The Spy Series Short Stories Collection

By Jessie Clever

The complete Spy Series Short Stories in one bundle!

The Spy Series Short Stories Collection includes:

To Have and to Spy: A Spy Series Short Story Prequel - Discover how Nathan and Alec became spies for the War Office.

To Be a Spy - Young Samuel is all grown up and must choose between legacy and love.

To Be a Duke - Alec faces the reality of what it will mean to one day be the duke.

To Be a Lady - Young Jane faces a deadly promise she may not be able to keep.

To Be a Debutante - Lady Emily Black always gets what she wants. Even if it already belongs to someone else.

The Spy Series Short Stories Collection introduces the reader to the characters of The Shadowing London Series. If you love sexy, spellbinding romance and heartwarming humor, don’t miss this captivating collection from bestselling author Jessie Clever. Discover adventure and romance when you download The Spy Series Short Stories Collection today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Someday Lady Publishing LLC
• Release date: Feb 18, 2021
• ISBN: 9781736290330

Book preview

The Spy Series Short Stories Collection

THE SPY SERIES SHORT STORIES COLLECTION

JESSIE CLEVER

Someday Lady Publishing LLC

Copyright © 2021 by Jessica McQuaid

All rights reserved.

Published by Someday Lady Publishing, LLC

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblances to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

ISBN-13: 978-1-7362903-3-0

Edited by Judy Roth

CONTENTS

To Have and To Spy: A Spy Series Short Story Prequel

The Spy Series Short Story Prequel

To Have and to Spy: A Spy Series Short Story Prequel

To Be a Spy

The Spy Series Short Stories

To Be a Spy

To Be a Duke

To Be a Duke

To Be a Lady

To Be a Lady

To Be a Debutante

To Be a Debutante

Ready For More?

Also in This Series

About the Author

TO HAVE AND TO SPY: A SPY SERIES SHORT STORY PREQUEL

Copyright © 2019 by Jessica McQuaid

All rights reserved.

Published by Someday Lady Publishing, LLC

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblances to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

ISBN-13: 978-1-7333262-5-4

For Dodger

THE SPY SERIES SHORT STORY PREQUEL

To Have and to Spy is a Spy Series short story prequel. The events of this short story take place immediately preceding Son of a Duke, the Spy Series Book One.

TO HAVE AND TO SPY: A SPY SERIES SHORT STORY PREQUEL

Richard hadn’t had occasion to visit a lady’s dressing chamber other than his wife’s in nearly twenty years.

It was an unusual experience to witness another lady’s underthings in quite such vibrant display. The lady in question was newly married, and yet her range of underclothes was startling. He had expected the usual trousseau items in virginal white, but the Duchess of Kingsbury clearly had alternative designs on fashion.

But he hadn’t been sent by the War Office to assess the Duchess of Kingsbury’s undergarments.

He had been sent to stop treason.

He slid around the settee and low tables that crowded the small dressing chamber, all of it strewn with silk stockings and ribbons, until he reached the cluster of still unpacked trunks.

The duchess had recently returned with her new husband from the south of France where they had taken their wedding retreat. It was a terribly convenient location for someone looking to transport precious documents from the French dictator onto British soil. While the War Office was still uncertain as to who was responsible for secreting the documents in the Duchess of Kingsbury’s trunks, they had verified with several sources that the duchess, and her traveling trunks, was the intended method of transport.

After all, who would think to search the trunks of a newly minted duchess?

It would stand to reason she now had everything that mattered in the world. Title, wealth, and prestige. She need not worry about the sum acquired through illicit transport of information.

The War Office was still attempting to ascertain the nature of the documents, but it was believed to be a roster of Napoleon’s agents operating in London. Intelligence held that the roster was being delivered to Napoleon’s lead in London, and while it had been argued to wait for the transfer of the documents to the lead operative in order to take said operative into custody, it was believed the list itself would be of greater value.

So Richard found himself picking his way through the Duchess of Kingsbury’s unmentionables.

He’d gone through two trunks when he heard the first fall of footsteps.

His training prevented him from responding with undue noise, which would have given him away. Instead, he simply stopped in mid-motion, his hand dripping with chemise.

The footfall came again.

It was slight. A lady’s footstep. Decisive. Someone who knew where she was going. And yet…careful.

He dropped all pretense at silence as well as the chemise he held and stepped behind the door to the corridor. It opened momentarily as he expected it to, and when the lady appeared, he snatched her by the arm, pulling her about into the room and thrusting the door shut with the smallest of clicks.

I would ask what you’re doing here, but I’m afraid you’ll tell me anyway.

Jane Black, the Duchess of Lofton, and his lovely, if stubborn, wife blinked at him.

