Read The Golden Spider (The Elemental Web Chronicles Book 1) for Free Online

open door was a man of medium height and medium build. He had brown hair and brown eyes. All the usual features in all the usual places. A face so common that most would immediately forget it.
    “So this is the student of the hour,” the man said. “Thornton didn’t mention you were beautiful as well as brilliant.” A playful grin so altered his appearance that Amanda immediately warmed to him.
    Confused, but flattered, she was about to reply when a petite blonde woman, no more than five feet tall and attired in black mourning, shoved at the man’s back, knocking him off balance and into the office. “Mind the manners your mother taught you.”
    “Follow the customs of my mother?” the man quipped. “You might regret that.”
    “There is much about you to regret,” the lady retorted.
    The man’s grin widened as she stepped around him and pierced Lord Thornton with a look. “You bellowed?”
    Lord Thornton showed no inclination to rise. “Lady Amanda, may I present Lady Huntley and Mr. Black.”
    Mr. Black bowed, then quietly shut the door behind him.
    Lady Huntley inclined her head. “We’ve met.” Her light green eyes studied Amanda through long, kohl-darkened lashes.
    Indeed, they had. Lord Huntley had once courted Amanda herself. They’d spent hours in each other’s company discussing any number of topics, including her work on the neurachnid, and developed a comfortable kind of friendship. Amanda had been expecting a proposal at any moment when Eloise Kale, now Lady Huntley, made her dramatic entrance into the social whirl of the ton .
    Her heart-shaped face, Cupid’s bow lips and the angelic color of her hair had men falling over their feet to make her acquaintance, Lord Huntley among them. Several months later, when Amanda wished him happy on the occasion of his wedding, he’d still only had eyes for his beautiful bride.
    But he’d died, tragically, not too long after their wedding. On his way to Brussels to attend a scientific conference, airship pirates had attacked his vessel. Lord Huntley had been a good friend and scientific ally, and she’d privately mourned his death. She glanced at Lord Thornton. He’d also been aboard when that dirigible crashed but survived with a mere injury to his leg.
    “You’d best take a seat,” Lady Huntley said. “He’ll not offer one and this may take some time.”
    “What will take time?” Amanda asked, disinclined to sit. She glanced from one face to the next. If this was about her missing neurachnid, it was causing quite a stir.
    “She accuses me of stealing it,” Lord Thornton said.
    Mr. Black crossed his arms and leaned back against the door. “Well, you do have motivation.”
    Lord Thornton growled.
    “This device of yours,” Lady Huntley began, “that can repair a damaged motor neuron by spinning gold fibers from the central nervous system to the muscle, what is your current success rate?”
    Amanda stiffened. This was about her neurachnid. It hurt to think of Lord Huntley sharing her research with a woman he’d married instead of her.
    “Let us save the details for later, Lady Huntley.” Lord Thornton turned his intense gaze back in Amanda’s direction. “Where were you last night?”
    She took exception at his accusatory tone. “Excuse me? What business is that of yours?” Her voice rose with each word. “Why are you treating me like a suspected criminal? As if I would steal my own spider.”
    “Just answer the question,” Lord Thornton insisted. “Where were you last night?”
    Spite made her answer, “With you.”
    Mr. Black snickered.
    Lord Thornton frowned. “Before,” he clarified.
    “At the Townson’s dinner party.”
    “Can anyone bear witness to that?” he asked.
    Amanda rolled her eyes. “Have you never been to a dinner party?” The lines around Lord Thornton’s mouth deepened further. “Generally, a large number of people sit about a long table for several hours of inane conversation.”
    Lord Thornton’s