Page 13 of Four Promises to Love

I’ll show you who has the larger bollocks.

She strode to the head of the table, facing Caleb down its length.

“All right, everyone. I am calling the meeting to order,” she said pointedly.

Caleb lifted his brows and leaned back in his chair.

Simon shuffled over and sat next to Nell, who closed her ledger.

“Coming,” Tansy sang.

Fully aware of Tansy’s agility, Finn nonetheless held her breath as the girl jumped off the swing mid-flight, somersaulting in the air before landing in a graceful crouch.

Scampering over, Tansy sat beside Finn. “I’m famished. What’s to eat?”

Caleb plucked a golden meat pie from the platter in front of him and tossed it to Tansy, who snatched it neatly out of the air. She took a large bite, bits of crust cascading like snowflakes.

“Thf ith goow,” she said, her cheeks bulging.

“The old mort from the inn brought them,” Caleb said.

“That would be Mrs. Thornton, who runs the Briarbush Inn with her husband,” Nell clarified. “She has a reputation for her exceptional cookery—and her mean temper.”

Nell’s research was as meticulous as her bookkeeping, and she had a rare gift for gathering information unnoticed. For some time, she had been doing reconnaissance, and what she’d learned about the legend of “Bloody Thom” had given Finn the idea for their current undertaking. Nell passed the platter around, and everyone took their share. Finn bit into her pie…and nearly moaned as savory beef and flaky pastry melted in her mouth.

“The lady knows her way around the kitchen,” she said.

Nell nodded. “Mrs. Thornton said—and I quote: ‘There’ll be more pies coming if you lot convince Bloody Thom to end the curse.’”

“They’ve taken the bait,” Finn said with satisfaction.

“A rather premature conclusion, don’t you think?”

Caleb cut his pie into neat wedges with his dagger—the pretentious sod. Not for the first time, Finn wondered what bee had gotten into his bonnet. While he’d always been a know-it-all, lately he’d become insufferable.

“Considering that the Harrington cove intends to barricade your way into the manor using his corpse,” he added with a smirk.

“It won’t be the first dead body I’ve stepped over,” Finn retorted. “And it certainly won’t stop me from getting into Bottoms House.”

She would do whatever was required to complete the mission and save Iris.

“Why has Harrington taken such a dislike to you, I wonder?” Caleb’s manner turned speculative. “Surely it cannot be your charming personality that’s got his bristles up.”

The game’s up. Tell them the truth.

Finn steeled herself. “We had an encounter two months ago. I was disguised, of course. But I think he recognized me.”

“The pigeon on Panton Street?” Nell’s eyes widened behind her spectacles. “That was him?”

Finn nodded sourly. “I wasn’t certain he recognized me at first. I am still not sure—he’s bleeding difficult to read. It is possible that he merely dislikes mediums in general and Madame Seraphina in particular.”

“I don’t think so,” Caleb said with relish. “His animosity seemed more…personal. Which makes sense since you seduced, drugged, and robbed the toff.”

“I didn’t seduce him,” Finn shot back.

He seduced me.

There was no blooming way she could bring herself to tell the Hawks everything now. Not with Caleb giving her that superior smile. The one that said, You were never meant to be captain of this ship. You’ve steered us off course already.