Page 38 of The Housebreaker's Assistant
The Mermaid was a nice enough pub. It was too early for the place to have much custom, so Penny and Greer had very little problem securing a table in one of the windows, where Penny could gaze out at the ships, the sea birds, and the undulating sea.
“Trebarral Castle is half a day’s ride from here,” Greer said once they’d been served generous plates of eggs, ham, sausage, and toast. “We’ll have to find a coach heading up the coast, and then it would behoove us to find an inn for the night so we can scout the castle itself before making any attempts to breach it.
Penny nodded along in agreement, chewing on a sausage as he watched a fisherman of some sort gather up a length of rope attached to a net.
“Once we’re established, we should move as swiftly as possible to break into the castle and extract Lord Fabian,” Greer went on.
A small, brown dog scampered back and forth on the dock, begging the fishermen for a portion of their catch. One of the sailors started playing with it, tossing a fish in the air to see if the dog would jump up and catch it.
“We should sleep in a proper bed at some point,” Greer continued. “We’ll need to act in the middle of the night, and as always with these things, it’s best to be fully rested before jumping in.”
Penny laughed out loud when a second, larger dog tried to rush in and take the brown dog’s fish, but the brown dog barked and bared his teeth and scared him off.
“Of course,” Greer said slowly, in a sly tone that snagged Penny’s attention more than the dogs, the fishermen, the waves, or the food, “I could always leave you here in Newquay to explore the seaside, since this is your first time seeing the ocean.”
Penny snapped his gaze to Greer, brow shooting up. “I beg your pardon?” he asked with pretend offence, although a part of his offence was not pretend at all.
Greer grinned fondly at him, but there was calculation in his eyes. He shrugged one shoulder, leaned back in his chair with his coffee, and casually said, “You could stay here and enjoy yourself. I wouldn’t tell Brutus and Titus you took a holiday instead of helping with the housebreak. I would be able to work alone as I always do, you could have a jolly old time cavorting in the waves, Helen would still be safe, and we would all be happy.”
Rather than feeling happy, Penny felt as though Greer had punched him in the gut.
“I’m not letting you cast me off,” he said, frowning and stabbing hard at the ham on his plate. “I didn’t agree to this job only to have you treat me like a green boy at the first turn.”
Greer also lost his smile. “You don’t have the experience it takes to break into a castle,” he said quietly, since a trio of men had just taken a seat at the table behind them.
“I have more experience than you’re giving me credit for,” Penny growled. “Also, it’s a castle, not some nob’s house in Mayfair. Brutus and Titus insisted we work together for a reason.”
“Brutus and Titus do not know what the job will truly entail,” Greer argued.
“Right,” Penny said, pointing a forkful of ham at him. “For all they know, it might be so difficult they should have sent four men instead of us two.”
Greer sighed and crossed his arms, like arguing the point was an irritation. “You’ve done one job,” he said, eyeing the barmaid who passed their table warily, “and that was nearly a disaster because of distractions.”
Penny suddenly grinned. “Distractions,” he said, then ate the piece of ham from his fork. “Meaning you couldn’t keep your tongue in your own mouth when you saw how brilliant I was at housebreaking on my first try.”
Greer attempted to silence him with a quick, “Shh!” That only made Penny laugh more.
He swallowed his bite, leaned across the table, and said, “Admit it. You don’t want me coming with you because you think you won’t be able to keep your hands off me.” He winked.
Greer crossed his arms tighter and glowered at him. Which, of course, meant Penny was right.
It was more than that, however. Their journey from London had been more than a trip of expediency. Penny’s heart still felt tender after the things they’d shared with each other about their pasts. He could still feel the warmth of Greer’s body against his own as they’d rocked their way through the night. The affection that had welled in him was everything he’d been told he should not feel for another man, and he was certain Greer grappled with the same emotions.
In short, the distraction Greer feared was not one that would only cause difficulties as they broke into Trebarral Castle, it would cause difficulties in Greer’s life, in both of their lives.
They stared each other down over the table for a long while. Penny was not about to back down. He held Greer’s eyes without any intention of letting go until Greer finally sighed and dropped his arms.
“Alright,” Greer said, glancing out the window. “If this has been deemed a two-man job, we’d best keep it that way.”
Penny leaned back in his chair with a smirk. Greer would absolutely attempt to shut him out again. The man was nothing if not stubborn. The poor thing didn’t realize that Penny was just as stubborn, if not more so.
They finished their meal, and as they stood to gather up their things and take their leave, Penny took advantage of the opportunity in front of him. He pretended to lose his grip on his bag, stumbled against the well-dressed man sitting at the table behind him, then made a thousand apologies as he brushed the man’s coat, slipped a hand into his coat pocket to help himself to a handsome billfold, moved it into his own pocket, then picked up his bag and made half a dozen more apologies before following Greer out to the street.
“I assume I know what that was all about,” Greer glanced to Penny with a smirk as they walked swiftly back up toward the train station, where the nearest coaching inn was probably located.
Penny grinned and showed Greer the fat billfold, picking up their pace. “Travel to Trebarral Castle, courtesy of whatever gentleman that was,” he said.
Greer tried to look disapproving, but ended up laughing. “Brutus and Titus gave us more than enough money for this entire job,” he pointed out.
