“The packet leaves from the airfield at Hampstead Heath every day at noon,” Andrew said, speaking automatically while his mind spun. Why should a scientist of her caliber flee the country? Why was she in Claire’s debt if the latter had merely called upon her during her incarceration? Why should she not stay and reap the fame and benefits of her inventions? Times had changed. She was no longer the only woman in the Royal Society of Engineers—in fact, there were some among the younger generation who venerated her in the same way people venerated the Queen.
As for her time in Bedlam, well, it was quite clear that however she had gone in, when she came out she was perfectly sane. Such an ordeal could only add to her mystique.
“I’m afraid I don’t understand either,” he said at last. “Your career was brilliant. You could have all of Wit London at your feet. In fact, once the newspapers find out that you’re free, I have no doubt you’ll—”
Dr. Craig’s hand came down on the drawings with the sound of a pistol shot. “The newspapers must not find out. The price of my help is your silence. No one must know I have been in London until I am well out of it. I must have your word.”
“But—but why?”
“My reasons are known to Lady Claire and young Tigg here, and go no further. Your word, sir.”
“You have it, of course,” he said slowly. “I shall tell no one of your presence here, and we will present the new device as if it were our own. Though something in me balks at misrepresenting your work in that way.”
“You may represent it however you like. Your discretion is all that matters to me.” She turned to Claire. “I should like to return home now, please. I do not feel safe in a place where anyone might walk in.”
“Of course. Mr. Malvern, I shall be back directly. Tigg, you stay here.”
“Sure, Lady. I ’ave my work cut out for me anyways.”
And so Andrew stood there as Claire and Dr. Craig wound their scarves about their hair, and watched them walk away—the greatest scientist London had seen in years, scurrying out of town like a thief, and with her the young woman he had not had the wits to court when he had the chance.
The door closed behind them and he turned to find Tigg already in apron and gloves, hard at work on the great brass cowling that held the glass chamber in place. “You aren’t going to tell me what’s going on, are you?”
Tigg shook his head. “It ent worth the risk, sir. Would you like either of them two on your tail, mad as hornets and with ten times the sting?”
Andrew had to confess that he would not.
*
Claire slipped into the laboratory after having returned Dr. Craig to the cottage. She had left her in the hands of the Mopsies, who, upon hearing of her imminent departure, claimed her remaining time for the walking coop. Claire had no doubt that by the time she returned for dinner, the coop’s leg mechanisms would have been constructed and would be lurching around the garden, followed by a squawking and deeply offended Rosie.
The sounds of clanging and tinkering told her that Tigg and Mr. Malvern were engrossed in adapting the chamber to its new purpose, so she climbed the stairs and seated herself at the desk with pen and paper.
Purchase airship ticket to Paris. (Safe to travel under own name?)
Visit bank for loan of traveling cash.
Underground to airfield or landau (recognition)?
Disguise? (Hair color? False padding?)
While at ticket office, inquire re self and 5 children to Cornwall.
A scrape of boot heels on the stairs brought her head up, and she smiled as Andrew emerged. He looked startled, and she hastened to reassure him. “I am not trying to usurp your place, I promise.” She stuffed the paper into her reticule and capped his fountain pen. “I was merely making a list.”
“You looked perfectly well behind the desk, and you know you may do as you like up here.” He picked up a book teetering on a stack, then put it down again.
“Those are to go on the shelves, there, as soon as I find somewhere to put the stacks of treatises.” But he did not seem concerned with her organizational abilities, though he had hired her for them. “Mr. Malvern, what is it? Are you disturbed by Dr. Craig’s essentially giving away her devices to us?”
He gazed at her a little blankly. “What? Oh, yes. Yes, I am. Singular, I would say. I have so many questions, I hardly know where to begin.” He seemed to come to a decision. “But I suppose the first one I must ask is, is it really true that you are engaged to be married to my partner, Lord James Selwyn?”
This was so far from what she’d expected him to ask that for a moment she couldn’t think of the correct answer. “Oh, dear.” James really was broadcasting it far and wide. All of a sudden her corset seemed very constricting, and she stood to try and get a breath.
“Oh, dear? My assistant engages herself to my partner without telling me about it, and all she has to say is ‘oh, dear’?”
“James told you?”
“James, is it? Strange how I never thought you two were even on a first-name basis, much less making wedding plans.”
“We have made no plans. The wedding is four years off at least.”
“I should hope so,” he muttered furiously to the bookcase. “He’s robbing the cradle otherwise.”
Is that how he saw her? As a helpless schoolgirl who couldn’t be trusted to know anything about the world? “I shall be eighteen in two months. I’m hardly a child.”
I am the Lady of Devices, and I broke Dr. Craig out of Bedlam two nights ago so that we could help you in your blasted experiments, and this is the thanks I get? To be berated and belittled by a scientist who wouldn’t be able to complete his dissertation without me?
She ground her teeth together in an effort to keep her temper. “He very properly asked my mother for my hand, and proposed to me at his home last week. No robbing of any kind took place.”
