Regency Sins: Pickpocket Countess / Notorious Rake, Innocent Lady

Regency Sins: Pickpocket Countess / Notorious Rake, Innocent Lady
Bronwyn Scott

To bed a thief! Brandon Wycroft, Earl of Stockport, must catch the “Cat”, a notorious thief who is stealing from rich local homes to feed the poor. Discovering that Cat is a woman, Brandon changes his plan of action — to a game of seduction! But then Brandon realises he might want more from the girl…marriage!An awakening… Julia Prentiss could see no way out of her imminent forced marriage — unless she were to become a ruined woman! Notorious rake Paine Ramsden was reputed to have no qualms about seducing innocents, so Julia decided to ask for his help. But one night with the achingly pure Julia might just ruin Paine instead!Two classic and delightful Regency tales!

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Bronwyn Scott

About the Author

BRONWYN SCOTT is a communications instructor at Pierce College in the United States, and is the proud mother of three wonderful children (one boy and two girls). When she’s not teaching or writing, she enjoys playing the piano, travelling—especially to Florence—and studying history and foreign languages. You can learn more about Bronwyn at www.nikkipoppen.com.

Regency Sins

Pickpocket Countess

Notorious Rake, Innocent Lady

Bronwyn Scott

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

Pickpocket Countess

For Jeff and Diane Clausen and Ellen Holt,

who are great fans and even better friends.

As always, for my awesome family.

Chapter One

Near Manchester, England, Early December, 1831

Even in the darkness, he could sense the subtle alteration of the chamber. The room had been disturbed. Brandon Wycroft, the fifth Earl of Stockport, muttered curses under his breath. Damn, The Cat had been here.

The irony of the burglary was not lost on him. While twelve distinguished men of the district met downstairs in his library, smoking his fine cigars, drinking his expensive brandy and plotting how they’d catch the latest menace to the peace, that very menace had prowled free upstairs, daring to invade his most private sanctum: his bedroom.

It was only due to his keen hearing and the location of his rooms over the library that he had heard the faint scraping of a chair on the floor at all and had gone upstairs to investigate.

Curtains stirred at the window, calling his attention to the source of the winter chill permeating his quarters. The window was open. A slight movement behind the curtains gave away the intruder.

Brandon’s eyes narrowed. His body tensed. He amended his earlier thought. Not ‘had prowled’ but ‘was prowling’. Standing in the doorway of his chambers, he knew his instincts were right. The Cat was still in the room.

Brandon’s dissatisfaction transformed itself into a sense of vindication. After a month of burglarising the wealthy of Stockport-on-the-Medlock and other potential investors in Manchester who supported the proposed textile mill, The Cat’s reign would come to an abrupt end tonight. He would catch The Cat right now and be done with the blustering investors downstairs who had been more interested in kowtowing to the nobleman in residence than concocting a worthy plan. Then he could get back to Parliament and the controversial reform legislation that awaited him in London. But first, he had to catch the man behind the curtain.

A figure emerged from the shadow of the heavy curtains. The figure did not bolt as Brandon expected, but stood brashly at the sill, letting the moonlight outline her silhouette.

Her? The Cat, the daring intruder who stood between him and the success of the mill, which he needed to save Stockport-on-the-Medlock from the ignominy of agricultural penury, was unmistakably a woman. A provocatively dressed woman at that, Brandon conceded, raking his gaze over her form.

Loose folds of a dark shirt draped over the swell of promising breasts. Glove-tight black breeches showed off a slender waist, encasing shapely hips and long-booted legs.