Steam Guardians 01 - A Lady Can Never Be Too Curious (2 page)

The whine decreased as it arced through the air and left the other crystal behind. The Illuminists watching in front of her ducked, and the crystal landed neatly in her lap.

Janette picked it up before thinking, and the pulse of electricity began shooting through her body. It was deeper, almost harmonic. She swore she could hear the delicate sounds of music, and the crystal itself felt warm against her palm. It felt completely correct to hold it, and satisfying in an unexpected way, as though she’d never truly been complete until this moment.

“Madam…
madam!
”

Janette was startled out of the strange euphoria by the lecturer’s frantic voice. He’d rushed up the aisle but stood staring at her.

He suddenly smiled, and crinkles appeared near his eyes. “I wasn’t informed we had a new handler in our midst. When did you arrive?”

The rest of the audience all stared at her.

“Well…just now.” She stood, and those closest to her shifted back, their attention on the crystal she held. “Would you like me to place this somewhere for you?”

Four assistants were clustered around the lecturer. They wore leather overcoats and had leather hoods on their heads with a pair of goggles pushed up above their eyes. One of them leaned in and whispered in the lecturer’s ear, pointing at Janette. The lecturer’s eyebrows rose.

“You will need to come with me.” A deep voice issued the command from behind her.

Janette felt a tingle race down her spine. The newcomer had a voice edged with steel, the solid sort of authority that announced a man who was accustomed to being obeyed. She turned to discover the owner of the voice standing only a single pace from her. She had to look up because he was tall with broad shoulders.

He was attired in a double-breasted vest and overcoat—just as proper as any gentleman—but there was something in his dark eyes that was very uncivilized. For all that they were surrounded by others, she felt like she was alone with him.

And that knowledge excited her.

Definitely
wicked…

The sensation was unsettling, and for some odd reason, she sensed that he knew exactly how he affected her. It was in the narrowing of his eyes and the thinning of his lips—tiny little details she shouldn’t have noticed but did.

“My apologies, Professor, for having your lecture interrupted by a trespasser,” the newcomer said. “I will remove her.”

“Mr. Lawley, she is still holding the crystal…If you touch her…the current…ah…” The lecturer’s warning came too late. Janette barely felt the man close his grip around her upper arm when he growled and released her.

“I did warn you, Darius. That’s a level-four sample she’s holding. Because she’s a Pure Spirit, the current is going straight—”

“Enough. She’s heard too much already. She is not an Illuminist.”

Darius Lawley offered the professor a frown. When he turned his head, Janette was treated to the view of some sort of device covering his ear. Several copper and silver gears were visible, and the men behind him wore similar devices. These men didn’t look like the other Illuminists attending the lecture. They were burly, and their expressions, hard.

Like constables.

Darius jerked his head back toward her the moment she moved. There was sharpness in his eyes, but what she sensed most about him was the fact that he was dangerous. He was unlike any man she’d met. Her world had always been full of gentlemen whom she trusted to remain at a polite distance.

This man was nothing like that. He’d boldly touched her, and that brief connection felt somehow…intimate. Yet she wasn’t offended. The surge of excitement was only growing stronger as she contemplated leaving with him.

“If you please, miss, give the crystal to Professor Yulric.” His voice was deep and raspy, setting off a ripple of awareness that traveled down her length in spite of how perfectly polite his words were.

“Yes, quite right. Hand it here. It’s quite volatile, you understand.” The professor shuddered. He extended his hand with the protective glove still in place.

“I find the lecture quite amazing. I’d like to remain to learn more about the crystal.”

“Illuminists only,” Darius informed her. His expression tightened, his lips sealing into a hard line.

She sighed before turning her hand over so the crystal dropped into the professor’s waiting palm.

“Clear a path…Clear the way…” Professor Yulric hurried down the aisle, and the crystal began to whine as he neared the other one. “Remove the male, for heaven’s sake, or we’ll have another uncontrollable reaction.”

