One Penny Surprise (Saved By Desire 1)

“Have you read about the spate of thefts that have occurred in some of the large houses belonging to aristocracy?” Luke asked softly.

Poppy frowned while she tried to recall the details. “Well, I did read somewhere a couple of days ago that a Lord Hampton had his library broken into, and some valuable items were stolen, but I have no idea who Lord Hampton is.”

“It isn’t really important. What is important is that Lord Hampton is one of many who have been robbed over the last eighteen months. We suspect that someone from within the ton, aristocracy, is the culprit, but so many people attend the social functions the rich throw for their acquaintances that it is impossible to find out who has been a frequent visitor to each of the victims.”

“Was that dead man one of them – the ton?”

Luke nodded. “His name was Joshua Samson. He was aristocracy, and one with a rather notorious gambling habit, and friends in rather dubious places.”

“Is he likely to be the thief?” she frowned at that. “He cannot be if Lord Hampton was robbed four nights ago like the broadsheet said.”

Luke nodded, pleased that she was starting to get her mind off the worrying events of the morning, and onto something else. “I know, but Samson may have passed information on to someone who carried out the thefts when the houses were quiet, and everyone was asleep.”

“An insider?” She wondered just what on earth she had stumbled into and eyed Luke’s clothing warily.

“It isn’t me,” he hastened to assure her with a smile. “As I said to you before, I work for the government. In particular, a branch of the War Office, in a covert organisation called the Star Elite. It is a group of men who were largely all ex-soldiers. A lot of the work we do is undercover, and involves us capturing not just the gangs of pick-pockets, but thieves and killers and the like. While the country was at war we protected the borders from smugglers. Now that the war is over we have turned our attention to more domestic matters; like the gangs of pick-pockets that seem to be growing in number with each passing day.”

“And the thefts,” Poppy added.

“And the thefts.”

“The clothing?” she asked hesitantly, eyeing his suit cautiously. She was not sure if she should ask but was positively bursting with curiosity.

“All part of my job. I needed to be a lure to capture a couple of the pick-pockets who accosted you in the park.”

“Did you get them?” she gasped.

Luke grinned. “Yep, and they were none too pleased about it. But it served its purpose.” He didn’t expand that she was one of the people they were meant to look out for.

She frowned at that. While it was reassuring to note that the government had such an organisation to protect the innocent in the country, she couldn’t help but feel the might of the Star Elite could be just a little heavy handed for a small group of children the likes of which she had seen in the park the other week.

“But what do the pick-pockets have to do with the house thefts? I just cannot see those children doing anything like that. Although they are scallywags, they are mischief makers, not hardened criminals likely to creep into someone’s house in the middle of the night. No, they cannot be linked, surely to goodness.”

“I agree. The pick-pockets aren’t the burglars targeting the houses of the ton. We think the culprit for the thefts is a notorious gangster called Terrence Sayers. He likes to consider himself a cut above the gangsters who usually prowl London’s streets.”

“Are they?”

“Are they what?” Luke murmured. He saw the expectation in her eyes and wondered briefly if she was waiting for another kiss.

“Do they work for this Sayers person?” she asked huskily, desperately trying to ignore the awareness that hung over them.

“No,” he whispered, lost in the depths of her warm eyes. When he realised he was leaning closer to her he coughed and forced his attention back to the matter they were discussing.

“Is that why you chased them so desperately in the park?”

Luke nodded. “Yes, but then you screamed, so I came back to help you.”

“I found a dead body. What else should I do?” she protested, unsure whether he was chiding her or not.

“I want you to think back to that morning. Did you see anyone lurking in the shadows?”

“No, and before you ask I have thought about that morning. Over and over again in fact.” She didn’t add that he had been the focus of her thoughts more than anything else. “I didn’t see anyone other than the pick-pockets, and you. I didn’t even see the person you chased out of the trees.”

“So, how would you know who to hand the money over to then?” Luke asked smoothly, more fixated on her answer than she realised.

Poppy frowned and thought about that. Now that she came to think about it, heading off into a park with a bag full of money to hand over to someone whose name she didn’t know, with no idea what he, or she, looked like did seem an incredibly foolish thing to do.

“Well, who else was likely to be in the park that early in a morning?” she replied somewhat weakly.