Page 55 of The Mech Who Loved Me
"No?"
Ava swallowed, feeling a nervous little flutter fill her. She hesitantly traced her gloved fingers down his waistcoat. "I want to see whatyou'rehiding beneath all of thisfabric."
The look on his face warmed her from the inside, and she knew she'd remember this moment for the rest of her life—the moment she learned to spread herwings.
Then she turned and walked away, before her nerves got the betterofher.
Fourteen
IF YOU WANTEDsomething done properly, then you had to do ityourself.
Ghost moved through the back of the shop like his namesake, listening to the major complain to the Tibetan girl he'd taken as mistress. Ghost silently cursed thedhampirinitiate he'd sent to deal with Major Winthrop, who had returned empty-handed. Following the loss of Zero, he and three others were all that remained of the originaldhampirDr. Erasmus Cremorne had created, and the new group of blue bloods he'd carefully selected to go through the serum trials were a complete and utter failuresofar.
"—place is filthy! What have you been doing all day? Sniffingincenseand—"
Pausing for a moment to make sure the man and his assistant were alone, Ghost cleared histhroat.
"—and bloody hell!" Major Winthrop slapped a hand to his chest, turning around sharply as Ghost made himself visible. "Oh, it's you. Christ. Near gave me a heart attack, creeping around backthere."
"It's a good thing you're a battle-hardened ex-Company man," Ghost said dryly, "with nerves ofsteel."
Winthrop's mistress hid the faintest of smiles, and then she turned to scurry for the door to pull the blinds down. He tracked her movements. He didn't like witnesses, but her grasp of English extended only just enough to understand hissarcasm.
And she wouldn't be difficulttokill.
"I'm here for the supply," Ghost said, waiting until the room darkened before he stepped completely out of the shadows. He was born for moonlight, yet he'd been trained to live in the shadows. "Jameson told me you couldn't give ittohim."
Jameson had not had a reason for this lack, and now he also only had one ear. He should havelistenedto hisinstructions.
Winthrop's eyebrow twitched. "Ah, righto. Well, I... I've got just the onebagleft."
"One?" He needed more. "I thought you placed an ordermonthsago."
"Aye, I did." Winthrop bustled behind his counter, reaching under it to produce a small bag. "But your man picked up three pounds of mushroom last week, and it's not exactly a swiftly replenished stock. Takes years to get to the point where you can harvest it. Have you gone through your supplyalready?"
"Myman?"
Any sane person would quiver at the soft way he said the words—anyone who knew him well enough,anyway.
Winthrop merely tossed the bag on the counter, and reached for his pipe, packing the bowl of it with tobacco. "Aye. Lord What's-his-name. The one with the toffy accent and high opinion of himself." He seemed to read the lack of recognition on Ghost's face. "The one who came with your lady friend, Zero, several months back. Lord... LordAlbright?"
It hit him like a punch of rage. "Ulbricht?"
The major lit his match, pressing the flame to his tobacco and puffing gently to get it smoldering. "Aye. That's the one. Said you had another jobforhim."
Ulbricht was becoming a problem. As Zero's little pet, the blue blood lord had made a nuisance of himself and drawn the attention of the Duke of Malloryn and his so-called Company of Rogues. Malloryn didn't scare him, but it had been a mess, and Ghost dislikedmesses.
In fact, he disliked them so much that when Zero disobeyed him, he made sure she received a dose of her own medicine—a dose of the deadly caterpillarmushroom.
In hindsight, he should have just flogged her, but he'd been...angry.
"And you gave Lord Ulbricht my mushroom?" Ghost asked quietly, just to make sure he had all the facts correct. Zero had dared to bring thatbastardhere?
Finally, some hint of self-preservation reared itself in the major's reptile brain. Winthrop paused. "He said... he was here on yourcommand."
"What am I paying you to do?" Ghost took a stealthy step forward, fetching up in themajor'sface.
The man swallowed, his unattended pipe smoldering in his left hand. "You wanted me to find a means to import the rare caterpillar mushroom. You wanted me to provide you with enough of it, and not ask questions. To make sure nobody else askedquestions."
