Page 66 of Heart of Iron
A cool breeze whispered over her skin.Lena looked up from the mess of cogs and gears that covered her small writing desk.Slipping the magnifying glassicals up on top of her head, she put aside her fine pliers and stood.Her nightrobe tumbled around her bare feet, the rose-colored silk caressing her shins.
“Hello?”she called, tugging her robe tight and retying the sash.It was almost midnight.Mrs.Wade had retired hours ago, but she hadn’t been able to sleep.Too many things whirling through her mind.She’d decided she might as well use the time to work on the life-size transformational Mercury wanted her to create.Clockworks were easy and they always fit together… Unlike her life.Besides, she had only a week until the treaty’s official signing.She’d started the clockwork interior of the piece, but a week was barely time enough to finish it.She’d have to use Mandeville’s help for the outer casing.
The door between the sitting room and her bedchamber wheezed, stirring in a breeze that shouldn’t have been there.Lena snatched up the poker.
Her heart pounded in her chest as she crept toward the door.Nobody would dare attack her here, would they?The place was well-guarded, even at night, as it wasn’t unknown for assassinations to occur in the Echelon.The Duke of Caine was frequently indisposed, and Leo ruled as acting head of the House.No doubt a half-dozen minor offshoots of the House were starting to grow ambitious.
Thunder rumbled in the distance.
The soft glow of a turned-down gas lamp barely lit the shadowed bedroom beyond the door.For a moment Lena was half tempted to wake the household.But if the latch had merely blown open, she’d have woken them for naught.
Her eyes darted around the room as she slipped through the door.Soft gauzy curtains floated in the wind, rain spattering the polished floors.One of the French doors to her balcony had become unlatched, but there was no sign of anyone in the room.
“Damned wind.”
Pressing the door shut, she latched it tightly.Lightning flashed and suddenly the floor creaked behind her.
A scream tore from her throat, captured by a man’s large hand.He yanked her back against his hard chest and water from his clothes saturated the back of her.Her lips pressed wetly into his hand and his warm breath brushed against her ear.
“Shhh.”
Will.She could smell his scent now, of musk and rain and fresh air.The poker fell from her nerveless fingers.He caught it with his boot before it hit the floor, then eased it onto the rug.
Lena’s heart hammered along at a clipping pace.Her feet ceased drumming against his ankles and she slumped in his grip, her breasts pressing against his forearm.In the corner, movement caught her eye.A freestanding cheval mirror, showing the pair of them locked together in an illicit embrace.Lena’s eyes widened as they met his.He was huge and wet and brooding, the amber spark of his eyes flaring in warning.Spoiling for a fight by the look of him.
Her eyes narrowed.He wasn’t the only one who wanted an argument.This was going to be the last time he frightened her.
She bit the fleshy pad of his palm.
“If I let you go are you goin’ to behave?”
Lena wriggled furiously.
“I’ll assume that means ‘no.’”Hauling her toward the bed, he tossed her on it.Before she could even bounce, he’d whipped a silk scarf off the floor and gagged her with it.
Lena’s eyes widened further and she kicked at him, making a strangled sound behind the scarf.Will pinned her, his hands driving her wrists into the bed and his legs straddling hers.The nightgown rucked up around her thighs in the struggle and she stilled as his gaze dropped.There was a world of heat in that look.
“Truce?”
Lena nodded warily.As he sat back, kneeling over her, she reached up and tugged the scarf out of her mouth.
“What the devil are youdoinghere?”
He clapped a hand over her mouth.“If Barrons finds me here, we’ll be contracted for marriage before we know it.”Their eyes met.“Neither of us wants that, do we?”
Her heart pounded uncertainly.Then she gave her head a vehement shake.She’d seen her sister’s happiness and good fortune.The only thing worse than a marriage made of duty would be one of unrequited feelings.
Will stared at her for a long moment, his expression hardening.His hand dropped from her mouth, trailing over her cheek before falling to his lap.
“He wouldn’t force a contract on us anyway,” she murmured.“Leo would probably pretend he’d never seen you here—after escorting you to the door and removing the trellis outside my window.”
“Wouldn’t stop me.”His fingers toyed with the sash of her robe.Then Will realized what he’d said.“If I wanted to get in.”
“Stop it.”Her hand clapped over his.His palm flattened against her abdomen, devilishly warm.“You’re taking entirely too many liberties.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened.”
Something about his expression warned her.“What do you mean by that?”
