Saving the Scientist (The Restitution League #2)(65)

“Exactly!” Briar seemed to applaud her lack of skill. “That’s why we spend hours in the studio. With enough practice, your responses become automatic.” She turned Ada back toward the wall and handed her back the umbrella. “Again.”



*

Wanting to simulate real life as much as practicable in her friends’ hallway, Ada squared her shoulders and tried to clear her mind. She imagined she was ogling a display of Venetian glass beakers at Gorton’s Chemical Supply.

She shifted from foot to foot, passing the handle of the parasol from hand to hand. It was no use. The back of her neck prickled with tension, and her ears strained for the slightest rustle of fabric that would signal Briar was about to pounce.

But the girl moved so quickly, there was no time between the swish of her skirts and the attack. Ada barely had time to tense before a black-clad arm looped over her shoulder. After an initial jerk away, Ada forced herself to lean into Briar’s embrace then slip down beneath her arm. Chin tucked into her chest as she’d seen Meena do, she pushed into Briar’s body, then ducked out underneath her grasp.

But she’d forgotten about the parasol.

Instead of tucking it in against her body and bringing it along, Ada allowed it to dangle out away from her. She managed to squirm out from under Briar’s hold, but before she had a chance to straighten, Briar jerked the weapon from her grasp.

“Better.” Briar handed her back the umbrella.

Ada shrugged modestly. “But I forgot about the brolly.”

“Not to worry,” Meena said. “Practice enough and you’ll be amazed how quickly you begin to react on instinct.”

The casement clock in the study broke through their conversation, signaling the hour with slow, solemn tones. Despite the exciting diversion, the reminder rekindled Ada’s worry. Short of the Waterloo bridge tumbling into the Thames, Henry and Edison should have returned.

Spencer and Nelly appeared from the kitchen, bringing with them the savory aromas of beef stew and yeasty bread. Spencer was drying his hands on a worn square of sack cloth. Although he presented an air of casual indifference, Ada caught the worried glance he sent his wife.

“Nothing?” he asked Meena softly.

She shook her head.

Briar was staring out the window now, arms hugging her waist. “I wonder if we should go after them.”

“We’ve still got Edison’s borrowed hansom,” Nelly pointed out.

Spencer tossed the cloth over his shoulder and pulled his wife into a gentle hug.

The way he cradled her against him—the tenderness in his look—squeezed Ada’s heart. How magnificent to share that kind of love.

Meena leaned into her husband’s embrace. “It has been some time since we’ve had an adventure of any magnitude. I suppose we should—”

Before she could finish, the door at the back of the house flew open.

“Here they are!” Nelly rushed off to greet them.

As quickly as the girl ran off, she returned, her expression grim. “The daft cabbages.” She shook her head slowly, looking more like a wise old woman than a girl barely in her majority. “This isn’t gonna go well.”

Behind her, Henry trudged into the room, face pale, eyes huge in the dimming light.

A portly figure in a white uniform followed.

Ada gasped. The admiral himself.

The man did not look pleased. Holy hell, what had Edison done?

“We’re in for it now,” Spencer muttered.

“Who the blazes are you people?” the admiral commanded.

Even as he emoted, he squinted at the four of them, blinking as he recognized Ada. “Mrs. Templeton? Are you all right? What have these lunatics done to you? Tell me they haven’t hurt you, or I’ll have them strung up so fast—”

“I’m fine. Perfectly fine.” Ada rushed forward to grasp the old man’s hands. She smiled up at him, hoping to reassure him. “These are my friends. They saved me from…”

A sharp stone bloomed in her throat, catching her unawares. She swallowed hard, blinking away a spring of tears that came with it. “Mr. Sweet and his family saved me from a most disagreeable fate.”

She locked gazes with Edison as she spoke. The smile he sent her held far too much wicked promise for the middle of the day, especially surrounded by his family and an irate naval officer.

Cheeks flaming, Ada looked away. Just a glance, and he had her ready to slip into his bed. Not just ready, but eager. Would her reaction to him ever dim?

“Of all the damned things.” Still ramrod straight, the Admiral puffed up his considerable chest and eyed each member of the group as if they were a sorry band of new recruits.

“I did try to tell you, sir,” Edison said.

The admiral harrumphed.

Spencer pinched the bridge of his nose as if suddenly struck by a terrible headache.

Meena eyed her cousin as if he’d gone completely batty.

“Bloody hell, Edison, you were supposed to talk to the man, not kidnap him.” Briar berated her brother. “We’re terribly sorry, sir. We don’t do this often as a general rule.”

“I had to improvise.” Edison raised his hands in a gesture of frustration. “Things at Whitehall didn’t go exactly to plan.”

“There’s a shock,” Meena muttered. She crossed to the window next to the front door and peered out at the street beyond. “We’d best design some sort of plan before the rest of the Royal Navy gets here.”