Captive Surrender Read Free Page A

Levant, who had suddenly
started to purchase a lot of properties while having very little in
the way of funds, and a group of French spies, whose string of safe
houses the Star Elite had recently destroyed.
    The Star Elite were still
trying to locate five missing Frenchmen; Rousseau, Guerin, Laurent,
Dubois and Fournier, and suspicion had fallen on Charles Kempton,
aka Ludwig Levant, largely because he had appeared out of nowhere,
changed his name, and the properties he had purchased were all in a
meandering line that stretched all the way from Mayfair in London
to Cornwall. Although the French spies had yet to be found, Stephen
suspected that they were not very far away. Were they using the
houses Ludwig had purchased as safe houses? If not, why would
someone like Levant want so much property? More importantly, who
was his financier, because it certainly wasn’t his money he was
spending.
    Unfortunately, it
appeared that Levant had now set his sights on Cragdale Manor. Was
that because it had a rather conveniently placed private beach that
would be perfect for the spies to use to get out of the country? Or
was Ludwig nothing more than a bully and a greedy, unscrupulous
landowner who wouldn’t be satisfied until he owned half the county?
Somehow, Stephen couldn’t see that Levant had the intelligence
required to be involved in a clever operation the likes of which
the French had established on English soil, but he knew from past
experience that he would be foolish to discount Levant’s
involvement just yet, especially give the his determination to buy
Cragdale. The fact that Levant had just offered for the beach,
without the house, seemed to confirm to Stephen that his suspicions
were correct: Levant was involved with the French in some way, he
just didn’t know how yet.
    He sighed and settled
back into his saddle and thought about his colleagues. Where the
rest of the Star Elite were now, heaven only knew. The last time he
had seen his boss, Sir Hugo, and Simon Ambrose, they had all been
at Jamie Montford’s wedding. Pie’s wedding to the beautiful
Florence had rapidly followed before everyone had departed on their
new missions. He knew that Pie had retired due to his injuries, and
Jamie had decided to quit to enjoy his family, and live the life of
a country gent. Archie was already on his way to welcoming his
second child with his wife, Portia, while Simon and Francesca had
their third offspring on the way. Heaven only knew how many
children Hugo and Harriett had now.
    While Stephen had no
intention of admitting it to anyone, he rather envied his happily
married colleagues. His life with the Star Elite brought him many
long and often arduous hours in dangerous locations that had, on
more than one occasion, put his life at considerable risk. The
thought of having nothing more taxing to do with his time than race
the weather in order to dig his winter vegetables rather appealed
to him.
    He couldn’t help it: he
simply had to turn around and take one last, lingering look at the
now sodden bundle of femininity who had captured his interest so
fervently. He shook his head, and turned to face forward only for
his attention to be caught by the dark glare Levant gave
him.
    “ Seen
something interesting?” Levant demanded snidely.
    Stephen stared his boss
down, completely unperturbed by the menace evident on the man’s
dark face. “It appears that she is rather ignorant of the weather
too,” he drawled and nodded to the house behind them. He saw Levant
flicker a dismissive glance at Prudence before he turned to study
Stephen far too intently. “Seems to me that the lady is adamant
that she isn’t going to sell,” Stephen drawled.
    “ She will
sell,” Levant growled. There was a hint of frustration in the man’s
voice that warned Stephen that the worst was yet to come. “I am
going to have the beach, and that woman, or my name is not Ludwig
Levant.”
    Over my dead
body, Stephen mused, aware of the flurry
of