Free The Major and the Pickpocket by Lucy Ashford Page B

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 findout, 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. Buther 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.
    She sat down on the bed, in a state of turmoil. The plate of food, now almost cold, reproached her from the nearby table. She reached for a chicken leg, knowing she should try to eat, but the flesh, though tender, was like ashes in her mouth.
    God’s teeth, but the man was a detestable bully! Was she quite mad to make such a dangerous bargain? She let the chicken leg fall back on to the plate. She knew what the real trouble was. The trouble was Marcus. When he held her, and caressed her so—so casually, she felt all her strength, all her determination never to be any man’s plaything, never to let any man possess her, melt away like frost in the morning sunshine.
    She pulled herself up and reminded herself that it wasn’t only the money; she was doing this for Lemuel. Marcus had promised to get poor Lemuel away from the constables. Marcus had given her his word of honour… No, he hadn’t .
    And she remembered now what the other man, Hal, had said outside the Angel: I went after the girl’s accomplice, but he bolted like a ferret.
    She stood up, her face growing stormy. Had Lemuel really come back to look for her, as Marcus said? Or—was Marcus lying about