Ella Quinn | Spies and Smugglers During the Regency

When I was growing up in the 1960s, there was a veritable smorgash borg of spy shows in TV. Everything from The Man From U.N.C.L.E, with the very hot David Mc Callum, who played Illya Kuryakin to I Spy, Wild, Wild West, Secret Agent Man, and Mission Impossible, one of my favorite shows, The Avengers, with the inimitable Mrs. Peel, the first lady spy who could kick but, to the comedic parody Get Smart. The first James Bond movie Dr. No, released in 1962. We were in the middle of the Cold War and spies were all the rage as they continue to be.

It’s a well known that for centuries, government used spies, but it wasn’t always revered as an honorable profession. Which was exactly the case during the Regency era. Intelligencers, as they were called, were so looked down upon that those engaged in the trade, were very careful not to let anyone know. In fact, it was considered a dishonorable profession.

On the other hand, our view of smuggling now is quite different than during the Regency. We tend to think of smugglers as dirty, dealing in drugs, encouraging the kissing of protected species such as elephants, and slavery. Not so 200 years ago. Smuggling, though not precisely honorable, was viewed as necessary. Smugglers mainly dealt in wines, lace and other heavily taxed or hard to find commodities. Wealthy families, inns and other merchants bought from smugglers, called “The Gentlemen,” and if they did not publicly supported the trade, it was given encouragement. The idea that the money paid for these luxuries might be going to fund the French side of the war was pretty much ignored. Those actually engaged in smuggling were usually fisherman augmenting their income.

There were attempts, which had very little public support, to stop the trade. Knowing all that, it seemed to me that it was not a leap at all for the British government to want to have some surreptitious control, just to make sure nothing more dangerous than brandy and lace were being brought into the country illegally. After all, in government it is frequently the case that one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing. In The Secret Life of Miss Anna Marsh, the hero, Sebastian, Lord Rutherford, being a peer with responsibilities, cannot join the military, but he wants to help his country and is involved in exactly that type of activity, as was Anna’s brother, Harry Marsh. Harry in fact ran the smuggling group. Now with rumors of trouble in France, Rutherford has been again asked for his assistance in discovering who is now in charge of the smuggling group. Little does he know what he’ll find.

Rutherford slid quietly from his horse and made his way over to the gang leader who was still watching the beach below. Rutherford was almost on the man when he looked swiftly around and jumped up to run.

Grabbing his shoulders, Rutherford lifted the man off the ground. Even for his size, he was light. His head jerked back in an attempt to make contact with Rutherford’s nose. Rutherford cursed and dropped to the ground, landing on top of the smuggler.

“Try anything like that again,” Rutherford growled, “and I’ll put your lights out for you.”

The small man was panting and squirming underneath Rutherford. He started to search for weapons and slowed when he reached the narrow waist swelling out into hips. He flipped the person face up and found a band wrapped around the chest. Binding. A woman’s breasts.

One light swipe across them told him he was right. A woman, not a man. The muffler hiding the lower part of her face loosened.

He pitched his voice low and gravelly. “Keep it up and you’ll get more than you were expecting.”

She tensed, and her body all but hummed with sensual tension.

His answered.

Then his mind froze for a moment. Only one woman made him respond like that. Damn it to hell. It couldn’t be.

The Secret Life of Anna Marsh

For Ella Quinn's bachelors, courtship is all about gamesmanship, until the right woman shows them how much they have to learn. . .

Since she was a young girl, Anna Marsh has dreamed of Sebastian, Baron Rutherford asking for her hand in marriage. But that was in another life when her brother Harry was alive, before she vowed to secretly continue the work he valiantly died for. Now as Sebastian finally courts Anna, she must thwart his advances. Were he to discover her secret, he would never deem her a suitable wife...

Sebastian has always known Anna would become his wife someday. He expects few obstacles, but when she dissuades him at every turn he soon realizes there is much more to this intriguing woman. Somehow he must prove to her that they are meant to be together. But first he must unravel the seductive mystery that is Miss Anna Marsh. . .