The Devil's Thief, page 26
“What?” Alasdair and Julianna exclaimed in shock at the same time, while the others looked at Hil incredulously.
A calculating look lit up Blackman’s beady eyes. “So, you want the pearl, do you? And it’ll keep you quiet?”
“We will not go to the authorities about the events of this evening,” Hil agreed reluctantly. “But I want your assurance that you will not seek out Miss Harte in the future, nor will you tell anyone what transpired between you.”
Alasdair’s shoulders sank with relief. Thank God for Hil. He hadn’t even thought about what might happen to Julianna’s reputation were the events leading up to this evening’s confrontation revealed.
“Can’t talk about business, eh?” Blackman rubbed his chin. “Well, that might cost a bit more.”
Alasdair could feel his temper rising again. “We will go to the police. You may keep the pearl.” He turned as if to leave, trying one last bluff.
“Now, now,” Blackman hurried to say, “don’t be hasty. If the constables come pay old Blackman a visit, he might tell them all about her father, too. Accidental-like, of course.”
Julianna shrank against him. Alasdair looked down at her, and said, “We never did get that far in conversation, did we?” In wry amusement, he added, “I no longer need to wonder where you learned your questionable skills. Lady Linville?” Julianna’s eyes widened and she shook her head vehemently. He turned back to Blackman. “You give us the pearl and we go home. That will be the end of it. We don’t know you, and you have never seen us. Do we have a deal? Because that is my last offer.”
Blackman looked at him, one eye narrowed as if assessing his words for their value. “Deal.” He pointed at Wiley. “But this one stays here.”
Hil stepped forward. “I’m afraid that is impossible. Wiley is my protégé. Should something happen to him, you would find yourself dealing with me.”
“And me,” Julianna said in a strong voice.
Alasdair grinned. “And me,” he added. He knew he owed Wiley more than he could ever repay.
Roger sighed. “I suppose this is where I have to say, ‘and me.’ ”
Wiley gaped at them all in astonishment. Blackman snorted. “Fancy him, do you? You gents have your peculiar tastes, I know.”
Wiley sputtered and glared at Blackman. “Watch your mouth. There’s a lady present.”
“I did not say ‘and me,’ ” Ernest pointed out. “I barely know the boy, and though he saved Sharp’s life, I really can’t vouch for him at this stage.”
“Who is he?” Julianna whispered to Alasdair.
“Shh. Later,” he whispered back.
Blackman crossed his arms and leaned against the table. “So who are you, and why should I care?” he asked Hil.
Hil raised a supercilious eyebrow. “I am Sir Hilary St. John.”
His simple reply had no effect on Blackman. He shrugged. “Means nothing to me, but I’ll remember it,” he said.
“Let’s just say that I have a great many friends and acquaintances in London, and on Bow Street, who can make business rather difficult for a man like you,” Hil replied with a cold smile.
Blackman looked like he’d swallowed a bug and he cursed violently. “Fine, take him. Take him and go. But he better not show his face around here again, not after I tell everyone he’s turned rat.”
Before Alasdair could add anything, Julianna pulled out of his arms and pushed him toward Blackman. “The pearl,” she whispered. “Get the pearl.”
Alasdair walked over to Blackman and held his hand out. With a sigh, the villain placed the little bundle in his hand.
“Open it,” Julianna demanded from behind him. Alasdair looked over his shoulder at her. She stood with her arms crossed, glaring at Blackman. “I don’t trust him. Make sure it’s the pearl.”
Blackman laughed. “Knew you’d do that, didn’t I?” he chuckled. “A woman after my own heart, she is. If she weren’t yours …,” He let the sentence trail off.
Alasdair paused in the act of unwrapping the pearl to say possessively, “Oh, she’s mine all right.” He glanced at Wiley when he said it, and the boy had the nerve to look amused. Based on what he’d seen of Wiley’s loyalty and bravery tonight, Alasdair was quite grateful Julianna had not fallen in love with him when she had the chance. He’d certainly treated her better than Alasdair had.
