Steam Guardians 01 - A Lady Can Never Be Too Curious (28 page)

But there was part of him demanding proof that she wouldn’t accept him. It became a challenge that burned through his doubt, and he looked back at her sleeping form.

Tomorrow.
Morning light would show him the truth of the matter.

***

She heard the crystals.

Janette opened her eyes to see that the sun wasn’t up enough to light the inside of the hut very well. But she heard the humming. She rolled out of the sleeping net and landed on her feet. She’d slept in only the loincloth, and her breasts were still bare to enjoy the cool morning air.

“You’ll want to cover up.”

Darius was outside the hut, but he’d heard her.

“I hear crystals.”

He moved into view and pointed up. “Lykos has sent out small airships in search of us. They had to wait until first light, though.”

Good.

Her cheeks turned pink as the memories of last night erupted in full color. Darius didn’t miss her blush.

“I’ll see what I can find for you to wear. Your clothing was tattered, and I believe the women tore it up to make good-luck charms. They believe you were sent by the water goddess Kapo, and I am your lover consort, Kanaloa.”

“That’s the first time I’ve been royally treated.” She heard the hiss of steam and stepped toward the doorway. Darius put his arm out to bar her way.

“I’ll find you something.”

“Why?” she demanded before ducking under his arm and walking into the morning light. “You aren’t wearing any more than the village men. I’d rather not have them thinking I’m a prude. Or that I can’t keep pace with you, Darius Lawley.”

She hesitated for only a moment before enjoying the warmth of the sun on her bare chest.
Wicked.
But she would not be called a coward. More importantly, she would not lie on her deathbed lamenting the adventures she’d turned her nose up at. Darius chuckled, and she turned to find him watching her. There was a sparkle of enjoyment in his dark eyes, which thrilled her.

“You are perfection, Miss Aston.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Formality is somewhere”—she waved her hand in the direction of Britain—“very far away. Call me something…more personal.”

One dark eyebrow rose. His eyes narrowed. “Mine,” he pronounced with a clear ring of savageness in his voice.

She clapped her hands together. “Perfect.”

High above, a smaller airship was drifting toward them. Thick columns of steam rose from twin stacks on either side of the passenger compartment. Several of the windows were propped open, and men leaned out with binoculars.

Darius raised his arm, completely at home in his native attire. She stared at him, absorbing the raw magnetism. She could feel it—actually taste it—and when he turned to stare at her, she felt her pride rising. Reflected in his eyes was approval.

“I suppose we must return.”

His expression tightened. “Regrettably, yes.”

He reached out and stroked her cheek. “You wouldn’t be safe here, but the idea of remaining is still intoxicating.”

There was another blast of steam and a long hissing sound. The airship descended, sending the villagers scattering. A ladder was pushed over the side of the passenger compartment. Darius reached up and grabbed it.

“But everything ends,” he announced before the ladder lowered enough for her to grab it. His tone was tight, and by the time she reached the top of the ladder, his stony expression was one she recalled too well. The duty-bound Guardian had returned, and it seemed she was once more just another task on his list.

Pain tore through her. It centered over her heart, and there wasn’t a single glimmer of hope in his dark eyes to relieve it.

“The ride will be intense, but it will have to end eventually. Reality will be waiting, I assure you. The sun will rise, and consequences will be illuminated.”

His words rose from her memory, and she felt the harsh bite of consequences taking their toll. The passenger compartment of the airship was full of Guardians, their badges pinned to their vests.

Yes, reality had certainly arrived.

***

“You’re young and impressionable,” Guardian Cyrus Vettel offered.

“You needn’t make it sound like an accusation.” Janette found herself uncomfortable in the dress and its layers of undergarments. It was certainly a curiosity how quickly she had become accustomed to wearing none of it.

“You were hunting crystals for the Helikeians,” Guardian Cyrus Vettel muttered drily.

“She was attempting to rescue her friend,” Darius interjected.

They weren’t in a true Solitary Chamber. Instead, they stood near the doorway of a building under construction. But the makeshift hearing lacked none of the tension she would have felt if it were being conducted back in London. Guardians were set to guard her as Guardian Vettel considered her from behind a stone-hard expression. Lykos and Decima silently surveyed her as well.

