Seleste deLaney - [Badlands 02] Read Online Free PDF Page A

they’ll shun you. You need a man—a respectable man—if you plan to stake a claim here.” She bit her lip, her brows pulling together. “People have been talking about your... eccentricities again since your father’s passing. Rumors about where you’ve been for the past few years have been floating around. They tolerated you before—because of your parents. If you want them to keep turning a blind eye to the things you do, you need a husband.”
    Though Henrietta very much wanted a family, the thought that she would need one had never occurred to her. Perhaps Lucinda was still her friend after all. No one else had bothered to warn her. Henri swallowed hard, nodding. She wasn’t ready for this. And how was she supposed to find someone “respectable” who would allow her to continue her experiments? Or start her own medical practice? It wasn’t as if feminist men of substance were easy to come by.
    She had a feeling Carson would have allowed and even encouraged such things, but Lucinda was right. Hero or not, he’d never do. Which meant it was best if she paid her donation and never saw him again.
    * * *
    Carson watched as Henrietta walked out the door.
    No.
    She’d paid to spend the rest of the gala with him; she couldn’t just leave. Hell, after the time they’d spent together, she couldn’t just leave. To hell and back with the dancing.
    After clambering off the stage in the most dignified fashion he could manage, he wound his way to the exit. Outside, he whipped off his mask. The wind tore his hair from its tie as he twisted his head back and forth. There! Without a care for proper behavior, he ran to the steam carriage she was climbing inside. “Henrietta!”
    She turned to look at him, her mask still firmly in place, but the next thing he knew, she was safely ensconced inside the black carriage. The driver shut the door and climbed into the front. A billow of steam told him the man was about to pull away, when Carson’s hand finally clamped down on the curtained window. “Wait.”
    Henrietta rapped on the pane in front of her, and the steam engine cycled down to a low burbling. “Is there a problem? I thought you’d appreciate that I helped you avoid more time with one of the debutantes, or worse, one of their mothers.”
    “I’d appreciate it more if you came back inside for the dancing you just paid for. We could make plans and—”
    “Perhaps another time. I’m afraid I have some pressing engagements to tend to for the foreseeable future.” She reached through the window, her fingers tracing the line of his jaw for a second before she snatched her hand away. “I had a lovely time with you tonight, but I’m sure you have duties that don’t involve crazed lady scientists with their rogue clockworks and society plans. Good night, Marshal Alexander.”
    He tried to wrap his head around her sudden shift to formality. What happened to the woman who faked a swoon just to help him escape the ballroom? The one who teased him about being a wolf in sheep’s clothing? “The wolf is gone, Henrietta. It’s just me now.” She didn’t say anything, hiding in the shadows of the carriage. “How will I find you?”
    When her voice came, it was tight—false like her smile had been most of the night. “You won’t.”
    This time when she tapped on the window, the carriage pulled away. He called her name, feeling like the prince after the ball, but without the comfort of Cinderella’s slipper to confirm she’d been real. His fist clenched empty at his side and he stalked back into the hotel. He didn’t know what had happened in the few minutes between coming downstairs and Henrietta’s departure, but he didn’t want to let it go. In the ballroom once more, he made his way to the ledger, but the winning bidders circled it waiting their turns.
    Mr. Cartwright shrugged on his frock coat with the help of a young brunette woman in a hummingbird mask. He frowned as Carson failed once more to get the