The Duke Heist (The Wild Wynchesters #1) - Erica Ridley Page 0,89

everything,” he replied. “You see yourself as powerless, but you were powerful. Then and now.”

“Invisible,” she corrected. “You have a storied family, and roots.”

“I may be a tree, but you’re the wind. Strong enough to shake the dead leaves from my branches, to carry pollen to the spring flowers. Air is invisible but essential.” He met her eyes. “Without air, I can’t breathe.”

Chloe swallowed hard. She could think of nothing to say in response to such a statement. Her heart was beating so fast, it felt like a single roll of thunder rather than separate beats. Perhaps it wasn’t thunder at all but the rumble of an earthquake before the volcano erupted, changing the world around it forever.

She’d felt like that once before. Twenty years ago next summer.

“Do you know how I met Bean? He drove past the orphanage in a flashy racing phaeton, looking smart and rich and fashionable. Everybody looked at him. It was impossible not to.” She wiggled her brows. “Then he tied the carriage outside St. Giles’s church and disappeared inside like a proper fool.”

Lawrence groaned. “Please tell me you did not steal his phaeton.”

“Of course I did.” She straightened her spine with mock indignation. “Who abandons a racing carriage in a rookery?”

He covered his face with his hand. “How old were you? Could you drive?”

“Ten, and I’d never led horses in my life. Or even been inside of a carriage, as far as I knew. It took three tries to climb up into that phaeton. Its wheels were as tall as I was. The high perch felt like sitting on a throne on top of the world. I was dying to take it for a ride. The reins were still tied to a post, so I slipped back down to grab them. Before I could, Bean’s hand trapped my wrist like a vise.”

Lawrence’s face blanched. “Did the baron threaten you with the magistrate?”

“The opposite. He drove me to the Puss & Goose and bought me a hot meal so ample, I couldn’t finish it. And then he gave me this.” The sovereign flashed between her fingers. “He told me to spend it on whatever I wanted, and when I needed another, just to ask.”

“You didn’t spend it?”

Her lungs caught in remembrance. “I couldn’t. It was the first time I’d held a coin I hadn’t had to steal first. The first time I possessed money of my own, free and clear.”

“What did you do?”

“Nothing.” She laughed and made the coin vanish. “I slid the coin into a hidden bag here, next to my heart.” She tapped her chest. “I saw Bean again the following week outside the church. This time with a coach and a driver.”

“Did he ask you what you did with the coin?”

“I expected him to, but he did not. Later he told me that was because it was now my money, not his, and he no longer had any business in the matter.” Her throat pricked with heat. “He was always saying things like that. Treating us like people, letting us be in control of our own lives.”

“Did he give you another coin?”

She shook her head. “He made me an offer. He said he had always wanted to be a father. His house was as big as a castle, full of silence and empty rooms. If I thought being a pretend daughter might suit me, I was welcome to pick any room I wished and make it my own. There would be fresh food and hot baths and clean clothes to wear. I’d have pin money that would be mine alone, no questions asked. And if I found I didn’t like it, I was free to leave.”

“It must have sounded like heaven,” Lawrence admitted. “No wonder you said yes.”

She stared at him. “I did not say yes. I would be the first child he fostered. It all sounded too good to be true. Possibly sordid.”

“Then…how…?” he stammered.

“I did not fully trust Bean, but I knew the orphanage was horrid. I would have starved if I hadn’t picked pockets, and there were others who faced fates worse than that. Sometimes risk is the only path to reward. If Bean was a good man—or at least better than the orphanage—my best friend deserved the same opportunity.” A half smile curved her lips at the memory, and her throat grew thick. “The next time I saw him, I said, ‘Only if Tommy comes with me.’”

29

Lawrence gazed at Chloe and imagined her as a little girl whose