Lucy Ashford - The Major and the Pickpocket

Tassie pulled herself together with an effort. ‘Indeed?’ she flashed back. ‘A proposition? And there was I thinking you’d already made several! Let me go now; give me back my clothes, or I’ll tell that kind lady, Caro, that you’ve tried to kidnap me!’

He smiled, his teeth white and even in the shadowy light of the fire. ‘Just as I could tell her you’re a thief. Save your histrionics for the low-class dives of Covent Garden, Tassie. Yes, I know your name; Caro told me. Let me repeat that I’m not in the market for light-fingered doxies.’ She flinched again; he pressed on. ‘But you do happen to have several qualities in which I am interested. Firstly, you’re obviously an expert at all forms of trickery—cards, thievery, and so on. Secondly—you’re rather a good little actress, aren’t you? I’ve noticed how quickly you’re able to switch from ranting hussy to poor, beleaguered innocent, from spouting street cant to quite respectable English. Tell me, where did you learn to speak so well when you’ve a mind to it?’

Her heart thudded again, but she tilted her chin defiantly. ‘Why, sir, it just comes natural to me!’ she declared, putting her hands on her hips and deliberately adopting her ripest city slang. ‘Anyone can speak proper when they choose!’

‘That I take leave to doubt. But now I’ll move on to my third point. You, as I see it, are in deep trouble. You stole my wallet, and were cheating at the Angel; by rights you should be locked up in Newgate. Not a pretty prospect, as I’m sure you’ll agree.’

Tassie did agree. She’d heard about Newgate, and the very thought of being inside that foul place made her feel quite sick. ‘I thought you were talking about a proposition,’ she said in a low voice. ‘But it sounds more to me like some kind of threat. And I warn you, if you turn me in I’ll deny everything!’

He said evenly, in a voice that made her shiver, ‘You could try. But I would advise against it.’ He took a few uneven paces round the room, and paused eventually with one hand on the mantelpiece, and his booted right foot on the fender. The firelight flickered over his lean, vivid face and made sparks appear to dance in his disturbing grey eyes. ‘Let me take you to the heart of the matter. There is a man in London on whom I wish, very badly, to be revenged. He has several weaknesses, and I intend to attack accordingly. Firstly, he is a gambler, who cannot resist a challenge when the stakes are high. And, secondly, he has a marked liking for pretty women who are skilled at card play.’

‘So I’m ruled out for certain, surely, if you are looking for someone pretty? Since you make it quite clear that I am nothing of the kind!’

She saw a half-smile flicker across his strong mouth—a dangerous, all-male smile. Those weren’t my precise words, minx,’ he softly said. ‘I think, in fact, that you could be very, very pretty.’

She felt the colour rising in her cheeks. ‘You jest with me,’ Tassie said flatly.

‘I assure you, this is no jest.’ No, indeed. His voice, his expression told her he was in deadly earnest. ‘To put it briefly, Tassie, you and I could help each other out, quite considerably.’

Tassie clasped her hands together tightly. ‘So far I’ve gathered that you want me to play cards with your cousin. Sebastian Corbridge.’

She’d taken him by surprise. ‘How on earth do you know his name?’

‘I heard you talking about him last night, with your friend—Hal.’ She looked up at him directly. ‘But why bother with me, Marcus? Fie, it would only take a skilled card cheat one night to fleece this man Corbridge, and you must know there are plenty of those in London town! Why not look one of them up, and leave me out—’ she let scorn trickle into her words ‘—of your petty scheme of revenge?’

Marcus was silent for a while, but he was still assessing her with those iron-hard eyes that made her feel so uneasy. At last he said, ‘This isn’t about me, Tassie. Corbridge, you see, has cheated not me, but my godfather, a kindly, honest old man who has no idea how to protect himself against rogues. That is why I am acting for him. I want to lay a trap for Corbridge, I want him lured into deep, deep play; and I want you to be the bait at the heart of it.’

Bait. Tassie swallowed rather hard on the sudden dryness in her throat. His coat of dark grey broadcloth had fallen open as he talked, and the moulded softness of his white silk shirt did nothing to diminish the breadth or the power of his shoulders and chest. She found her gaze flickering with some agitation over the strong muscles of his thighs beneath his tight-cut breeches and remembered a little faintly how she’d felt, all too clearly, the evidence of his arousal as he’d casually fondled her breasts.

Bait. This man wanted to make a bargain with her. He wanted to cold-bloodedly use her to trap an enemy he despised.

Oh, this was possibly the most dangerous man she had ever met. She would have to keep her defences up, every minute, until she got well away from here. She tilted her chin in defiance, though really she felt more alone and more afraid than she had for many years. ‘And how exactly were you thinking of paying me, Marcus? By the hour? By the day? How do you usually hire your—your sluts, pray?’

