Chapter 19

Chapter 19

She’d gotten too caught up in the novelty of having an earl’s attention. Luna needed to get this situation back under control and remind herself that the entire reason she was here wasn’t to start having feelings for an earl, but because she needed to steal some diamonds to keep herself and her family alive. That was the entire point.

Some part of her realized she was running away from her emotions. Luna knew there wasn’t a single thing healthy about reacting this way. Luther was a good man and there wasn’t any reason for her to be afraid of having feelings for him. After all, she could do a lot worse than an earl. Even if they never had romantic feelings for each other, at the very least, he’d be a good husband who could keep her out of jail.

But that was stupid. No one would let an earl marry her. At best, she’d be his mistress. She’d drag him into the drama of her life and then he would regret ever having met her.

The perfect time to get back on track was when he told her he’d be going into town for the day. Sure, he’d invited her to go with him, but Luna had told him she was feeling a little under the weather and he’d believed her. Why? She’d never know. The man trusted her far more than he should.

Luna waited at least a few hours after he’d gone. The servants would watch her, considering she hadn’t been alone in the house for a while. Then, even they seemed to forget there was an unknown woman among them. They cleaned. They cooked. And completely disregarded her presence among them.

Perfect.

She snuck out of her room and down the halls. Somewhere in here were the Earl’s rooms, and she intended to find those damned diamonds.

“Yes, come find us!” the necklaces sang. “We haven’t been seen in so long. All we want is to wrap around your pretty throat and let everyone see us. Please!”

How ridiculous. She wasn’t going to wear them, and they knew it. She’d told them a million times. But even if she wasn’t the one to wear them, the necklaces still wanted to be released from wherever he had hidden them.

She still had to find the room, though.

Footsteps echoed from down the hall. Luna ducked behind a curtain and held her breath. Surely the Earl hadn’t returned so soon? She kept her back pressed against the wooden alcove that was meant to be a window seat and waited until she saw the white and black uniform of a maid.

The woman’s arms were laden with what looked like dirty sheets, and that meant she was very, very close to his rooms. Who else would have a maid to clean for them?

Good timing, she supposed.

Luna leaned out of the alcove, popping her head out from behind the curtain. So far, it looked like that was the only maid who’d been working. Hopefully, there wasn’t another one lingering in his bathroom or whatever they cleaned on a daily basis.

She skirted down the hall, listening at each door until she found the right one. The gemstones were practically screaming for her beyond that polished surface.

“Let us out!” they shouted over and over until her ears were ringing with their hopes. Soon. Soon, they would be released from their prison.

Luna considered herself lucky to be the one that always got to release the gemstones. Really, every stone wanted something from her. But most wanted to see the sun again because people kept putting them in a box. Locked away forever. She’d once met an opal that hadn’t seen the sun in over a hundred years.

It had cried when she brought it out into the light. Then she’d walked by it once and the opal had shouted at her how lovely the world was, and that it hadn’t changed all that much.

Sighing, she tried the door. “Please don’t be locked,” she whispered.

Of course it caught. She pushed a little harder, hoping the doorknob was just stuck, but no. Of course not. The damned thing was locked because the maid was actually good at her job and did what good maids were supposed to do.

Luna sighed and reached into her hair. Did people think locked doors would stop a good thief? A lock was nothing.

The pin that held her curls released the tumbling locks. She licked it for good luck, then bent down and set to work. She’d learned how to pick locks when she first moved onto the streets. A little boy with dirty hands had shown her how, and of course, she’d instantly wanted to do it all the time. Luna very quickly became the best lock picker around, which, of course, made the gangs want her to join them.

Then she’d taught Beatrix when she ended up in the Church, and her sister proved to be ten times better than her.

Thank goodness for family and sisters who worked in the Church. Otherwise, Luna would have been swallowed up by a gang. Or she’d have ended up dead on the streets of London with her head ten yards away from her body.

“There we go,” she said as the lock clicked.

Luna hazarded one more glance around to make sure no one watched her before slipping into the Earl’s private chambers.

Some part of her felt guilty for invading his personal space like this. He’d probably have invited her in if she tried hard enough, but that only reminded her that both of their feelings for each other were rather confusing, and she didn’t want to think about that right now. He was her friend.

That was all.

That was all it could ever be.

The gemstones screamed so loud she dropped the pin from her hand and pressed her hands to her ears. “Stop it,” she scolded. “If you don’t stay quiet, I can’t find you! All I hear is screaming, and I need you to whisper. Quietly, now.”

Though they grumbled words that were rather rude, they quieted down enough for her to think. Luna dropped her hands from her ears, opened her eyes, and tried to convince herself that she wasn’t drinking in every detail of his most private chambers.

But of course she was.

The room was less ostentatious than she’d expected. His comforter was a dark green, set on a four poster bed made of a deep, rich wood. The floors were covered with plush carpeting with diamond shapes in yellow and green. A balcony let in plenty of light, while there was a desk in the corner and three wardrobes. Maybe that was what she’d expected. After all, the man did dress very well.

