A Dangerous Deceit (Thief-Takers)

by Alissa Johnson

She looked positively exhilarated. She’d lost her hat, and her hair had gone quite fuzzy again. There were two leaves and a twig stuck to the left side of her head. Dirt and bark clung to her ill-fitting clothing. Her amber eyes were bright with laughter. Her cheeks were flushed from the exercise, and her full mouth was spread wide in a joyful smile.

  She was a terrific mess. And absolutely, stunningly beautiful.

  “Enjoyed that, did you?” he murmured.

  “Very,very much. I’ve not done that in weeks.”

  “Wouldn’t know it to watch…Weeks?”

  “It can’t be done in skirts. Not safely. And I can’t go about climbing trees every day. Mrs. Harmon would be appalled.”

  “You make a regular habit of climbing trees?” he asked, undecided if he was more charmed or unnerved by the idea.

  “I try to. But again…skirts and Mrs. Harmon.” She tilted her head at him. “Have I shocked you?”

  “In the best possible way.”

  She smiled that wide, joyful grin again. And he decided he was charmed. Most definitely charmed.

  At present, he was also decidedly self-conscious, all too aware of where his arms were, of her form pressing against his own. He was holding very, very still, unwilling to break the spell. Also, he had the vague and admittedly suspect notion that if he didn’t move, if he didn’tdo anything, then it didn’t count as seduction, which, by its very nature, took some effort.

  Jane stiffened a little, and her gaze jumped to where her hands were gripping the lapels of his coat. Her smile faltered, turning uncertain. Slowly, and to his considerable regret, she released her hold on him and stepped out of his arms. “You… Um… You saw where I pointed, did you? To the village?”

  “I did. How far, do you think?”

  “Oh, perhaps a mile or two?” She sounded more hopeful than certain. “I’m not a good judge of distance, I’m afraid.”

  “Did it occur to you that I might have already seen the village?”

  “Did it occur to you to tell me you were going to look for one?” she returned. “I assumed you did, but these woods are so thick. I figured there was a fair chance you wouldn’t succeed. Was I right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Am I to wait behind again?” she inquired, glancing in the general direction of the town.

  He shook his head. “We need to be seen together again. Which means…” He fetched the satchel from the saddle and handed it to her. “You need to change back into your gown.”

  She smiled as she pulled out her own clothes. “Did you fold these?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s a fair amount of brush over there.” He pointed to a spot behind her. “Off with you.”

  She gave him a skeptical look before turning away. She’d taken no more than a handful of steps before she turned round again. “Gabriel? When I made you promise not to use seduction…”

  His heart skipped a beat. “Yes?”

  A thoughtful furrow appeared across her brow. “There can be romance without seduction. Don’t you think?”

  “Yes.” There certainly could be, and had he been standing alone with another woman at another time, he might have thought,but why bother?—all the while quietly planning his retreat. But not with Jane. For quite possibly the first time in his life, Gabriel found the idea of romancing a woman simply for the sake of romance enormously appealing.

  “Well,” Jane said, then cleared her throat nervously. “I’m glad we agree.”

  And with that, she promptly turned on her heel and hurried off to disappear behind the brush.

  ***

  Jane managed to put her corset back on without assistance, but she had no choice but to ask Gabriel for help with the buttons on her gown.

  He made very quick work of it. She barely had time to register the sensation of his fingers moving against her back before he’d finished and stepped away.

  Pity, that. He had lovely hands. She’d not really paid much attention to them before. When he’d kissed her, she’d been overwhelmed by the feel of his arms, the sensation of his mouth moving over hers. When he’d helped with her buttons before, she’d been overwhelmed by just the nearness of him, and the mere idea that a gentleman was helping her dress. Seated in the saddle with him, she’d been keenly aware of his muscled physique.

  But when she’d jumped from the tree and he’d reached for her…

  She’d taken proper notice of his hands then. The gentle strength of them as he’d pulled her close. Their warmth pressing against her back. He’d brushed his thumb against her hip. Twice. She was certain he’d not been aware of it at the time. Every other part of him had been still and—

  “Here,” Gabriel said suddenly, pulling her from her musings. “I have something for you.”

