Charming a Spy Read Online Free PDF Page A

fast, even for you. The first time you met her? I don’t know how you do it.”
    Geoff shrugged.
    “It’s not how it sounds… unfortunately.” The picture of Katherine Dubois on her knees under his desk made Geoff want to leave the ballroom to find some relief. He sipped his drink and tried to recover his thoughts. “The minx was burglarizing our offices.”
    “What? Why?” Pennington asked.
    “Perhaps it was related to her brother, but I really don’t have a clue.”
    “Well, if you caught her stealing it makes me think we’re on the right track with her as a suspect. Did you confront her?” Geoff heard the excitement in Pennington’s voice although others might mistake the emotion for a bad case of ennui or tedium. Emotive he was not.
    “Of course not. She thinks she got away, which means she will make another attempt. Hopefully, whatever harebrained scheme she comes up with next will be as clumsy as her last. If so, we should have no trouble solving this puzzle. That’s why I’m keeping my eyes on her,” Geoff said.
    “Where is she?” Pennington asked, turning to face the guests in the ballroom.
    Geoff shook his head. “I don’t mean my eyes are on her this minute… oh, never mind, Pennington. You really must try and be less literal.” he said scanning the room. “There,” he said, tilting his head towards the southeast corner where she leaned against a column.
    “Ah yes,” Pennington said. “Not a nag at all.”
    Katherine Dubois was a voluptuous hourglass draped in blue. Her tiny waist was sandwiched between perfect round mounds of fleshy breasts and hilly hips. Her nest of hair was fashioned into tiny brown ringlets pouring into her ample décolletage. She was delectable. And she must have felt Geoff’s eyes boring into her body because she turned in time to catch him devouring her with his stare. He didn’t avert his gaze but enjoyed her watching him.
    In an instant, she paled, and then practically jumped off the wall. He studied her as she scurried to her aunt’s side, the deer hiding from the panther yet again. Geoff was ready to begin hunting.

Chapter Six
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    K at’s fable about a headache was apparently convincing enough that Aunt Ellie afforded her a brief escape to visit the retiring room. Her ruse allowed her at least a half hour to search the duke’s house for a secret she could use to blackmail him, which should be more than enough time.
    Considering the way he looked at her, Stamwell no doubt had countless things to hide. He’d peered into her eyes with a gaze that could scandalize Marie Antoinette. His eyes set her skin on fire. He made her feel as if she were standing naked amongst the crowd.
    It was exciting and terrifying all at once. Something about him was unsettling. How could he want something from her? They’d only recently met. She better get over this silly fear if she had a chance of intimidating him into doing her bidding.
    Kat walked down the halls until she was sure she was out of view from other wandering guests, and then ducked into the first door she found. It was a library. Books lined circular shelves three stories high leading up to a glass-domed ceiling. It reminded Kat of a painting she once saw of the Tower of Pisa, all columns and arches and glass.
    She ran her fingertips lightly over the leathery spines of the books as she walked the circumference of the room, thinking of all of the immense possibilities contained within these walls. After spending a lifetime in a library like this, she might only ever learn a fraction of the knowledge contained in all of these books. There might even be a few detective novels tucked amongst the more heavy tomes.
    Of course, the duke probably never read any of them… the royals rarely did. He most likely collected them to stand on his shelves as trophies of his mental capabilities. What a waste to have such a beautiful library and not even read the books.
    Barely enough moonlight streamed through the rotunda