A mysterious southern belle entices a gentleman adventurer into helping her locate a lost
inheritance.
The woman was a dead ringer for her cousin Mignon. That was Barrett Stanbridge?s first thought when she walked into his office. But where Mignon had been a calculating witch, her cousin Bella was refreshingly honest. The cousins had been joint heirs in their grandmother?s estate. A lawyer had outlined the terms of the will some months earlier. Each cousin was the primary beneficiary of the other. It was really quite simple. There were two halves of a treasure map, one for each cousin. Mignon had taken her half and sailed for London. Bella had tried to convince her that they should work together, but Mignon had always believed she knew best.
Isabella Dandaneau was a survivor. She had outlived her sincere but slow husband, her enthusiastic but unlucky friends from the war and her beautiful, but unscrupulous cousin. Like all survivors, she knew that only fools blindly trusted their own wits and luck. Isabella was not a fool.
Now Mignon was dead and Barrett was the last one to see her alive. Or at least, the last one except whoever had beaten her to death. Bella promised to clear Barrett?s name if he would just help her find Mignon?s half of the map. There was only one problem. Mignon had torn her half into eight pieces.
Barrett Stanbridge was a private investigator. He was also an ex-military man, a royal confidante and a loyal friend. Barrett had almost no experience hunting treasure, but he was also a survivor.
