Free Brilliant Devices by Shelley Adina

into a curtsey as the count bowed. “I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Lady Claire. Are you familiar with my ships?”
    “I am indeed, sir,” she said rather breathlessly. How charming he was! And what lively intelligence danced in those eyes, glinting through his formal manners. “In fact, I own stock in your company. I am quite certain that the Atlantic shipping lanes will belong to Zeppelin before many more months pass.”
    His eyebrows rose, and then he gave a bark of laughter. “She is prudent as well as pretty.” He had not released her hand, and now he patted it. “I shall do my utmost not to disappoint you.”
    “Claire aspires to be an engineer, Ferdinand,” John told him as he released her hand at last. “When we return to London, she will be entering the university to study.”
    “Is it so? What field interests you?”
    He had not laughed. He had not even behaved as though this were unusual. What an extraordinary man. Of course, things might be different in Prussia. After all, Madame Bertha Mercedes ran the largest manufactory of steam engines in all of Europe. Perhaps women were accepted to the universities there as a matter of course.
    “I hardly know which to choose, sir, so many interest me,” she replied. “But since my travels have brought me here, I find my fascination with flight grows daily.”
    “One can hardly function in this vast land without some way to get about,” he said, nodding in agreement. “A landau depends upon the existence of roads. A water vessel upon a river or sea. But an airship…” He gestured into the distance, as if his great ship were moored outside in the park. “An airship can go anywhere and be put to nearly any use in the service of mankind.” His gaze returned to her. “I think you would be wise to pursue aeronautics, my dear.”
    “Thank you, sir. I appreciate your counsel.”
    “And do not forget the stock market.” He laughed at his own joke, clicked his heels and bowed from the waist to her and Davina, and drew John aside.
    “Come, Claire,” Davina said. “I believe I see someone you know.”
    “But—”
    “We wi ll leave the gentlemen to themselves for a moment.”
    Claire resigned herself to being social when what she really wanted was to ask the count about hi Kounacceptes plans for a Zeppelin airfield outside New York , and follow that with her questions about the power cell and its ability to replace a steam engine. “Yes, Davina.”
    “Claire!” A small commotion seemed to be moving toward them, which resolved into none other than Peony Churchill. She flung herself upon Claire in a huge hug. “Oh, I am so glad to see you—Mama was quite convinced you had decided to stay in London and marry James Selwyn. See what a low opinion she has of you! But I knew differently.” The laughter and joy faded from her face. “Claire? Are you quite all right?”
    “Peony, did you not hear? James was killed in a train accident nearly two weeks ago.”
    Wide-eyed, Peony lifted her gloved fingers to her lips. “No, I did not hear. We have been in Esquimaux country, documenting conditions there for a petition to Her Majesty.”
    “I am very sorry to spring it on you in this fashion.”
    “Are—are you all right?”
    There were a number of ways to answer this, but Davina took the matter out of her hands. “They had not been engaged for some weeks.”
    “Yes—yes, I know, but—” Peony suddenly seemed to realize to whom she was speaking. “Your ladyship, I do beg your pardon.” She sank into a graceful curtsey. “What a pleasure to see you. When I got your note that Claire had arrived, I hardly knew what to think. For all I knew, she was in New York awaiting passage here after her voyage on Persephone .”
    “We must contrive a way to catch you up on my adventures,” Claire said. “I need at least two hours, and we will not get that here.”
    “You certainly will not. I intend to see you dancing before this mazurka ends.”