by Kristi Jun
Sinful Kiss
Sinful Ladies of London
Kristi Jun
www.KristiJun.com
Sinful Kiss
Copyright © 2018 Jinhee Jun
All Rights Reserved.
This is work of fiction. Names, characters, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the author, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the purchaser.
Cover Art & Paperback Interior: © Najla Qamber Designs and Media
E-book Interior: Author E.M.S.
Developmental Editor: Bev Katz Rosenbaum
Copy Editor: Deborah Dove
Proofreader: Jennifer Jakes
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SINFUL KISS
Copyright
By Kristi Jun
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
A Note from Kristi
About the Author
By Kristi Jun
(Available in e-book and print)
REGENCY ROMANCE
Enemy’s Kiss
SINFUL LADIES OF LONDON NOVELS
Sinful Pleasures, Book 1
Sinful Kiss, Book 2
Sinful Seduction, Book 3 (February 2019)
Sinful Thoughts, Book 4 (Summer 2019)
ROMANTIC THRILLER
BAYROCK CHRONICLES
Jodi’s Shadow, Book 1 (Coming 2019)
www.kristijun.com
Dedication
For my readers.
Without you my dreams would not be possible
CHAPTER 1
Blackthorn Hall, London
April 1815
Kane Roberts, a Bow Street Runner, stood on the periphery of Blackthorn Hall and observed the stranger standing in front of the entrance of the house.
Roberts had arrived at Blackthorn’s request and quickly noticed the exchange as he approached the front of the house after releasing his horse to the stable hand at the stables in the rear. From his angle, he could only see the stranger, but he recognized the voice that confronted the outsider. If he was correct, it was Ms. McBride.
The stranger—a man—was clearly an American. Donned in a long trench coat and weathered boots, he looked as though he hadn’t bathed in weeks. Was he one of Ms. McBride’s acquaintances from America? Perhaps a lover from her past? Had he come to take her back home?
While he didn’t know her well having crossed paths with her only a few times, he had sensed from the beginning that she was trouble.
Fortunately, she was none of his concern.
He listened…
~ ~ ~
“Believe me when I say that you will hang for what you did,” said Johnathan Hawk, the US marshal, as he stood in front of the entrance of Blackthorn Hall.
Kate McBride stood in front of Johnathan with her friends, Amelia Knight and Lord Blackthorn, with disbelief on her face at the news the US marshal had just proclaimed.
With a thick beard, standing six feet two inches, and in a trench coat that one might see only in the wilderness in the backcountry in American, he resembled a loner, a rebel who lived by his own rules. Those crystal-clear blue eyes missed nothing, and she knew this. While he might look like a man of pure brute force, he was highly educated, spoke five languages, and was well-bred.
“This is Johnathan Hawk, a former US marshal.” She turned to Amelia and Lord Blackthorn, who both bore the look of shock on their faces.
Johnathan ignored her comment. “I knew I’d catch you one of these days.”
“What are you doing here, Johnathan?” Kate said calmly and carefully. While he may have been her savior when she’d been living in the streets and stealing in the slums of Boston, she didn’t recognize the man standing in front of her any longer. Ever since his wife and newborn baby had died three years ago, he had become irrational and angry. The man she had looked up to, a man who had been like a brother to her, was no longer.
“To make you pay for what you’ve done.”
Confounded, she said, “I don’t understand. What have I done?” Did he find out she had been a jewel thief? She’d given up that life years ago, a life she had gladly relinquished. “What am I guilty of, Johnathan?”
“How dare you feign innocence,” Johnathan said, his eyes hot and angry.
“You will have to enlighten me.”
His mouth thinned in anger. “Ethan is dead, and you know it,” he seethed. “Isn’t that why you came here? To hide?”
“Who is Ethan?” Amelia asked in confusion.
The news hit Kate like a brick to her face. “Ethan is Johnathan’s young brother,” Kate whispered. The venom in Johnathan’s eyes sent a shiver down her spine. Still, how could he blame her for Ethan’s death? He was like family to her. “Ethan’s…dead?” she whispered, her voice shaking.
“I have a witness,” Johnathan said, his tone laden with disgust.
“A witness?” she said, trying to still her emotions. “Who is this witness?”
“You will know in due time.”
“Is he here?”
“He will be,” Johnathan said. “He is on his way from Boston. Once he identifies you as the killer, you will have no choice but to come back to Boston, even if it means I have to haul you back home with me.”
