The Devil's Thief (10 page)

Bess
swatted him on the arm and glared at Julianna. “You don’t have to keep tipping
your hat, Wiley. She ain’t
no
duchess.”

“I
. . . thank you.” Julianna had no idea what to say. This conversation was so
far outside her experience and she was floundering.

Mr.
Wiley narrowed his eyes and looked at her suspiciously. “If you don’t mind me
asking, ma’am, what are you doing here?”

“Oh,”
Julianna said intently, “perhaps you could help, Mr. Wiley.” A few of the
youths sniggered at her use of the formal address. “You see, I need to see the”—she
almost said
receiver,
but stopped
herself in time—“proprietor here on a matter of business. Please, could
you help me?”

He
looked even more suspicious. “What kind of business?”

Julianna
was about to give him a sharp set down when she realized that he was concerned
because she was the caretaker of his children. “I have something to sell,” she
replied honestly. “I need the money for the home.”

Mr.
Wiley strutted over to her like a peacock and made quite a production of giving
her his arm. Most of the boys looked unimpressed, but many of the girls had
adoring looks on their faces. “ ’Course I can help you, Miss,” he told her self-importantly.
“Take you in to Blackman myself, I will.” Tessa began to follow them as they
started toward the building, but Mr. Wiley frowned at her over his shoulder.
“Best not to bring the baggage,” he told Julianna. “Blackman don’t like too
many strangers hanging about while he does business.”

Julianna
stopped and turned back to look at Tessa, who had an uncharacteristically
mulish expression on her face. Once again, Julianna wished she’d left Tessa at
home. She’d have to spend some of the money she got today to keep Tessa quiet
about where they’d been and what they’d done. “Now, Tessa,” she said as
convincingly as possible, “I’ll be all right. You can wait right here with the
driver. That way I know he’ll wait for me and I won’t have to worry. You’ll do
that for me, won’t you?” Tessa looked worriedly over her shoulder, as if it
hadn’t crossed her mind that the driver might leave them. She was still quite
young, younger than Julianna, and she was clearly conflicted. “I’ll be fine.
Won’t I, Mr. Wiley?” she asked her young escort.

“Right
as rain,” he said blithely. “No worries, there’s a good girl.” Tessa blushed,
but nodded and reluctantly returned to the hackney. The driver’s frown
indicated his clear disapproval, but he helped Tessa back up into the carriage
as Julianna and Mr. Wiley made their way to the building.

He
bypassed the public entrance, which was topped with a large sign proclaiming it
the Black Horse, and led her to a side entrance. Before they could even knock,
the door was opened by a rather ferocious-looking burly man with a
bald head
, a frowning face, and the beginnings of a very
dark beard. “Who’s this?” he asked with no preliminary greeting.

“This
’ere’s a friend of mine,” Mr. Wiley told him. “She’s got somethin’ to sell.”

The
burly guard squinted at her and she wondered if he could see properly. He looked
more like he was trying to focus than to intimidate.

“What?”
he asked, not moving out of their
way.

“I
beg your pardon?” Julianna nervously inquired, not sure what was expected of
her.

He
turned to Mr. Wiley with a frown. “What sort are you bringin’ ’ere, Wiley? This
littl’ dove ain’t got nothin’ worth Blackman’s time.”

“I
have a priceless treasure.” Julianna spoke firmly, although her voice cracked
on the last word.

Mr.
Wiley turned to look at her with a wide-eyed expression. “You don’t say? ’Ave
you now?”

The
guard frowned more fiercely. “Don’t be tellin’ tales, girl. How could you get
somethin’ like that?”

Julianna’s
hand tightened on Mr. Wiley’s arm in fright. Her escort shoved the guard back.
“ ’Ere, you’re frightening her! Go tell Blackman what she said. I’ll keep her
here until you get back. I know his rules.”

The
guard huffed in impatience, but he turned and thudded up the stairs in his heavy
boots. Mr. Wiley patted her hand and then turned to close the door behind them.
The small hall was immediately cast into darkness, illuminated by only one
lantern and a slight glow from the second floor. A sliver of sunlight crept
under the door and Julianna surreptitiously slid her foot over to it. For some
silly reason that made her feel better.

