Page 40 of Heart of Iron
Heat burned her cheeks.“I made a mistake.But I’ve been in these kinds of situations before.I wasn’t just—”
“What do you mean, been in these situations before?”
Lena took a steady breath.By the look on his face, she was one step away from being shaken like a rag doll.“When I was working at Mr.Mandeville’s.There wasn’t money enough to catch the tram home, so I had to walk.I got caught in the edges of a riot twice.”As his expression darkened, she hastened to assure him.“I climbed up on the roof the first time and hid in a man’s home the second.He was terribly nice about it.”
Will took a deep breath.Then another.His shoulders were still tense, his eyes wild.“If youevergo out into these streets unprotected again, I’ll throttle you.”
“I spent six months walking home through these streets when I was sixteen,” she snapped.“And I had Mrs.Wade and Henry with me this time.That’s a lot safer than when we were poor and in hiding from Vickers.”
A strangled noise came from his throat.Lena shut her mouth.Not the time to mention all of the horrid things that had happened to her during that awful time after her father’s death.
He turned and raked Henry with a gaze that made the lad swallow.“Never again, do you understand me?”
The lad nodded sharply.
“Come,” Will snapped.“I’ll get you back to the warren.Then we’ll see about gettin’ you home.”
“I have to see Mr.Mandeville first.”
He spun on his heel and Lena took a step back.
“He’s expecting me,” she said.“If I don’t arrive, I shouldn’t want him to come out into the streets looking for me.”
His lips thinned.As he turned back around, she thought he murmured something but she couldn’t quite make it out.
She could, however, see the blood rush out of Mrs.Wade’s face.
Nine
“Thank goodness you’re all right!”
Mr.Mandeville swept her up into his arms and breathed a sigh of relief.
Lena gave him a swift hug.“Did you see any of the trouble here?”
“Not this time.I could hear them shouting though, streets over.”His gaze flickered over her shoulder.Then froze.
“You know Mrs.Wade and Henry.”She gestured at the weary pair.Will turned from where he’d been staring out into the streets.The light from the window lit his burning amber irises.“And this is William Carver.A friend of my sister’s husband.”
The stiffness in Mr.Mandeville’s shoulders spoke volumes.He knew exactly what those eyes meant.“A pleasure to meet you,” he said, with a sharp jerk of his head.
Lena pasted a smile on her face to cover his rudeness.“Will helped us with some unpleasantness in the riot.He’s here to escort me home.”
“I see.”Mr.Mandeville’s gaze shot between her and Will.“Did you get my message?”
“I did.I wanted to discuss the commission further, if you will?”
“The back rooms?”
“I won’t be a moment.”Seeing Will’s glower, she hastened to add.“I promise.”
Taking Mr.Mandeville’s arm, she steered him toward the back room.As soon as the door closed, he turned on her, but she held up a warning hand and tapped her ear.
“So someone wished to purchase the transformational clockwork?”she asked, picking up one of his spring pens and writing on a piece of paper.Say nothing you don’t want overheard.
Mr.Mandeville stroked the end of his moustache.“I relayed word of it to a certain friend of mine.”Mercury, he wrote.“He’s interested in presenting it as a gift to the Scandinavian Ambassador once the treaty is signed.He was most impressed with the detail.”
For what purpose?The incident with the draining factories was still fresh in her mind, though she could think of no foul use for her transformational clockwork.