Kate was barraged with shock and grief. It came at her with such force, she stood there helpless. How could this have happened? How could Ethan be dead? She had said her farewell to him before she left for Scotland.
When Kate was speechless and struggling to find words, Lord Blackthorn stepped in. “I am sorry about your brother, Mr. Hawk,” he said, “but this isn’t America. You are on England’s soil. If you want an audience with Ms. McBride, you shall have to make an appointment and come back another time.”
“Or what?” the US marshal asked.
“I will be forced to remove you from my property. Good day.” Lord Blackthorn closed the door. Then he gave Kate a stern look. Amelia remained quiet, too quiet, watching her friend in confusion.
“My darling,” Amelia said to her husband. “May I speak with Kate privately?”
He seemed reluctant at first. “I will keep your mother company. You can converse in the private parlor upstairs.”
Kate felt mortified, sad, and completely shocked. Amelia had just reunited with her mother today after a decade of separation and now this. They walked up the stairs quietly and down the hall. Once they were ensconced in the private room, Amelia locked the door and quickly approached her friend and embraced her.
Kate had not realized she was even holding her breath. But indeed, she was. She slowly released her held breath. When the women parted, they
sat on the floral settee facing each other.
Kate didn’t have the words, so she waited for Amelia to speak first.
“I am your friend no matter what happens, you should know that. We’ve both been through a lot together and you’ve seen me at my worst, so I am here. And now that I am married, Lord Blackthorn will support you too.”
“I did not murder anyone,” Kate said.
Amelia searched her eyes. “Of course, you didn’t, and if I gave you any indication that I thought you were guilty, I am sorry.” Amelia held her friend’s hand.
Kate nodded. This was happening all too fast. Not more than fifteen minutes ago, she was in the parlor downstairs conversing with Amelia’s mother about all the wonderful news that had arrived today and now she was being accused of murdering her friend.
“Why does Mr. Hawk think you killed his brother?”
Kate sighed heavily. While she wanted to share everything with her friend, she could not. Amelia mustn’t know that she had been a former jewel thief and that her fortune had come from this endeavor, that her widowhood was a fabrication to protect her identity. Then there was Ethan’s unyielding friendship, but that came at a price too, because she harbored a secret that she could not share with anyone—that Ethan was in love with a man.
“It’s a long story, my dear friend, one that I cannot go into right now. But believe me when I say this that I had nothing to do with Ethan’s death.”
Amelia studied her for several seconds, and Kate thought her friend might insist on questioning her further, but then her friend smiled, and a flash of relief came over her.
“Richard and I will be by your side through this, so there is no need to worry.”
Shaking her head, Kate said, “You are on your way to Italy in two days.”
“We will have to postpone it.”
“No,” Kate said firmly. “You will do no such thing. I will be fine. Really.”
Watching, Amelia bit her lip in hesitation. “What will you do when this witness arrives? Mr. Hawk is a US marshal, after all. He may arrest you as soon as you return home with him and put you in prison.”
“I am not returning to Boston with him, nor am I going to be arrested.”
“How do you know?”
Kate didn’t know. Johnathan could attempt to kidnap her, take her back home, and charge her for a crime she didn’t commit. “I know,” she said, giving her friend a faint smile. “Johnathan wouldn’t hurt me.” This too was a lie. She didn’t know whether he would resort to hurting her. But she was not about to worry her friend and ruin her holiday.
Amelia finally agreed to go to Italy. Kate would not be able to live with herself if Amelia remained here in London because of her. After all, Johnathan had been released of his duty as a US marshal when his wife and infant died. His superior felt he needed to grieve his loss. According to Ethan, Johnathan’s career as a US marshal was at an end.
And now he was here for her.
Out of vengeance? For an apology? She wasn’t certain why he was here. Maybe he truly believed she was capable of such horrible things. If he truly believed that, she knew he’d cause destruction in her life if he felt she deserved it and drag her back to Boston.
What was she going to do now?
~ ~ ~
Lord Blackthorn had asked for a private meeting with Kate in his study soon after she was finished speaking with Amelia. She dreaded this.
“I need to know exactly who this man is, his past, and why he is here.”
“There isn’t much to tell, my lord.”
“Let me put it another way. If you plan to remain friends with my wife, I need you to answer my questions.” He paused. “Understood?”
She nodded.
“Did you kill Ethan?”
“No.”
“He suspects you did.”
“I don’t know why,” she said, reflecting on the times she spent with Johnathan’s family. He’d been like a brother to her. “Johnathan and I have a long history.”