I have it on good authority that you do not know your way around a lady’s dressing chamber. There was no malice to her tone, but she did cross her arms over her chest to indicate the matter was not open to discussion.

He quirked an eyebrow. But won’t it look suspicious if we are both absent from the ballroom at the same time?

The ballroom being the Kingsburys’ ballroom of their London townhouse, and the soiree in progress being their first social occasion hosted as man and wife. It was quite a to do so early in the season, and a fabulous way for Richard to enter the Duchess of Kingsbury’s dressing chamber without undue notice. A societal crush was perfect cover for all kinds of nefarious deeds. It appeared as though Jane felt the same way.

I told the spinsters I was going to find my husband for a little tupping. The tilt of her chin left no room for argument.

The spinsters she referred to were the same elegant ladies of gentle repose that had lined the walls of ballrooms since the two of them had wed nearly twenty years ago. They hadn’t been young then, Jane and Richard or the spinsters, and he could only imagine what the spinsters thought of Jane going off to find her husband for an amorous encounter now, at such an advanced age.

They were likely madly atwitter over the concern.

The thought made him smile, and he stepped forward, leaning down toward his wife. The stance would have been intimidating, but no one intimidated Lady Jane, and she raised her chin just as he expected her to.

Have I told you recently how amazingly brilliant you are? He whispered the words against her skin, and he caught the slight relaxing of her lips.

Not recently. Her arms slid to her sides, and he accepted that as invitation.

He took the smallest of steps closer to her but still didn’t touch her.

And have I told you how much I enjoy having you on missions with me?

Her eyes flashed. "I believe it is I who is glad to have you on missions with me." One side of her mouth tilted upward.

He raised a single finger to stroke her smirk, and it melted at his touch, her body swaying toward his.

Jane. He breathed the word, letting it trail over her lips. Lips that hovered so close to his.

Hmmm, was her only response.

He stepped back and dropped his hand. Just where would you hide intelligence documents from Napoleon in your trousseau?

She blinked at him, and it was several seconds before her lips hardened into a frown.

I did say until death do us part, didn’t I? she asked, twirling in the small space to face the trunks.

You did, indeed, he said, following her through the maze to where he’d been searching.

There is always a hidden compartment in lady’s traveling trunks to conceal delicate items from potential intrusion.

Such as? He picked up a garter in a spectacular shade of ruby red.

Jane frowned harder at him and snatched the item away. Servants, mostly. Not the lady’s maid who would pack the trunk, but the footmen who would carry the trunk to the carriage or the ship. She bent behind the trunk he had been examining and ran her hands along the ridges of the wood. An underpaid and under-appreciated footmen would always welcome the opportunity of a glimpse at his lady’s unmentionables if given the chance. She turned and ran her hands along the other side of the trunk. Her lady’s maid likely pulled these out of that compartment to begin airing them.

A click pierced the air like a gunshot, and he straightened.

She turned only her head to peer up at him, a knowing grin on her lips.

Like this, she said and pulled a concealed drawer from the base of the trunk.

They were met with a layer of more silky things beleaguered with ribbons. He bent to rummage through them, but it was only seconds before his fingers struck paper. He grasped the edge and pulled it free.

It was a sheaf of papers, tied together and sealed with a fleur de lis impression.

Richard cocked an eyebrow. Rather over much, wouldn’t you say?

Rather, his wife returned with a grimace. What a pompous ass.

He is at that.

They had just stood to leave when the sound of footfalls whispered down the outside corridor. Involuntarily, he placed a hand on Jane’s arm, but she had already stilled, hearing the noise as well.

These footsteps were heavier. Solid. Sure.

A man. A man with a definite destination.

Taking his wife’s hand, he pulled them to the space behind the door. The room was so small, it was the only space that offered any idea of protection from whomever was coming toward them. The exit to the duchess’s main bedchamber was on the other side of the door, too far away, and they would be too easily caught should the interloper arrive early.

The footsteps grew louder as Richard slipped the documents inside his waistcoat.

Finally, the sound stopped outside the dressing chamber door.

They didn’t hesitate. Jane slipped into his arms as they wrapped around her, the perfect fit. He knew the embrace was believable, because it was real. Heat sparked immediately as it always did with his wife in his arms, regardless of the danger of their situation.

He wouldn’t have heard the door open if he hadn’t been trying so damn hard to pay attention. But Jane’s lips, the press of her hands against his back—

It was damnably difficult to perform spy work with a wife as delectable as his.

I do beg your pardon.

The heat evaporated instantly, and Jane turned to stone in his arms.

The War Office had anticipated a servant was the hired transporter of the papers. A servant with want of funds. A servant desperately searching for a way out of