Chapter 3
· · ·
Garret stepped back from the window with a half laugh.
What the devil had just happened? One moment he’d been sitting here trying to find some enthusiasm for any of the women on the list of heiresses his mother had made, and in the next instant a footman who wasn’t a footman burst in, kissed him, then robbed him, and jumped through a window.
Strange night.
Strange woman who would dress in livery and sneak into a ball.
Rather a pretty woman too, Garret mused.
She’d had large blue eyes and all that thick chestnut hair.
As soon as he’d looked into her eyes, he’d been lost. She could have told him any Banbury tale—and she had told him a rather weak one—and he would have believed it.
He would have laughed the whole thing off and saved the story to relate to his friends later if she hadn’t kissed him. Could he even call it a kiss? She’d licked him then nipped his lip. The kiss had been unbelievably intimate.
And unbelievably erotic.
If she hadn’t jumped out the window, he might have pulled her back in just for another taste of her. He’d been too shocked to fully appreciate her kiss or even kiss her back.
Garret raked a hand through his hair then swore because he wasn’t about to attract an heiress with his hair looking like a deckhand’s mop.
Which was a good reminder that he couldn’t afford to sit here and fantasize about kissing a woman who had played him like a fiddle and stolen his blunt.
He had an heiress to hunt, and he wouldn’t know who to target if he couldn’t remember the names on this list.
He moved away from the window, and he heard something crunch under his foot.
Gingerly, he lifted it and saw a woman’s earbob.
He bent and picked it up. It was a rather expensive earbob too.
She had truly scrambled his brainbox if it had taken him this long to put it all together.
Why, that little thief! She hadn’t just swiped his coins. She’d swiped a lot more.
He stuck his head back out the window, prepared to call her out, then realized she was long gone. What else had she pilfered from the duke and duchess?
And what an idiot he had been to give her money! She must be doubled over with laughter at what a dolt he’d been. Shocking how brazen thieves were becoming in this day and age. If he ever saw her again, he’d give her a piece of his mind.
And why not right now? She couldn’t have gone far.
He’d find her and give her what for. Maybe retrieve the other stolen loot too.
Garret placed the earbob on the duke’s desk and strode out of the library.
He spotted a footman—a real one this time—in the foyer and passed him the ticket for his greatcoat. “And hurry!” he barked.
Garret paced back and forth, his head jerking up when he heard Daire’s voice. “If you’ll come this way, gentlemen, we can speak more privately about my plan.”
Garret might have preferred to commandeer one of his friends at a time like this, but it would take an act of God or nature to oust Dolfy or Radcliffe from the cardroom.
Instead, he scanned the crowds and spotted Daire leading a group of prominent men from the ballroom.
Killian was also with them. Garret hadn’t heard them announced, but he assumed they must have come for the same reason as he—to woo an heiress.
If that was the case, why were they leaving the ballroom with a group of older men? Were they the fathers of heiresses?
It didn’t matter. Right now, Garret needed to find that little thief. But he couldn’t very well leave the ball while his brothers stayed behind and charmed all the heiresses. Garret wanted the summer house for himself.
“Daire! Killian!”
Killian smiled and waved at him, veering toward him and then back toward the path Daire had started on. Clearly, he was torn between brothers. Daire didn’t even acknowledge Garret. He continued talking and walking toward the dining room.
“Daire Kildare!” Garret called. “I need your help.”
The men walking with his brothers looked at Garret and then back at Daire. Garret could see his brother trying to say something that might dismiss Garret’s words, and the men were looking back and forth from brother to brother. “Brothers!” Garret called. “Hurry! I need you!”
Killian, poor lout, looked genuinely concerned and arrowed for Garret now. Daire was tossing Garret sharp looks and still trying to lead his small party away.
“What’s wrong, Garret?” Killian asked, finally reaching the other side of the marble foyer.
“Come with me,” Garret said just as the footman appeared with his coat. “Get my brothers’ coats too. Hurry, man!” Garret ordered.
“We’re leaving?” Killian asked. “But Daire was about to speak—”
“Never mind what I was doing,” Daire interrupted, striding up to them. “You’ve ruined it all anyway. What the devil is wrong with you? What cannot wait until tomorrow?”
