Read Magnificent Devices 07 - A Lady of Integrity for Free Online Page B

there had been much more to his letters than the snippets Lizzie had been reading to them over breakfast.
    He set Lizzie down and turned to Claire, who hugged him in her turn. Goodness, he was strong, his body filling out and coming into its own with vigorous, satisfying work. He was a man now, and she smiled into his eyes with all the pride that welled in her heart.
    “All right, Lady?” he asked.
    “More than all right now,” she said. “What have we done to merit this gift, so unexpectedly?”
    Now a new voice, equally familiar and unexpected, sounded behind him. “Did you not receive Her Majesty’s letter?” Ian Hollys, captain of the Dunsmuirs’ flagship vessel, Lady Lucy , climbed the last of the stairs and emerged into the receiving salon beside his lieutenant.
    Her mind spinning in joy and confusion, Claire gave him her hand. “But … I don’t understand. What are the two of you doing here when we understood you were at the Firstwater Mine, on the other side of the world?”
    “Then you have not received her letter.”
    “We have indeed, not ten minutes past. But it does not explain your presence—welcome as it is.” She collected herself and remembered her manners somewhat belatedly. “Do come into the dining salon. We were just at dinner with Count von Zeppelin and the Baroness. Will you join us?”
    “I wouldn’t turn down good grub.” Tigg took Lizzie’s hand and led the way back along the corridor. “Nor the chance to shake the count’s hand again.”
    Which left Claire alone with Ian Hollys, a situation in which she had not found herself since she had declined his proposal in June, practically on this very spot. “Will you come and have something to eat?” she said, a little diffidently. How did one treat the worthy and noble gentleman one had refused? The etiquette books her mother was so fond of did not cover such a situation, she was quite sure—and even if they did, Claire had not read them. “You can tell all of us the story at once. Each person here is exceedingly anxious to know if you have any more information than Her Majesty gave us.”
    “Claire, a moment.” His gaze had not left her face, and if not for the ring upon her finger, she would have felt quite uncomfortable.
    “Of course.”
    He lifted her hand as if to kiss it, and saw the ring. After the briefest of hesitations, he patted the back of it and released it. “Please accept my heartfelt felicitations upon your engagement to Mr. Malvern. I heard of it only recently, when Tigg came to Hollys Park.”
    “Hollys Park?” she said blankly. What had he been doing there? And when had he come home? Goodness, he must tell them what was going on at once. “Thank you, Ian. We are very happy, and planning to say our vows at Christmas.”
    “I am glad.” They walked down the corridor, toward where she could see Alice and Andrew crowding the door, astonishment written on their faces. “Your happiness means a great deal to me, and the fact that I can respect and admire your choice makes me happy, as well.”
    It was gallant of him to say so, but there was no time for more. Ian and Tigg were borne away to the table, where the von Zeppelin staff lost no time in setting two more places and offering food. Lizzie, glued to Tigg’s side, peeled shrimp and would have fed them to him one by one, too, if she had not caught Claire’s eye and straightened in her chair enough to pay attention to her own plate.
    Claire handed Ian the letter from the Queen. “We have all read it. I do hope you can shed some light on it, for it makes no sense at all even to the fine minds gathered here.”
    Ian scanned the lines, then handed it across to Tigg, who put down his fork and did the same. “She has succeeded in her intent, then,” Ian said. “She is emulating her predecessor, Queen Elizabeth the First, in that her writing says what it must, while she herself does what she can. She is, of course, quite powerless to act openly, with the