When he finally had the package unwrapped and the pearl in the palm of his hand, he was surprised by how relieved he felt. He held the pearl up between his finger and thumb. “Hello, again,” he whispered.
“Oh, Alasdair,” Julianna said in a teary voice. “At last.”
He looked over at her and suddenly he knew exactly what he was going to do with the pearl. “Let’s go,” he said, closing his fist around it. He shoved it into his pocket and reached out for Julianna’s hand. Alasdair didn’t look back as he pulled her out the door.
Chapter Twenty-one
“So I had just removed the pearl and was about to leave the money when Blackman revealed himself. He knew I was there all along. He’d seen me hiding across the street and he and Cam waited for me in his office.” Julianna was telling them all that they’d missed as they sat in Sir Hilary’s carriage on the way back to her father’s house. So much had happened that Julianna was surprised to find that it was still the middle of the night when they left the Black Horse. The streets were deserted. “Blackman caught me red-handed. He ordered Cam, his brother”—she turned to Alasdair—“the one who tried to shoot you, to get rid of me. Then there was a thumping downstairs and Cam ran out. Blackman grabbed me, I screamed, we struggled, Alasdair came running, and, well, you know the rest of the story.”
Alasdair had looked decidedly grim through most of her tale, and now he was covering his face with both hands. She did not take this as a good sign. Alasdair’s cousin, the Earl of Throckton, looked just as grim, and he seemed slightly sick to his stomach. The other three men, however, looked quite impressed
“I never thought you had it in you,” Wiley said in awe. “Amazing.”
Sir Hilary was nodding. “Amazing, indeed.”
“Well done, Miss Harte,” Mr. Templeton said warmly.
Alasdair removed his hand from his face and glared at them all. “ ‘Well done’? ‘Amazing’? It was nothing of the sort! What is amazing is that she wasn’t killed at numerous times in this ill-advised scheme!”
“Really, Sharp, I think she could only have been killed once. It’s all we’re allotted,” Sir Hilary said dismissively. “And it sounds as if she planned the entire caper exceedingly well and was quite thorough.”
Julianna was tempted to tell Sir Hilary to be quiet because she was relatively sure he was not helping her cause. “Well, I did get caught. Again,” she said meekly.
“A ‘caper,’ as you put it,” Alasdair addressed Sir Hilary as if she hadn’t spoken, “that was entirely unnecessary and placed her life in jeopardy! Am I the only sane man in this coach who understands that?” Alasdair exclaimed, his hand flung in the air for emphasis. Or perhaps he was hoping to hit someone. Julianna wasn’t sure. She scooted a little farther away from him just in case, even though it pressed her rather too close to the earl’s side.
“Completely unnecessary,” the earl said, nodding in agreement.
“Settle down, Sharp,” Wiley said patronizingly, “no harm was done and you got your pearl back. Isn’t that what you wanted?” He was resting with his head on the carriage door.
Julianna sank down on the leather cushion, wishing it would swallow her up. Alasdair’s face was turning red. “Let me make this perfectly clear,” Alasdair said in a low, dangerous tone. “I do not care if I never see that damn pearl again. I do, however, care if I never see Julianna again. Very, very much. There is no contest between which of them I find more valuable. Perhaps to the rest of you this was a great lark, but to me it was a foolhardy, dangerous, idiotic scheme that could have cost me my fiancée.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the pearl. He held it out in his open palm. “I would throw this damn thing in the Thames in a second if it meant saving Julianna’s life.” His fist closed tightly about the pearl. “Do you understand?”
Sir Hilary had a very satisfied smirk on his face. “Yes, well, I don’t think we are the ones that need to understand that. Are we?”
Julianna’s heart was full to bursting as she gazed at Alasdair. He meant it. He really did. He turned to her and she could see the truth of it in his eyes. Without a second’s hesitation she moved into his arms and kissed him. Kissed him thoroughly, shamelessly, and with a great deal of passion and relief. And he kissed her right back, yanking her onto his lap. Before she became completely lost in him, a throat was cleared loudly.
She broke the kiss, blinking away tears.
“Well, it looks like she understands,” Wiley said, and Julianna gave a watery little laugh.
