Kimber's Daughter - Tommy Shelby x Reader Fan Fic

Chapter 10

"Should we tell them now?" I asked, trembling. Questioning my own sanity. Was I really agreeing to this?

Tommy raised an eyebrow. "Just announce I've fallen in love with you, asked you to marry me, and you've accepted? When I'm meant to be shooting you in the skull?"

I scowled. "Isn't that exactly how you're proposing it happened?"

He shook his head, tipping the last of the whiskey down his throat. I noted the muscles of his neck, the line of his jaw. "We need to be convincing, Kimber. We need my family to believe we are madly in love. They'll see through it, otherwise, and I'll be married off to some Lee girl."

"Okay. Then we act madly in love."

Tommy raised an eyebrow. "And what does that look like?"

I felt the heat rise to my cheeks. "This was your idea," I said, hoping I sounded angrier than I felt. "Did you not plan for this at all?"

"Of course I did." Tommy rose from his seat, buttoning his blazer. "I've thought long and hard about what it would look like. Not love, not yet. Lust precedes love, after all. And when it is forbidden?" He shook his head, a strange smile flitting across his lips. "We'll have to play this very carefully."

I rose to my own feet, gun concealed in the folds of my dress. "And how, exactly, do we do that, Mister Shelby?"

Tommy stepped towards me. "Stolen moments," he said, voice no louder than a murmur. "Fleeting glances. All while we think the others are not looking."

"And yet we want them to see." I stepped instinctively towards him.

"Precisely." His gaze stayed cold as I'd always known it, unreadable. I wondered for a moment what was running through his head, how he truly felt about this whole scenario.

The door opened and we each leapt apart, though we had barely been within touching distance. John and Arthur froze in their camaraderie, grins stuck on their faces, though their questioning eyes bounced between us both. We must have looked undoubtedly guilty.

"Brothers," Tommy greeted them coolly, as though nothing had occurred. "Another drink for myself and Miss Kimber, if you please."

They were silent for a moment. "I'll get 'em," Arthur finally said, shuffling back into the pub while John entered the room.

"I'd be interested to know what you have to say about our barmaid," Thomas said to me as he took his seat once more.

I took my own while John sat beside me. "Would you?" I asked.

"Do you know she's got a gun?" John asked Tommy, bemused expression on his face.

Tommy nodded. "My gun." John raised his eyebrows, but Tommy spoke again. "As our interests are somewhat aligned, Miss Kimber, I'm going to ask you again what you have to say about our barmaid."

John's questioning gaze only grew stronger.

I thought for a moment, not responding until Arthur returned with fresh drinks. I sipped my whiskey slowly, leisurely, quite enjoying Tommy's patient silence while I mulled my thoughts. I had an upper hand. I wasn't about to relinquish it so quickly.

"I have nothing to say without proof," I finally spoke. "Let me gather that, and then we shall talk."

Tommy raised an eyebrow. "I am able to gather proof of my own. Likely more effectively than you, might I add, when it comes to blonde barmaids."

"Be my guest," I responded coolly. "Though such pursuits will do little to help our true cause."

Tommy chose not to dignify the statement with an answer. Checkmate, I thought.

Arthur blinked a few times. "I'm sorry, but what the fuck is going on?" He asked. "Last we saw, you were going to dump her body in the Thames."

John sighed. "As always, our lovely aunt interfered. Soft spot for the Kimber girl. She's meant to be on a boat to New York."

"One thing neither Thomas nor Polly considered," I answered with a glare, "is that I am more than capable of deciding for myself. I'd appreciate if you would stop treating me like a horse, to be tossed about wherever you please, raced whenever you desire."

"You like horses, then?" Tommy asked.

"Yes." I flushed. "I suppose."

"Riding them, or watching them?"

"I've never been permitted to do either." I kept my voice strong, a warning not to think me weak for the fact.

The room was silent for a few moments. I downed my whiskey in one, my head decidedly fuzzy by this point. How did the blinders drink so much and stay coherent? I wondered.

Tommy stood sharply to his feet. "Come on."

I pushed myself to my own. "Where are we going?"

"To see the horses." He did not so much as look my way as he slipped into his coat and put on his hat.

"Why?" I asked.

He stopped then, exasperated. "Do you want to come, or not?"

I had a feeling he would rescind the offer just as quickly as he made it. I nodded quickly, stumbling to join him at the door.

"What are we meant to do?" John asked, incredulous.

Tommy shrugged. "Find a pub to burn. Or a woman to bed. I really don't care either way."

He held a hand out to me, palm facing up. A performance for the brothers, I realised. One of many little clues we would be leaving, waiting for the Shelby's to think we were falling in love. The thought made me clench my jaw, anger burning fresh within me once more. I would sooner put the gun to Thomas Shelby's head. But I remembered my reasons. I thought of the day I would finally enact my revenge, make the Shelby's pay for what they've done.

With that fuelling me, I gave a small smile and accepted Tommy's hand, holding it as we left the pub.