The Golden Spider (The Elemental Web Chronicles Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

in an impenetrable fortress.
    Filling the doorway to her right, Lord Thornton stood looking every inch an earl, a man whose actions were not to be questioned. Yet upon closer examination, he did seem a bit pale. Were those dark shadows beneath his eyes? Though he wore exactly the same clothes from his late night visit, his creases were no longer sharp, his shirt had lost some starch, and his cravat hung loose. But there was not a stray feather or cat hair to indicate he’d spent any time inside a chicken coop.
    She narrowed her eyes. Then again, a man such as this would have minions to send to such a task. Did he ever get his own hands dirty?
    He tipped his head in question, giving Amanda a glimpse of a strong, corded neck that stretched down to broad shoulders. She frowned. How did a scientist come by such a physique spending long hours in a laboratory? His lips twitched and for the slightest of moments, his gaze slid below her chin, and she was glad she’d taken the time to don the armor of high fashion and impeccable grooming.
    A flush rose to her cheeks. What might have passed between the two of them had they met in society rather than as academic adversaries?
    Adversary. The man was a liar and a thief. Amanda had not sought him out for a social call. She focused her anger on her target. “Give it back.”
    His eyebrows rose, but his voice was irritatingly calm. “Give what back?”
    “My neurachnid.”
    “A clever name but, as you’ll recall, not something I’ve laid eyes upon.” He turned his back on her and stepped into a small side room that must be his office, leaving her standing in the hallway.
    The effrontery! She snapped her jaw shut and followed him, refusing to accept his clear dismissal.
    Lord Thornton stood at the wall, twisting a dial that would allow him to communicate with a person at the other end of the speaking tube. “I require your presence in my office. Now. She’s here.”
    She bristled. He’d been expecting her? Yet denied involvement with the neurachnid’s theft? Had he been here all night, waiting? Had he and his minions already trialed the neurachnid and found it wanting? Well, he had another think coming if he thought she was going to help him, or anyone else amenable to such underhanded methods.
    “On our way,” a voice over the tube crackled back.
    In the oppressive silence, Amanda studied his office.
    A carved mahogany desk nearly buried under a mountain of papers and books sat on a threadbare rug. Against the wall behind the desk was a bank of shelves covered in yet more books and papers. She glanced over the curiosities tucked among them. A bird skull. An oversized wax model of the human ear. Vacuum tubes. A two-headed snake floating in preservative. On another wall hung an extensive anatomical chart detailing every nerve in the human body.
    A single, solitary chair‌—‌unrelieved by any cushion‌—‌sat before his desk. Anyone so unfortunate as to be offered that seat would soon hasten to leave. Rather the point, she thought.
    Lord Thornton moved to sit behind his desk without so much as offering it to her.
    She stood behind the chair, her fingers gripping its back. Tightly. Much like they desired to grip his neck. “You deny it then?”
    His face impassive, Lord Thornton leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers across his chest. “Deny what?”
    Amanda wanted to smack the flat of her hands on his desk and growl. But Father’s words came back to her, and she controlled herself. Barely. “That you sent someone to appropriate my neurachnid. I would not hand it over willingly, so you resorted to force.”
    “The low opinion you must have of me.” Lord Thornton clucked his tongue. “Let me assure you that while I would like very much to have possession of your contraption, I do not.”
    “So you admit the rare earth metal might work?”
    His face darkened. “I admit nothing.”
    A perfunctory knock sounded behind her. Amanda spun around. Leaning in the