“Help me get him down,” Stephen said and she complied.
She touched his still face, then visually inspected the rest of his strong body. While she’d admired him these past weeks, she wondered if she’d ever examined him this closely. Blood covered one side of his body and she bent closer to investigate. Gently, she pulled away his jacket. “He’s been shot.”
Stephen pulled off his coat and pressed it into the wound. “How bad is it? Is there a surgeon aboard?”
She fought to remain calm, to examine Ian’s body as if it were any other man’s. “No, they don’t care about human life enough for that. I really want to turn off the immobilizing automaton, but then all your people will be at risk. I can’t stand to see him just staring at us like that though, frozen.”
“Can you close his eyes?”
She knew Ian was aware they were there, though he couldn’t show it. “I don’t want to hurt him.” Ignoring Stephen, she leaned down and smoothed Ian’s hair back from his brow, then kissed his forehead lightly. She hadn’t willingly kissed a man in more than three years, but it felt right. Her lips touched his smooth skin again, then she remembered their situation. “Is he actively bleeding?”
Jacob Warren appeared in the doorway. “Did you find him?”
“He’s hurt bad,” Stephen called. He pulled his coat back from a second. “But the wound isn’t bleeding much anymore.”
“We’ve got a couple of wagons,” Jacob said. “Let’s lower him down and take him into town.”
“I’ll have to figure out how to turn off the large automaton first,” Terrwyn said. “Or he’ll be electrocuted.”
As Jacob Warren pulled canvas from a chest to use as a stretcher, Terrwyn examined the black metal beast on the pedestal. It chittered gently, and lights flashed on and off along its legs. The broad back was coated in Ian’s blood. She remembered he told her that shooting it through the eye would destroy it and that seemed the fastest approach, especially since she didn’t want to touch it. She pulled her heater from her holster and shot it through one eye. The automaton silenced and all the legs stopped blinking.
Gently, they lifted Ian enough to slide the canvas under his body.
She squeezed his leg when they were done. “It’s going to be okay, Ian. You saved Noelle. I can never thank you enough.”
“Ready?” Jacob asked.
“We’ll want to take the spider with us for further study,” she told Jacob as she picked up Noelle. “And someone needs to stay aboard with the portable automaton. I need to go with Ian.”
She never wanted to let this crazy, brave man out of her sight again.
*****
Ian blinked several times then opened his eyes. Where was he? Soft daylight shone a rectangle of warm summer light across a white sheet tucked under his arms. He inventoried his body and decided he was alive but just barely. A throbbing pain along his left side told him he hadn’t imagined his night on the Defender. As he reviewed his memories, he realized he couldn’t remember anything after he’d heard shouts coming from above the captain’s cabin. At the time, he’d been immobilized. Could he move now? He tried to wriggle his fingers on his right hand, and though it hurt, he could open and close his hand. A level of tension released as he realized he was under his own control again. Clearly he was no longer on the airship.
He lifted his head a few inches and through a resulting throb of pain, saw the strange sight of two automatons, a large spider and a small one, on a low table next to his bed. Since neither of them flashed red lights, he assumed they had been disabled. Relics from the Defender? Who had taken the smaller one from Everard?
When he became used to the level of throbbing pain he was experiencing along his body, he lifted his head higher. He was rewarded with the sweet sight of beautiful Terrwyn and baby Noelle slumbering in a chair next to him. Noelle was cradled in her sling, the fabric tied around Terrwyn’s neck. The baby’s dark fluffy hair curled softly against her mother’s stained red jacket.
What had once been such a common sight, Terrwyn and her baby together, now seemed like the work of angels. Terrwyn might not know it yet, but the three of them were a team, a family. He was going to spend the rest of his life proving it to her, and if he was lucky, eventually he’d talk Terrwyn into giving Noelle a brother or sister.
Terrwyn’s eyelids fluttered then opened, her dark gaze fixing on him. Her lips curved. “You shouldn’t move,” she said. “You lost a lot of blood and you’re all stitched up.”
He grinned back, though it hurt. “You’re going to have to use that automaton on me if you want me to stop staring at you and Noelle.”
“I missed that scoundrel grin of yours. What will it take to get you to lie back down?”
