The Watchmaker's Daughter (Glass and Steele #1)(46)

"Jem doesn't say how the sheriff found out," Mr. Glass said, "only that he came to the house and demanded to know when we'd left."

"It won't be Jem's fault," came Cyclops's resonant voice. "It's more likely someone who wants Matt out of the way."

"That narrows it down." Willie's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Someone who also knows the sheriff wants me, dead or alive," Matt said.

Wanted, dead or alive. Those were the words on the poster of the Dark Rider. I pressed a hand to my stomach and tried to catch my breath but my corset was too tight. I felt sick. A sheriff was after Matt. Then he must be the Dark Rider.

"He don't want you alive, Matt," Duke said heavily. "In a coffin is the only way Sheriff Payne will take you home."

They fell silent and I crept away from the door, abandoning the clock. I ran to my rooms and locked the door behind me.





Chapter 10





I didn't come out of my room until the dinner gong sounded. Not joining the others would have seemed suspicious, so I decided to act as normally as possible but I found it difficult to look anyone in the eye.

Fortunately Willie and Cyclops were distracted by Miss Glass's grand entrance alongside me. She'd decided to dress in a gown more suited to dinner with royalty. The silver thread through the dark gray silk shone in the candlelight, and the pearls at her throat and in her hair only drove home to me that I was in the presence of aristocracy. Me, a humble watchmaker's daughter.

"Miss Steele?" Mr. Glass's firm hand on my elbow caught me by surprise. "May I escort you to your seat?"

"Thank you."

He folded my fingers over his arm and trapped them there with his own hand. "Are you unwell?"

"No."

He bent his head toward mine. He smelled like spices and lavender, an intriguing combination that set my heart racing. "You look a little pale and you've been in your room most of the afternoon."

"Sometimes I like to be alone."

"So you weren't avoiding me?"

My heart rose to my throat. "Why would I avoid you?"

He pulled out the chair for me. "Because you believe me to be insincere. I would hazard a guess that you think me ungentlemanly too."

His hand felt heavy on mine but not unpleasantly so. "You are a gentleman, Mr. Glass. Your grandfather was a baron, no less."

"I hope I'm more gentlemanly than he was." One side of his mouth kicked up. "And please, don't hold my connections against me. I can't choose my family, but I do choose my friends very carefully." His breath ruffled my hair near my ear. "I hope you will be one of them."

Heat crept up my throat and touched my cheeks. His smile widened. He knew what affect his charm had on me, and that unsettled me more. "Mr. Glass, in all honesty, I don't know what to make of you. My thoughts swing from one direction to the other every hour of the day, even when you're not present."

He suddenly grinned. "I'm glad to know that you think of me that often."

I sucked in a steadying breath. Despite my determination to remain calm, it sounded ragged. "Mr. Glass, are you flirting with me?"

"Is that a crime?"

"Some would say it is, since you plan on leaving England in a few days’ time. Besides, haven't we already established that you're insincere?"

The muscles in his arm tightened. He let me go. "My apologies, Miss Steele. I don't know what I was thinking." He strode off to the other side of the table and didn't look at me again.

By the end of dinner I felt hot and my nerves frayed, and I didn't know why. He'd done exactly what I'd wanted and ended his flirtations, as a decent man—a gentleman—ought to have done. So why did part of me wish he hadn't?

I couldn't sit still afterward in the library as I tried to read by the lamplight, so when Willie found me and asked if I was going to join her for cards, I agreed without hesitation. I needed to do something. A small voice told me I was being reckless, but I ignored it. I wanted to be reckless tonight. Hopefully a little adventure would put an end to my restlessness.

"India is coming out with me," Willie announced to Mr. Glass after his aunt retired to her room.

He lowered his brandy glass very slowly and deliberately. "India? What happened to Miss Steele?"

"She said I could call her India, so I will." Willie crossed her arms over her chest.

"I did," I said, although they seemed to have forgotten I was there. We three were alone in the drawing room where Willie and I found Mr. Glass reading the newspaper. Duke and Cyclops were nowhere to be seen.

"Miss Steele, would you mind stepping outside for a moment? I need to speak with Willie alone."

I agreed, since I planned on listening in anyway. He shot me a hard smile then shut the door on me. I placed my ear to it and listened to Mr. Glass rant at his cousin.

"You are not taking her with you," he growled.

"She's quite capable of making up her own mind," Willie retorted. "We're both grown women."

"Grown women are as capable of getting themselves into trouble as girls."

"We're neither of us silly, Matt. If we sense danger, we'll leave."