My Favorite Thief Read Online Free PDF Page B

ain’t he?” Violet looked to Charlotte to settle the matter. “Didn’t Flynn say ye found him nickin’ Lord Chadwick’s jewels?”
    â€œHe was in the process of stealing when I came upon him.” Charlotte gently laid a blanket over the Dark Shadow’s body. Now that the laudanum was starting to take effect, his shivering had subsided, but she was worried that he might still be cold. She tucked the blanket securely beneath the feather mattress, covering the hard, muscled contours of chest and belly. His black mask and cap remained in place, safely concealing his identity for the moment. His breathing had slowed and deepened and his eyes were closed, suggesting he had fallen asleep.
    â€œThen that makes him one of us,” Violet decided.
    â€œWhatever he is, I’m bettin’ he’s rare handsome beneath that mask,” said Ruby, entering the chamber carrying a tray of tea and oatcakes.
    â€œHow can ye tell?” wondered Violet.
    â€œLook at his hands,” she instructed. “They’re lovely clean—not all rough and stained, but they ain’t sickly white and soft neither, the way some nobs’ hands are. So he works with his hands, but then takes time to wash ’em, an’ file his nails short. That’s a prime man that does that.”
    â€œI like a man who bathes,” Annie agreed. “An’ scrubs his teeth now and again, too.”
    â€œI know some girls won’t let chaps kiss ’em if their mouths is all rotten an’ stinkin’,” said Ruby. “They say they’re more like to get diseased from that than from puttin’ their pricks between their—”
    â€œHere now, that’s enough blather!” interrupted Oliver sternly, appearing suddenly in the doorway. “That’s nae way to speak when Flynn and Miss Charlotte is about.”
    Flynn shrugged his shoulders. “I’ve heard worse.”
    â€œIt’s all right, Oliver.” Charlotte was always touched by Oliver’s gruff protectiveness. “Annie, Ruby, and Violet were just talking about the life they knew before coming here. They should feel comfortable talking about it. That’s part of healing from the past and moving on from it.”
    â€œI’m sorry, Miss Kent,” Ruby apologized, chastened. “Sometimes I forget to speak proper when ye’re about.”
    â€œA fine lady like you ain’t supposed to know about such things,” Violet agreed. “It ain’t right.”
    Charlotte adjusted the blankets covering the Dark Shadow, who appeared to be sleeping, and said nothing. Years had passed since the ugly, violent part of her early life. Years in which Haydon and Genevieve had lovingly raised her and done their utmost to protect her. But the penchant for malevolent gossip in the aristocratic circles of Scotland and London had made it clear from the beginning that she would never be permitted to escape the sordidness of her beginnings. Even so, she said nothing to contradict Violet’s assumption that she was a fine lady.
    She made no secret of her past, she told herself, swallowing thickly.
    She simply preferred not to discuss it.
    A sudden banging on the front door interrupted her thoughts.
    â€œThat’ll be the peelers, most like,” Oliver said, referring to the police. He regarded her soberly. “Ye’d best go downstairs, lass, and let them know ye’re home safe. We’ll tell them the Shadow jumped from the carriage at Waterloo Bridge, an’ we just made for home as fast as we could.”
    â€œWhat’ll we do with him if they decide to search the house?” Ruby tilted her head at the dozing form of the Dark Shadow.
    â€œI won’t let them,” said Charlotte.
    â€œYe may have nae choice,” Oliver told her. “Ye listen from the stairs, lad,” he instructed Flynn, “an’ tell the lasses if the bobbies are fixin’ to