  He reached into a saddle bag and, to her shock, pulled out a small, slightly squashed straw bonnet trimmed with green ribbons.

  She took it from him with a baffled laugh. “Where on earth did you acquire a bonnet?”

  “From that last farm I visited.”

  “But how?”

  “The usual way. I bought it.”

  “They didn’t think it odd, your asking to buy a bonnet?”

  “I imagine they did. But for the price I was offering, they were willing to suffer the pain of unsatisfied curiosity. Here…” He took the bonnet back and set it on her head. Then he tugged it forward over her brow.

  “It’s not supposed to sit like that.”

  “It is if you’re trying to hide your face,” he replied and adjusted the bonnet to his liking.

  “I thought we were trying to be seen.”

  “Yes, but not seem as if we’retrying to be seen.”

  “You had me try at the station. Waving at poor George. Obliterating my good name.”

  “I said I’d fix that. As for why you’re not trying today… Naturally, after your spot of foolery at the station, we had a discussion,” he explained. “It was very heated. I was quite stern.” He gave the bonnet ribbon a gentle tug. “Now you know better.”

  “Are such details really necessary?”

  “They are. If you continue to act recklessly, Kray will wonder why I choose to travel with you. He’ll grow suspicious.”

  “You put quite a lot of thought into this sort of thing, don’t you?”

  “No point in doing something half measure.”

  “Even lying?”

  “Especially lying.” He finished tying the ribbons at her chin, then stepped back to study his work. “There now, you look a very suspicious character.”

  “Ifeel suspicious. Conspicuously so.”

  He gave her an odd look. “I beg your pardon?”

  “I said…” Oh, dear. Whathad she said? Had she jumbled something? Suspicious? Conspicuously? It had to be conspicuously. There were too many damned syllables. And now that she thought about it, it was possible she’d actually said consistently. “I just meant that I feel silly.”

  He nodded in understanding, but said, “It’s better than afraid.”

  She was more than a little of that as well. And her uneasiness only grew as they neared the village. It was, Jane discovered as they reached the edge of town, somewhat larger than it had appeared from her distant treetop. But it was still smaller than Ardbaile, with only a few short rows of shops and a small rail station. One could stand on the edge of town, look down the street, and see the other edge.

  Their presence drew very little attention. Jane assumed that was the result of the railway. Even small towns had grown accustomed to visiting strangers.

  Gabriel, however, seemed determined not to go unnoticed. Jane accompanied him into several shops where he spoke just a hair too loudly and engaged in odd, uncomfortable exchanges with the shopkeepers—including one in which he offered to trade his watch for goods, only to change his mind at the last second and walk out of the store empty-handed.

  “Did you show him the watch because Mr. Kray has seen it?” Jane asked as they strolled down the
street.

  “I did. It’s a detail the shopkeeper will remember and pass along if anyone should ask.”

  “Half the shopkeepers here will remember you, and not all of them fondly. You’re not really thinking of selling your father’s watch, are you?”

  “It’s not the Captain’s watch. He gave his favorite watch to a cousin. This one was a gift from one of my first clients.”

  “Why did Mr. Kray assume it belonged to your father?”

  “No idea. Old gossip, maybe. There used to be all sorts of rubbish printed in the papers about the Thief Takers. Any enterprising soul with a gift for storytelling could sell a bit of fiction to some of the less discerning papers. I can’t tell you how many times it was reported that I’d secretly wed someone. Three times in one week alone. I stopped paying attention after that.” He gave a careless shrug. “However Kray came by the misinformation, I saw no reason not to use it to my advantage.” They reached the telegraph office, and he glanced inside. “I need you to wait out here.”

  “I’d rather go with you.”

  His brows winged up. “And have you overhear the message I send to my man in London?”

  “You don’t trust me?” she asked with a combination of disappointment and bemusement. Who on earth was she going to tell?

