The year is 1806. Bastard-born jewel thief David Lambert has few rules in his personal life. Never bed the staff, never more than once with the same man, and never, ever, kiss. Attending an aristocratic party and relieving some of the wealthy of their possessions should be easy, but in the space of a weekend, one by one all his rules are shattered by a footman with a secret.<br><br>Jeremy Naylor thought he had found the man of his dreams, the one man who might understand him. Someone passionate, handsome, and respectable. But in one shocking moment his world is destroyed, and he is forced to run for his life.<br><br>Flung together to escape the hangman’s noose, the passion between David and Jeremy burns fiercely. But Jeremy yearns for respectability, and David refuses to admit what lies in his heart. Will they find a way together, or will their differences lead them to the very brink of disaster and the shadow of the gallows?

Thief of Hearts

“I meant what I said,” Charnley said. His grey green eyes were serious, his demeanour earnest.


“I want us to be brothers, I want you to work with me…”


“If you want us to be brothers why have you avoided acknowledging me my entire life?”


Charnley sighed. “And expose you as a bastard? Using an assumed name? Infiltrating the ranks of London’s finest? Hardly an act of brotherly loyalty. Surely even you can see that?”


David had to agree he had a point which irrationally, made him annoyed…


Charnley raised his eyebrows. “What?”


“Well, I’ve spent a long time hating you for your failure to acknowledge me.”


Charnley frowned. “David. If that is what you want, then I will happily acknowledge you. You’d hardly be the first man in town to be born out of wedlock.”


David felt odd inside. Unfamiliar emotions gripped him, and he had no idea what to do with them. Exactly the same way he felt about Jeremy.


Chapter 84