A Scandalous Bargain (The Pretenders #2) - Darcy Burke Page 0,74

clasped her wrist, keeping her from moving farther away. “Don’t. I won’t let you run away. You were here for me. Let me be here for you.”

This was more difficult than she’d anticipated. She licked her lower lip and forced herself to speak. “I…steal things.”

“I don’t understand. You said you stole the penknife, but you also said you only just remembered that something fell from the balcony and that it must have been the knife. Did you forget that you stole it?”

“I don’t always know when I steal something.” She knew how ridiculous that sounded. “You will think I’m a lunatic.”

“No,” he said calmly, stroking her wrist with his thumb. “Will you explain it to me?”

“I’ll try. It’s difficult because I don’t always understand it myself. When I went to Mrs. Goodwin’s, I began to take things. I had no idea I was doing it. Objects would appear in my dresser or under my bed or in my pocket, and I had no recollection of how they’d gotten there.” She recalled the terror she’d felt when it had first happened. “It continued all during my time at the school, but became less of a problem after we left.”

“It’s become a problem again, I take it?”

Beatrix nodded. “Since we came to London. Selina has a theory that when I’m stressed or agitated, I am prompted to take things. She thinks it soothes me somehow.”

“That’s not a bad theory. Why didn’t you want to tell me?”

“It’s embarrassing. But that’s not the entire reason. I became rather good at stealing, and Selina was already incredibly accomplished from her time on the streets in East London.”

His eyes rounded, and his jaw dropped. “You didn’t tell me that.”

“No, I said it was her story to tell, so I won’t say much more than that. I have to reveal that much if I’m to tell you about the things I’ve done—and why. Because I had a natural skill for thievery, Selina taught me how to pick pockets without detection.”

He stared at her, his hand still against her wrist. “Oh my God, you weren’t joking when you said you were a footpad.”

“Not really, no.”

“And when you fought that footpad.” He narrowed his eyes. “How did you provoke that one to flee?”

She felt the heat in her face and the fact that it spread all the way down to her breasts. Hell, she was still naked! “I stabbed him. With the knife in my boot.” She didn’t think his eyes could grow bigger, but they did.

“How did I miss that completely?”

“You were occupied.” She licked her lower lip again, troubled by the uncertainty and astonishment in his shocked expression. “I didn’t want you to know that I could hold my own in that way. Selina taught me that too.”

“I can’t believe your sister is from the streets.”

“She isn’t from there, but she doesn’t remember anything else. Rafe said they had parents—he barely recalls them—but they became orphans when they were very young. They had to fight to survive, quite literally.”

He shook his head in disbelief. “This is incredible. So, you were a thief?”

“When I had to be. Among other things.” She looked away from him, her throat constricting. “I thought I’d left all that behind, but we started to run out of money here in London. Everything is so bloody expensive, and I just had to have a Season to impress my father.” Anger rose inside her. She jerked her arm from Tom’s hand. “I nearly caused Selina to lose everything. And for what? A man who doesn’t care about me and who would just as soon tell the world what I’ve done, how I’m a thief and a bastard. No, not a bastard, for then he’d have to explain how he knew, and he would never want to associate himself with the likes of me.” Her blood raced through her veins, pumping so loudly, she wondered if Tom could hear it.

Tom clasped her shoulders and drew her to look at him. “I’m not sure I understood all that, but it doesn’t matter. Are you still a thief?”

“Only when I can’t help it.” She winced inwardly at the lie. Her mother’s jewels didn’t count. Was it stealing if the item rightfully belonged to you? “As with the penknife. I found it in my pocket, but I didn’t remember how it had gotten there. I stashed it with my collection of unknown items, but I sold the lot just the other day. I can probably get the knife back.