Unknown by Yennhi Nguyen Page A

he’d first caught her hand in his pocket. As civilized as he appeared at the moment, Gideon Cole was very likely not a man to be trifled with. And he had threatened her with Newgate.
    And though it was his own bloody fault he was out thirty pounds, it was her own bloody fault she’d needed rescuing at all. She wasn’t without a sense of honor.
    Or gratitude.
    Or, for that matter… curiosity.
    And then Mr. Cole surprised her: he slowly uncurled his fingers from her arm and smiled down at her faintly. His eyes were amused; one eyebrow was lifted. A dare. Show me how honorable you really are, Miss Masters .
    Lily almost smiled; she appreciated a good dare. She decided to opt for dignity: instead of kneeing him in the cods and fleeing, she lifted her chin haughtily. “Very well, Mr. Cole. Follow me.”
    Gideon turned to the lodging house proprietress with a gentle smile. “If you will excuse us, Mrs. Smythe?”
    Wordlessly, Mrs. Smythe stepped aside, as though she too were ceding her authority to Mr. Cole.
     
     
    Lily and Alice Masters were curled up against each other on the coach seat across from Gideon, asleep, their ragged brown-gray skirts falling about them like the wings of molting doves. They were both much too thin, their wrists and the ankles above their dirty bare feet seemed much too fragile.
    And now that the initial rush of giddiness that typically accompanied a risk had ebbed, Gideon suspected Kilmartin’s initial assessment was correct: He was mad.
    He laughed softly, ruefully, to himself, and shook his head. Am I truly this desperate ? Had everything in his life, including the ragged girl sitting across from him, become a means to an end?
    And yet, a wicked little voice in his head said: Imagine what it would be like to pull one over on the ton.
    His behavior had been faultless for years; he’d learned that if one hadn’t a title or money, one’s behavior had better be faultless. He’d stifled impulses, channeled his temper, an attempt to build a life more stable than the one his dazzling, reckless father had provided for his family.
    And yet… was he truly any better off? Was Helen?
    His Master Plan. He’d formulated it from the wreckage of his family’s fortunes: wealth and property and position, security and permanence—all of the things his father had managed to smash to kindling—he’d have them all before the age of thirty. How ironic if a page from his father’s book—the book of reckless gambles—turned out to be the thing that won Constance at last, and opened the door to the future he’d envisioned for a decade.
    If this works, I’ll never take a risk again , he told himself.
    Ha ! was what the wicked little voice in his head had to say to that.
    Gideon turned to the source of folly, the pickpocket he intended to turn into a diamond of the first water. Lily’s long dark lashes quivered against her cheek; asleep, she looked as innocent as her sister. And yet he had difficulty believing she was at all innocent.
    There was the little matter of the books, for instance. Lily Masters had brought six books with her, as matter-of-factly as if they were necessities. An encyclopedia filled with drawings of animals. A volume of Greek myths. Pride and Prejudice . A collection of Shakespeare’s works. Robinson Crusoe .
    And a book filled with erotic stories written entirely in French.
    While Lily and Alice slept across from him, Gideon surreptitiously read a few pages of the book. And then another few pages. And then, because he couldn’t help himself, he read half the book. The author certainly had a way with description: sensual demands, soft moans, expert stroking, complicated positions—everyone in that book, men and women alike, seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely, in chairs in front of mirrors…
    Over and over and over.
    Gideon clapped the little French book shut and slid it a safe distance away from him on the coach seat. The stories were too stirring for a man who hadn’t