Lady Sophia's Lover (Bow Street Runners Series #2)
“Kleypas is a romance gem, a queen among a vast royal court of historical romance authors.” —Entertainment Weekly

A stunning new reprint of a classic Lisa Kleypas love story about a man whos decided to forgo all romantic entanglements... until he meets a beautiful woman with a secret...

They call him the Monk of Bow Street

Sir Ross Cannon, magistrate and head of the Bow Street Runners, has spent the past few years apprehending the most dangerous criminals in London. He’s driven and disciplined, a man to be feared. His personal needs have been set aside, his days and nights consumed by the determined pursuit of justice.

Until Lady Sophia Sydney, a beautiful young woman with a tarnished past, comes to ask for employment. Ross knows a woman like Sophia doesn’t belong in the rough-and-tumble world of Bow Street, but he gives in to temptation and hires her as his assistant. Day by day the attraction between them grows, until neither of them can ignore the power of their mutual desire.

But Sophia has a secret . . . and when Ross discovers the tragic link between their pasts, any chance of being with him will vanish. All they have are a few nights of pleasure, before Sophia will be forced to leave the man she’s fallen hopelessly in love with. 

What she doesn’t count on is how much Ross is willing to risk for the sake of a woman who’s awakened his heart.

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Lady Sophia's Lover (Bow Street Runners Series #2)
“Kleypas is a romance gem, a queen among a vast royal court of historical romance authors.” —Entertainment Weekly

A stunning new reprint of a classic Lisa Kleypas love story about a man whos decided to forgo all romantic entanglements... until he meets a beautiful woman with a secret...

They call him the Monk of Bow Street

Sir Ross Cannon, magistrate and head of the Bow Street Runners, has spent the past few years apprehending the most dangerous criminals in London. He’s driven and disciplined, a man to be feared. His personal needs have been set aside, his days and nights consumed by the determined pursuit of justice.

Until Lady Sophia Sydney, a beautiful young woman with a tarnished past, comes to ask for employment. Ross knows a woman like Sophia doesn’t belong in the rough-and-tumble world of Bow Street, but he gives in to temptation and hires her as his assistant. Day by day the attraction between them grows, until neither of them can ignore the power of their mutual desire.

But Sophia has a secret . . . and when Ross discovers the tragic link between their pasts, any chance of being with him will vanish. All they have are a few nights of pleasure, before Sophia will be forced to leave the man she’s fallen hopelessly in love with. 

What she doesn’t count on is how much Ross is willing to risk for the sake of a woman who’s awakened his heart.

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Lady Sophia's Lover (Bow Street Runners Series #2)

Lady Sophia's Lover (Bow Street Runners Series #2)

by Lisa Kleypas
Lady Sophia's Lover (Bow Street Runners Series #2)

Lady Sophia's Lover (Bow Street Runners Series #2)

by Lisa Kleypas

Paperback(Mass Market Paperback - Reprint)

$8.99 
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Overview

“Kleypas is a romance gem, a queen among a vast royal court of historical romance authors.” —Entertainment Weekly

A stunning new reprint of a classic Lisa Kleypas love story about a man whos decided to forgo all romantic entanglements... until he meets a beautiful woman with a secret...

They call him the Monk of Bow Street

Sir Ross Cannon, magistrate and head of the Bow Street Runners, has spent the past few years apprehending the most dangerous criminals in London. He’s driven and disciplined, a man to be feared. His personal needs have been set aside, his days and nights consumed by the determined pursuit of justice.

Until Lady Sophia Sydney, a beautiful young woman with a tarnished past, comes to ask for employment. Ross knows a woman like Sophia doesn’t belong in the rough-and-tumble world of Bow Street, but he gives in to temptation and hires her as his assistant. Day by day the attraction between them grows, until neither of them can ignore the power of their mutual desire.

But Sophia has a secret . . . and when Ross discovers the tragic link between their pasts, any chance of being with him will vanish. All they have are a few nights of pleasure, before Sophia will be forced to leave the man she’s fallen hopelessly in love with. 

What she doesn’t count on is how much Ross is willing to risk for the sake of a woman who’s awakened his heart.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780380811069
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication date: 06/04/2002
Series: Bow Street Runners Series , #2
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 384
Sales rank: 172,272
Product dimensions: 4.19(w) x 6.75(h) x 0.96(d)

About the Author

About The Author
New York Times Lisa Kleypas graduated from Wellesley College with a political science degree. Her historical romance and contemporary women’s fiction novels are published in forty different languages, and are bestsellers all over the world. Currently she lives in Southern California with her husband Gregory.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

It had been too long since he had bedded a woman.