He folded his arms across his chest. ‘I thought I’d reassured you several times that you’re really not to my taste. I was merely offering to pay you for your time, and skills—’

Her fear was banished by anger. ‘Oh, this I will not endure! You think your fancy words and fine money give you the right to insult whomsoever you please—but you’ve truly picked the wrong person this time, believe me, Major Forrester! Now, I’d be extremely obliged if you’d give me back my clothes and let me go, this very minute.’

‘No!’

There was a pause. Then Marcus said slowly, regretfully, ‘It really is a great pity, Tassie, but I think you’d be wise to go along with my plan.’

Tassie paled. ‘Why?’

‘Unfortunately, some things are beyond my power. You see, the constables have got hold of that young red-headed scamp who was with you last night.’

She was shaking her head, feeling unsteady. ‘No. Lemuel got away from the Angel, I know he did. You’re lying!’

He shook his head. ‘He made the mistake of going back to the Angel once the fuss had died down, to look for you; that was when the constables arrested him. Lemuel’s not as clever as you, is he, Tassie? He’s the kind who talks too much. If he’s not released pretty quickly, he could get you and all your friends into serious trouble.’

Her heart was thudding again and she felt rather sick. ‘So what must I do? To help him?’ Oh, poor Lemuel, always the most loyal of friends, and ‘tis all my fault… Marcus’s eyes were hard as granite. ‘I have a certain amount of influence at the Bow Street office. I could get your friend out of there, without a charge. But only if you agree to help me with my plan against Corbridge.’

Tassie gazed at him, her heart aching with distress. ‘So—so you’re prepared to blackmail me now, are you, in order to get what you want?’

‘Blackmail?’ he queried sharply. ‘Hardly. All you have to do is dress yourself up like a lady—in clothes which I will provide—and speak charmingly, as I know very well you can. When the time is right I want you to play cards with my cousin Lord Sebastian Corbridge, making quite sure that you win; in return, I’ll help your foolish friend and reward you handsomely.’

‘How much?’

‘I’m willing to offer you the sum of fifty guineas.’

The ground rocked beneath Tassie’s feet. She had never seen so much money in her life. Fifty guineas… She drew a deep breath and tossed her hair back from her face. ‘Aren’t you afraid that I might rob and cheat you again, Marcus?’

Marcus laughed, and in his laughter was a sudden chill. ‘No, I’m not. Not in the slightest. You see, I’ll be keeping a very close eye on you, Tassie. I hold all the aces this time. From now on, don’t even think of getting the better of me.’

She would think of nothing else, Tassie vowed resolutely. But her answer had to be yes. Yes, she would accept his offer—firstly, because Lemuel was in trouble, and, secondly, because this man’s money, so casually offered, could mean more than he would ever guess.

It might help her to find out who she really was.

Only a few days ago, back at the Blue Bell, Tassie had asked Georgie Jay casually, ‘How would you find out, Georgie? If there was some mystery about your past? If you wanted to know where you really, truly belonged?’

Georgie Jay had frowned. ‘It’s the same old story if you want anything, Tass. You need money. Money for fancy investigators—money for lawyers. You’d need a whole purseful of guineas to go down that road, girl. Not thinkin’ about that place you ran from all those years ago, are you now?’ She’d shaken her head. And yet she was always thinking about it, always. Now, in this bedroom, alone with Marcus, she swallowed down the sudden ache in her throat. She’d known for months that her time with kind Georgie Jay and his friends could not go on for ever. You need money…

Bait, Marcus had said. She’d be the bait in the trap; the lure to tempt his enemy Corbridge into a deep, deep game. But once Lemuel was safe, she, Tassie, would make very sure that she was the one deciding on the order of play. She faced Marcus squarely, hiding all her inner turmoil like the player, the trickster he took her to be. ‘Fifty guineas, you said?’

‘I did.’

‘And you promise to pay me as soon as I’ve done what you want?’

‘Most certainly I promise.’

‘And you’ll get Lemuel away from the constables…’ Tassie thrust out her hand. ‘We have a bargain, Marcus, you and I.’ But the touch of his warm, strong fingers as he grasped hers unsettled her anew. She dragged her hand away quickly. He proceeded to tell her then that she would be staying here, with Caro to look after her, until the time was right to tackle Corbridge; and Tassie nodded coolly, as if it were every day that she made a bargain for fifty guineas with a complete stranger. But her heart was thudding against her chest like a caged bird by the time he finally left her. And after he’d shut the door, she heard the key being turned in the lock outside.

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