“Elaborate,” he said. The discretion and ceremony one presented to a lady was nonexistent in his tone, not that she expected it when she was being questioned. “May I remind you, I have spied for the crown and I am trained to interrogate. If I suspect you are lying to me, you will not be welcomed in this house.”
This man wasn’t going to let her go until he got what he wanted. “All right,” Kate began. “I grew up in the streets. Don’t bother asking about my parents as I do not remember them. I survived by stealing and pickpocketing. I was good at it. I had tried to pick Johnathan’s pocket, but he caught me. I think he may have felt sorry for me, because he took me in and gave me a job as a scullery maid. That same year, his mother took pity on me when she discovered I didn’t know how to read or write and decided I needed at least a basic education. When I was old enough, I left.”
“Mr. Hawk took pity on you and took you home. I’d rather think you’d have some gratitude for his help.”
“I do.”
“Then why do you fear him?”
“I don’t.”
“Don’t lie to me,” he warned. “I see it in your face.”
Lord Blackthorn missed nothing, and he was truly going to make her suffer. “Johnathan was kind once. Kind and giving. In fact, I have never met anyone kinder.”
She looked toward the window and sighed. “I suppose he’d always been that way. He married the first woman he fell in love with. I’ve never seen anyone so contented with his life. When his wife died giving birth, and his baby joined her two days later, he became…”
Lord Blackthorn remained silent for several seconds, waiting for her to continue.
“Someone else,” she finally said. “He was very angry at the world and everyone in it, I suppose. I believe that he wanted to join them.” She paused. “He became unreasonable, angry, and even cruel at times. He took to drinking heavily. His superior ordered him take some time to grieve. He disappeared for a year, living in the wilderness. Ethan said he was living with the Mandan tribe in the middle of nowhere. He returned several months before I left for Scotland.”
“That still does not explain why he is after you, Ms. McBride.”
“Perhaps he feels I deserve his retribution.” She had done things in her life she wasn’t proud of, but she wasn’t a killer.
“Do you think you deserve it?” he questioned.
Did she? She quickly looked away without answering him.
“Do you think he will hurt you?”
The Johnathan she knew had been like a brother to her, and he was incapable of physically hurting anyone, but after seeing him today, she wasn’t certain. “I don’t know.”
“I see,” he said.
There was a long pause, only the ticking of the ornate clock on the marble mantle breaking the silence in the room.
“Am I correct to surmise you made your fortune by thieving?”
Her eyes snapped up to meet his. “Why do you assume that is how I made my fortune?”
“You mentioned earlier you were good at thieving. You appear to be a woman of means. Where could you have possibly gained the freedom and resources you have now?”
She bit her lip.
“Am I right?”
“I am no longer involved in the enterprise,” she confessed.
“I hope so, otherwise I would have to insist you tell my wife.”
Her eyes widened. “You won’t tell her, will you?”
“I won’t as long as you are telling the truth.”
“I have no reason to lie to you, my lord.”
“Is your friendship with my wife genuine?”
“Yes,” she said firmly. “That is one thing in my life I am proud of.”
“Good.”
She felt the sweat on her forehead. Touching her forehead, her mind began to race. She really needed to reassess her future, her life.
When there was a knock at the door, Blackthorn gave his permission to enter. “My lord,” Andrews said in his usual dry to
ne, “Mr. Roberts is here to speak with you.”
Mr. Roberts? Why was he here?
“Yes,” Lord Blackthorn said. “Let him in.”
When Roberts entered the study, he gave her the most insinuating look, as if she were being accused of something.
“Ms. McBride, you remember Mr. Roberts. He works for Bow Street. I believe in America, you would call him a police officer.”
She nodded. “I am aware of what he does for a living.”
“Good,” Lord Blackthorn said. “That will be all, Ms. McBride.”
Roberts waited for her to close the door before he sat down and faced his friend.
“What brings you here?” Blackthorn said.
“You asked me to come, as I recall,” Roberts said.
“Of course. This day has been quite eventful,” Blackthorn said. “Originally I had wanted to inquire about you staying at Blackthorn Hall as a guest while my wife and I are away. The Duke of Kemp and his sister, Lady Emily Wentworth, are here as guests, as well as the governess, Miss Quinn, but I would feel better knowing you were here with the girls.”
“But?”
“It seems Ms. McBride will need your protection.”
“From whom?”
Blackthorn filled Roberts in on the conversation he just had with her. The details regarding her life in the street in Boston, stealing, and her time spent with Mr. Johnathan Hawk’s family, the man he had seen earlier by the entrance.