Page 27 of Company of Thieves
After a quick look around the cabin, I gave in to exhaustion and climbed into bed naked, praying my undies would be dried in the morning.
I was just drifting off to sleep wondering what Alan was doing, whether he expected me to join him in his cabin, and what he tasted like, when a little breeze rippled in the room, accompanied by a rustle.
I’d left one of the gaslights on, since I’m not fond of the pitch-dark of airship cabins, which allowed me to watch as one of the tapestries that hung on the wall moved and Alan emerged.
“Ah, you’re not asleep,” he said, holding a decanter and two glasses. “Excellent. I feared you might be.”
“Did you just come through the wall?” I asked, sitting up, immediately pulling up the sheets to cover my bare breasts. I peered at the hanging.
“In a manner of speaking. There’s a connecting door there. Do you like brandy?”
“I don’t drink,” I told him, narrowing my eyes when he sat at the foot of my bed, and poured himself a tot.
“Do you mind if I do?”
“No. I got a bit ... carried away ... last year when Jack and I first came here, and I decided that if I didn’t want to end up an alcoholic, I’d better stop drinking altogether. Why do you have a connecting door to your sister’s cabin, Alan? Is there something you want to tell me?”
He laughed, swirling the amber liquid in the glass, his eyes glittering in the gaslight. He was dressed in what looked like sleeping pants and another of the ubiquitous tunics, this one in black. “I have many things to tell you, my dove, but I don’t think you’re ready to hear all of them. I have no improper designs upon my sister, which I can see is what you are about to ask. I had originally planned to make this a ready room but, after the airship was built, decided it would better be used as a cabin. Did you enjoy your bath?”
“Very much so. Alan, are you here to just indulge in a little polite chitchat before bed, a kind of unwinding after an exciting and harrowing afternoon and evening, or are you planning on seducing me?”
“That depends.” He swallowed the brandy, and set the glass on the floor next to its partner and the decanter. “Do you want to be talked to, or seduced?”
I thought for a few seconds. “What if I want both?”
“Then you may have both, although I can’t guarantee the quality of my conversation when before me I see such delectable temptation.”
I looked down to where the sheet had slid down my boobs, almost exposing them entirely. I hiked it back up, clamping it down with my arms. “Then we’d better get the talking part done fast. I hope you heard me thanking Jack for that permission business you insisted on.” I kept my eyes steady on his, hoping to bluff my way through that statement.
“I did.” His head tipped a little to the side. “I also noticed that you had left theNightwing.”
“Ah. Yes. About that.” I gave an embarrassed cough and tried to summon a confident smile. “I apologize about leaving when I knew you needed guards, but it just seemed an opportune time to find Jack, and I planned on being back as soon as I told him I was training with you. Things ... er ... didn’t quite work out the way I thought they would.”
“Indeed.” His eyes appeared to study me. I squirmed, unable to shove down the resulting guilt at my deception. “I take it that your brother had no issues to you remaining with me?”
“No issues,” I said quickly, and cleared my throat, but after a few seconds of silence, my shoulders slumped. “Damnation. I can’t do this. I’m a horrible liar. What I yelled at Jack wasn’t quite true. I did tell him about our agreement, though.”
“And he gave his permission?”
“He didn’t deny it,” I said with all honesty. “But we really didn’t have time to go into details.”
Alan frowned. “That’s not explicit permission, however.”
“It might not be explicit, but the fact that he let me go off with you is,” I said, realizing that in this case Jack’s actions spoke more than words. “My brother has always been very protective, and if he was dead set against me staying with you, he would have moved heaven and earth to get me away from you. So, you can take the fact that he did nothing more than shake his fist a few times as tantamount to approval.”
“Hmm,” Alan said. I thought for a moment he would refuse to train me without an actual letter from Jack, but after a moment he gave a little shrug. “I believe you are right in that estimation. No doubt Octavia will have words with him.”
“Probably,” I said, relieved to have the subject cleared. Now I could go forward and train without being burdened with a lie. “She’s very good that way. Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?”
“There are a great many things, but none that need immediate attention,” he said, his eyes glittering in the gaslight.
I warmed myself in their look for a few seconds. “I wasn’t going to sleep with you, you know. I’d told myself that I didn’t want to, didn’t need to, and had no real reason to do so except for being able to touch your magnificent behind, and I was willing to bet you’d let me do that anyway. Would you?”
“Yes,” he said without a moment’s hesitation. “I assume you changed your mind?”
“I did. I keep thinking about kissing you, and your chest, and arms, and I didn’t even get to appreciate your legs.”
“Most women—I say this merely as an observation, and not as a comment on you, personally—most women tend to look at my cock when I’m naked. I noticed you did not.”
