A Lady by Chance (Historical Regency Romance) Read Free Page A

the son. I know too painfully the injustice of branding the child for the sins of the parent."
    "But I assure you the son is equally loathsome. He must be thwarted. Through his greatest friend – Ralph Morgan of the Morgan banking family – the marquess is secretly securing a loan for the French. Mr. Morgan believes the loan is for the English to purchase information from a French official.
    "The money is to be ready tomorrow. It had been my hope to have you win the money from Mr. Morgan to keep the French from getting it."
    Anna's eyes widened. "That, sir, is a horse of a different color."
    He nodded with satisfaction. "It was your mother's desire that you become thoroughly English. Are you telling me you consider yourself an English patriot?"
    "Can you doubt it?" Anna challenged.
    A smug smile curved his lip. "How far would you go to prove your loyalty?" He got up and paced the floor. As much as he hated the thought, Sir Henry knew what he was about to propose would cost him the twenty-five thousand pounds for which he so keenly hungered. But if this new plan came to fruition, Anna could be his goose who continued to lay golden eggs.
    "Could you marry for the love of your country?" he asked.
    Her brows shot up. "What do you mean?"
    "Marry Lord Haverstock. Become a spy for England. Get close to him. Learn his secrets. Pass them to us."
    Anna laughed. "I assure you, Lord Haverstock would rather swing from the gallows than marry me."
    "You underestimate your own charms, Anna." Sir Henry came back and sat next to her. "Consider this. Say you played cards with Mr. Morgan before he can get the money to his friend. You win the fifty-thousand pounds Haverstock borrowed. Haverstock could fear for his neck since he has no personal fortune from which to replenish the money. I am persuaded you could wrangle a marriage proposal from him in exchange for giving him back the money.
    "But then the money would go to the French!"
    Sir Henry's eyes sparkled. "Yes, but the English would have you in Haverstock's house. Think what you'd be able to learn as his wife! You could be a wealth of information to us." To himself, Sir Henry hoped she could learn the identity of Haverstock's contact in France. Napoleon would surely pay a hundred-thousand pounds to learn who the treacherous informant was. Any number of lucrative possibilities presented themselves to Sir Henry. He cocked his head and studied Anna, a smile twisting his lips. "Lady Haverstock. Think, Anna, how much your mother wanted you to be a lady."
    Her eyes stared vacantly for a while. The very thought of becoming the wife of the horrid marquess repulsed her, leaving her with a deep melancholy, a futile longing for a mate to whom she could give her heart. If she went along with Sir Henry's plan she would have to bury her hopes for a loving husband. She would have to welcome to her bed the son of the rotund Lord Haverstock. The son was most likely as disgusting as the father. The thought made her cringe.
    But to go along with Sir Henry's scheme might not be so great a sacrifice. Her life was utterly empty. As Haverstock's marchioness surely she would at least have entry into society, not that she craved the balls and social whirl. But how wonderful it would be to have friends to share a conversation with, to have someone to ride with in the park.
    Then, too, if she were to become Lady Haverstock, she could fulfill the deathbed promise she had made to her mother.
    Her feelings hardly mattered when weighed against England. For the first time since her mother's death, Anna felt needed.
    "I will win the money from Mr. Morgan," she said.
     
    It was very distasteful to Sir Henry to dress so innocuously, but he could take no chances he would be recognized by Ralph Morgan. He had watched, unobserved, as Morgan entered the bank. What was taking the man so deuced long? Sir Henry yanked in his fob and noted the time on his watch. The fool had been in there for an hour . As he placed the watch back