To Love a Thief (Steel Hawk) Read Free

Why think of those days?
    Because you’ve come home.
    No. No, he hadn’t. Home was no longer England. Home was San Francisco, where he’d carved out a new life. A new him. Nathaniel Hawk, street urchin, starving, abandoned child and thief whose alias had been the Raven, was long gone . Eradicated.
    Today, he was Nathan Hawk, engineer of locks and co-owner of Steel Hawk Locks, and about to take London’s Great Exhibition by storm.
    Without warning, the boy lunged forward and shoved hard against Nathan’s chest. He stumbled back, reached out for the lad, but missed him as he darted past, ducked under his arm and raced into the middle of the room.
    “It doesn’t matter who either of you are.” The boy stood behind one of the chairs, using it as a barrier between him and Nathan and Ben.
    Nathan recognized the haze of fear . “What do you want? If it’s money…”
    Fury twisted the lad’s expression, at least what little Nathan could see beneath the cap. “I don’t want your money. I’ve come to stop you.”
    Nathan cast a glance in Ben’s direction and then refocused on the boy. “From doing what, precisely?”
    “You can’t display the Pasha Star.”
    Those words changed everything. Nathan stepped away from the door, closing in on the boy. The lad barely reached his shoulder, and Nathan struggled to stem the fleeting concern at how starvation had curtailed the boy’s growth. “What do you know about the Star?”
    “Only that you must not display it.” The boy shoved out a crumpled piece of newspaper, the same paper that displayed the headline about Steel Hawk.
    Ben noticed it too and came alongside Nathan. “Look, young man, if you’ve come here to try to blackmail us, you’ve failed. Now I suggest you go home to your mama.”
    The lad seemed to shrink then, his shoulders slumped. “That is impossible. She’s dead.”
    “Ah…” Nathan rubbed a hand across his jaw, suddenly uncomfortable at seeing such distress. He had long fought emotion. Emotion and caring got you into trouble. Instead, he shoved a hand deep into his trouser pocket, brought out a couple of shillings and held them out to the boy.
    The boy’s defiance reignited. “I told you I don’t want your money.”
    “You look like you could do with feeding.”
    “I eat. So will you do it?”
    “What you’ve asked us is impossible. The royal family of Zarrenburg has requested the diamond be on show.”
    “But it’s imperative that it be taken out. Make it possible.”
    Imperative. That didn’t sound like the language of a boy who appeared to have spent most of his life on the streets. Nathan stared hard at him, trying to gauge what the hell was going on here. Violet eyes, soft and…
    Forget those days. They’re over.
    “ Why is it so important to you?”
    “It…it just is. Besides, that’s not something you need to know.”
    A gruff chuckle came from Ben. “You want us to do something but won’t tell us why.”
    “I…can’t.”
    Nathan’s ears pricked up as he recognized the desperation in the boy’s hesitation. “The Pasha Star is already on display.”
    Within the blink of an eye, all color drained from the lad’s face, his knees buckling beneath him. Nathan made a grab for him and snatched at his shoulders as he tumbled toward the ground.
    “Don’t touch me. Leave me.” The lad flicked out an arm, catching Nathan on the jaw.
    “Why you little…”
    Behind him, Ben chuckled, and Nathan cast him a scathing glance. “You’re not much bloody help.”
    “I’m having too much fun watching you. The pint size versus the giant.”
    Nathan swore under his breath. He was more than six feet to the lad’s diminutive barely five foot frame. “Right, me laddo.” Surprise cut off his words for a moment as he unnervingly recognized he’d reverted to the dialect of his youth.
    The boy held up both hands. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you.”
    “That may be, but you’re asking us to do something we