He grinned wider, though the pain of a split lip cost him some gentlemanly flair. “Scoundrel, eh? This scoundrel wants a kiss.”
Terrwyn’s tongue darted out to touch her lips. She rose from the chair, untied the sling, and placed Noelle on the bed next to Ian. A light of challenge shown from her incredible eyes.
He wondered if she would really do it. Had he earned Terrwyn Fenna’s notice? When she leaned over and touched his lips gently with hers, he knew he had. He closed his eyes and surrendered to the sensations.
Her lips slid softly against his, tasting of summer strawberries. He flicked out his tongue to taste and she nipped at him in response. It only lasted a moment, but it was the best moment of his life.
He opened his eyes and grinned at her like a fool, but then his mind refocused and he had to know. “How did you get the automatons?”
“It’s a long story.” Her gaze on him was serious, as it almost always was. They needed more joy in their lives, less stress.
He could see her face was covered in tiny, healing cuts. If he had the strength he’d kiss each one, hoping the strength of his love might heal them. “Everard shot me.”
“He’s in a holding cell while the local magistrate investigates what happened. The Warrens found him passed out in a corner of the gun deck, drunk as a tinker’s whore. Rand is dead.”
“You don’t say.” One of her stressors was gone for good.
“As soon as you’re well enough for travel, we’re going on a nice holiday in France, to get out of the public eye. Airships are still illegal and I don’t want mine impounded.”
“Thanks for not leaving without me.”
“It’s going to be a long time before you’re allowed out of my sight.”
His heart thrilled to her words. A holiday sounded good to him. It was what he’d wanted Brighton to be, time for them to get to know each other as people. He tried to sit up but she pushed him back down.
“You’re going to leave here in a stretcher, my friend.”
“I want to be more than your friend. Or your crew.” It needed to be clear.
“Risking your life for Noelle expressed that more sincerely than any words could,” Terrwyn said. “I know what you sacrificed for us.”
“We have a long holiday ahead to discuss it,” he said. “Let’s get that stretcher in here before the Valentine is confiscated.”
She let out a breath and he knew she was very glad to hear he was ready to leave. In less than five seconds she had the door open and Stephen and Thomas were bustling in with a wheeled cart.
“I think we’ll go to the French Riviera,” she said, tucking Noelle back into her sling. “I understand the Mediterranean is beautiful. Even the Queen vacations there now.”
“Sounds perfect.”
“I can form some new trading relationships,” Terrwyn mused. “It will be a profitable trip on many levels. I understand you can get the best perfume in Grasse.”
“So pleased,” Ian muttered, his vision going black around the edges as the two men moved him.
“Be careful,” Terrwyn warned. “He’s precious cargo. Who would have thought one brass hand could mean so much?”
“Tuck those automatons in beside me,” Ian said. “When my captain doesn’t need me
I have some scientific investigation to do.”
Terrwyn grinned at him as she cradled Noelle. He’d never seen her so carefree and couldn’t wait to see her in the French sun, sea air whipping that coal-black hair around her glorious face. They’d share their second kiss there, and hopefully many more to come.
~*~
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Heather Hiestand is the author of many novels, novellas and short stories. She is an Amazon Romance Anthology Bestseller. She lives in Washington with her husband and son. Find Heather Hiestand online:
Website: http://www.heatherhiestand.com
Blog: http://blog.heatherhiestand.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/hahiestand
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Heather-HiestandAnh-Leod/24271017921?ref=ts
Thank you for purchasing this Coffee on Sundays Press publication. For other books, please visit our website at www.coffeeonsundays.info.
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MORE BY HEATHER HIESTAND
Anthologies:
“The Burro” in Murder Across the Map
“Victoriana” in Holiday in the Heart
Looking Forward, Looking Back and Other Stories
“The Bachelor” in Cupid Gone Wild
Novellas:
Victoriana Adventure
Steampunk Smugglers 1: Captain Andrew’s Flying Christmas
Steampunk Smugglers 2: Captain Fenna’s Dirigible Valentine
Novels:
Cards Never Lie
One Juror Down
Gunshot Grange
Two on the Hunt
In Flight
Captain Fenna's Dirigible Valentine Page 9