Her Wicked Proposal novel Chapter 79

Daniel Sheffield rapped his knuckles on the door to Hugo Waverly's study.

"Enter."

Daniel nudged the door open and sauntered in. This was not going to be good news he delivered, and he hoped playing calm would help to lessen his master's rage.

They'd had a perfect plan. It shouldn't have gone awry. Once their man in Brighton had sent word Al Zahrani's ship had docked and he was making his move, Waverly had informed the Royal Navy and dispatched the HMS Ranger with orders to sink the ship to send a message to slave traders operating in English waters. No prisoners were to be taken under any circumstances.

What Daniel hadn't expected, and neither had Waverly, was Lord Lennox's timely interference.

"Well? Is it done?" Waverly looked up from his desk covered in papers, most of them bearing royal seals.

"No. The HMS Ranger was intercepted by Lord Lennox's ship, which informed them of British subjects being held captive on the ship."

"Lennox?" Hugo crumpled the sheet of paper under his hand.

"Yes, sir. A fire was set by someone on board Al Zahrani's ship and it sank. Now it's at the bottom of the sea, as you'd hoped, but Sheridan and his wife survived." Daniel kept one hand still resting on the latch of the door in case he needed to make a hasty exit.

Waverly sat back in his chair and frowned.

"That man is like a bloody cat with nine lives."

Daniel waited for the fury to spark in Waverly's eyes, or for the man to shout or throw something. Such displays of temper had happened in the past.

"The Ranger did recover this floating among the wreckage, however." He revealed the item he'd been hiding behind his back. A cane with a silver lion's head.

When he held it out to Waverly, the man's grim expression turned to a hard smile.

"Well now," he chuckled. "My property has finally been returned to me."