Page 16 of To Catch A Rogue

"I'm not going to gloat."

She gave him a long look and he grinned.

"Maybe a little."

"Who is that woman you were arguing with?" Lark asked, trying to peer over his shoulder.

"Gemma Townsend, current leader of the Rogues and this entire expedition."

"She's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."

Charlie reared back, instantly on alert. "I hadn't noticed."

That earned him an arched brow.

"I mean, yes, it's quite obvious she's beautiful. But she's old enough to be my sister, and seems to have taken such a notion to account." Gemma must have met Honoria in another life, for the pair of them treated him like he was thirteen and needed his ears boxed. "She's also very firmly spoken for."

"Don't worry," Lark purred as she stepped past him. "I'm not jealous, Charlie. I have no reason to be."

"I didn't expect it of you."Lie.He'd hoped. "Just don't want you mistakenly blurting out something that might get my ears boxed."

Or worse, earn him a private little chat with Obsidian, Gemma's paramour.

"My trunk's in the steam carriage." Lark glanced one more time at Gemma.

"I'll see it's brought aboard." Charlie offered her his arm. "Your cabin's this way."

* * *

"What the hellhave you got in this thing?" Charlie demanded, hauling Lark's trunk into her room.

"Nothing important." She gave the other end a shove, and somehow they got the trunk through the door.

Lark had been given her own quarters, a narrow room with a set of bunk beds nailed to the wall. The round porthole showed a glimpse of the airfield around them.

“I mean, I know I’m carrying some serious weaponry,” he protested, “but this is extreme.”

“You brought all your toys?” she asked, with a droll roll of the eyes.

He grinned. He’d been dying to show her what he’d been tinkering with, of late. “Oh, no. You haven’t seen any of my creations in recent years. I’ve been working with Jack—our weapons guru in London—and Kincaid.”

Reaching into his pocket, he plucked out one of the smooth golden orbs he’d devised. He kept one around for when he was feeling anxious, so he could roll it over and under his fingers to take the edge off. “This, for example, is a little something I designed six months ago. I based it off Mina’s creepy little spider listening device.”

His sister-in-law had all the coolest gadgets.

“What does it do?” Lark tried not to look interested.

“Watch.” Rolling it across the floor, he took the small activator device from his pocket. “I haven’t named it yet, but it works exceptionally well.”

The golden orb rolled normally, but the second he pressed the button, it quivered. The two halves of the orb split open, rearranging themselves into a small, hardened carapace and spindly legs suddenly appeared.

“A spider?”

“You said the Imperial Ravens are enhanced with meshwork,” he murmured. “Well, I designed this with my own Cyclops suit in mind. They were invincible during the revolution, which started me thinking about whatwe’ddo if someone used them against us.”

The little creature immediately scuttled toward the metal edges of the trunk, and started attacking it, trying to find a vulnerable point in the metal.

“Its magnets attract it to steel, particularly the fine cables used to control meshwork suits. It’s designed to locate the arterial connections, and destroy them. A lash of current, and there goes the suit. Its only got enough charge for one hit, but I used it on my Cyclops, and it incapacitated the left leg. Had to rebuild all the bloody connections again to get it working.”