects is that the girl he met at a garden party is a thief! When Jude is discovered with his possessions, how will she ever convince him that despite her deception, her love for him is the truth?
Prologue
London, England
March 1818
Miss Judith Pengarden should be anywhere but edging down the darkened halls of Lord Gunther’s London townhouse, the chilled wall pressed to her back. Possibly having a late meal with her siblings or trying her hand at yet another card game her youngest sister insisted she learn. Or even attending the opera house. However, she was, indeed, sneaking through the drafty interior of a home long past needing a complete renovation. It was difficult to understand why her twin sister, Samantha, thought there was anything of value in this long-forgotten, ramshackle house.
In the hour Jude had scoured the musty second floor by candlelight, she’d discovered nothing but molding draperies, neglected family heirlooms, and unpolished wooden furniture. It was impossible to envision someone living within these walls, let alone storing a precious, ancient, and very valuable vase, carelessly placed on an end table.
“Oh, I should have known better than to trust you,” Jude mumbled, cursing her own inability to see past her twin’s many fables. It was more likely Sam hadn’t even met Lord Gunther, nor overheard him boasting about his prized vase.
She searched the all-but-abandoned townhouse with only the current wing left to explore. Making one final turn, Jude looked down the short, dim corridor, knowing this was her last hope of finding what she’d come for; what she’d risked her neck to procure.
Immediately, she noticed that this hall was better kept than the rest of the home; the floors were swept clean, if not polished to shine, the long draperies were held back by finely tied lengths of cord, and a small table sat just to the left of a set of double doors.
Jude had found the lord’s private chambers.
Finally.
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Italian
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Already translated.
Translated by mara lock
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Portuguese
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Already translated.
Translated by Wélida Cristina de Souza Muniz
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Author review: Another wonderful experience with Welida. She always makes this process smooth and stress-free for authors. |
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Spanish
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Already translated.
Translated by Patricia M Begona
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Author review: Great job. Easy to work with. |