While Alasdair fished around in his empty pocket, Mr. Templeton shoved a handkerchief in front of her.
“One simply cannot rescue damsels in distress without a handkerchief, Sharp,” Mr. Templeton admonished. “It just isn’t done.”
“Duly noted,” Alasdair said, and he rested his forehead against the side of her head as she delicately sniffed into the handkerchief and wiped her eyes dry.
“Have you told her about the rent, Throckton?” Sir Hilary asked innocently.
Julianna froze in the act of wiping the corner of her eye. “The rent?” she squeaked.
Alasdair pulled back with a frown and started shaking his head. “Honesty, Julianna, isn’t that what you were preaching to me the other night? At what point was that going to become a consideration for you as well?”
Julianna looked at him askance. “I was certainly honest about what we were doing the other night,” she replied smartly, stung by the accuracy of his accusation.
A throat was cleared again. They both ignored it. “Well you can hardly be dishonest about that,” Alasdair told her smugly. “You cannot hide what …” He paused and glanced at the others. “Pleases you. That kind of honesty does not signify.”
Julianna put her hands on her hips, which was rather awkward, considering she was still sitting on his lap, but it expressed her inner turmoil perfectly. In the process she may have dug her elbow into Alasdair’s midriff, but she chose to ignore his “Oof!” of surprise.
“That is hardly the sort of thing you ought to be mentioning in mixed company, Alasdair,” she said haughtily.
She heard a “Hear, hear,” muttered under someone’s breath, and beside her the earl said, “They are going to be married, correct?” Glancing around, she realized that all four men were staring out the windows, trying not to look at her and Alasdair. Well, it was all the privacy they were likely to get here.
“My apologies,” Alasdair said stiffly. “You are correct. But the sentiment still applies. Why did you not tell me about the back rent on the foundling home, Julianna? Why did you not come to me for assistance?” There was a hurt quality to his voice that made Julianna feel foolish and terribly guilty.
“How did you find out?” she asked quietly, smoothing a hand down his cheek. “Did Wiley tell you?”
Alasdair looked confused. “How does Wiley know about it?”
“She told me. Remember, got two boys in the home,” Wiley supplied helpfully, and then he yelped as Mr. Templeton flicked a finger against his skull. “Oops, sorry, forgot we weren’t supposed to be listening.”
Alasdair glared at him and Julianna wondered if the two men would ever get along. She got the distinct impression that Alasdair mistakenly blamed him for this night’s work. She turned Alasdair’s face back to her with a gentle hand.
“Wiley didn’t tell me,” Alasdair answered her, swiftly kissing her palm. “Throckton is your new landlord. When I came over to tell him about the pearl’s loss and our engagement, he had just received a letter from a young lady concerning a charity. That was when everything became clear.” He squeezed her gently. “You needn’t worry, Julianna, he had already decided not to demand the back rent from you and to pay it himself. Now, of course, he is more determined than ever to do so. You are going to be family, after all.”
“Absolutely,” the earl said, turning to give her a pained look. “I never would have evicted the children, Miss Harte. If only I had admitted my mistake and dealt with the consequences of my own foolhardy actions instead of trying to lay the blame at your door, all this could have been avoided.” He sighed. “In truth, the whole situation was my fault.”
Julianna gaped at him. “What are the odds that you would own the house? It’s astonishing!”
Alasdair laughed. “London is a very small place, Julianna. And I, for one, choose to believe that fate intended for us to finally meet properly. If you hadn’t stolen the pearl, we probably still would have crossed paths again and again, I’d wager.”
“But not in the same way, I don’t believe,” Julianna teased. Across the coach, Mr. Templeton had a coughing fit and Julianna saw that he was hiding a smile. She blushed furiously, remembering too late that he and Sir Hilary were privy to the details of their relationship.
Julianna squirmed out of Alasdair’s lap, taking him by surprise. He looked unhappy at her departure. “I’ve already spoken with my father and my stepmother, Alasdair,” she told him briskly, effectively ending that line of conversation. “I didn’t go to them immediately because I thought Lady Linville disapproved of my patronage of the foundling home. I believed she and father would take the opportunity to force me to close the home. I now regret that I underestimated them so.”
