Saving the Scientist (The Restitution League #2)(76)

Ada turned her back to him. “By imagining there’s a killer behind every pillar and post?”

“It’s better than the alternative.”

“I don’t agree.”

“What do you mean?”

Ada twisted her fingers together in her lap. “I’m not sure this is worth the price.”

Nor was it worth the torture.

It wasn’t just that poor man, although she rather liked the idea of having an admirer.

It was Edison. It was the way he breathed. The way he moved and talked and... existed.

She couldn’t stand being in the same space with him. Couldn’t stand looking at his beautiful mouth. Couldn’t stand breathing his distinctive scent.

She couldn’t sit across from him for one more second, knowing she’d never spend another night in his arms.

Grief choked off her air. She stretched toward the door handle. “I’ll walk.”



*

Edison reached the handle of the carriage before her and held it shut. “You will not.”

With the other hand, he rubbed his freshly shaved chin. What in blazing hell had gotten into the woman?

“Let’s be off,” he called out to Henry. The sooner they got moving, the sooner she’d calm down. He hoped.

With a sharp jolt, Henry guided the horse out into the noontime traffic.

Ada retreated to her corner of the seat, as if his mere presence offended.

Still wary, Edison stayed balanced on the edge of the bench, ready to block her exit, should she try again. Henry had the coach moving now, but they weren’t rolling fast enough to deter her if she got it in her mind to fly out.

The clatter of wheels over cobbles filled the small space.

“That was foolish,” Ada said. “I apologize.”

Edison swallowed the rebuke on the tip of his tongue. It had indeed been a foolish impulse, from a woman not given to them. Clouds scudded across the sun, changing the light from bright to dark and back again, blasting her face with white light, then plunging her into shadow with disconcerting rapidity.

Much like she must feel. He tossed down the fake spectacles and pressed the heels of his hands against his tired eyes. From her life of scholarly reflection, she’d been dropped straight into a fight for her life.

And then some.

Enough to put anyone off their game.

And the worst of it was yet to come. One way or another, she’d come face to face with the monster who wanted her dead.

That couldn’t help but change a person. Facing that kind of evil stripped away innocence.

Once she looked evil in the eye, she wouldn't see the world—or him—in the same way.

Ada was staring out the window, fingers tapping out a rhythm on the handles of her handbag.

If he moved his leg a few inches, he could touch her.

He ached to hold her, to run his hands over her curves, to kiss her while she moaned in pleasure.

None of which would make their parting less painful.

He curled his fingers into fists, fighting the urge to pull her into his arms. His acting skills were superb. She had no idea how hard it was to maintaining his distance.

It was killing him.

The little hat, wire stems of its glass cherries twisted and bent, sat on the seat next to him, radiating disapproval. She wouldn’t believe it now, but she’d find another man, an intelligent, educated man of good breeding. A man who’s station matched her own.

A man whose good nature hadn’t been fractured by a life spent learning to recognize the base, the selfish, the criminally minded.

“It’s hard to believe this time tomorrow we could have him,” Ada mused, her focus still on the passing scenery. “I look forward to having my laboratory back. I can only imagine the Hapgoods will be ready for a break from Grandmama.”

“She’s charming.”

“She’s a trial.”

Edison nodded. He pleated the knees of his trousers between his fingers, searching for a way to keep the conversation going.

“What will you do after all this?” he asked. “You must have other ideas you’d like to develop.”

“Something requiring only calm and quiet,” Ada said, her tone weary. “I could go quite a long time without any more excitement.”

Though it was no more than he expected, her words stung. “Wouldn’t blame you.”

Without so much as a glance in his direction, she nodded in acknowledgement.

He wasn’t good at chitchat. He was bloody awful at it, really, but the silence ate at him, making his nerves jangle.

Edison cleared his throat. “I’m hoping my automatic butler will be stable enough to perform some basic functions with a high degree of reliability. I could do with a few weeks without interruptions myself.”

There was no response from her side of the cab.

Brick-brained as he was about feelings and such, he had the sense even that innocuous topic had put a poor twist on things.

Nothing for it but to plow ahead. The alternative was painful, icy silence. “Once we get the power regulation correct, your battery’ll make an outstanding power source. I should like to commission one as soon as possible.”

Ada shrugged. She pressed a finger to the glass, tracing a line back and forth across the bottom of the window. “If things progress as intended, Stanton should be able to spare a battery or two. Production was scheduled to begin within the month.”