Page 58 of Thief Taker

Kit swallowed and even in the candlelight the flush on his cheeks was visible. “I hope—that is, I fear we may have complicated things impossibly between us.”

There was something about his concern that Elias found charming. He couldn’t help his smile as he said, “We were meant to be making it easier.”

“Yes, well—” Kit pulled his banyan tighter. “Listen, Cole, whatever happens I want you to know that I believe you to be an honest man. A good man.” His voice thickened. “I hope you can say the same of me.”

“I can.”

Kit frowned a little. “Do you really mean that?”

Taking a step closer, Elias lifted a hand but stopped before he could touch. Instead, he spoke the best truth he could find. “Whatever may come, you should know that I’ve always believed you to be a good man. From the first moment we met.”

Kit lifted an eyebrow. “The first moment?”

“Of course.” Elias grinned. “You saved me from having to gut Lord Marlborough in your brother’s study, remember?”

Kit returned his smile doubtfully, that small expression tugging at something in Elias’s chest. Clearing his throat, he added, “Well, go on, don’t let the water go cold now you’ve had the footmen drag it all the way up here.”

With that he went to collect Kit’s discarded linen, keeping himself busy until he heard the splash of water from the dressing room. The soft, happy sigh that followed should have made his cock twitch but actually made his heart twist.

He took a breath, refusing to accept that the feeling meant anything.

Get to bloody work, Cole.

“You, uh, didn’t tell me what set you off last night,” he said. And then winced and hurriedly added, “I mean, with Marlborough.”

“Too much whiskey, I’m afraid.”

He could hear the almost-smile in Kit’s voice and wished he could see it. He edged closer to the door. “Tell me what happened with the solicitor. What did he tell you?”

A long pause followed, then a sigh. “That there’s no hope from the law short of parading my father’s infirmity before the court of Chancery.”

“That don’t surprise me.”

“No. I also learned that my father took the precaution of placing the estate deeds in the solicitor’s custody some years ago, at the start of his illness. Perhaps he foresaw some of this.”

“Does that mean your brother can’t get to them?”

Kit sighed again. “Unfortunately not, thanks to the disentailment. James has ordered the deeds sent to him at Salter’s this week, but I’ve told the solicitor that I intend to challenge the disentailment in court. And he’s agreed not to release the deeds to James while the case is pending.”

“But you don’t really intend to go to court?”

Another soft splash of water was the only reply. So—God curse him for a fool—Elias peered around the doorway. Kit lay with his arms on the linen-draped sides of the hipbath, his head back and eyes closed. His hair was wet and pushed away from his face, water beading on his smooth shoulders and across his chest, catching on the dark hair of his forearms.

Beautiful. Elias’s heart tugged again.

“It might not surprise you to learn,” Kit said carefully, “that I intend to steal the disentailment deed and destroy it.”

“Steal it?” He must have objected too loudly because Kit opened his eyes. Elias froze, caught in the act. “Sorry,” he said, turning away. “I mean, steal it from who? Your brother?”

A man desperate enough to rob at gunpoint.

After a pause, Kit said, “I doubt James has it. Marlborough wouldn’t trust him.”

That was true. “But you can’t steal from Marlborough. He’s a dangerous man—”

“I know exactly what kind of man Marlborough is,” Kit said. “But I believe the disentailment deed is likely at Salter’s. The solicitor hasn’t seen it, but… Cole—Elias—you might as well come in. I don’t want to talk to the back of your head.”

Elias fixed his eyes on a bedroom lamp. “I think it would be best if I didn’t.”