Read Online Touch of Steel: A Novel of the Clockwork Agents by Kate Cross - Free Book Online

might not have remembered you, but I think his heart did.”
    The woman was positively white in the face—not difficult given how fair she already was. “Why would you say something like that?”
    “Because it’s what I think, and I have a tendency to say what’s on my mind. It’s not as if it hurt me to say it.”
    They stared at each other, unblinking. It didn’t matter what the other woman might see in her eyes, either. Claire didn’t care. In another life they might have actually been friends, which was an odd concept for her to begin with, let alone trying to fathom it with the wife of her former lover.
    “Most women would have tried to take my eyes out by now, or would have dissolved into tears.”
    The redhead made a face—as if tasting sour milk. “I find I don’t make tears as easily as some women. And you will need your eyes to assist Alastair. That is more important than any desire to make you less beautiful. Never mind that it wouldn’t change that you know my husband in a most intimate manner. I will simply have to accept that and carry on.”
    Claire stared at her, an unwanted feeling of appreciation coming over her. She admired Lady Huntley. No wonder the Company hadn’t been able to remove her completely from her husband’s mind.
    “I told Wolfred you must be quite the woman for Huntley to be so loyal. I said it with malice, but I was right. You are.”
    Arden Grey smiled—it seemed a mix of amusement, irony and regret. “Funny. I said the same about you.”
    * * *
    “What the devil were you thinking?” Alastair raked a hand through his hair as he regarded Arden. They were in the parlor of Huntley House, having tea. Only he was on his feet now, unable to sit still any longer. He whirled around to confront Luke. “How could you let this happen?”
    His friend’s brow lifted. “I didn’t ‘let’ anything happen. My wife is quite capable of making her own decisions.”
    They were mad—the pair of them. Mad as a bag of cats. “She met with a dangerous enemy agent. By herself.”
    “She did what either you or I would have done when wanting to assess a situation. Dr. Stone was present, and it’s not as though Claire would harm Arden.”
    “Because she’s so very trustworthy?” Sarcasm dripped from his words. Honestly, he understood Arden’s jealousy, but this was beyond sense. And now she actually
felt
for the woman.
    Luke scowled. “Because it wouldn’t be in her best interest to hurt my wife, not when I’m the only friend she’s got.”
    “I don’t understand how you can call yourself her friend. She’s a Company agent, for Christ’s sake. Forgive me, Arden.”
    She made a face at him. “The fact that you seem to find me incredibly stupid offends me more than your language, Alastair.”
    He opened his mouth to respond, but Luke cut him off. “You cannot be so naive as to see the world in such drastic black and white, my friend. The Company is really not that different from the Wardens. Both sides think their way is the right way and would die—or kill—to protect that way of thinking.”
    “The Company is made up of anarchists determined to reshape the world into their ideal. They talk of freedom from oppression, but they want to enslave us all under a large dictatorship. Their manifesto goes against everything I believe in—everything you once believed in.”
    “I still believe in those things.” He could punch Luke for sounding so bloody calm. “I simply acknowledge that the entire world doesn’t necessarily agree.”
    “I was not without weapons,” Arden spoke up, “and Dhanya asked me to consult with Miss Brooks in regard to Company scientific advancements.”
    “Dhanya had no right asking you to see that woman.” He’d been glad that his friend was back from her leave, but obviously her judgment was impaired.
    “On the contrary, she had every right. I’m still employed by the Wardens as a gadgeteer.” She looked at him and sighed. “If I’d been