by Rose Lerner
“Then I won’t ask you. Come live with me anyway.”
“‘Come live with me and be my love and we will all the pleasures prove.’ When I was a little girl, learning English, I memorized that poem. I wanted to go live in a cottage in the woods covered with roses. When I think back, my idea of a lover’s cottage looked like my grand-père’s cow byre. From the outside, at least.”
She led Gideon across the foyer and up the grand staircase. There would be empty rooms up here.
“I wasn’t sure what pleasures the poem had in mind,” she said. “Bonbons and sweet cider were my guess. Now I know better.”
“We could try some of those pleasures.”
“We could.” It was exciting to know how many and varied those pleasures might be.
He said, “Will you come home with me, to my house here in London? Daphne’s there. She needs a friend, and I think you are one. I haven’t finished furnishing the place but there’s a big four-poster in my bedroom.”
“I can find my own rooms. I have enough money to last for months if I’m careful.”
“I know. You have six pounds, seven pence left. The Brotherhood charges a ferocious rate of interest.”
“That’s Lazarus telling lies. The Brotherhood doesn’t lend money.” She had been sorting matters out in her mind for the last half hour or so. “I think he’s making sure I don’t sail off to the Americas.”
Gideon stopped. “I’ll send you there if you want.”
“The prospect is less enticing now that I am no longer running away. It feels, in fact, somewhat lonely.”
They were in the turning of the corridor where the back stair went down and a pair of high uncurtained windows seeped chill into the air. Outside, afternoon was turning into dusk, but these were western windows and the hallway was still bright.
He pulled her close and held her against him. His body was a haven of human warmth. The chill coming from the plaster and the swirling cold of the drafts did not touch her when she was with him.
He whispered, “Come home with me. Not as a mistress or even as a lover. Come home with me as a friend.”
“Women do not live in men’s houses because they are friends.”
“You could. You’d be my guest. Only that. It’s just a house I happen to own. It’s no different from living anywhere else.”
She shook her head. “I do not want to become the sort of woman who is paid for by men. I think I—”
“Are you afraid of becoming something you don’t want to be? That’s nonsense. I’ve never met a more stubborn woman. We’ll settle it. Wait.” He opened his coat and pulled it back to show a number of pockets neatly made into the lining. The hilt of a knife protruded from one of them.
“You have a great many pockets,” she said and saw him smile.
“Hidden places for secrets. Also banknotes and a handkerchief. I’m not a straightforward man.”
He had a fine, slow smile. His teeth were white in the tanned face. His eyes crinkled at the edges. Even while she was forcing herself to be sensible and pull back from everything he offered, she wanted to kiss his mouth and taste that smile.
This was the first time she’d seen him entirely relaxed and happy. There would be universes inside this man to discover, if she went home with him.
“Here.” He slid fingers deep into one of the pockets to retrieve something.
He pulled a palm-sized object from that pocket. A small box? She hoped he would not offer her jewelry. She was almost certain he was wise enough to avoid that stupidity.
He held it out and the tiny spark of anger that had begun to sputter in her chest died. She was now merely puzzled. “A deck of cards. You’re carrying a deck of cards about with you.”
“Not just any cards.” He shuffled the deck with quick precision. The soft shushing sound was loud in the quiet hall. Now she knew one more thing about Gideon. He was used to holding cards.
“Do you recognize them?” he asked.
Suddenly she did. “Daffy and Lazarus. This is the deck they used.”
“To wager for my nephew. I’m keeping them for him, for when he grows up. They’ll make him laugh if he becomes the man I hope he will.” He held the deck out to her. “You shuffle. Go ahead.”
Somewhere at the back of the house people were squabbling about the ownership of a chair. It was always disorder and endless quarrel when the Brotherhood moved household. She was no longer part of that.
Was she becoming part of something else? Something that had Gideon in it?
She slipped the cards back and forth in her hands, not nearly as elegant in her shuffle as Gideon had been. “Are we playing cards?”
But she knew what he had in mind, the outline of it anyway. Not the important details.
“I propose the simplest of all wagers,” he said. “If I draw high, you come home with me for… let’s make it a week. Seven days. If you win, I’ll carry your trunk anywhere you want to go and set you down there and I won’t come back till you call. Agreed?”
He looked expectant.
“This is a foolish way to decide anything,” she said.
“It is. Spread the cards out for me to choose.”
He’d given her far too short a time to consider consequences.
Maybe she didn't need time. Maybe she’d find her answer in the way he played.
She finished shuffling. It was not so careful or thorough a job as was ever done in the history of the world, but it would suffice. She fanned the cards in her hand and held them toward him.
He knew the cards were marked, of course. He’d known that from the beginning. In any case, a man like Gideon couldn’t possibly have carried them around in his pocket for even an hour without taking them out and discovering all their secrets.
He didn't glance down when he made his choice. Not for an instant. Not for the flicker of the eye. The ranks and suits of these cards lay out in front of him, plain as day, and he didn't read them.
She was watching closely and she’d been tutored by experts. He would not have been able to fool her.
He held the card up for her. He didn't have to turn it, the number and suit being clearly marked on the back for anyone who cared to look at it.
“The seven of hearts,” she said.
