long since Alice had blushed that it took her a moment to recognize the hot, prickly feeling in her cheeks and forehead.
We, he’d said. Together. Dang. In all her daydreams she had never expected to experience the thrill of the plural pronoun in connection with the brilliant mind she had been worshiping from afar—very far—for so long. In the delight of it, she quite lost track of what he was saying.
“—risking my life for the wretched thing, she might have told me she’d liberated it from the wreckage.”
In Alice’s experience, liberate was a word you used when you didn’t want to say steal. “But doesn’t it belong to her?”
“I am not arguing that. Dr. Craig left it as her legacy.”
“That mad scientist?” Tigg had told her the whole juicy story. Alice wouldn’t have believed a word of it, except that she’d been the one to pull Claire out of the drink half drowned. Anyone who would jump into a flash flood on purpose could break a mad scientist out of Bedlam if she darn well wanted to.
“It is my uneducated opinion that Dr. Craig was not in fact mad. She was being held against her will because she represented a threat to some very wealthy men. But that is beside the point.” Andrew heaved on a nut. “The point is that we are both invefonre bothsted in that cell, and she could have told me.”
The plural pronoun didn’t sound nearly so appealing that time.
Alice stood and dusted off her pants. “Well, in all fairness, we’ve had our hands full. I got a pile of parts in the hold I’ve been meaning to make something with, and I haven’t given them a single thought, myself. So I can’t say as I blame her.”
Andrew finished with the last of his bolts and stood as well. He pulled off his gloves and surveyed their work. “You’re quite right. Isn’t it singular that the four of us—engineers all, and I include Tigg in our number—wound up on this particular ship at this particular time? Without any one of us, we would not have been able to create what I must say must be the first engine of its kind.”
Alice couldn’t keep her face from breaking out in a smile. “You’d better call her in. After you and her rigged that swinging truss—”
“—and you found that glass for the lightning chamber—I swear it will never cross my lips that it began its career holding a gallon of rotgut whiskey—”
“—and you and Tigg and Jake manhandled poor Four into becoming this housing—”
“—we definitely must all be present when we fire her up for the first time.”
Sharing a laugh with him was probably the sweetest moment in Alice’s whole life. The part that came after her father had jumped ship, anyway.
A moment later she realized the hammering had stopped, and Claire and the girls appeared in the gangway. “Did we miss the joke?”
“We’re just having a moment of celebration,” Andrew told her, still smiling.
Claire looked from him to Alice and a shadow passed over her eyes. Was it—could that be hurt?
Well, never mind if it was. Lady Claire Trevelyan had just about everything on earth a girl could want, minus a working airship, but they were about to fix that. If she begrudged Alice a moment of laughter with a certain handsome and brilliant man, well, that was just too bad.
In the next moment, she felt ashamed of herself. Claire wasn’t that petty. She probably liked a good laugh as much as anybody, and wanted to be included, that was all.
If this worked, they’d have plenty to celebrate.
“Is it done?” Maggie asked, evidently objecting to silences, too.
“It is done. Tigg, are you ready?” Andrew asked.
“I been ready for hours, sir. I don’t care if we do have to fly at night, I ent minded to stick around and be dinner for bears.”
“I quite agree,” Claire said. “Alice, let’s see if she’ll go, shall we? Girls, is Rosie safely aboard? Yes? Jake, ready tiller.”
Jake jogged forward and called, “Ready, Lady.”
Who was in command of this tub, anyway? Much as she liked and admired Claire, Alice was the captain and it was her job to give the orders, not someone whomuc someon was used to ordering maids around and bossing dressmakers and—and whatever else it was fine ladies did in London Town.
“Tigg, stand by engine,” she said, moving smoothly but with authority to the stern with him. “Mr. Malvern, take the vanes, please. Full vertical. Passengers, I’d find somewhere