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

fashionable, but fashionable wasn’t always what a lady desired in a man. Some women might sigh over a pretty prince, but others preferred the captain of the guard.
    It was Samuel’s eyes, however, that compelled a lady to take a second look. They were such an unusual shade of gray, very nearly the color of steel, but sprinkled with warm flecks of gold about the irises. And on the rare occasions that he smiled, they crinkled nicely at the corners. He looked cheerful then, kind and approachable, like a man who welcomed your company and conversation.
    She could count on one hand the number of times she’d seen him smile like that. Not one of those smiles had been meant for her.
    “Leave the lids,” Samuel said. “You may go, thank you.”
    Esther rolled her eyes at the ensuing round of giggles. However understandable their admiration, she wished the maids would hurry about their chore and be gone. Her mouth watered at the aroma of warm bread and roasted meat. Riddled with nerves, she’d not eaten since the day before. She was famished.
    As soon as the door shut on the last giggle, she darted out from behind the screen and pulled the lid off one of the platters.
    Oh, asparagus. She adored asparagus.
    Samuel gestured for her to take a seat. “You’re fond of asparagus, I believe.”
    “Yes. How did you know?”
    He pulled out his own chair and began removing the other lids. “You mentioned it.”
    “Did I? When?”
    “Last year. On the twenty-eighth of June.”
    She stopped midreach for her napkin. “That is very specific.”
    “I’ve a keen memory.”
    He remembered the exact date she’d made an offhand comment about asparagus. That wasn’t keen. That was… Well, she didn’t know what that was, except disconcerting. “Can you recall everything I’ve ever said?”
    He frowned a little as he transferred a thick slice of ham to his plate. “Good God, why would I want to?”
    For your own improvement , she thought but kept the put-down to herself. Lord knew he could use both the improvement and the put-down, but she was in no hurry to ruin the tentative truce they seemed to have formed.
    She smiled at him instead, a thin, tight-lipped smile she was quite certain did not make her eyes crinkle nicely at the corners.
    * * *
    Samuel took in Esther’s strained smile and paused in the act of cutting his ham. “Something the matter?”
    “Not at all. I am merely”—she tilted her head a little and pursed her lips—“taking the moral high ground,” she decided, and then smiled in earnest, evidently pleased by the notion.
    He set down his knife and fork. He hated when people took the moral high ground. By default, that meant everyone else was on the low ground. “Why am I on the low ground?”
    “It’s nothing. You were insulting, that’s all. I am trying to let it pass.”
    She wasn’t doing a very good job of it. Also, he couldn’t see that she had any right to this particular patch of high ground. “You’ve insulted me. Repeatedly.”
    “Yes, but not since…” She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Might we agree to both make an effort to be civil going forward?”
    He grunted in assent. It was doubtful that they would manage civility for long. But he wasn’t opposed to the effort.
    He did wonder, however, which insult she’d been thinking of when she’d offered that first smile. Maybe it was when he’d called her an idiot. He’d called her that once before, last summer. Actually, he’d called her an imbecile, but that was close enough. And now that he thought on it, he’d called her a fool in the carriage, and that was essentially the same thing. The sting of a single barb could generally be brushed off, but when that same barb was delivered time and time again, it had the potential to stick and fester. He was personally susceptible to slights referencing Frankenstein’s monster.
    Samuel made a mental note to refrain from belittling her intellect in any future sparring and returned