Free A Gift for Guile (The Thief-takers) by Alissa Johnson Page B

but wasn’t going to admit to that. “Will you?”
    “If you think it’s for the best,” Gabriel decided after a moment’s consideration. “Renderwell won’t thank us for keeping her secret.”
    “No.” Samuel pictured Renderwell’s reaction to the news. “You might want to take your time finding Mr. Cobb’s son.”
    * * *
    Esther soaked away her irritation in an enormous cast-iron tub. She had paid extra for a private bathing room and had decided upon her first day, and first bath, that it was coin well spent. The Anthem Hotel was not particularly new or luxurious, but it had been partially renovated a year ago, and some clever soul had thought to add a water heating system to the list of improvements.
    All she need do to scrub away the stench of London was turn a knob in the wall, and out piped hot water. It was wonderful. The tub in her little cottage used an attached furnace that took nearly half an hour to heat the water. That was the sort of tub Samuel had in his room. She knew this for a fact, because that room had been offered to her upon arrival.
    He had to wait for hot water. She did not. Funny how much pleasure could be found in the little things.
    Smiling to herself, she reached over the edge of the tub to retrieve the dagger she’d left sitting on a stool. She idly turned the blade over in her hand, then tested the tip with her finger.
    She had come by her talent almost accidently at the age of ten. After reading about a knife-throwing act in the paper, she’d taken a scrap of wood and a kitchen knife and, on a whim, given the exercise a go. To her astonishment, and her father’s delight, she’d shown considerable aptitude. He’d brought her a cheap set of daggers the very next day.
    In truth, she would have continued her practice with or without his encouragement. She loved throwing daggers. She loved the weight of them in her hand, the glint of steel as a blade sailed through the air, and the way her arm ached after long hours of practice. She liked knowing she had the means to defend herself. It made her feel strong and powerful.
    But most of all, she liked the moment just before the weapon left her hand.
    In that second, that one beat of the heart, time slowed, the world went still and dim, and all her worries fell away. There was no fear, or shame, or anger. There was no thought at all. There was only her blade, a single spot in the distance and a tremendous sense of peace.
    Those fleeting seconds were one of her greatest joys. And she’d very nearly let Will Walker take it all away.
    What a fool she’d been to play the henchman in the hopes of earning his affection. There was satisfaction in seeing her dagger hit the center of a target. There was no satisfaction in seeing fear in a man’s eyes. Unless one counted the time she’d stabbed one of her brother’s kidnappers in the shoulder, but that was different. That had been necessary. It hadn’t been necessary for her to work with her father. And it hadn’t made her feel powerful. It had made her feel desperate and pitiful, just as she’d told Samuel.
    After the disastrous diamond theft and her father’s death, she’d put her blades away for a time, afraid and ashamed of what she had become.
    Then she had seen this dagger in the back of a shop in her village, and she had purchased it as an act of defiance, a way to take back something that belonged to her. Something that would always belong to her.
    Feeling much improved, she gave the dagger another twirl and set it aside.
    “Esther?” There were three quick raps on her door. “Sir Gabriel is here.”
    Esther froze. Sir Gabriel? But he wasn’t supposed to be back so soon. She hadn’t yet figured out how best to deal with him, how to explain, how to—
    “Esther?”
    She scrambled out of the tub. “A moment,” she called out, grabbing a towel on her way out of the bathing room. “Just a moment.”
    She dried herself as quickly as she could, threw on her undergarments, and