Moss Rose by Scottie Barrett

For Jensen Marlowe, alias Duff Hawthorne, there is one thing she wants above all else, her freedom.Playing a traitorous game, she keeps tucked away in her silver music box, strategic military information that could save her uncle’s life or send her to the gallows. Using trickery to achieve her end, Jensen boards a boat headed for Virginia. Her actions are not completely selfless, though. Likening Brant Mansfield to a noose around her neck, she is relieved to have an ocean separating her from her betrothed.

As the Bordeaux Merchant drops anchor in Chesapeake Bay, freedom is nearly in her grasp . . . but there’s a six-foot, four-inch snag in her plans. Levi North lives his life in two worlds. With a preternatural talent for Indian warfare tactics he has earned a captain’s rank in the Virginia militia and the nickname Hawk. As a thriving, tobacco planter he is intent on establishing a superior stable for his estate, Moss Rose and guarantees passage for an expert horseman from England.

Retrieving his new hireling in Chesapeake, he finds he’s been duped. He’s not about to let the charming little scoundrel off easily and binds her to him with a contract of indenture. He’d sworn he would never trade a man’s freedom for profit. His principles, though, are no match for his desire to possess his newest employee.