“Oh, no?” He gave a bitter laugh. “And why so extended an engagement? When two people are in love, they usually want to be bound for life immediately.”
Why on earth did the news displease him so? Why was he being so unkind? “I told him I would be applying to enter The University of London in the fall, and would do my best to complete the four-year degree in three.”
“You’re engaged to a baron and you’re going to university?” He dropped the folio he was pretending to leaf through, and it landed on the stove with a splat. Fortunately, no fire was lit.
“Of course. You knew that.”
“But Claire, when a woman’s future is assured, she hardly needs that kind of education.”
“I don’t understand you. Of course she does.”
“So that on those occasions when you’re not entertaining members of parliament and their wives, or drinking tea with Her Majesty, you can putter with your fleet of landaus out in the garage?”
This was interesting. “James has a landau?”
“No!” he practically shouted. “I’m speaking metaphorically, you aggravating creature. The point is, Lady Selwyn doesn’t need a university education. She doesn’t have to make her living like the rest of us, and it’s a waste of time to pretend she does. Some other deserving person should have that seat.”
“Metaphorically speaking,” she said crisply, “Lady Selwyn will do as she likes. James has already agreed to it.”
He gazed at her in utter perplexity. “What leverage did you use on him?”
“None at all. I merely stated what my goals were, which was to work for you so that you could provide a letter of reference for me, and to apply for the engineering program, beginning in the fall. I will need that letter by the end of the month, in case you are wondering.”
“And if I don’t give it to you?”
She leveled a long look at him. “Is my performance lacking in some way?”
“Of course not.”
“And my collaboration with Dr. Craig, is that not going to be of use to you?”
“You know it is.”
&
nbsp; “Then why would you threaten me with such a thing?”
“Because—because, deuce take it—” He crossed the room in one stride, yanked her up against him, and—
Kissed her.
Desperately—deeply—
Ohhh.
Claire’s knees went weak and she clutched at his lapels, her hands moving of their own volition while she fell into his kiss, spiraling into the delicious darkness, tasting him, opening to him, surrendering to him ...
This is what it’s like.
This.
This is what I have been waiting for, and never knew.
He broke the kiss and she gasped for air, stumbling back to fetch up against the heavy desk. He turned away, breathing as though he had just run from one end of London to the other.
“I’m sorry, Claire. That should never have happened.”
She could not speak. She was dazed with wonder and with her first taste of pleasure.
“It was a mistake, and I’ve dishonored both you and James. Please accept my apology.”
A mistake? How could something so wonderful be a mistake?
Of course it was. She was engaged to James, whom she could not imagine kissing.
Committed to a man she did not love, and for what? To use him as a cloak? A social disguise so that she could carry on her nocturnal activities without reprisal?
For the first time, Claire realized the price that she would be required to pay.
No. I will not pay it.
There must be some other way.
She would extricate herself from her engagement at once, and then she would be free to kiss Andrew again.
The Lady always found a way.
Chapter 13
The door closed downstairs. At first, Claire thought it might be Tigg, going out to the landau to fetch something, but no, there were feet on the stairs with a much heavier tread than his.
James Selwyn emerged, removing his gloves.
Andrew turned away, and Claire bent to the nearest stack of papers, tapping them into order with absolutely no idea of what they were.
James glanced between them, apparently seeing no hint of what had just transpired. “Good morning, Andrew. Ah, Claire. I was delighted to see the landau outside just now.”
“I’m usually here in the mornings.” Drat. That wasn’t very welcoming. She was engaged to him. “I trust you are well?”
“Very well. You know, it occurred to me I have no idea of your address, so I cannot forward the invitations that have begun to arrive.”
“Invitations?”
“I’m afraid I mentioned our happy news to one or two people—” Andrew exhaled sharply, but he didn’t seem to notice. “—and now I am inundated by tubes. Tomorrow night, for instance, we are invited to the theatre with my cousin and his wife, and thence to Lady Wellesley’s ball. On Friday there is dinner and cards with the Meriweather-Astor clan, and the next evening some kind of fancy-dress nonsense rumored to be attended by the Prince of Wales.” He smiled at her. “My social life has doubled since I took myself off the marriage market. It’s mystifying.”
“It’s not mystifying at all,” Andrew said shortly. “Everyone knows Claire’s circumstances. They simply want to be entertained by seeing the two of you together.”
“Are you implying there is something amusing in my fiancee’s situation?”
“It’s no secret that she has to make her own way in the world. Those—those meringues are going to be at many of these events, and you’ve seen how they amuse themselves at her expense.”
“I am standing right here,” Claire reminded them both. “I’m not afraid of Julia and her set. I have more important things than their opinion with which to occupy my mind.”
James smiled again, but it seemed a little tighter this time. “Then you will accompany me?”