Alasdair reached out to take her hand. “I’ve learned a lesson or two recently about not underestimating family, myself, Julianna.” He gave his cousin a meaningful look, which appeared to surprise the earl. “Let us learn from our mistakes and not judge ourselves too harshly.” He grinned mischievously. “At least, that’s my plan.”
Julianna laughed. “And it’s a good one. The important thing is that Father and Lady Linville have agreed to help me organize and run the home more efficiently. And that includes moving it to a safer location.”
Wiley chimed in again, “And that’s a good thing, Sharp. Not too happy with the location, myself, so close to Newgate.” He shivered. “Can’t stand to be that close to that woman.”
Sir Hilary opened his mouth to ask, but Julianna firmly shook her head at him and with a nod he remained silent.
“Good, then,” Alasdair said decisively. “We shall shop around for a better location together. Ernest will give us all the time we need at the Ludgate house.”
“Of course,” the earl agreed immediately. “Although I must say I’m not too pleased to find out it’s in an undesirable location. How am I to let the house?” he grumbled. “A shoddy piece of business on my part, to be sure.”
Julianna felt tears threatening again. “You don’t mind it?” she asked Alasdair. “My working with the home?”
Alasdair looked taken aback. “Why would I mind? I find it a very worthwhile cause. Can’t stand to see orphaned or abandoned children, myself.” He smiled at her and squeezed the hand he still held. “I’d be proud to say my wife supported such a noble cause.”
Julianna couldn’t stop herself. She threw herself into his arms and hugged him tightly. “Oh, Alasdair, I wasn’t sure. Not after the way you talked at Covent Garden the other day.”
Alasdair held her close. “My dear, children are another thing entirely. They are the future, are they not?”
“I hope they are our future,” Julianna whispered in his ear, and his arms tightened around her.
Alasdair breathed deeply as he held her. “Is that why you didn’t come to me? Because you thought I’d disapprove?”
“Yes and no. I didn’t tell you because I was trying to protect you, and my father. And Wiley, of course. I was afraid I would have to reveal the location of the pearl and you would try to recover it and Blackman would hurt you or the others in the process.”
Alasdair pulled back and stared at her in disbelief. “And you thought somehow it would be better if you were injured in an attempt to regain the pearl?”
“I tried not to think like that. And I wasn’t injured.” She forcefully pushed the terrifying memory from her mind. “I very nearly had the pearl, you know.” She laughed at her false bravado. “All right. Thank God you all came barging into Blackman’s to rescue me.”
Alasdair didn’t get the chance to chastise her more, as just then the carriage stopped. He released her and peered out the window. “We’re here.”
Sir Hilary tapped the roof, and a moment later the coachman opened the door. “And it looks as if you two still have a great deal to discuss. We shall leave you both here, Sharp, and I will see you in the morning.”
Julianna climbed down from the coach and Alasdair followed. He turned back to Sir Hilary with a grin. “Is that a summons?”
Sir Hilary waved his hand airily. “Take it as you will. One o’clock promptly, please.”
“That’s the afternoon, there, mate,” Wiley observed.
“In my world, Wiley, it is perilously close to dawn,” Sir Hilary drawled as the carriage door closed.
Julianna was still smiling as she turned to Alasdair after the carriage drove away. Her heart began to pound when she met his heated stare.
“The garden?” she asked hopefully.
Alasdair nodded. “The garden.” She didn’t protest as he grabbed her hand and dragged her to the gate.
* * *
Alasdair was desperate for her. She could have been killed. He’d barely been able to hold his relief in check in the carriage. He let it swamp him now. His hands were shaking as he tried to unlatch the gate.
“Let me,” Julianna said quietly. She reached over and opened the gate and walked through. She turned then, looking at him expectantly.
He knew he should feel ashamed at his weakness, but he didn’t. She’d become everything to him. He walked into her arms and kissed her. He breathed her in and held her so tightly against him, it was a wonder she didn’t melt into him and become a part of him. But then, she already was, wasn’t she?
