If the blasted man had gotten himself killed, she’d—</p>
“I believe I found something of yours.” Edison’s hearty voice boomed.
She whirled around to see him striding toward her, dragging a figure along by his collar as if he were a freshly caught fish.
Ada sagged back against the brickwork. “Archie?”
Edison shoved him forward, planting himself at his back. “Not who I was expecting.”
Archie sneered at her. “You’re going to lose it. Someone stronger and smarter than you is going to get that battery.” His upper lip curled in the most unattractive manner. “Might as well be me.”
The fury in his words cut her. He’d never cared for her. Nor she for him, but to see such outright hatred…
She shifted her gaze to Edison’s face, but had to turn away from the soft pity in his eyes. For the second time, she thought she might dissolve into tears.
Not that she’d do such a thing in front of her step-brother. She’d rather blow up her battery, burn all her notes, than let him guess he affected her so.
“That is never going to happen.” Edison shoved him forward. “Where are the toughs you hired?”
Archie shrugged. “They weren’t worth the money.” He glared at Ada, his dark eyes hot with anger. “I should have grabbed your damned device myself. Wouldn’t have to waste my day sniffing about at your heels if I had.”
“But it’s not yours.” Ada wanted to stand toe to toe with him, but her legs were trembling. “You have no right—”
“You have no right,” he yelled. “You have no right to parade about like a man, acting as if you were some sort of scientist, calling attention to yourself like a streetwalker.” Red splotches stained his thin cheeks. “You’re an embarrassment. You’re ruining my life.”
Ada opened her mouth to protest his ridiculous accusations, but it was too late.
Fingers twisted into brother’s starched shirt, Edison jerked him close. “Just wait until I get you out of view Wells, then we’ll see who’s an embarrassment.”
She couldn’t have said whether it was the violent emotions swirling about, or the fact that someone had stood up for her for the first time in her life, whatever the cause, Ada felt decidedly lightheaded.
Edison set Archie back on his feet. “You best run as fast and as far as you can. If I find you anywhere near Mrs. Templeton again, you won’t be running anywhere for a very long time.” He released Archie’s collar, using the motion to send him stumbling backwards.
Archie sneered at her. “You never were any good at being a woman. If your father hadn’t made his friend marry you, you’d be a dried up old spinster instead of a dried up old widow.” He tossed his head back as if trying to look down his nose at her. “Not that there’s any difference.”
Before Ada could formulate a response, Archie scuttled off into the crowd.
Edison reached for her hand. “He’s a dirty piece of work. You don’t deserve that.”
Still whirling from brother’s firestorm of anger, she could only nod.
The sad smile that curved his lips almost undid her. She picked at the dried apple stems on her hat, trying to focus on anything but Archie’s hatred, trying to dissipate it with logic and reason.
But like sulfur in water, unpleasant emotions proved difficult to dissolve.
And truly, she was done with it. Done with being afraid. Done with being shoved from this place to that. Being followed. Terrorized.
She needed her life back.
And she would get it.
Once she delivered the battery, there would be no need of protection. No need for vigilance. She could have her experiments and her peaceful home.
*
It was early, far earlier than Edison generally rose. The garden, frost covered and silent, was only just visible in the weak morning light.
Which accounted for the fact that he and Ada were the only ones at the breakfast table.
Edison flicked an underdone slice of bacon to the side of his plate. “Couldn’t sleep?”
A soft scratching sound filled the quiet room as Ada scraped the burnt edges off her toast. “Not a bit.” She smiled at him. “Too excited.”
“Of course.” He paused, trying to think of something profound to add. He wanted to convey his respect, his admiration for her mind and her fortitude over the past few days, but nothing he constructed seemed adequate to the task.
For once he wished he were good with words instead of metal and machines and muscle.
In the space of a few days, he’d grown fond of Mrs. Ada Templeton. Far fonder than he would have imagined, given her prickly nature and his own fervent wish to remain uninvolved and unentangled.
And still, she was not uninterested in him.
The coddled eggs in the dish below mocked him. He stabbed the yolks with his fork. They would never suit, not for more than a day or a week or a few splendid months.
She was too stubborn.
He was too cavalier.
She would nudge and command and manage the living soul right out of him.
He’d break her heart.
Best to get her and her battery to safety and call it done.
He eyed her across the table. “I’ll escort you as far as the navy will allow.”
“They’ll only turn you away.” She set down her toast. “You heard the admiral. The laboratory location is highly guarded. Only those with a need to know are allowed in.”
“I have a need. Seeing that you and your device arrive safely is a need.”
“That’s not exactly—”
Beecham stuck his head in the doorway, interrupting her. “The carriage has arrived.” He managed to infuse even that short statement with a heaping dose of irritation.
Edison indulged in a momentary daydream featuring the last of his coddled eggs sliding down the man’s shirt front.
Eyes widening, Ada dropped her spoon. “They’re early.” She jumped up from the table and tossed down her serviette. “Show them in. The luggage in the foyer is ready to load.”
“Madam.” Her toad of a butler left.
Edison rose as well and followed her out the door. “There’s no reason for me not to join you.”
“There are numerous reasons.”
“None of them make the least sense.”
“To you.”
“The rest of the league is capable of protecting your grandmother and the staff. They’re capable of protecting this entire neighborhood. I’m of better use watching over you.”
“The navy should be up to the task, I should think.” She marched straight through the front hall and up the stairs. “They’ve all sorts of battleships and frigates to spare. How many could it require to see to one woman and a few assorted boxes?”
At the end of the upper hall, she opened a door into the sewing room.
He leaned against the edge of the doorway and folded his arms over his chest, watching her pull an overflowing basket of rags from its spot in the corner. She huffed and pulled back hard. The basket seemed far heavier than a pile of clothing would suggest.
He grinned. She had done it, hadn’t she? Outfoxed him five ways to Sunday. “The mending pile? You stashed an astounding scientific breakthrough under old socks and torn aprons?”
“You never found it.”