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"Would that not be a beastly aer over the beautifully drawn plans "I understand Master Stain wishes me to perforiving her a ful look "Master Stain has decided to stay here a fewcustoer, we’ll acco city We’ll be here for another week, which will be h time to build and perfect your act"
Herunder the thick lace of her collar "Ino That can’t be right He assured me we’d soon be on the road to Foxford"
Mr Murdoch looked up sharply fro away frorand metropolis?" Sheattitude and leaned closer, looking concerned Putting a noticeably bare hand over her black glove, he said, "I did not htened Has so a jar of pencils and pens to the ground, where it shattered Glass and ink scattered across the floor, but Mr Murdoch paid it no en kneeled and gathered a handful of writing instru his preferred ink by scent
"Bathory’s Borealis," she said, her be her attention away from her former panic and his nearness She held a brass nib to her nose and sniffed deeply It had been her father’s favorite ink, and the scent reminded her of warm afternoons in the library with a cup of tea
"So you’re an ink aficionado as well as a naturalist," Mr Murdoch said softly froen looked up to find him on the floor beside her, the knees of his butternut-colored pants acquiring new stains as
"Iyes In university, ere only allowed to use the head professor’s favorite ink, and I confess I rather missed my Bathory’s I learned to write with it, you see The wares"
"Enforced ink at university Let uess Caw’s Pure Black?"
She dropped the quill in surprise "How did you know?"
"I’e escapee myself"
A hundred questions danced on her lips, but he was lacier She had only a moment to notice the small white streak in his beard before he had leaned close to brush his lips over hers, butter-gold eyelashes swept low over closed eyes For the briefest aenand replaced with a searing, radiating heat
His hand cah and scarred and wared to coainst hers, her arotten that she held a bouquet of his pens, and as soon as the metal touched the fabric of his vest, she felt the cla down her wrist
She broke away, dropping the pens and , "Oh, no I’m so sorry, I--"
"No matter," he said "I collect stains as a pasti, and she collected the pens again, hoping her hat hid her embarrassment The man made her blasted jittery, and that was a fact He slid athe guilty fountain pen nib-up The lever ainst his chest He held out an oil-stained rag, and she dabbed at the rivulet of deep blue ink staining the sliver of skin between her glove and the cuff of her white blouse
"Your vest, though Shall I--"
He turned to face her, his eyes shining with a strange fire "I don’t knohat just happened I should never haveyou will have noticed that I am notthat is" At that moment, a knock sounded on the outer door, and he muttered, "That will be Vil with my supplies Will you pardon me a moment? I very much wish to co inconsequentially at her stained skin She knew enough of Bathory’s Borealis to expect that her flesh would be tinted a deep, dark blue for a week at least
With a determined nod and a look of frustration, Mr Murdoch strode to the wagon’s door to aden could just see theht, as being alone in Mr Murdoch’s wagon and covered in his ink made her feel uncomfortably cheeky Poor little Vil looked as if he were constantly hunted and terrified, and possibly drinking to deal with it His eyes were huge and fearful behind his goggles as he glanced suspiciously around the roo her a terse nod
He ether for soen couldn’t hear as said, but she could sense Vil’s exciteer Finally, he pulled away and gruffly said, "I’ to need proof, you understand Solid proof"
Vil nodded, and the two men carried in several cheap pasteboard trunks Each rain-spattered box hit the wooden wagon floor with a clank, and Vil was gone after one lance in her direction Mr Murdoch walked slowly into his workshop as if he carried a great burden and simply stared at her
"Are those the supplies for ht s like a schoolgirl She could still feel the imprint of his lips, a warm stamp that had settled there to stay And he had yet to finish his sentence
"I will need ti a fair distance and two trunks between them "Perhaps you should take this felloith you I would hate to see an innocent crushed through er, he retrieved the butterfly froen had forgotten it was not a part of him
"I don’t understand," she said "I don’t find you clu to you Do you not care for her co companion, to be sure" He watched the butterfly slowly flap scarlet-scattered wings "But I feel she will be with us all too short a time for me to becoitive"