An idea popped into her head, fully formed, and she had difficulty controlling the urge to laugh. “You may accept on my behalf for the fancy-dress ball. As to the others, I’m afraid I have nothing suitable to wear. I left all my evening clothes behind at Carrick House, which was subsequently looted.”
“I’m sure my cousins’ wives can find you something.”
“No, thank you, I could not put them to that trouble.”
“Claire, you’re going to have to meet my family eventually.”
“Yes, I know, and in four years I am sure I will have many opportunities. But for this week, I simply have too much to do, and too little time in which to do it.”
“Is Andrew working you that hard?” He glanced at him, censure in his gaze. “If that’s the case, I’ll have a thing or two to say about it.”
“You shall not,” Claire retorted. “I’m quite capable of managing my work here without interference.”
“I’m entitled to interfere. You forget who is funding this endeavor—including your salary.”
“I shall forego my salary, in that case.”
This seemed to take him aback. “You don’t mean it. What will you live on?”
“Until we are married, that is my business.”
He gazed at her, perplexed. “Perhaps I was a little hasty,” he said carefully. “Please forgive me.” The tension in her shoulders did not relax, but she inclined her head. “I have another matter to discuss with you.”
“If it is another ball, the subject is beginning to fatigue me.” She swept the treatises from their shelf into one arm, and carried them across the room. Then she began to shelve books.
“No, not another ball, though you may as well resign yourself to them. They aren’t going to go away. This is a more personal matter.”
“Please excuse me,” Andrew said. “I should not be an unwelcome third in this conversation.”
“Relax, Andrew.” Lord James waved his concern away. “I simply wanted to say that among the invitations was one from Claire’s mother, Lady St. Ives.”
She gripped a stack of books as if it would shield her from whatever he was going to say. “Did she want a wedding date for the announcement in the Times?”
“Yes, but I took care of that. She invited us down for a few days, that is all. I believe she wrote to you about it as well.” When Claire nodded, he went on, “It just occurred to me that if I decline most of the other invitations, we could take the Princess Mary down and be back in time for the fancy-dress ball Saturday evening.”
“Go by airship? Not the train?”
The Princess Mary was the air equivalent of the Flying Dutchman—though of course it traveled much, much faster. Going to see her mother in Lord James’s company was the very last thing she wanted to do ... but at the same time, what better way to smuggle Dr. Craig out to the airfield and get her on the packet to Paris than as part of her own party?
“It will be dreadfully expensive.”
“For two people? Hardly. I can send a tube and make the reservations at once.”
“For seven.”
“Seven?” He dropped his walking stick and had to bend to pick it up. “Are you planning to take my entire family?”
“No, mine. I should like the children to go, as well.” She held up a hand and counted them off on her fingers. “Margaret, Elizabeth, Willie, Tigg, and Jake.” As her lieutenant, Snouts would need to stay behind in her place. She would, unfortunately, need to leave the lightning rifle behind, and she could entrust its care to no one else. “I believe you’ve met everyone except Jake.”
For a moment, all he could do was stare, and then he closed his mouth with a snap. “Certainly not.”
“I shall buy their tickets myself, so they will not presume upon your generosity.”
“I’m not going all the way to Cornwall with a passel of brats who don’t even belong to me!”
“They are my responsibility, therefore, they go with me.”
“Aren’t you taking your governessing a little too seriously? Where are their parents?”
Time to take the plunge. “They have no parents. They are orphans. I have taken it upon myself
to see to their education and well-being, and I think a journey to Cornwall will be beneficial to both.”
“Why ... why didn’t you tell me this?” James looked to Andrew for support. “Did you know?”
Poor Andrew looked as though he would rather be anywhere but in his own office. “I knew some of it. But it isn’t really my business what Claire chooses to do with her private life. My business is the four hours she and Tigg spend here.”
“Well, the rest of it is my business! I won’t have it, Claire.”
She gazed at him and for the space of two seconds there was silence in the room. Even downstairs in the laboratory, the sounds of banging and clanking had stopped. Then she lifted an eyebrow. “Until four years are up, my life is not your business. You surprise me, James. Would you begrudge a penniless orphan the chance to see an airship, to travel in civilized company, and to see a great estate like Gwynn Place?”
“It’s not a matter of begrudging. The point is that they have nothing to do with me, and I don’t care to be imposed upon.”
“They are not imposing upon you in the least. They are my responsibility, and I propose it as an educational and social opportunity.”
“Ridiculous.”
She put the books on the shelf in a neat row. “As ridiculous as your balls and dinners. Very well. I decline all invitations, and you may explain to your circle in any way you like why your fiancee will not appear with you at any of your engagements.”
For a moment he appeared to struggle with himself. “Claire, please.”
Her voice quiet, she said, “It is the responsibility of the noble and blessed among us to look out for those who are less fortunate. The children will not bother you. I will not beg, but I will ask you to think of their well being—and my own.”
Was he grinding his teeth? No, she was imagining it. “I suppose you will do what you like, no matter what I say.”
Her Own Devices, a steampunk adventure novel Page 10