The Gentleman and the Thief (The Dread Penny Society #2) - Sarah M. Eden Page 0,99
discomfort gave way to a look of contentment. “I mean to make my newfound independence a success, Hollis. Elizabeth is keeping me on three days a week, which will allow me to have some income while I increase my private teaching positions. And I get to live at home again.”
“You sound excited,” he said.
“I am.” She reached out and took his hand. “I’ve been living in shadows for a long time. I’m ready to step into the light.”
He tucked her close to him and clasped his arms behind her. “I first met you while you were living, at least in part, in the shadows. I will miss seeing you there, darling.”
She brushed her fingers along his jaw. “I could probably be persuaded to make a repeat appearance now and then.”
“Could you, now?”
“Are you issuing an invitation?” There was the flirtatious tone he’d come to love in his mysterious thief.
“That’s not the invitation I’d intended to make when I came here, but I’ll not complain if you accept it.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “What invitation were you going to make?”
“That you have dinner with me.”
She smiled softly. “Tonight?”
“And tomorrow. And the day after that. And after that.”
Ana leaned her head against him. “I’m detecting a pattern.”
“I don’t have a lot to offer,” he said. “A nonexistent inheritance. A snooty brother with a gambling problem. Questionable activities I don’t intend to give up but neither am I at liberty to explain, even to you. And I am caught between the demands of Society and the pull of low literature. An ideal suitor, really.”
“A perfect suitor.”
He laughed. She didn’t.
“My list of assets isn’t terribly different,” she said. “We might very well be the two best-matched people in the kingdom.” She rose up on her toes and pressed the tiniest whisper of a kiss to his lips.
“Would you let me court you properly, Ana? Come call on you? Scrape and bow to your father in an attempt to gain his good opinion? Nervously ask you to dance at balls and ride with me in the park and sip tepid tea while sitting in awkward, nervous silence?”
Her smile melted him as it always did. “Have we not passed that phase already?”
He slid his hands down her sides, resting them at her hips. Hollis bent close, a mere breath between them. “I love you, Ana Newport.” He kissed her quickly, lightly.
“I began loving you the first time I met you, but I didn’t dare let it show.” She brushed her fingertips over his cheek. “You are a gentleman from a fine family. I am the penniless daughter of a bankrupt businessman.”
“And a thief,” he reminded her.
She smiled and blushed. “Do you truly wish to court a thief?”
“I can think of nothing I wish for more ardently.”
Ana linked her arms behind his neck again. “I love you, Hollis Darby.”
There was nothing tentative about the way she kissed him, and nothing indifferent about his response. He kissed her lips. Her cheek. He took his time pressing kisses to her neck, reveling in the feel of her in his arms.
For years, he’d wondered if he would ever have enough or be enough for anyone to wish to build a life with him. Ana knew his double life; he knew hers. Together they could build a new life, together, with all their contradictions and struggles. He kissed her with the promise of that future. He kissed her with all the dreams he had for tomorrow.
Theirs would be a very happy, never dull, ever after. Together. The gentleman and the thief.
Invaluable sources of information and insight into this fascinating era and people:
• Susie Dent’s many brilliant books on dialect and etymology.
• Normanby Hall’s exhibit on Victorian-era clothing.
• A Treatise on the Game of Ecarté, as Played in the First Circles of London and Paris, published in 1824.
• The Handbook of Games, published in 1867.
• Sharps & Flats, published in 1894.
• The fantastic faro demonstration at the Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott, Arizona.
• A Book of Remarkable Criminals, by HB Irving, published 1918.
• The Battered Body Beneath the Flagstones, and Other Victorian Scandals, by Michelle Morgan, published 2018.
Invaluable sources of encouragement, advice, and support:
• Annette, Emily, and Luisa, my Tuesday writing gals.
• My family, for helping me with random research, putting up with my focus on such oddities as Victorian-era card games and the difficulties of climbing walls in 19th-century clothing, and cheering me on.
• Lisa Mangum and the team at Shadow Mountain for making the final product a fabulous one we can all be proud of.
• Pam Pho, agent extraordinaire, who makes navigating this industry more pleasant and far more possible.
• Kneaders™ banana-and-walnut oatmeal, for getting me through more writing sessions than I can count.
1. Hollis feels like he has more to offer to the Dread Penny Society than they know. What talents or skills do you have that are not well-known to your friends?
2. Ana went to great lengths to reacquire items that had been stolen from her family. Was she justified in stealing back those things, or should she have found another way to secure justice?
3. Mr. King’s penny dreadful featured a bluecap—a creature from English folklore. Had you heard of a bluecap before? What did you learn about them from this story?
4. During this time, boarding schools were reserved for the wealthy and well-connected, yet Hollis’s stories were designed to appeal to poorer children who could never attend such a school. How did he make his story relatable for his readers who had a very different personal experience? What about his story made it enjoyable for readers of all ages?
5. Ana and Hollis both kept secrets from each other. Did keeping those secrets help draw the couple closer together or keep them further apart? Is it ever okay to keep a secret from someone you love?
6. Gambling and card games were a common pastime during the Victorian era. What games are you proficient at?
Sarah M. Eden is a USA Today™ bestselling author of historical romances. Her previous Proper Romance novel Longing for Home won the Foreword Reviews 2013 IndieFab Book of the Year award for romance. Hope Springs won the 2014 Whitney Award for “Best Novel of the Year,” and Ashes on the Moor was a Foreword Reviews 2018 Book of the Year silver medalist for romance.
Combining her obsession with history and an affinity for tender love stories, Sarah loves crafting witty characters and heartfelt romances. She happily spends hours perusing the reference shelves of her local library and dreams of one day traveling to all the places she reads about. Sarah is represented by Pam Pho at D4EO Literary Agency.