She took another step into the room and his scent hit her. Woodsy and mixed with fresh air, like he somehow carried a part of the wilderness with him at all times.

“Look for the stones,” she muttered to herself, but that wasn’t where her feet took her. Instead, she wandered over to his bed.

Yes, the maid had already made it. So there wasn’t an indent where he’d laid his head. Or where he’d gotten comfortable in the middle of the night, tossing and turning while he tried to fall into his dreams.

Her mind still made her wonder if he thought of her while laying in that bed. He’d made it clear that he was interested in her, at least as a friend.

Every fiber of her body had stiffened when he’d agreed that they were friends. Close enough that he had touched her pinky with his, as though he’d already sensed how much she needed him to comfort her.

Oh god, she was a fool. She only wanted to be around him now. Luna loved it when he looked at her with surprise or that small smile on his face when she’d done something that she wasn’t supposed to do.

Every time he gave her even an ounce of attention, she felt special. Like she was a woman and not a masculine, tall creature who wanted to feel feminine but had no right to ask for that.

She touched her fingers to the pillow on his right side. Did he sleep on this side? The same as her? Or would he mind moving if she wanted to stay the night in his bed?

“Are you going to stare forever or are you going to find us?” the diamond asked. The gemstone was clearly grumpy that she’d gotten distracted.

“I’m going to find you,” she replied with a snort. “But if you don’t rush me, then I might be able to find you faster.”

“I don’t think you’re even trying. You’re just staring at his bed like you want to join him in it.”

Maybe she did.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if she indulged herself a little. Maeve might tell her that was foolish, but Beatrix would encourage her to follow her heart. Whatever her soul wanted, that’s what had to be fed to be happy.

And she was happy here. A little too happy, and she feared that meant her normal life would never make her as satisfied as this one.

Sighing, she moved away from the bed and headed over to his desk. There had to be some hint there, or perhaps a hidden catch, that would let her find the right place to search. The gemstones were clearly in the room, but she couldn’t quite hear where they were.

Surprisingly, Luther had a cluttered desk. Papers strewn all over it. Weights holding down giant stacks of paper so they didn’t fall over the edge onto the floor. From experience, she knew people like this had a system. And if anything was out of order, then he’d know it.

Holding her breath, she took hold of the first stack and eased it to the side. She had to be particular. But she also had to get into the top drawer and the papers blocked it.

Nothing. The desk held literally nothing.

She spent at least thirty minutes pulling it all apart and putting it back together perfectly. No keys. No hints. Nothing.

He really didn’t want anyone to find that diamond.

Well, she wouldn’t want that either if she had a gem worth an entire town. Or more than that, honestly. That diamond could save the world or end it if it got into the wrong hands. Whose hands it ended up in, of course, wasn’t her problem.

“Where are you?” she asked, knowing damn well the stones wouldn’t be all that helpful. “What does it look like?”

“Dark,” they whispered. “Very dark.”

“Yes, I understand that, but can you give me any other details that might be more helpful than that?” Luna ran her fingers underneath the seams of the desk. There had to be something here. A trick button or knob that opened up a secret drawer. Anything that the nobles always liked to tuck into their secret places.

“Wood,” a necklace whispered. “There’s a lot of wood here. But only on top of us.”

Ah.

Now that changed everything.

Luna narrowed her eyes and focused her attention on the floor. If there wasn’t wood underneath them, maybe he hadn’t put anything into the desk at all. Perhaps this was a secret floorboard, just like her mother had when she was little.

It took her the better part of another hour to find the right floorboard beneath his bedside table. Whoever had built it had done a damned good job of hiding it.

Luna grabbed a letter opener from his desk and wiggled it underneath the small gap. Using the metal as a wedge, she pulled it up and voila. There it was. A box about the length of her arm that rattled extremely loud when she pulled it free from the confines.

“I can see light!” one necklace shouted.

But it was the diamond that muttered, “She still won’t get it open.”

If the box was locked, that definitely put a kink in her plans. Luna tried to open it, but the diamond was right. There was a small padlock on the side and then three little locks down the sides of the box itself. Someone really wanted this box to remain sealed unless the person opening it had the complete permission of the owner.

Which she didn’t. Of course.

Sighing, she put the box back underneath the floorboard and gently patted the top of it. “I’ll find the key. Then I promise I will come back for you and I will make sure you are on the necks of the most lovely women in London.”

Considering not a single one of the stones replied, she thought it rather safe to assume that they didn’t believe her.

Luna almost didn’t believe herself. Sure, she could take the box. It would smash open like anything else, or maybe she could have a blacksmith look at the locks themselves. But that wasn’t really thieving.

Taking the stones without him ever knowing? That was the only honorable way for a thief to steal something. She’d lived by that code her entire career and she wouldn’t change that now.

As she stood up and headed out of the room, Luna’s eyes caught on a family portrait that Luther had hung on the wall above his desk. His father’s eyes glared at her, as if the old man’s spirit knew she was here to take from his son.

“I won’t apologize for trying to save my own skin,” she muttered, then left that haunted room.

But the guilt still trailed her all the way down the hall.