Book DescriptionLord Lucien Knight gave his honor for his country -- baiting traps with sins of passion and politics in the shadow war against Napoleon. Now that peace has been declared, the master spy turns his talents to vetting possible brides for his twin, testing their worthiness to wed his icily honorable war hero brother, Lord Damien. In the course of that duty he learns of Alice Montague. Miss Montague is said to be young, pretty, clever, good with children, and of impeccable character. She sounds perfect for his twin. Why, then, does Lucien lure Alice to his estate, compel her to promise to remain in what she knows to be a fortress of sin, and then begin a skilled campaign of seduction? Can it be that the Lord of Fire himself now burns with the fire of love?Shadows sculpted his sharp profile as he watched the crowded ballroom from the dim, high balcony; in the oscillating glow of the draft-buffeted wall candle, he seemed to flicker in and out of materiality like some tall, elegant phantom. Its shifting radiance glimmered over his raven-black hair and caught the Machiavellian glint of cunning in his quicksilver-colored eyes. Patience. Everything was in order. Preparation was all, and he had been meticulous. With a musing expression, Lord Lucien Knight lifted his crystal goblet of burgundy to his lips, pausing to inhale its mellow bouquet before he drank. He did not yet know his enemies’ names or faces, but he could feel them inching closer like so many jackals. No matter. He was ready. He had laid his trap and baited it well, with all manner of sin and sex and the siren’s whisper of subversive political activity that no spy could resist. There was nothing left to do now but watch and wait. Twenty years of war had ceased this past spring with Napoleon’s defeat, abdication, and exile to the Mediterranean island of Elba. It was autumn now, and the leaders of Europe had gathered in Vienna to draw up the peace accord; but any man with half a brain could see that until Bonaparte was moved to a more secure location farther out in the Atlantic, Lucien thought dryly, the war was not necessarily over. Elba was but a stone’s throw from the Italian mainland, and there were those who opposed the peace—who saw no profit for themselves in the Bourbon King Louis XVIII’s return to the throne of France and who wanted Napoleon back. As one of the British Crown’s most skilled secret agents, Lucien had orders from the foreign secretary, Viscount Castlereagh, to stand as the watcher at the gate, as it were, until the peace had been ratified—his mission, to stop these shadowy powers from stirring up trouble on English soil. …Product Details Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Piatkus Books; New Ed edition (December 15, 2005) Language: English ISBN-10: 0749907681 ISBN-13: 978-0749907686 Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.6 inches