A Gift for Guile (The Thief-takers) Read Free Page B

taken up permanent residence at Greenly House in Derbyshire, a mere twenty miles away.
    Maybe he’d retire, as Renderwell had last year. He had more than enough funds to live on comfortably for the rest of his life. Gabriel could buy out his portion of the business, if he liked. The idea had its merits. Mrs. Lanchor was fond of the area. She’d grown up in a nearby village. And the beast would enjoy the space, the freedom. It wasn’t fair to confine a dog of that size to a garden with the diameter of a dinner plate.
    Yes, maybe he would retire.
    If he survived the next twelve hours with Esther Walker-Bales.
    * * *
    Five minutes later, Samuel tossed a valise onto the carriage floor and took his seat across from Esther.
    Eleven hours, fifty-five minutes to go.
    She scowled at the bag at her feet. “What is that?”
    Assuming the question was rhetorical—anyone could see it was a valise—he didn’t bother with an answer.
    She rolled her eyes and huffed. “Where are you going, Samuel?”
    “To your hotel.”
    “To…? No. You cannot stay with me. That is worse than me staying with you.”
    “I’ll obtain my own rooms.” Next to hers, if he could manage it. He wondered if he should try for adjoining rooms, or if that would be indecent .
    “People will see if you come knocking on my door.”
    He shrugged. “People will assume I desire a word with my sister.”
    “You cannot tell the hotel I’m your sister. You don’t have a sister.”
    “I do tonight.”
    She cast her gaze up as if to beg for patience. “Samuel, be reasonable. Everyone in London knows who you are, and everyone knows you do not have a sister.”
    “I’m not as famous as you seem to think.”
    “Yes, you are. Lottie said you and Gabriel and Renderwell became tremendous sensations for rescuing Lady Strale.”
    Samuel considered his next words carefully. That rescue was a sensitive, even volatile, subject for the Walker family. He, along with Gabriel and Renderwell, had received accolades for their roles in saving the kidnapped duchess, but it had been Will Walker who had gone into a thieves’ den and carried the unconscious woman to freedom. And it had been Will Walker who had gotten himself mortally wounded in the process. Presumably he’d played the hero to atone for the fact that he had also played a part in the duchess’s kidnapping, however unknowing. He’d only meant to steal the Strale diamonds off her person at a ball, but his accomplice had run off with the woman herself.
    Their accomplice, he corrected. Esther had been at that ball. She’d helped her father.
    Whatever his reasons had been for sacrificing himself, however, Will Walker had saved the woman in the end. Unfortunately, the police couldn’t admit to having worked with a known criminal, and the ensuing fame would have put the Walker children at risk. It had been decided that Will Walker should be buried in an unmarked grave in Brookwood Cemetery. His last, and likely only, heroic deed would remain a secret to all but a handful of people.
    The Walker children had not been happy with the decision. They’d changed their name to Bales, moved to Norfolk, and cut off all contact with Samuel and his friends until last year. “It was a decade ago,” he said now. It had scarcely been more than nine years, but a decade sounded better.
    “People still recognize you, I’m sure.”
    “I’m not being stopped in the street by strangers.” Not anymore, thank God.
    “The concierge will recognize your name at the very least.”
    “I’ll use an alias.”
    “And if he recognizes you on sight?” she asked. “He’ll know you’re lying.”
    “He will assume I’ve either taken on a widow who prefers to conduct business in secrecy as a client, or…”
    “Or what?” she asked warily.
    He probably shouldn’t have mentioned the “or.” “Or he will assume I have taken on a widow who prefers to conduct a different sort of business in secrecy.”
    “Oh God .”
    “It’s a