“If you hadn’t refused to take the Oath, I might be more inclined to be sympathetic.”

“If the lot of you would stop viewing her as a commodity instead of as a person, my fiancée might be more inclined to pledge her life to the Order.”

Guardian Vettel pointed a finger at Darius. “Is this man your fiancé or not?”

“I am,” Darius confirmed.

“I will hear it from her lips, Guardian Lawley,” Vettel insisted.

Janette suddenly laughed. Darius and Vettel eyed her disapprovingly. “You will not hear anything of the sort because who I choose to have in my bed is none of your Order’s affair.”

Guardian Vettel opened his mouth, but Janette interrupted him.

“As for the Oath of Allegiance, I will complete my training year. That is my right, laid down in the laws of the Illuminist Order. As for any of you who do not care for my choice, I suggest you invest more time in treating me like a member instead of a thing to be controlled. Now I am going to see my friend.”

She turned her back on them and their impromptu trial. It was a daring move, but the Guardians moved out of her way. Each step took her farther away from Darius. Her feet felt heavy, but she continued onward.

She was an Illuminist—she had rights, the same as any male member of the Order.

You’re a woman in love…prey to the same weakness as other women…

A hard hand caught her upper arm. Darius spun her around to face him as Lykos and Decima sent the others away from them. He pulled her around the corner of the building.

“Damn us both, Janette.”

She pushed at his chest, but he held her tight. “So you’ve told me, Darius.” She wanted to push him away, wanted to insist he release her, but instead, her hands curled into his vest. “I won’t take the Oath now. Nothing you say will change my mind.”

Surprise lit his eyes for a moment before savageness flickered in them. “I don’t give a damn about the Oath.”

“Then why are you stopping me from seeing if Sophia is well?” Why was he insisting on tormenting her with his touch? It seemed unbearable now.

“If you’re going to reject me, Janette, do it to my face.”

He was growling, and suddenly her temper flared up. She lifted her arms and brought them down on top of his wrists just like she’d learned in Asian fighting class. He let out a profane word as his grasp on her biceps broke.

“Reject you?” She stabbed him in the center of his chest with one finger. “You’re the one who continues to warn me away.”

“You are the one who just refused to acknowledge me as your fiancé.”

She felt like steam could have risen from her ears, her temper was so hot. “You never asked me to marry you, Darius. You just said it because you were doing your duty to protect me. Well, I’m going to be an Illuminist, and marriage is only for love. I don’t want to be your duty wife.”

“It wasn’t duty that prompted me to say such. It was the fact that I just couldn’t tolerate having you taken away from me.” He leaned closer, pushing her back with his superior size. “Tell me you don’t love me, Janette, and I’ll walk away, but it will tear my heart wide open because I sure as hell wouldn’t have said we were engaged if I didn’t love you. Soft, flowery words are not my way.”

He captured her arms again, pulling her against his chest before planting a hard kiss against her surprised lips. She was slow to respond because she was too busy sorting through what he’d said. But her body knew what it wanted, and it was deeper than just desire. She reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck, and trembled as she kissed him back.

“Why are you kissing me back, Janette?” he asked, but there was a need in his eyes that betrayed him.

She had never seen anything so sweet. She tilted her head and kissed his hand where it was still holding her neck. “Because I love you.”

Surprise registered on his face. “But—”

“But nothing, you arrogant man,” she admonished him softly. “Do stop telling me what to think, Darius.”

He shook his head, but she cupped his face. Rising onto her toes, she pressed a soft kiss against his lips. She slipped out of his embrace and walked around the wall. The rest of the Guardians were clearly waiting for her.

“He is my fiancé.”

Her choice, her lover, and the man she loved. Perfection truly could be found on Earth.

***

“These glasses are too dark,” Sophia muttered.

“You can change to lighter ones in a week or so,” Bion told her.

Janette watched her friend aim a frustrated glare at the First Officer—except Bion was a passenger now. They were returning to London on a different airship than the one they’d arrived on.

“But I can’t make out the dimension gates. You said that root ball restructured my eyes. Why aren’t they working?”