  “I was jesting, Jane. It’s not something Kray would expect me to do, that’s all.”

  “Oh.” Because she was the chastised fool to his brilliant strategist, she remembered glumly. “Right.”

  “Aunt May will arrive in York on Tuesday.”

  “Beg your pardon?”

  “That’s the message I’ll be sending to Renderwell’s townhouse—Aunt May will arrive in York on Tuesday. If the men searching by train haven’t already bribed someone in the office to keep an eye out for us, the men tracking us by horse certainly will.”

  “What if the men in the office can’t be bribed?”

  “The message will still almost certainly be intercepted in London. Whatever the case, Kray will learn we’ve been here.”

  “And assume we’re traveling to York?” Uncertain she’d heard any part of his comment completely, she was relieved when he nodded in response. Still, she decided not to venture a guess about Aunt May. “Won’t Lord Renderwell be confused to receive such a telegram?”

  “No. It’s a coded message. He’ll know what it means.” He stepped away to leave, then abruptly turned back again. “It means I want a rendezvous with him. I thought you might want to know.”

  “I did. Thank you.” She’d been on the verge of asking him to explain the details of his plans yet again. But he’d beaten her to it. It might have taken him a moment, but he remembered. He was trying, she thought. Because she’d asked it of him. That counted for something.

  “You’re welcome,” he replied, his lips curving slightly at the corners. He scanned the nearest alleyway, then nodded in apparent satisfaction. “Kray’s men are well ahead of us and far behind us. You’ll be safe enough waiting here. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  Jane watched him leave, then sidled down the sidewalk to make room for a small group of chattering young women.

  The villagers who strolled past ignored her, by and large. A few cast curious glances in her direction, but Jane could only assume it was because she was a woman in an odd hat standing alone outside the telegraph office, and looking distinctly uncomfortable about it.

  It was a foreign experience, being amongst people who were completely indifferent to her presence.

  She was nobody here. Absolutely nobody. She had no history with this town or its people. As far as those who walked by were concerned, she didn’t have so much as a name. It was strange to think about, but also rather liberating. She felt neither the need to hide away, nor the pressure to greet and speak with anyone. She could just stand there and watch, an anonymous observer.

  A young lady strolled by with a small child in hand. Jane couldn’t stop herself from smiling at the little girl dressed in pale blue ruffles and matching hair ribbons.

  The little girl caught her eye, slowed her steps, and smiled back, showcasing a wide smile with several missing teeth. Her mother followed her gaze, and Jane tensed, anticipating a look of censure or mistrust, but the lady merely smiled in a vague but polite sort of way and gave the little girl’s hand a gentle tug to get her moving again.

  “Stay where you are, Miss Ballenger.” The gravelly, unfamiliar voice was loud in her ear, every word clear as day. “Don’t make a sound.”

  Jane went absolutely still as she felt the unmistakable prick of a knife in her back.

  Her heart jumped in her chest, and for a moment her thoughts scattered. Where had he come from? Out of a shop? She’d not seen him approaching. Was he alone? Were there others?

  Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the child and mother moving out of sight.

  She opened her mouth to call for help, then sucked in an involuntary breath when the knife dug a little deeper.

  “If you scream, I’ll plant my blade in your back. Quick and silent. Then I’ll introduce myself to that little girl and her pretty mother. Understood?”

  Jane snapped her mouth shut as her stomach rolled. She managed one shaky nod.

  “Good. Now, you and me, we’re going to take a little walk. Go to your left.”

  He nudged her shoulder with his free hand, but Jane resisted.

  “Move,” he hissed. “And smile. Smile like you know me.Now, Miss Ballenger, or I’ll gut you here on the street and… That’s better. Keep smiling. We’re not going far.”

  Jane’s legs felt leaden as she shuffled away from the telegraph office. Her lips trembled as she forced an unnatural smile directed at absolutely no one. The street was empty for the moment. But there were people in the shops and rooms above. Someone might be watching. If she could just signal to someone without giving herself away, without endangering the little girl. How long would it take for child and mother to move entirely out of harm’s way? How far away did they have to be?