“The what? Did you say male? As in gender?” Janette asked, too curious to contain her question.

“Nothing,” Darius informed her quietly. “You do not belong here.”

He reached past her and grasped one of her shoulders and neatly turned her around so the sight of Professor Yulric was lost. It was done with such a light touch she stood slightly shocked.

“But I want to see—”

“I’ve no doubt you do, but you have snuck inside our chambers, which I cannot allow. Please come with me.”

She really couldn’t refuse; after all, he was correct. She followed him, and his men fell into step behind them.

Confusion needled her as they went right past the doorman. Her expectation that she would be tossed unceremoniously out onto the front steps vanished as Darius continued on, granting her the opportunity to see more of the forbidden building.

It should have alarmed her; instead, she felt another jolt of heat stab into her. She didn’t care at all if the situation was proper, it was exciting.

“Where are you taking me?”

“To my office.”

He lifted his hand to touch the device in his ear. Almost in the same instant there was a groan as a door ahead of them opened. Darius led her through it, and the door closed behind them with a solid sound.

The room they had entered was quite big for an office and had a large desk like one she would expect to find in a police station sitting in the middle of the floor. Darius walked around to sit behind it as his men took up positions behind her. There was no chair in front of the desk. The criminal stood, while the detective sat.

Darius considered her from head to boot toe with a razor-sharp gaze. “Ladies who practice deceptions often discover themselves far from their comfortable parlors, Miss…?”

“Miss Janette Aston.”

How wicked such a simple suggestion seemed coming from him. Her cheeks felt like they were blazing, yet fear hadn’t arrived to dampen her enjoyment of the moment.

Bold
women
come
to
no
good
end
, her father was fond of telling her. But at the moment she felt more alive than she ever had. In fact, she wanted to match the man in front of her.

“You needn’t be so sour. I haven’t hurt anyone.” She swallowed to clear the huskiness from her tone. “You are not an officer of the law.”

“Here, I am.” His voice returned to its formal tone. “And before you demand to see my superior, I will tell you I am in command of the Guardian personnel in this Solitary Chamber. You shall deal with me, Miss Aston.”

There was a flicker of heat in his eyes, a hint of enjoyment that made his statement more personal. A twist of excitement went through her belly, shocking her with just how affected she was.

“I see.” Apprehension tried to rise inside her, but she shook it off. “Surely you can see the compliment in my desire to attend one of your lectures.”

He raised a dark eyebrow, appearing too rakish by far. There was a hint of something in his eyes that sent her eyelids fluttering. It was pure response. She failed completely to control it, and it undermined her determination to meet him with boldness. His gaze settled on the blush staining her cheeks.

“Tell me, does it concern you to be here unescorted?”

He waved a hand, and the two men behind her turned to leave. Amusement glittered in his dark eyes, rubbing her temper enough to help her recover her poise. The man was clearly toying with her.

And
she
was
enjoying
it…

But she shouldn’t. She folded her hands primly.

“Mr. Lawley, I simply cannot stand for this…well…this—”

“Lack of formality?” he supplied in a tone rich with suggestion. “You have willfully entered my world. Do not be so naïve as to think I will conform to your high-society ideas of what my behavior should be.”

Her mind was happy to offer several ideas of just what he might be suggesting too. She shook her head to dispel her wild imaginings. Boldness might be fine to toy with, so long as she wasn’t facing a man such as this one. She could not trust him or her reaction to him. The Solitary Chamber truly was another world, and she felt the change dramatically.

Yet there was something about him—something she felt more than had evidence to support—that made her believe he was only trying to play on her fears.

“I really am not a rabbit to be frightened off with any hint of impropriety. If that were so, I’d have stopped reading your science circulars years ago, or likely never begun, given my father’s disapproval of anything to do with your order. I find the circulars fascinating.”

His head cocked to one side as he studied her. “Brave words, easily spoken when you clearly believe your behavior will never be found out by anyone in your corner of the world. Perhaps I should keep you here and send a message to your father to come and collect you.”