Bion looked at Lykos instead of answering. Sophia’s eyes narrowed behind the pair of dark purple glasses she had perched on her nose.

“Don’t you dare side with him, Lykos Claxton. I have to needle every bit of information out of him. It’s shameful, really. These are my eyes.” She stood and walked toward one of the large viewing windows.

“I recall that feeling myself,” Janette muttered.

Lykos lifted his hands in mock surrender. “I am not responsible. You are Darius’s problem.”

“Trust a man to call a woman’s questions a
problem
,” Decima remarked. She was leaning against a support beam. She sent a glare toward Lykos, who returned it.

“Good night,” she muttered before Lykos could answer her.

“Now, just wait—”

Decima turned her back on Lykos. His lips thinned, and no one at the table missed it.

“Go on,” Bion offered. “I’ll babysit our foundling Navigator.”

Sophia heard him and turned in a flare of her skirts. Janette tugged on Darius’s hand.

“What’s the hurry?” he demanded.

“Trust me, this is not going to end well,” Janette answered as she tugged him way toward the passenger cabins. “Sophia is a redhead masquerading as a blond. Bion is about to be skinned alive.”

“He might enjoy it. The man has the heart of a pirate.” Darius produced a key and opened the cabin for her.

“Then again, maybe you were simply impatient to be alone with me,” he said as she passed into the room.

Janette sighed as he closed the door. “There you go again, Mr. Lawley, making assumptions on how I feel. Haven’t you learned your lesson?”

She opened her top, revealing the swell of her breasts above the edge of her corset. His dark gaze followed her fingertip as she stroked one soft mound.

“I stand before you a reformed man, madam.” He deposited his overcoat and vest on the wall hook before shrugging out of his chest harness. “But I confess I am still a needy one. Tell me again how you feel because I’m failing to believe it.”

“Rogue,” she accused. “You are supposed to mutter endearments in my ear, to earn my surrender. Not beg for compliments to shine your ego.”

His shirt followed, and her breath caught, desire rising up to fill her mind. She enjoyed its slow burn, feeling no shame, only a sense of rightness.

Her husband propped his hands on either side of her, pressing his palms against the wall.

“I love you.” He pressed a kiss against her neck. “I adore you.” Another kiss landed on the opposite side of her throat. “But most importantly, I thank you for proving me wrong—and that, Miss Aston, is the greatest compliment I have ever paid anyone.”

“I believe you.” She slid her hands along the warm column of his throat, shivering as sensation rippled along her arms and down her body. “And I love you.”

Neither of them noticed when they went through the dimension gate. They were both far too busy enjoying the perfection of each other’s embrace. Janette snuggled against her lover, basking in the glow of his declaration.

Perfection.

***

Sophia didn’t sleep; she wandered around the dining area of the airship well after it was deserted by the other passengers.

It wasn’t the pain in her eyes that kept her awake, although it was more of an annoying itch now. Keeping her hands away from her face took concentration, and she’d woken up more than once with tears on her hands because impulse took over once she was asleep.

Her father needed her—that was the thought hounding her.

“You need rest to heal.”

She turned to see Bion moving toward her. The man was too large for her liking, his shoulders too wide. “What I need is for you to stop shadowing me like some nursemaid. Where do you think I will go?”

Sophia opened her hands to indicate the inside of the airship passenger area. The engines droned with a low rumble, while outside the windows, the clouds let in slivers of moonlight.

“I was hoping you’d get some sleep, so I could as well,” he muttered too softly for her caring.

“Save your pity.”

Everyone could save their coddling and sympathy. It turned her stomach. She turned to brush past Bion, seeking escape from his presence, when he reached out and captured her wrist. Without a glove, his hand wrapped around the tender skin, sending a jolt of awareness up her arm.

“You mistake me greatly,” he informed her firmly. “Pity is the last thing I feel for you.”

There was a strength in his words she was tempted to lean on. Her life was suddenly shattered into pieces, and she wasn’t sure how to sweep them up or put them back together again. But she would muster her courage; she had to or risk becoming one of those delicate creatures she and Janette had always deplored.