Sir Ross Cannon could think of no other explanation for his reaction to Sophia Sydney...a response so powerful that he was forced to sit behind his desk to conceal a sudden, uncontrollable erection. Perplexed, he stared intently at the woman, wondering why her mere presence was enough to ignite such raging heat inside him. No one ever caught him off guard this way.

She was undeniably lovely, with her honey-shaded hair and blue eyes, but she possessed a quality that surpassed physical beauty: a hint of passion contained beneath the frail gravity of her facade. Like any man, Ross was aroused more by what was concealed than by what was revealed. And clearly, Sophia Sydney was a woman of many secrets.

Silently he strove to control his sexual awareness of her, focusing on the scarred mahogany surface of his desk until the flare of heat subsided. When he was finally able to meet her unfathomable gaze, he remained quiet, having learned long ago that silence was a powerful instrument. People were uncomfortable with silence -- they usually sought to fill it, revealing much in the process.

However, Sophia did not erupt into nervous chatter as so many women did. She stared at him warily and did not speak. Obviously she was prepared to outwait him.

"Miss Sydney," he finally said, "my clerk informs me that you would not disclose the reason for your visit."

"If I had told him why, I would not have been allowed past the threshold. You see, I have come about the positionyou advertised."

Ross was seldom surprised by anything, having seen and experienced far too much in the course of his work. However, the notion that she would want to work here, for him, was no less than astonishing. Apparently she had no idea of what the job entailed. "I require an assistant, Miss Sydney. Someone who will act as a part-time clerk and records-keeper. Bow Street is not the place for a woman."

"The advertisement did not specify that your assistant had to be male," she pointed out. "I can read, write, manage household expenditures, and keep account books. Why shouldn't I be considered for the job?"

A hint of challenge had colored her deferential tone. Fascinated and vaguely unsettled, Ross wondered if they had ever met before. No -- he would have remembered her. And yet there was something oddly familiar about her.

"What is your age?" he asked abruptly. "Twenty-two? Twenty-three?"

"I am eight-and-twenty, sir."

"Really." He did not believe her. She appeared far too young to have reached an age that was considered to be advanced spinsterhood.

"Yes, really." Seeming amused, she moved to lean over his desk, placing her hands before him. "You see? One can always tell a woman's age by her hands."

Ross studied the small hands that had been proffered without vanity. They were not the hands of a girl, but of a capable woman -- one who had known hard work. Although her nails were scrupulously clean, they were filed almost to the quick. Her fingers were marked with thin white scars that had come from accidental cuts and scrapes, and with a crescent-shaped burn that must have come from a bake-pan or pot.

Sophia resumed her seat, the light sliding gently over her rich brown hair. "You don't look the way I expected, either," she informed him.

Ross arched a brow in sardonic inquiry. "Oh?"

"I thought you would be a portly old gentleman with a wig and a pipe."

That drew a brief laugh from him, low and scratchy, and he realized that it had been a long time since he had made such a sound. For some reason he could not help asking, "Are you disappointed to find otherwise?"

"No," she said, sounding a bit breathless. "No, I am not disappointed."

The temperature in the office rose to a blistering degree. Ross could not help wondering if she found him attractive. He would soon be forty, and he looked his age. Threads of silver had begun to appear in his black hair. Years of relentless work and little sleep had left their mark, and the reckless pace of his life had left him almost rawboned. He did not have the settled, pampered look that many married men his age possessed. Of course, they did not prowl the streets at night as he did, investigating murders and robberies, visiting prisons, and putting down riots.

He saw the assessing way Sophia glanced around his office, which had been furnished in a Spartan style. One wall was covered with maps, the other fitted with bookshelves. Only one picture adorned the room, a landscape of rocks and forest and stream, with gray hills rising in the distance. Ross had often stared at the landscape during times of calamity or tension, finding that the cool, quiet darkness of the painting never failed to soothe him.

Brusquely he resumed the interview. "Have you brought references, Miss Sydney?"

She shook her head. "I am afraid that my former employer will not recommend me."

"Why not?"

Finally her composure was disrupted, a wash of color spreading over her face. "For many years I have worked for a distant cousin. She allowed me to reside in her household after my parents died, despite the fact that she was not a woman of great means. In return for her charity, I was required to serve as a maid-of-all-work. I believe that Cousin Ernestine was pleased with my efforts, until..." Words seemed to clot in her throat, and sudden perspiration lent her skin a pearly shimmer.

Ross had heard every possible tale of disaster, evil, and human misery during his ten years as Chief Magistrate at Bow Street. Although he was not callous by any means, he had learned to put a certain emotional distance between himself and those...

Lady Sophia's Lover. Copyright © by Lisa Kleypas. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

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