  Without warning, the man grabbed her arm and yanked her into a nearby alleyway. He dragged her the short distance to another path that ran behind the backs of the buildings, then promptly spun her about and shoved her hard against the wall.

  Instinctively, she threw her hands up in defense, and immediately regretted the decision when she felt a solid thump against her hip.

  The gun. She had a gun in her pocket.

  She nearly reached for it, only stopping herself at the last second. She couldn’t try for it now when he was looming over her, pressing the tip of his knife to the center of her chest. He was inches from her face, his long, crooked nose level with hers. If she so much as let her hands dip lower, he’d know. He’d stop her, search her, and take the weapon. Then she’d have nothing.

  “They say you’re mad,” the man mused aloud. When she didn’t reply, he hooked up one wide, bony shoulder. “Then again, they also said you were pretty, and if they were wrong about one…” He trailed off and sneered at her.

  Jane gave a minute shake of her head. Did he expect a retort from her while he pressed a knife to her chest? “What do you want from me?”

  “You know what I want.”

  “I don’t have it. Sir Gabriel took it.”

  “And where might he be?”

  “He left. He left me here.”

  “To go where?”

  “I don’t know. Idon’t,” she insisted when he pressed the knife a little harder.

  “Liar. Where is he?”

  “Idon’t know. He said he was going for supplies for the trip to the coast, but he didn’t come back.” The lie came blessedly quick. She could only hope her inexpert delivery of it was masked by her fear.

  “How do you know he’s not coming back? You’ve not been here more than an hour. I would’ve known.”

  “He said twenty minutes. He said he’d be back in twenty minutes, but he didn’t—”

  “Doesn’t mean he’s left for good.” The man glance
d over his shoulder then, and for the first time, Jane realized he was sweating profusely. His breath was short and choppy, and his eyes were darting about in the frantic manner of a trapped animal.

  He was afraid.

  “Let’s go,” he said suddenly. He pushed away from her and used his knife to gesture down the alleyway. “Walk.”

  She remained where she was. “Walk where?”

  “To the station. We’re going to see Mr. Kray.”

  “But I don’t have it. The list. It’s with—”

  “I don’t give a frigging damn about some list,” he snarled. “And I’m sure as hell not about to tangle with a Thief Taker over it. Kray wants Arkwright, but I suspect you’ll do well enough.”

  “Well enough for what?”

  “Bail. Nowmove.”

  Jane flattened herself against the wall. Under no circumstances was she going anywhere else with the man. Their current spot was hidden from view but not from sound. If she screamed, someone would hear her. If she could get free, it was only a short, hard dash to the main street. If she could just get her hand to her pocket…

  Without warning, the man yanked her away from the wall and gave her a hard shove.

  It seemed to Jane in that moment as if the world both slowed down and sped up in equal measure. She exaggerated her forward stumble, gaining as much distance from him as she could, and used the distraction to reach for her gun. But the weapon had shifted in her pocket. When she reached inside, her fingers closed around the barrel.

  It felt as if an eternity passed before she found the handle, pulled the gun free, and spun around to face her attacker. Mere seconds had elapsed, but that was all the man had needed to close the distance between them.

  He was right in front of her, leaving her no room to maneuver or hide what she was trying to do. She managed to lift the gun up only so far as her hip before he swung out and caught her on the wrist, knocking the weapon from her hand.

  Without thought, she spun round again, intent on bolting for the main street. The mother and child had to be long gone by now.

  But the man caught her by the waist and dragged her backward.

  Jane had never considered herself a fighter, not in a literal sense. But if there was one thing she’d learned in the two years she’d spent at the asylum, it was how toresist. She had resisted every day for months. When they’d come for her, she’d fought back. She had lost every time, but she’d learned from those failures. She’d discovered what worked and what didn’t. Which movements and positions were the most likely to gain her freedom, and which were certain to give her opponent an advantage.