Cami and Pax, homeless children, were trained in the art of espionage and subterfuge at the Coach House in Paris, France. A secret school, teaching children to be spies and killers sent to England as spies for the French Revolution. These children were known as caches. Cami, called "Verite", meaning Truth, and Pax, known as "Devoir", meaning Duty, were inseparable. They were beaten, starved, taught how to lie, steal and kill. Devoir became the leader there, always protecting Verite, and teaching her to excel in killing and protecting herself. In time, they are separated and sent to England to be what they were trained to be, caches.
For the past ten years, Cami has been safe living with the fluffy Aunts Violet and Lily Leyland. Cami was a french spy placed in this English family. Two seemingly dithering old aunties, in reality were code makers for the British Intelligence. Playing the part of their niece, Camille Besancon, the aunts were so good to Cami. She loved living there in the pretty village of Brodemere. She played the part so well of masquerading as their niece, she often forgot it was all a lie. On the day she received a letter from a blackmailer threatening to divulge her past, Cami knew her life there was over. She packed and immediately headed to London as instructed, already preparing a plan to meet and kill whoever had blackmailed her.
Thomas Paxton has been busy too for the past ten years. Working as a stone-cold assassin for the British Intelligence, he has been killing throughout Tuscany and Piedmont, hunting for a man that is known as The Merchant.. He is a fanatical supporter of the French Revolution and a man Pax has a personal reason to want dead.
Reunited in London Cami and Pax ,discover The Merchant is the blackmailer. Along with a group from the British Service is Hawker, Grey and Doyle, the Baldoni family from Tuscany who know Cami is kin, as well as the fluffy aunties, all unite in an intricate plan to snare him. Told with vivid descriptions we are led to a smashing and exciting finale.
Ms. Bourne, is a superb historical romance/thriller writer, as well as a master story teller. She sets the stage brilliantly for the characters and moves the plot along so that you are turning the pages faster and faster to see what is coming next. A little luscious romance adds to the flavor, along with a finish that is sweet. Join Cami and Pax, a perfect match, in an exciting adventure joined by a great supporting crew. ROGUE SPY is a really great read!
For years heβd lived a lie. It was time to tell the truth
.
. . even if it cost him the woman he loved.
Ten years ago he was a boy, given the name Thomas Paxton
and
sent by Revolutionary France to infiltrate the British
Intelligence Service. Now his sense of honor brings him
back
to London, alone and unarmed, to confess. But instead of
facing the gallows, heβs given one last impossible
assignment to prove his loyalty.
Lovely, lying, former French spy Camille Leyland is
dragged
from her safe rural obscurity by threats and blackmail.
Dusting off her spy skills, she sets out to track down a
ruthless French fanatic and rescue the innocent victim
heβs
holdingβonly to find an old colleague already on the
case.
Pax.
Old friendship turns to new love, and as Pax and
Camilleβs
dark secrets loom up from the past, Pax is left with a
choiceβgo rogue from the Service or lose Camille
forever...
"A lot of water under a lot of bridges."
"And some bridges burned forever." She sighed and stood
up, turning so she ended up facing him. Every instant of
that movement was graceful. Unstudied. She could have
been a leaf twirled in the wind. "This is like . . .
It's like when Alexander burned his ships on the shore so
his army couldn't run away. We have our backs to the
sea. Neither of us can retreat."
"No retreat," he agreed. In a very few moments, one of
them would hurt the other. They shared that knowledge
without having to say it aloud.
"I'm sorry it's come to this." She said. "I owe you so
much. I would have died of despair in those first days
in the Coach House if you hadn't been yelling at me."
"I never yelled."
"You became ironic. We were all in awe of you when you
were ironic." She leaned against the end of the pew.
Her cloak was weighted on the left side of the front.
That would be where she carried a small, reliable pistol.
She'd always loved pistols.
It surprised him to find himself looking down at the top
of her head. He'd grown since he was fourteen.
"I cared for you, Devoir, with my whole heart, as only a
child can care for another child." She spread her hands,
empty, palms up. "Yet here you are and here I am, very
close to enemies. I have a sudden urge to say something
significant about Fate and Inevitability."
That sounded like the too-old, too-wise girl he'd known.
His VΓ©ritΓ© still lived inside this sleek brown stranger
with the eloquent hands and the measuring eyes. It
wasn't only bones that stayed unchanged year after year.
He wished he didn't have to arrest her.
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