The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes (London Highwaymen, #2)(84)

“All right,” Kit said. Percy nodded. Rob squeezed her leg under the table.

“Fine, but maybe you could sometimes steal little things for me?” Betty asked. “As a treat?”

There was one thing they had all agreed on instantly. Something had to be done to ensure that nobody was blamed for any crimes they committed. They would do that by leaving a note behind and explaining what they had taken and why.

They would sign the note Gladhand Jack.

The conversation drifted away from criminal conspiracy and toward topics that a year ago she would have found equally bizarre: prize fighting, whether Kit ought to keep the coffeehouse open later at night, and whether a girl who worked in Rob’s mother’s establishment was Rob’s sister or one of his mother’s spies. (Marian thought the smart money was on both.)

Every quarter of an hour, Eliza passed from one set of hands to another and was cooed over and admired, even when she fussed, even when she demanded part of Rob’s potato.

Marian could rely on all these people, and they on her, and that thought made her feel safe in a way she hadn’t known she wanted. She turned to look at Rob, who she had always, somehow, known was safe, who she had trusted when she didn’t think she could trust anyone.

“You all right?” Rob asked.

Marian knew she was a bit misty and didn’t try to deny it. But she also knew that there was nothing she could say that would do justice to her feelings.

“You’re mine,” she said. “And I’m yours.” She swallowed. “It’s a promise.”

And Rob must have understood, because he picked up her hand and kissed her palm. “A promise,” he agreed.





The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes Book Club Discussion Questions




Do you think Marian had an alternative to killing the duke? Does your answer affect how you feel about Marian as a person?

Would your answer change if Marian lived in a time when women were able to able to obtain a divorce?





At the beginning of the book, Rob is infatuated with the version of Marian he knows through their letters. When do you think

he starts to know and love her as she really is—or is the version of herself in the letters her real self?





How do the characters transform themselves over the course of the book, and do you believe those changes will last?

If you were in Rob’s place, would you have accepted the inheritance? Do you think he was right for making the choice he did?

Did his decision surprise you?





Both characters have a history of hiding their problems from the people closest to them and of refusing to ask for help when

they need it. Do you relate to this? Can you think of a moment in your own life where you had to choose between pride and

vulnerability?





Both Marian and Rob are bisexual. Do you think this affects their worldview, and if so, how?

Rob seems to believe that as long as laws are unfair and some people are hungry, it’s permissible to break the law. Do you

agree? Do you think that at the end of the book Marian agrees, or does she have her own code of ethics? If so, what is it?





What non-romantic fantasies are fulfilled by the book? (For example, Marian always has someone to look after her baby.)

There are a number of crimes committed or contemplated in this book. Which one or ones do you think the title refers to?





Acknowledgments




This is the first time I’ve written a book while packing up a house and moving, and neither would have been possible without the cooperation of everyone in my family with tasks ranging from labeling boxes to listening to me ramble on about plot threads.

As always, this book owes so much to the ability of Elle Keck, my editor, to zero in on what needed to be done to make this book into the story it was trying to be all along. I’m grateful to everyone at Avon for getting this book into existence and then out into the world. Margrethe Martin kept me supplied with dog pictures and reminders that I know how to write. And I want to thank my agent, Deidre Knight, for making sure my stories find a home.





Announcement




Don’t miss Percy and Kit’s road to romance in



THE QUEER PRINCIPLES OF KIT WEBB



Kit Webb has left his stand-and-deliver days behind him. But dreary days at his coffee shop have begun to make him pine for the heady rush of thievery. When a handsome yet arrogant aristocrat storms into his shop, Kit quickly realizes he may be unable to deny whatever this highborn man desires.

In order to save himself and a beloved friend, Percy, Lord Holland, must go against every gentlemanly behavior he holds dear to gain what he needs most: a book that once belonged to his mother, a book his father never lets out of his sight and could be Percy’s savior. More comfortable in silk-filled ballrooms than coffee shops frequented by criminals, his attempts to hire the roughly hewn highwayman, formerly known as Gladhand Jack, proves equal parts frustrating and electrifying.

Kit refuses to participate in the robbery but agrees to teach Percy how to do the deed. Percy knows he has little choice but to submit and as the lessons in thievery begin, he discovers thievery isn’t the only crime he’s desperate to commit with Kit.