The Secrets of the Heart. Kasey Michaels

      Praise for USA TODAY bestselling author

       KASEY MICHAELS

      “[A] hilarious spoof of society wedding rituals wrapped around a sensual romance filled with crackling dialogue reminiscent of The Philadelphia Story.”

      —Booklist on Everything’s Coming Up Rosie

      “A cheerful, lighthearted read.”

      —Publishers Weekly on Everything’s Coming Up Rosie

      “Michaels continues to entertain readers with the verve of her appealing characters and their exciting predicaments.”

      —Booklist on Beware of Virtuous Women

      “Lively dialogue and characters make the plot’s suspense and pathos resonate.”

      —Publishers Weekly on Beware of Virtuous Women

      “A must-read for fans of historical romance and all who appreciate Michaels’ witty and sensuous style.”

      —Booklist on The Dangerous Debutante

      “Michaels is in her element in her latest historical romance, a tale filled with mystery, sexual tension, and steamy encounters, making this a gem from a true master of the genre.”

      —Booklist on A Gentleman by Any Other Name

      “Michaels can write everything from a lighthearted romp to a far more serious-themed romance. [Kasey] Michaels has outdone herself.”

      —Romantic Times BOOKreviews, Top Pick, on A Gentleman by Any Other Name

      “Nonstop action from start to finish! It seems that author Kasey Michaels does nothing halfway.”

      —Huntress Reviews on A Gentleman by Any Other Name

      “Michaels has done it again…. Witty dialogue peppers a plot full of delectable details exposing the foibles and follies of the age.”

      —Publishers Weekly, starred review, on The Butler Did It

      “Michaels demonstrates her flair for creating likable protagonists who possess chemistry, charm and a penchant for getting into trouble. In addition, her dialogue and descriptions are full of humor.”

      —Publishers Weekly on This Must Be Love

      “Kasey Michaels aims for the heart and never misses.”

      —New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts

      KASEY MICHAELS

      The Secrets of the Heart

The Secrets of the Heart

      CONTENTS

      PROLOGUE: A SIMPLE VOLLEY

      BOOK ONE:THE GAME BEGINS

      CHAPTER ONE

      CHAPTER TWO

      CHAPTER THREE

      CHAPTER FOUR

      CHAPTER FIVE

      BOOK TWO:ADVANTAGE, PEACOCK

      CHAPTER SIX

      CHAPTER SEVEN

      CHAPTER EIGHT

      CHAPTER NINE

      CHAPTER TEN

      BOOK THREE:A MASTER STROKE

      CHAPTER ELEVEN

      CHAPTER TWELVE

      CHAPTER THIRTEEN

      CHAPTER FOURTEEN

      CHAPTER FIFTEEN

      EPILOGUE: WINNER TAKES ALL

      PROLOGUE

      A SIMPLE VOLLEY

      I vow, I love the game, for this is the finest sport I have yet encountered. Hair-breadth escapes…the devil’s own risks! Tally ho—and away we go!

      Baroness Orczy

      

      Once more into the breach,

       dear friends, once more!

      William Shakespeare

      JUST SHORTLY BEFORE TEN of the clock, Herbert Symington bade his host and hostess a pleasant good night and rather drunkenly tripped down the stairs toward the impressively designed if a tad overly ornate coach and four that was his latest acquisition and one of which he was enormously proud.

      It was a grand time to be alive, Herbert Symington truly believed. An Englishman with his wits about him could make a tidy profit from the cheap labor filtering in to Little Pillington. Independent weavers put out of business by the big new mills had lost their livings and would work from before dawn to past dusk for a few shillings a week in order to feed their families.

      “Take me home, coachie,” Symington commanded, giving a sweeping wave to his driver and a drunken kick to the groom, who didn’t move fast enough in lowering the steps to the coach to suit his master. “Lazy jackanapes, I ought to sack you,” he muttered under his liquor-sour breath, pulling himself into the coach and collapsing heavily against the velvet squabs as the coachman prematurely gave the horses their office to start.

      “Stupid oafs, the lot of them,” Symington grumbled into his gravy-stained cravat as he adjusted his considerable girth more comfortably.

      And then he blinked—twice, just to be certain—and peered inquiringly into the semidarkness. “Who’s there?” he asked, leaning forward to address the vague shape he believed he saw sitting cross-legged on the facing seat. “God’s eyebrows, am I in the wrong coach? That’ll teach me to steer clear of the daffy. Speak up, man—say something!”

      The click and scrape of a small tinderbox answered him, followed by the sight of the growing, disembodied glow of the business end of a cheroot.

      “Good evening, Herbert, you’re looking well,” a low, well-modulated voice answered him at last. “And how charitable of you to share your coach with me. Well sprung, I must say, and doubtless cost you a pretty penny. Enjoy yourself at the trough tonight?”

      Symington swallowed down hard at the sudden lump of fear that had lodged in his throat. “What the devil? Who are you? Coachie!” he bellowed. “Stop at once!”

      “Please, good sir, lower your voice,” the unknown intruder pleaded as the coach raced on through the night, bypassing the turn to the right that would have led to Symington’s house and rapidly leaving the dark streets of Little Pillington behind. “The confines of this coach preclude such full-throated volume. Besides, as your coachman and groom have seen fit to leave your employ and join mine—no loyalty in today’s topsy-turvy times, is there, Herbert?—I fear I must point out the fruitlessness of further protest. And, to be sporting, I should also advise you that I am armed, my pistol cocked and aimed directly at your ample stomach. Therefore, as any sudden movement might cause the nasty thing to go off, you most probably would be well advised to remain quietly in your seat.”

      “The devil you say!” Symington’s gin-bleared eyes were fairly popping from his head now as a fragrant, blue-tinged cloud of cigar smoke wreathed the shadowy figure from chest to curly-brimmed beaver. “You—your coachie, you say? Am I being kidnapped, then?”

      An amused chuckle emanated from the shadowy figure. “Hardly, Herbert. Kidnapping you would indicate that I believed you had some sort of intrinsic worth. I am here this evening merely to request a boon of you.”

      “A—a boon?” Symington repeated, automatically holding out his hand to take the neatly rolled and tied sheet of paper the stranger was now offering. “And what is this?” he asked, holding the paper gingerly, as if it might somehow turn on him and bite his fingers.

      Another