The Scoundrel's Honor by Christi Caldwell

He dimly registered his brother of the street Ryker drawing up beside him. A longing to toss his head back and rail at the world for all that had been lost this day. Not a soul had perished in that fiery blaze, and yetâ€”Adair curled his soot-stained fingers into tight fistsâ€”there was still an ungrateful fury. Those casual utterances from two members of the fire brigade whoâ€™d wrestled the blaze under control brought Adair back from the edge of confusion, horror, and despair.

It is just everything else you lostâ€”everything.

And despite the hell of all theyâ€™d lost this night, some of the tension eased in Adairâ€™s chest. It blurred and blended with the quiet weeping at his back. All but the private offices and suites kept by the men and women who lived here.Īgony wadded in his throat, choking at him, until a primitive, desperate moan better suited for a wounded animal filtered past his lips. Servants, guards, serving girls, and the men and women who called this place home hovered on the cobblestones, silent but for a soft weeping among the women.Īdair stared blankly ahead at the metal gargoyles, still fiercely proud and intact, at the scorched stone steps of the Hell and Sin Club. The conflagration had only just recently been tamed by the fire brigade the hiss of those fresh embers still crackled in an eerie stillness of St. Orphaned more than two decades earlier by a blaze that consumed his fatherâ€™s bakery, his parents, and his sister, Adair now stood at the burned ashes of his own establishment. Thank you for believing in meâ€”and more, encouraging meâ€”even when there were times I found it impossible to believe in myself.Īdair Thorne was destined to be destroyed by fire. And when I was all grown up and dreamed of being an author, you cheered me on then, too. No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.Īmazon, the Amazon logo, and Montlake Romance are trademarks of, Inc., or its affiliates.Įvery moment of my life, you encouraged my dreams: from when I decided at ten years old that I would be the first female umpire in the MLB to when I began taking voice lessons for the dreams I had of Broadway. Text copyright Â© 2018 by Christi Caldwell Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the authorâ€™s imagination or are used fictitiously.

The Scoundrel's Honor by Christi Caldwell