Read Of Silk and Steam for Free Online

before he tried to levitate them off the ground. Stripping out of his wet coat, he tossed it aside.
    The pilot was still gaping at him. “Here, sir, you can’t be up here.”
    Leo held up his billfold. It was dripping, along with the rest of him, but the notes within it would dry. He tossed it toward the fellow. “I’m commandeering this vessel. You have two choices. One, I can knock you unconscious and attempt to steer this bloody thing myself, or two, you can take whatever is in that billfold, steer me to my destination, and then return with the airship in one piece to collect Matheson.”
    “His lordship will have my head,” the man replied, hands cupped around the wallet.
    “Tell him you saved the vessel from certain destruction,” Leo replied, peering through the window. Mina had managed to find herself a man’s jacket to cover herself—the first pilot’s, by the look of it.
    Seconds ticked by. “Aye, sir.” The man’s shocked expression cleared. “Where would you like to go, sir?”
    “What’s your name?”
    “Whitcomb. Bennett Whitcomb.”
    “I just need help with one other thing before we get under way.”
    “Sir?”
    He pointed through the glass-plated windows. “That comely lass there is with me.”
    * * *
    “You found a pilot,” Mina said flatly, accepting a flute of champagne as Barrons knelt on the edge of the plumply cushioned daybed, the bottle fizzing in his fingers.
    “You sound disappointed.”
    “A little.” She ran her fingers along the timber paneling of the daybed at the front of the ship. “It was my only opportunity to fly such a thing.”
    “Change of plans,” he replied, stretching out alongside her as the engines kicked into gear and the propellers on either side of the gondola began to spin faster. A heady rumbling sound vibrated the deck beneath them as all of the boilers lit up. “I’ll personally pay for Galloway to provide you with lessons.”
    “Admit it,” she replied, sipping her champagne and shivering. “You didn’t like the idea of your fate being in my hands.”
    “I don’t like the idea of my fate residing in anyone’s hands.” The airship quivered and then gave a faint surging push as it lifted into the air. His gaze returned to hers, the faintest of smiles touching those hard lips. “Least of all yours. You were threatening me with all manner of dire retributions, were you not?”
    “Please don’t think me so limited as to consider dropping you off an airship revenge enough.”
    A fluid shrug, all sleek muscle and lazy acquiescence now that they were under way. As if he barely felt the cold that was beginning to almost burn beneath her skin. Shouts began to circle up from beneath them. “Here’s to retribution.” He tapped his glass against hers with a clink, his dark eyes catching glimmer-shine off the gaslights along the rail. “Even if it is merciless.”
    “You doubt me?”
    “Never. I was there when you dueled with your cousin Peter. I know you can be merciless when you need to be.”
    Cold air streamed over the deck. She couldn’t quite reply, the words taking her by surprise. So many years ago now, and yet the memory still lashed her like the cut of a whip, brutal and searing.
    Not merciless , a part of her whispered. Not with Peter. That had been nothing more than a young girl’s survival instinct. Desperation. Him or her .
    His death was still on her hands, though.
    Barrons drained his glass, eyes narrowing as he watched her over the edge of it. Then he reached out and dragged one of the heavy blankets over her.
    “I don’t know where this has been,” she replied through her suddenly dry throat, but she tucked the blanket about her shoulders, trying to create something of a windbreak.
    “We could share,” Barrons suggested.
    What? Her head jerked up. Devil take it! She was so cold that her wits were slowing. And something about the night had softened her focus, made her forget that this man was the enemy. Perhaps the