An Honourable Thief

An Honourable Thief
Anne Gracie

The dashing Mr. Hugo Devenish had come to London on an important mission: to prevent his innocent nephew from marrying an unsuitable young heiress.He'd never expected to be trounced upon by the most infamous thief in town! All society was agog at the rash of burglaries being committed by the mysterious Chinaman, but Hugo's attention was diverted once he was introduced to his nephew's heiress, the intriguing Miss Kit Singleton. Hugo found himself utterly enchanted. But her dubious background gave rise to the suspicion that Miss Singleton was somehow connected to the notorious thief. And Hugo could only hope to uncover Kit's many secrets, before the winsome beauty managed to steal his heart!

Mr. Devenish danced her across the room in a dazzling display of virtuosity and masculine energy,

twirling her and twirling her until she was quite dizzy with pleasure and delight.

Kit had danced the waltz several times before, but she suddenly realized why it had been regarded as so scandalous. When danced like this, caught up hard in the grip of a strong masterful man, twirling in his arms until you lost awareness of anything except the music and the man, the experience was utterly intoxicating.

Kit simply gave herself up to the magic of the dance. And the man. The world blurred around her in a glittering rainbow, the music spun through her brain in a melody of magic, and all that anchored her to the ground was the hard, strong body of a tall dark man.

Praise for Anne Gracie’s recent titles

RITA® Award Nominated

Gallant Waif

“Ms. Gracie has a knack for delving into people’s souls and tickling their funny bone.”

—Rendezvous

“An easy and elegant style…this is as polished a piece of romance writing as anyone could want.”

—The Romance Reader Web site

Tallie’s Knight

“Charming and wonderful…”

—All About Romance Web site

#615 THE TEXAN

Carolyn Davidson

#617 A WILD JUSTICE

Gail Ranstrom

#618 THE BRIDE’S REVENGE

Anne Avery

An Honorable Thief

Anne Gracie

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

Available from Harlequin Historicals and

ANNE GRACIE

Gallant Waif #557

An Honorable Thief #616

Contents

Prologue (#ueeb88a1f-32fa-5650-aa38-8684f701fff4)

Chapter One (#u3f4b00cf-4968-5924-af28-660276caf854)

Chapter Two (#uc0540e00-a745-5e94-9f09-a7c130b0af5b)

Chapter Three (#u45c80fb6-a0ea-59ed-8193-cea0463ba2c2)

Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Prologue

Near Batavia, on the island of Java, Dutch East Indies. 1815

“Promise!” The dying man grabbed her arm in a hard-fingered grip. Promise me, damn you, girl!

Kit Smith winced under the pressure. She glanced down at her father’s thin, elegant fingers biting into her flesh. Gentleman’s fingers. White, soft, aristocratic, seeming too fine even for the heavy ring he wore. Refined hands, good for lifting a lady’s hand to be kissed. For gesturing in an amusing fashion to illustrate a sophisticated story. White-skinned, blue-veined hands. Hands which had never done a hard day’s labour in their life. Hands which excelled at the shuffling and dealing of cards…the clever, extremely discreet dealing of cards…

Kit bit her lip and tried to ease her arm from under the punishing grip. He did not know his own strength, that was Papa’s trouble.

People didn’t when they were dying.