The Girl in the Clockwork Collar (Steampunk Chronicles #2)(59)

“It is,” he replied.

“I thought he’d be older,” she remarked, boldly staring across the theater. “He’s a little bit of lovely, innit he?”

“He is,” Mei agreed enthusiastically.

Jasper’s head whipped toward her, and he wasn’t the only one who stared—Finley and Dalton did, as well. The Asian girl shrugged her delicate shoulders. “She asked.”

Jasper had many options when it came to envying Griffin, but appearance hadn’t ever been one of them—until now. But that wasn’t his utmost concern at the moment. No, what needled him was the fact that Dalton seemed to feel exactly the same way. Could it be that he had developed feelings for Mei?

No, that was impossible. Mei was just another possession to him. Though, if Dalton had gone soft on her, then it would make him much more reluctant to kill her. More reluctant to let go of her, as well.

Meanwhile, Finley looked as though she’d like to strangle the other girl. “Maybe you’d introduce me to His Grace,” she suggested to Jasper.

Dalton reached over and put his hand on her leg, which was covered by the same gown she’d worn to break into the house party. “Not tonight,” he informed her. “We have work to do. You can work your wiles on the fancy man another time.”

Finley pretended to shrug it off, but Jasper saw the stiff set of her shoulders. If Dalton didn’t take his hand from her leg, he was likely to lose it.

Jasper looked to Griffin, wanting to see how he viewed this little display. Obviously he couldn’t see where Dalton had his hand, but he could tell that it was near or on Finley. The young duke’s jaw was tight, but he nodded in polite greeting at their pointed stares.

Dalton inclined his head, as well, then turned to Jasper once more. “Perhaps you should introduce Finley, Jas. He appears to be quite fascinated with her.”

Finley laughed and shifted in her chair so Dalton’s hand fell away. “Right, he might recognize me as the one who knocked him senseless at that house party.”

“You are a difficult girl to forget, Miss Finley,” Dalton agreed. “You would be an excellent way to divert the duke’s attention. He could be our first test.”

“Test of what?” Jasper demanded, resisting the urge to shoot a worried glance at Finley.

Dalton merely smiled. Not for the first time, Jasper was tempted to beat the smile right off the blackguard’s face. He could no longer resist glancing at Finley, who looked as though she entertained similar thoughts.

The lights went down, and a roar rose from the crowd in the pit below. A man in a suit came out to introduce the performance, and then the curtains parted, and the entertainment began. The audience quieted.

“Time for the two of you to get to work,” Dalton commanded in a low whisper. “Be quick about it.”

Jasper rose to his feet along with Finley. The two of them said nothing, just filed out of the box into the empty corridor.

“When this is over,” Finley whispered as they walked, “we’re going to take turns holding him down while the other beats his pretty face.”

Jasper chuckled at her bloodthirsty tone. “Sounds fun.” He liked the fact that she just assumed they would defeat Dalton, as though he wasn’t a danger to either of them. He didn’t know if she was foolish or confident, but whatever it was, she bolstered his own faith in their abilities.

“C’mon,” he said, guiding her toward the end of the corridor. “We have to get downstairs.”

“Tell me you didn’t hide it in one of the dressing rooms,” she murmured.

“No,” he replied. “It’s not in a dressing room.”

Beside him she breathed a sigh of relief. “Good.”

Jasper winced. “It’s in the lobby.”

Finley halted in the middle of the carpet, turning on him with astonishment. “Are you out of your ruddy mind? What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking of ways to make it impossible for Dalton to assemble the damn thing. How was I to know he’d stoop to extortion?”

She scowled at him. “He’s a ruthless criminal—what else would he do?”

She had a valid point, and it made him feel stupid that he hadn’t thought that far ahead. “Dalton’s never had much of an attention span. I figured he’d give up looking. Obviously I underestimated how important the damn thing was to him.”

Fists on her hips, Finley sighed. “I beg your pardon, Jasper. Of course you took what seemed like the best course of action at the time. Let’s just go and see if we can recover it and hope no one else has found it in the meanwhile.”

“I doubt anyone has,” he explained as they continued toward the staircase. “It’s not in plain sight.”

Another sigh. “Of course not,” she muttered. “That would be too easy for us.”

Jasper grinned. “Come on, ducks.” He affected an accent much like the slight cockney she used in Dalton’s presence. “Where’s your sense of adventure?”

She shot a narrow glance at him, but it was softened by her smile.

It would have been too much to ask that the lobby be empty when they entered it. Why did folks bother going to the theater if they were just going to loiter about the entrance and never watch any of it? It didn’t make any sense, but then wondering at what went on in another person’s mind gave him a headache.