Page 12 of The Housebreaker's Assistant
It certainly sounded like it. Penny wouldn’t deny that the thrill of a challenge like that stirred something in him. He and Greer would become legends if they successfully broke into a castle to steal whatever it was Greer’s friends wanted.
But it was, of course, impossible for Penny to agree to anything.
“I can’t leave London,” he said, shaking his head. God only knew what would happen to Helen if Mrs. Hunt thought he’d actually run away and abandoned her.
Greer’s heated look dropped to a stony frown. “It would only be for a fortnight at most.”
“I can’t leave London,” Penny said more firmly.
“Not even if I make the trip worth your while?” Greer asked, leaning all the way into him and cupping Penny’s not-so-soft cock and balls.
Penny caught his breath and fought not to shiver. Just because he knew what his weaknesses were didn’t mean they weren’t weaknesses anymore.
He brought his lips to within a hair’s breadth of Greer’s, like he was about to kiss him. Greer softened his mouth, ready for the kiss, but Penny repeated, “I cannot leave London.”
“You could if?—”
That was as far as Greer’s rebuttal got before a sharp whistle sounded from the other side of the street.
“Stay where you are!” a gruff voice shouted. “You’re under arrest by order of Her Majesty the Queen!”
Penny pulled back from Greer and glanced around the suddenly tumultuous street. Uniformed police officers flooded in from two sides while everyone who’d been lingering around, from Gap-Toothed Annie to Branston, burst out of the buildings and their hiding places to scatter.
And here Penny had been cozied up with Greer in plain sight.
“Run!” he shouted, then darted off to what he hoped was safety.
Chapter Four
Greer swore under his breath and tore away from the side of the building, following Penny down one of the streets that wasn’t suddenly clogged with police officers. He should have been wary enough of his surroundings to sense there were coppers in the area. He should have been focused on putting together an irrefutable argument to convince Penny to accompany him to Cornwall, even though he didn’t need or want the scintillating young man’s help.
“Watch out!” Greer shouted, reaching for Penny’s hand as a trio of officers rushed into the intersection ahead of them.
He caught Penny’s hand and yanked him off into the narrow alley between two crumbling buildings.
Police whistles and shouts sounded all around them. Greer didn’t have the first idea what was happening, although it wasn’t unusual for an entire force of policemen to suddenly raid an area where they knew criminal activity was rampant. Someone must have tipped them off about something, and now anyone who was caught in their net would be brought up on one charge or another.
Greer had no intention of being caught for any reason.
“They’ve got Branston,” a bedraggled young woman shouted from the other end of the alley as Greer and Penny approached. “Don’t go that way.” She pointed behind her.
Ahead of Greer, Penny hissed a curse and skidded to a stop. A policeman dashed across the alley’s exit, chasing a man who was inexplicably shirtless.
“We can’t go that way,” Penny called back to Greer, turning around.
“We can’t go back the way we came either,” Greer told him.
Penny cursed again, turned a frantic circle as if looking at their options, then marched quickly for a battered old door in one of the narrow buildings.
“You don’t know what’s in there,” Greer tried to stop him from reaching for the doorhandle.
“I don’t,” Penny agreed, staring back at Greer with wide, determined eyes. “But I do know what’s back that way and over there,” he glanced at both ends of the alley, “and I don’t like those odds.”
Greer grunted in grudging agreement. There was nothing for it but to enter the building.
Except the door was locked. Ordinarily, that would have been an easy problem for Greer to fix. He always kept his lock-picking tools in one of the concealed pockets of the coat he wore, but there wasn’t time for that delicate art.
“Stand back,” he said after Penny tried the door, then banged on it.