“So,
miss,” Mr. Wiley said with affected nonchalance, “you ’ave got somethin’ to
sell, ’aven’t you?” He rubbed his chin with his forefinger as he looked at her
hopefully.

Julianna
nodded. “Oh, yes. I stole it last night.” She nearly swooned as the words left
her mouth. Good Lord, she never thought she would hear herself utter something
so awful. Drastic times make for drastic
measures,
she
lectured herself as she forced her knees to stop knocking.

Mr.
Wiley whistled under his breath. “Never would have thought you had it in you,”
he murmured, looking her up and down appreciatively. “Looking for a man, are
ya?”

It
took Julianna a moment to decipher his meaning. She stared at him wide eyed.
This young boy thought to become her protector? She felt as if she had entered
a whole new world without even leaving London.

He
shook his head and laughed. “No, I can see you’re not. But if you change your
mind, sweets, come and see old Wiley.” He tapped her chin affectionately and
then turned to look up the stairs. The burly guard stood at the top of the
steps and was motioning for them to come up.

Mr.
Wiley gave him a thoroughly impudent grin and waved Julianna up ahead of him. She
wished he wasn’t following so closely behind her, but there was nothing she
could do. Better Mr. Wiley, she supposed, than another burly guard.

The
stairs creaked so loudly that Julianna was sure they could hear it out on the
street. She had to keep one hand on the wall next to her as she ascended the
stairs, afraid of tripping in the dim light. When they reached the landing, the
guard motioned for them to go left, down a hallway that was only slightly
better lit than the stairs. She gasped as he grabbed her arm and jerked her to
a stop at the first door.

“In
here,” he growled. He opened the door and Julianna was momentarily blinded by
the bright sunlight in the room. She was pushed in. “Only her,” the guard
barked, and Julianna swung around to see him shove Mr. Wiley out the door,
slamming it closed in his face.

“Good
afternoon, miss,” a smooth
voice
said from inside the
room. Julianna slowly turned to see a large man sitting at a table beside a window
that faced the street. Julianna knew that if he’d been sitting there all along,
he must have witnessed her arrival.

The
man’s hair was still deep black, but he looked older than her father and all
his youthful muscle had turned to fat. His eyes were a watery blue, and
Julianna was struck by his resemblance to the guard. She looked back and forth between
them, and the large man sitting before her chuckled. “My brother, Cam. I am
Blackman.”

Julianna
gave a slight, very polite curtsy. “How do you do,” she said. “I am Julianna
Harte.”

He
looked taken aback at the curtsy, but his gaze sharpened when she told him her
name. “Any relation to Philip Harte?”

Julianna
blushed at her father’s name. She nodded. “Yes, he is my father.”

He
chuckled again. “Well there you have it, Cam. The
gentry
cove’s daughter. That explains how she got what she claims she’s got. Your
father take
it?”

Julianna
felt her brow furrow as she tried to follow the conversation. “My father? No.
No, he knows nothing about it. And he mustn’t find out.”

“Hmm,”
was all Blackman said, as he tapped the table with his
finger.
“Let’s see what you have for me.”

Julianna
opened her reticule and awkwardly removed the pearl from the pouch. She
unwrapped it, nearly dropping it in her nervousness. When it was unwrapped, she
set the whole bundle on the table, the pearl perched on top so that it wouldn’t
roll off.

Barely
touching the pearl with the tip of his finger, Blackman rolled it this way and
that as he bent his head at a sharp angle to examine it. “How’d you get it?
From where?” His questions were sharp, although not unfriendly
;
just rather businesslike.

“I hardly
think that is your concern,” she told him, reluctant to reveal details after
her earlier experience in the curiosity shop.

Blackman
laughed loudly. “Leave it to my imagination, eh?” he asked slyly. “I’ll be
wondering what you traded for it.”

Julianna’s
face flamed, her cheeks burning in embarrassment and shame. Luckily Blackman
only took it for embarrassment. “Didn’t mean to offend, miss,” he said snidely,
before snatching the pearl up into his hand and closing his fist around it.
“One hundred pounds.”

Julianna
gasped. “That’s outrageous! I happen to know it is worth at least five times
that much.” She held out her hand. “Give it back, please, and I shall find
another buyer.”

