Touch of Steel by Kate Cross

earl watched her closely, scrutiny in those strange eyes of his that sometimes lit up when the light caught them a certain way. “I believe I can.” He offered his hand. “Shall we shake on it?”
    For a second, Claire actually hesitated. It wasn’t a complete lie—he could truly trust her to a point. It didn’t make her an awful person. She slid her hand into his. His fingers were firm, warm. When they closed around hers, they felt . . . odd. Human, but something more. She took his hand in both of hers, then turned it over so she could peer closely at his palm.
    The scars were no bigger than a thread, and so well healed that they barely stood out against his skin. She traced one of them with the tip of her finger, curiosity getting the better of her. There wasn’t even a ridge.
    Wolfred flinched. Or was it a shiver? She couldn’t tell; it happened so quickly and was over just as fast. He pulled his hand away. “Forgive me. The scarring is sometimes . . . sensitive.”
    Had he been any other man, she wouldn’t have believed him. She wasn’t an innocent; she knew when men wanted her, but this man—well, she didn’t know what to make of him. “I should apologize for being overly familiar. I’ve never met anyone who was augmented before—other than Five. I mean, Huntley.”
    His brow puckered as he leaned back in his chair and crossed one ankle over his opposite thigh. “I thought the Company had been doing such procedures for years.”
    “They have. I was never selected for the program. There was concern that the procedure might interfere with my agility and flexibility.”
    “Yes, I’ve heard that you are rather . . . flexible.”
    Was that innuendo in his tone? “What do you mean by that?”
    “Exactly what I said. I’ve heard tales of your daring escapades. Did you not once escape through an opening barely large enough to fit a child? In St. Petersburg, I believe.”
    Claire hesitated. Should she be concerned or flattered that he knew such details? “The window wasn’t that small. I was simply fortunate that the Russian guards chasing me were on the sturdy side. But what of you? I heard you once disappeared practically into thin air while being pursued by French gendarmes.”
    Wolfred chuckled. “I ducked behind a drapery and hopped up on the windowsill so they wouldn’t see my feet beneath the fabric. Then I opened the window and escaped through the back garden. Hardly the stuff of legend.”
    “As uninspiring as portly Russians,” she replied with a faint smile. “How very disappointing that neither of us can live up to our reputations.”
    “Speak for yourself.” His expression was all mock indignation. “I earned every accolade.”
    “I won’t argue. I’ve heard what happens to people who cross you.”
    He went very still. Hell. So much for a moment of easiness between them. “Yes. I can just imagine what you’ve heard about that shite. Tell me, did the Company paint me as a fool or a villain?”
    She blinked. “Neither. You we [ithppere not the only one played for a fool by those two. The details of how you survived, tracked them down and apprehended both of them were recounted with respect and fear. You
are
something of a legend, my lord.”
    He scowled. “Foolishness.”
    Claire wasn’t certain what to say. She wasn’t accustomed to men who didn’t like to hear themselves praised. She was saved from having to say anything by the slowing of the train.
    Wolfred consulted his pocket watch. “We’ll be arriving soon.”
    When they disembarked at the station, Wolfred put a coin into an automaton torso that sat on a weathered podium. It looked like a metal man with no legs, and it had a large dial in its chest with a tarnished knob. Its right arm was raised, the hand holding the rim of a dented brass bowler hat.
    Gears and clockwork parts wheezed into service, clicking and clacking. The aetheric engine kicked in as well. The metal man’s jaw dropped open with a screech.