The footman returned with two more coats.
“No time for questions,” Garret said. “Put your coats on and come with me. We’re leaving.”
“Leaving?” Daire’s tone was filled with annoyance, but he donned the coat and followed Garret. “What did you do?”
“Nothing,” Garret said as the brothers stepped out into the evening.
“Do you need me to hit someone?” Killian asked, always ready for a fight.
“Did something happen at home?” Daire said.
“No. I don’t need anyone punched and everything at home is fine, as far as I know. Just come with me.”
“What about the coach?” Daire asked as they strode away from the duke’s house and toward the street.
“No time,” Garret said. “She’s getting away.”
“Who?” Daire asked, finally catching up with Garret and matching his stride. Killian joined him on the other side until the three men walked together.
“The woman from the library.” Garret tried to think which direction the blue-eyed thief might take.
She’d probably want to leave Mayfair as quickly as possible.
If he wanted out of Mayfair quickly and without being spotted, which way would he travel?
No question—toward Hyde Park. It was easy to hide there. She could lie low until dawn.
“You met an heiress?” Killian asked.
“Definitely not an heiress. She stole several shillings from me and earbobs from the duchess. She might have stolen other goods. I won’t know until we catch her.
” He spotted a figure hurrying just ahead and almost started running until he realized it was a young boy and not the liveried thief at all.
And just as well, as he suddenly felt himself yanked backward. He turned to see that Daire had grabbed his coat lapels and held them tightly. Daire might be the youngest of the brothers, but he was the second tallest, shorter only by a half an inch to Liam, and no weakling.
“Leave off, Daire.” Garret tried to dislodge his brother’s grip.
“Not until you explain why you pulled me away from what might have been the chance of a lifetime to…” He glanced about. “To wander the streets of London chasing after a woman.”
“She’s not a woman.” Garret pushed Daire back and brushed his coat off. “She’s a thief.”
“And we need to find her because…”
“She has my shillings.”
Daire reached into his pocket and held out a pound. “Here. Might we return now?”
Garret shoved his brother’s hand away. “It’s not the money; it’s the principle of the thing. I want to find her and give her a piece of my mind.”
“What exactly did this thief look like?” Killian asked.
Garret felt like such a dolt. How were his brothers supposed to help him find her if they didn’t know who to look for?
“She’s dressed as a footman but far too short for a footman.
She’s about this tall.” He held a hand up to his throat.
“She’s wearing livery, but it fits ill because she’s quite thin.
She was wearing a wig, but I took it off.
That’s when I realized the footman wasn’t a footman.
All this long, glorious hair tumbled down.
Chestnut brown and about this long.” He pointed to his shoulders.
“Oh, and her eyes. They’re very blue and innocent-looking.
But she’s not innocent. She’s definitely a thief. ”
Daire glanced at Killian, and a look passed between them.
“What was that look?” Garret asked, having been part of secret exchanges like that with his brothers too many times to count.
“I understand why you want to find her now.” Killian smirked.
“I told you. She’s a thief—”
“She’s a pretty chit and you want to see her again,” Daire interrupted. “Need I remind you that we’re hunting heiresses? Leave the thieves to the Bow Street Runners.”
“I wouldn’t need to leave her to the Runners if you would stop gabbing and come with me.”
“No, thank you,” Daire said. “I will go home now.”
“You’re not returning to the ball?” Killian asked.
“He’s ruined my plans for tonight,” Daire said, jerking a thumb at Garret. “You two enjoy running through the streets.” And he walked away, pulling the collar of his coat up to keep the evening chill from his neck.
“I don’t need him anyway,” Garret said. “You know these streets better than I.”
Killian was known for his insomnia. He often wandered the streets of London all night.
“I was actually hoping to get back to my painting,” Killian said, starting to veer away. Garret clutched his shoulder.
“Don’t desert me now. I need to find that thief. Come on.”
Reluctantly, Killian followed Garret toward Hyde Park. “If we are set upon by rogues, I will shove you in front and run for it.”
“I expect nothing less. Sharp eyes now. Look for a woman dressed in—”