“How unkind of you to threaten me like a child.” The man was trying to unnerve her. It should have bothered her; instead, she was beset by the need to stand firm in the face of his threats.

“If you want to be treated gently like a lady, you should remain in your dress and petticoat.”

Maybe
she
was
tired
of
being
treated
like
a
lady…

Her thoughts shocked her, making her struggle to find the correct words to reply. There was too much expectation in his tone, and part of her truly wanted to surprise him. “I never thought the title
Illuminist
implied your kind were not honorable.”

“Really?” He stood, and she felt her breath quicken. His devil-may-care attitude fascinated her when it should have sickened or shocked her at the very least. She needed to find her discipline—and quickly.

“You are amusing yourself at my expense. Even if you persist in accusing me of wrongdoing, you shouldn’t try to frighten me like some dockside bully.” She nodded, satisfied with her reply. At least she sounded confident, even if it was pretense. Even an Illuminist couldn’t see into her thoughts.

And yet there was a flicker of something in his dark eyes that hinted that he knew just how unsteady she felt. But she maintained her composure, staring straight back at him, and he abandoned his playfulness.

“And what, pray tell, would you have to say if you had discovered me in your kitchen, Miss Aston? Would the excuse that I was curious as to the pattern of china you keep be sufficient to appease you?”

He was mocking her, his voice deep and rich. But she felt a prick of guilt.

“There is a difference between walking up to a door to see if it would be opened and discovering you in my home,” she muttered. “Your man opened the door for me. Go and deal with your doorman for allowing me in without one of your pins.”

“He only did so because you are a—never mind.”

“I am a what?” She looked at the gold pin on his lapel, noticing the crystal in it for the first time. “Is my ability to handle crystals the reason I was allowed in? What does that make me?”

His expression became stone-hard and impossible to read.

“You are being childish to assume we keep such strict membership requirements if there were nothing inside this building worth keeping secret.”

There was a note of truth in his words, but part of her was still insanely captivated by the rogue who’d been teasing her. He’d retreated behind a socially acceptable demeanor now, and she found it disappointing.

“I suppose you are finished now with teasing me about doing your worst. Do you truly believe I was impressed?” The words tumbled out before her better judgment intervened.

Surprise lit his eyes, and the corners of his mouth twitched up. The smile transformed his face, making him too pleasing by far once again.

“You are nowhere near ready to handle my worst, Miss Aston. But you are accurate in your assessment. If you weren’t so young, you’d recognize that as a warning and not a compliment.”

There was a dark promise in his voice. His gaze settled on her lips for a moment, one that lasted longer than was proper. She needed to escape from the room before she did something…impulsive. It was so odd to discover how volatile her nature might be when she was paired with a man who didn’t condemn her for her boldness. Part of her was sure he was encouraging it, pushing at her boundaries to see where her limits were.

Wicked…and dangerous, for a woman was worth little without her good name. “You have a good point, but I cannot claim I am truly sorry for trying your door personnel. I did not choose where I was born any more than you did,” she stated quietly. “Yet it is time I departed before my friend worries enough to summon the local constables.”

He shook his head, enjoyment glittering in his eyes. “You were not kidnapped, so I highly doubt your friend will be quick to report where you are.”

“A moment ago you were insisting that I do not belong here, and now you dangle the idea that no one shall miss me in front of my nose?”

He was like a cat with a mouse, so confident of his superiority. Her temper rose, burning through the haze that clouded her rational thinking.

“You shall press that ear device of yours immediately and open that door for me.” She slapped her hand down on the desk to ensure he understood how intent she was.

Darius jumped the moment her hand made contact, and he reached out to capture her wrists, but he only locked his fingers around one of her hands. Her other hand made contact with the smooth surface of the desk, and when it did, the entire thing lit. A soft whine filled the air, and she felt the current travel through her.