Blackman
tilted his head and pursed his lips as he watched her. He sucked on his teeth thoughtfully
and then said, “Two hundred.”

“Absolutely
not,” Julianna declared firmly. “Five hundred or I take my business elsewhere.”

Blackman
spread his hands out in a gesture meant to convey the question, Where?

Julianna’s
lips tightened. “I found you, didn’t I? I am not altogether ignorant of this
sort of business.”

Blackman
leaned forward and tapped his finger on the table as he regarded her with
narrowed eyes. It had become a battle of wills. “Two hundred fifty.”

“Five
hundred.”

He
sighed and sat back with a frown. “The way negotiations work, miss, is that I
offer and you counteroffer. I raise my price and you lower yours until we reach
a mutually satisfying agreement.”

“Five
hundred,” Julianna said stubbornly.

“Girl,”
Blackman growled. He shook his head. “Three hundred.”

“Fi—”

He
cut her off. “Four hundred and not a penny more.”

“Fi—”

He
cut her off again. “Don’t misunderstand my meaning,” he purred quietly. “When
Blackman says not a penny more, he means it.”

Julianna
swallowed. She glanced over at Blackman’s brother, who nodded at her, before
turning back to the man himself. “That’s robbery, plain and simple.”

Both
of the brothers laughed uproariously. Blackman could barely speak through his
laughter. “ ’Course it is, girl. Don’t forget how you got it.”

Julianna
blushed furiously. She
had
forgotten.
Whatever money she earned this day was ill gotten, and she had best remember
that.

“Fine,”
she bit out. “Four hundred. But I’m not happy about it.”

Blackman
sighed as he stopped laughing. “It’s not my job to make you happy, miss.” He
held the pearl up to the sunlight, rolling it gently between his thumb and
forefinger. “You’re lucky I’m paying you at all, and that’s a fact. No one
knows you’ve got it, and no one knows you’re here. If I weren’t such a
gentleman . . . well, the Thames is deep and memory’s short, if you get my
meaning.” He made the comment offhandedly, as if they were having a normal
conversation. It made his threat that much more sinister, and Julianna wrapped
her arms tightly around her body, suddenly chilled. He went on as if he hadn’t
just threatened her life. “The Stewart Pearl,” he said, shocking her.

“How
did you know?” she blurted out before she could stop herself. “I didn’t say a
word.”

“It’s
my business, isn’t it?” he asked. “I make it a point to know all the jewels
worth stealing in London. It’s going to be hard to sell it, make no mistake.
I’ll have to find someone wealthy enough and who won’t feel the need to brag
about it. And I’ll be lucky to make me money back.”

Julianna
almost snorted in disbelief. As if she believed that clanker. She was quite
sure he already had a buyer in mind, or he wouldn’t have taken it. Blackman’s
sharp eyes swung back to her, pinning her to the floor.

“Once
you’ve got your money, you won’t be coming back here, will you, miss? And you
won’t be telling anyone where this little beauty got off to, eh? This
transaction here is just between you,
me, and Cam
.
If’n I was to find out that you talked to anyone about me, well, there’d be
some serious consequences. Understand?”

Julianna
nodded vigorously to indicate her understanding, absolutely certain that she
was incapable of speech.

Blackman
nodded with satisfaction. “I liked you from the first. Knew you were my kind of
people. I don’t negotiate with many and that’s a fact. But it seems I’ve got a
soft spot in my heart for you.” He grinned at her, and Julianna knew fear of
another kind.

Just
then Cam brought over a lockbox and set it on the table in front of Blackman,
and once again he was all business. He pulled a key from out of his pocket and
unlocked the box. When he opened it, Julianna saw a jumble of pound notes and
small packages similar to the one she’d just handed over. She presumed they
were wrapped jewels or some such. Blackman counted out some banknotes, and then
tucked the rewrapped pearl into the box. He locked it and handed it to Cam, who
carried it over to an open panel in the wall that Julianna hadn’t noticed
before. Cam tucked the box inside on a little shelf and closed the panel. The
closet would be undetectable to anyone who didn’t already know it was there. It
was quite ingenious.