From London With Love
Chapter One
1812
Meredith Sinclair held her breath as she knelt before the safe, a lock pick clamped between her teeth and a candle flickering on the floor as she gave the door a pull. Her lips tilted into a smile around the pick as the safe door swung open, revealing two identical velvet boxes.
Withdrawing them both, she pulled a tiny magnifying glass from the pocket of the fitted gentleman's trousers she wore as a disguise and removed the first necklace from its box. She barely held back a gasp of pleasure at the beauty of the piece. The diamonds sparkled in the glow of the candlelight and the amethysts reflected a violet so rich and deep that it was worthy of a king.
She dipped her head and examined the piece. When she didn't find what she had been looking for, she opened the second box, to reveal a necklace that was identical to the first in all ways.
"All ways but one," she murmured to herself with a smile as she found the tiny mark on one stone that indicated a forgery. She replaced the real necklace in its case and put it into her bag, then ... read full excerpt from: From London With Love ebook