“A good card in its way.” He slid it back into the fan of cards she held. “Now it’s your turn. Now you pick one.”
She looked down at the cards and the markings were perfectly plain. She couldn’t keep herself from looking down and knowing the cards.
He left this wholly in her hands. Literally, here in her hand. It was a little singing space full of joy, knowing that she was wholly free to go with him or go anywhere else. He was a devious, devilish man and she understood every thought in his mind.
She said, “You didn't cheat.”
“Sometimes I don’t.”
“That’s unfair.”
All the things she might have said, all the decisions she might have made, all the annoyance she might have poured out upon him, but at this moment she barely hesitated. She picked a three of clubs and showed it to him. “Do not let yourself think you’ve won.”
She gave him time to put his deck of cards away before she put her hands into his hair and drew him down to her and kissed him.
Desire had been lurking in the deep places of her body. When he ran his hands over her back, her arms, her breasts, wanting blossomed across her skin. Pierced like madness between her legs. She caressed his body with her body and became throbbing and unreasonable everywhere inside of her.
Perhaps she would live with him in his house for a little while. A week. A few weeks. Months. Forever. She would see.
Gideon broke the kiss. “I leave England in three months’ time. Come with me.”
“We have not yet crossed London together and you propose to take me to… where is it you’re going?”
“Egypt.”
Tempting. She was so tempted. To see the far side of the world with this man. To see…<
br />
He said, “I have a house near Alexandria with a private bit of ocean all my own. There’s a walled garden, a big place with colonnades of marble pillars. The winds blow through from the sea. It’s full of shade and flowers and a pool you can swim in naked as a fish. The floors are covered with old, old mosaics. It never gets cold there.”
This time when they kissed he lifted her and let her slide down the length of his body. She felt his cock caress between her legs. She was breathing heavily when they drew a little apart.
She said, “I have discovered that I like that. That thing you do with our bodies together. We could do that some more.”
“Come with me and we will. I’ll take you to the bazaars of Alexandria. To the entrepôt where the caravans come in from the desert, up from the Red Sea. All the goods from the East pass through there. Gems and spices. There’s art from all of Persia. They’re still picking apart Nadar Shah’s empire. You could choose the best of it to ship home to England.”
All this time he stroked her back and her body answered him. She stood, leaning against him, ready to twitch at the smallest touch. She said, “I am considering various options.” Then she said, “You have no intention of finding an empty room here and making love to me, do you?”
“Not under this roof. Anywhere else though. My house would be a grand place to do it.” He traveled along the sensitive complexity of her ear, kiss by kiss. “Marry me.”
“I don’t know you. We don’t know each other.”
“I know everything important about you, Aimée Beauclerc. I know you’re brave and generous and honest. There’s not one humdrum thought or feeling inside you. Everything I don’t know yet, I want to discover.”
Just the breath of those words in her ear made her shiver. This was a problematic starting point for such a serious discussion. She said, “I’m not going to marry anyone. Not now. Maybe not ever. I need to be free for a long, long time.”
“Then come traveling with me as my friend and a partner in the business.” He touched her cheek, gentle as sunlight, compelling as the tide. “Sail off into difficult, frightening adventures. See the world. Take chances. Be free, but do it with me.”
“You’re tempting me,” she said.
“Is it working?”
“Yes.” She filled her lungs with air and thought about the million possibilities and a whole world to explore. It felt good. “I’ll go with you. We’ll see about this marriage business later.”
“Good enough.”
They both forgot the many eyes that might be watching. They kissed and kept doing that for a while.
From Joanna
Thank you so much for reading Gideon and the Den of Thieves. I hope you enjoyed it.
Those of you who've read my other books will recognize my Spymaster fictional world at once. Hawker, Lazarus, and Black John are old and familiar characters there.
Hawker appears in Gideon and the Den of Thieves at his youngest yet. This story takes place a few months before he is recruited by the British Service and about six months before he travels across France with William Doyle and a pair of recalcitrant donkeys in The Forbidden Rose.
This is, if you will, his beginning. I hope you see in him the Spymaster he will become.
Those of you who'd like to follow my writing adventures can sign up for my newsletter at [email protected]. I'll tell you about my latest release. Just drop me a line saying you'd like to subscribe.
My website, with all the information about the books, is http://www.joannabourne.com/. You can read an excerpt from my last book, Rogue Spy. And I'm on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/joanna.bourne.5
More Books by Joanna
The Spymaster's Lady
My Lord and Spymaster
Forbidden Rose
Black Hawk
Rogue Spy
Her Ladyship's Companion
Please turn the page to read more about THE FORBIDDEN ROSE
* * *
The Forbidden Rose
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The only person she can trust with her life… is the man who trusts no one.
Marguerite de Fleurignac, once a glittering French aristocrat, is on the run, disguised as Maggie Duncan, British governess. Penniless and alone, she falls into the hands of a compelling stranger with a sinister scar. But why does he risk his life to save her?
William Doyle, England's premier spy, has a score to settle with the de Fleurignacs. When he rescues Maggie, he knows her to be the last, dangerous flower of a noble line. Drawn inexorably into the intrigue and madness of revolutionary Paris, they gamble on a love neither of them will admit. When the dance of deception and desire is over, will they betray one another?
Buy it now!
Thank you!
* * *
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