She crossed to the uncurtained window through which she’d seen the fleeing man. Crossing her arms over her silk wrapper, she stared down at the night-shrouded scene and thought of what was to come.
Prior to tonight, she and Rand had already started to form a...partnership of sorts. Until he’d arrived and she’d learned the truth of how matters stood, she hadn’t comprehended the significance of her brother’s current invention with respect to her own life. Given she now understood that reality, Rand was quickly coming to feature as...a collaborator. Someone whose aims coincided with her own. Someone she could rely on, at least as far as protecting the invention and steering it to a successful unveiling went.
That some man had attempted to break into the workshop proved beyond doubt that someone—be it Mayhew or some other man—wanted to sabotage the project.
She and Rand would have to work together to guard against that happening. His alarm mechanism notwithstanding, William John couldn’t be relied on to recognize, much less react appropriately to, a threat posed to his invention, not until an attack materialized and was actively under way. Then, he would defend his engine to the death. Meanwhile, however, he would be absorbed with correcting the issues preventing the engine from running for more than a handful of minutes without exploding.
For all their sakes, William John needed to devote his time and his brain to that. No one else could fix the engine.
And she and Rand would be thrown together even more in organizing its defense.
She had to admit that a large part of her found the prospect...enticing. It promised a sort of excitement that had rarely come her way.
More, however, as she stood staring unseeing into the darkness, she realized that, for the very first time in her life, she felt...protective toward an invention.
Before Rand had arrived on their doorstep, she hadn’t thought of the engine much at all, and when she had, it had featured as a nuisance.
After she’d learned the truth, she’d accepted that the engine meant something to her—to her future.
And after this direct attack...
She searched through her feelings for the emotions underlying them—and felt her brows rise as she considered what she sensed.
She would defend the invention as if it were...hers, in a way. Hers to protect—like a mechanical child. A mechanical nephew—the fruit of her brother’s brain.
Given her until-recent attitude to inventions, that struck her as odd, yet she couldn’t deny or dismiss the protectiveness that had surged inside her when she’d heard the alarm and seen the man fleeing across the lawn.
She’d known the invention had been attacked, and her response had been instant and instinctive.
She’d been—and still was—prepared to fight to ensure the engine, her father’s last project, succeeded.
Not from any especial devotion to her father or even her brother. Not purely because her future might well hang on the engine’s success. But primarily because someone had dared to attack the engine—and through that, attack them. Her, William John, their household—and Rand Cavanaugh.
Her features eased; she considered that conclusion, then allowed a smile to bloom.
Now, she understood her reaction.
Her people—those she considered her responsibility—had been threatened. Of course she would fight to defend them.
Reassured and feeling more settled, she lowered her arms and turned from the window.
She climbed beneath the covers, lay down, and settled her head on her pillow.
No matter how unthreatening and innocent Clive Mayhew appeared to be, she would continue to be on her guard against him. If he truly was innocent, it wouldn’t matter. If he wasn’t...
She closed her eyes and relaxed into the softness of her feather mattress. She thought of Mayhew’s visit later that day as sleep drifted closer.
On the cusp of dreams came the reflection that she was exceedingly glad that Rand had thought to come to the Hall, that he’d opened her
eyes to the reality of what was going on, and she was beyond words relieved that, over dinner, he’d said he would stay, not just until the engine was fixed and running smoothly but until they’d successfully unveiled it at the exhibition.
He would be there, by her side, throughout this unforeseen adventure.
She slid into sleep thoroughly pleased about that.
CHAPTER 6
On his way to the breakfast parlor that morning, Rand paused in the front hall as Johnson emerged from the direction of the kitchen. “Johnson, has that letter I left last night gone out?”