Page 93 of Heart of Iron
Hours of work, soldering steel plate to steel.She’d finished most of the clockwork mechanism that drove it, but still…
Will’s shoulder quivered beneath her touch.Without thinking, she stroked his arm, leaning closer.“Agreed,” she said.“I’ll contact Mandeville and get him to help.When it’s ready I’ll have it delivered to his shop.”
“You’re cautious of us?”Rosalind asked.
“I only make a mistake once.”
Their eyes met.Rosalind lowered her pistol and nodded.“Jack.”
“Talk him down first.”He never took his gaze off Ingrid.
Lena swiveled around.Will was shaking, his eyes clenched tight and his teeth bared as if he fought some internal battle she could never understand.She’d seen him do this before though, knew how he controlled himself.
“I’m safe,” she whispered.“I just need you to come back to me, to help me get out of here and go home.Breathe, Will.Deep and slow.That’s it.”Caressing his face, his jaw, she leaned closer, letting him scent her.“And another one.That’s the way.”Sliding her hand down his arm, over the rough linen that was rolled up to his elbows, and the sleek bronzed skin of his forearm, she licked her lips.Her hand slid over his, curling between his fingers.“Let her go, Will.Take my hand.I’m here.I’ve got you.”
Sliding her fingers between his, she drew his hand back, knowing that he let her.Ingrid’s shoulders relaxed and her eyes shot toward Lena murderously.
“I wouldn’t,” Lena said.“Even wounded he took you down easily.I won’t be able to talk him out of this again.”She slid Will’s hand over her knee and pressed it there, then turned for his other one.
Will’s fingers quivered over Ingrid’s wrist.Lena leaned closer, nuzzling her face against his jaw.His scent filled her nostrils, dark and musky.She wanted to press her lips against his skin, to confirm that he was really here, that he was alive.
Damn it.There were no society rules here and she was beyond caring what anyone else thought.Turning her face, she pressed her lips to his cheek, her hand sliding over his other cheek.Alive.Warm.The pulse pounding in his chest.A cry caught in her throat.So close to losing him… Tears burned in her eyes.Never again.
The rasp of his stubble burned over her too-sensitive lips.Blinking away the tears, she eased his grip away from Ingrid’s wrist, her fingers bloody from his cheek.“Come home with me, Will.Take me home.”
His hand sprang open.His eyes were still tightly ground together.
Ingrid’s body collapsed on the floor and she winced as she drew her injured arm up.
“Don’t move,” Lena warned her, sliding her arms around his neck.“Stand up, Will.”She breathed the words in his ear.“Take me home.Your home.”
He looked up then, the madness leeching from his gaze.The beast had not faded completely though.He looked at her with hunger, a madness of its own, and her nipples tightened painfully against the rasp of her linen chemise.
“Yes,” she whispered.“When we get home.”
“Home.”His voice was hoarse.He looked around, realizing he was still kneeling on Ingrid.Then he looked up and something dark flickered through his gaze.
“Put the rifle away,” she cried out as Will shoved her behind him.
There was no chance of stopping him if he decided to go for Jack.Not now.Pleading with her eyes, she tried to slide her arms around Will’s waist.Anything to slow him, to remind him of his humanity.
Jack slowly lowered the rifle.“Didn’t think you could do it.”He nodded sharply at her.“Five days.”
“Five days,” Lena promised, her body relaxing with a sigh of relief.
Jack glanced warily at Will.Whatever he saw on Will’s face it made him take a half step back.“You’d best go.”Another glance, toward Ingrid.“Because I can’t guarantee I can talkheroff the edge.”
***
The fury that had kept him moving began to fade by the time they reached the surface.His weight was too much for her to bear alone.
“Come on,” Lena said in a cheerful tone.“Not much farther.”She took a desperate look around.The warren was a good half mile.In these streets, with Will unable to defend himself, it was a dangerous half mile.
Will staggered against a brick wall, the blood on his side drying.He’d never make it all the way to the warren.Lena bit her lip, then glanced toward the small side street where he lived these days.She’d never been inside, but she knew its location.
“This way,” she said, wrapping her arms around his waist and trying to guide him toward the stairs that led to his door.
A pair of boys smoked cheroots on the base of the stairs.A year or two younger than Charlie, she didn’t like the way they looked at her.
