Page 29 of The Housebreaker's Assistant
“But the door was open, sir,” the woman, likely a maid, said. “The kitchen door.”
“Cook must have forgotten to latch it,” the older man, probably the butler, said.
The pair exited the dining room. Once again, Greer found himself forced to think fast rather than strategically.
“Downstairs,” he whispered to Penny, pulling him out from behind the curtain.
Penny nodded, and before either of them could think better of it, they dashed through the door and into the butler’s pantry.
There was nothing Greer hated more than moving fast without being able to see where he was going. He felt his way through the butler’s pantry to a narrow set of stairs leading down. There was light coming from the servants’ hall below, but it wasn’t as good a sign as he could have hoped for.
“People are awake,” Penny warned him as they descended the stairs, turning a tight corner as they did.
“You have a better means of escape?” Greer ground back.
Penny remained silent as they spilled out of the staircase and into the dim hallway running through the servants’ hall. It was only a small sprint into the kitchen, but once they reached the wide area, which was now lit by a pair of lanterns, they came face to face with a terrified hall boy and a scullery maid who looked like she might faint at any moment.
Greer skidded to a halt in the kitchen, scrambling to decide what to do about the pair. They could sound the alarm atany moment and identify them if they were slow enough to be caught. But he didn’t have it in him to force them to silence.
Penny leapt toward Greer, grabbing his coat. For a moment, Greer thought Penny was trying to push him toward the door, but instead he tugged Greer’s coat open and thrust his hand into one of the inner pockets.
There was no time to demand what the hell Penny was doing. Half a second later, though, Penny wrenched back with two pieces of chocolate from the stash Greer had pinched. He ran over to the hall boy and the scullery maid, offering them each a sweet.
“You didn’t see us,” he told them, light and mischief in his eyes. “You slept through the whole thing. Didn’t you, pretties?” He handed them each a chocolate.
The two miserable waifs looked at Penny like he was Father Christmas, then nodded.
“Eat that quickly now,” he warned them, backpedaling to Greer. “They won’t like it if they find chocolate on your lips or fingers.”
The two drudges rushed to eat their chocolate and wiped their hands on their already threadbare clothes.
Greer didn’t wait to see what they did next. As soon as Penny reached him, the two of them dashed out into the mews behind the house. The second the cool night air hit them, they broke into a run, sprinting to get away from the house as quickly as possible.
They were only one street away when Penny burst into laughter. “Why didn’t you tell me housebreaking could be such a lark?”
“It’s only a lark if we aren’t caught,” Greer warned him. “And that’s far from a certainty right now.
Penny made a sound as they raced around a corner, one hand clapped to his head to hold his cap on. He had enough sense tokeep his mirth to himself until they were all the way to Regent Street. Only then did the two of them slow down.
“Walk at a normal pace,” Greer panted, scanning the area around them. “We’re far enough away now that running will mark us as guilty.”
“Right,” Penny nodded, slowing his steps.
It took several more minutes for Greer to catch his breath, but even then, his blood continued to pump fast and hard through him. It would take him a lot longer to calm himself entirely from the night’s excursion.
“Exhilarating,” Penny laughed beside him, walking closer than he should have. “Now I know why you like housebreaking so much.”
Greer sent him a hard, sideways look. “Now you know why I like housebreakingalone,” he said.
Penny laughed out loud, gaining the attention of a shadowy man who strode past on the other side of the street. “Admit it,” he said, elbowing Greer. “You liked having me along for the excitement.”
He did not. Penny was the distraction that had nearly ended with him being caught in the act for the first time in his life.
And yet, having the tempting young man with him as the rush of the aftermath swept through him had him thinking things he would never consider otherwise.
So much so that when they walked past an alley between two stately buildings, he grabbed Penny, yanked him into it, then pushed his back up against the wall.
“They could have found us out,” he growled, then slammed his mouth against Penny’s.
