Gilded Hearts (The Shadow Guild Series) (19 page)

She moved to the other, licking and tasting, loving the feel of his chest hair against her nose. His body was strong, virile, everything she wanted and more. Skimming her hands along his sides and across the muscles of his stomach, Piper hesitated before she reached the one spot that still held her curiosity.

“Let’s remove some of your clothing first. I’m feeling a little underdressed.”

There was no need to direct him on how to strip her of her layers. They’d been here, their aborted attempt at passion so recent it was still fresh in her mind. “Are you certain?”

Samuel chuckled. “I believe that’s supposed to be what I ask of you.”

“Earlier you stopped. You thought that…” She really wasn’t entirely certain what Samuel had thought then. She wouldn’t be able to handle rejection from him a second time. Best not to go any further if that was the case.

Instead of amusement or even protestations, Samuel lifted her chin with his hand until she had no choice but to look him in the eyes. “The images in my head aren’t mine. They can be overwhelming. I’m not going to let them stop me. Not again.”

Before she had another chance to respond, Samuel freed the last of the buttons holding her dress in place. The fabric fell to the floor, leaving her standing in her corset and chemise. She shivered under the intensity of his stare.

She wanted to feel the press of his bare flesh against hers. The strings binding her corset in place were tightly knotted, but quickly gave way as they both began to work them free. The lacings in the front made it easier for her and Samuel to work in tandem, getting them closer to what they both wanted.

The stiff fabric dropped away, exposing her thinly clothed body to the cool air. He’d be able to see her dusky nipples through the white material that covered her breasts. Her legs shook and her muscles betrayed her, but Samuel was there to catch her. The sheets were cool against her back, stark contrast to the warm body pressed against her.

“I promise I will make this good.” Samuel rained kisses down her neck and shoulder, peeling away the remaining garments as he went. She didn’t even consider being shy or covering her body from his gaze. Piper was running on lust and want, both emotions stronger than anything she’d ever felt before.

Still, when he threw her shift to the floor, unhooked her garters and rolled her stockings down, she didn’t know what to do, how to move to make herself enticing. Had she known what Samuel was planning to do next, she wouldn’t have concerned herself.

Piper gasped as Samuel lifted her legs to his shoulders and stripped her of her drawers. He then pressed light kisses to her inner thighs. He moved his mouth upward, slowly mapping his path from her knees to her core, the place she secretly touched when she was alone in the night. As if remembering how close they’d come to this last time, her body shook with anticipation.

“Don’t you dare stop this time.” She ran her fingers through his rich brown hair, scratching her nails against his scalp. “I’ll beat you if you do.”

“I won’t.” He kissed her knee again. “Lie back and close your eyes.”

It was odd, not being able to see him, anticipate where the next touch would come. Each caress was intensified—the scrape of his nails along her hips, the scent of his arousal, the heat from his body as he moved down hers, placing kisses willy-nilly across her skin.

With the first touch of his tongue against her clit Piper bucked her hips off the bed. There it was again, that brush of heavenly pleasure. Samuel moaned and pressed her back down with his hands on her hips. His thumbs dug into her groin, mixing a twinge of discomfort with the pleasure. It drove her wild, the electric touches of his tongue against her clit, stoking her arousal higher with each caress.

Samuel latched onto the tip, sucking as he pushed a finger into her wet opening. The intrusion wasn’t painful, though there was some discomfort as the skin stretched around him. Her virginity was intact, but not for much longer if he continued his current course, pumping and filling her with one finger, then two. There was a sharp twinge, a painful snap as he lapped hard at her clit. What discomfort there was dissipated quickly, washed away by the rising pleasure.

“There. Yes, Sam.”

Piper gasped, unable to do anything to stop the maelstrom rising inside her. Her hips began to buck in time with the silent beat of Samuel’s tongue and the thrust of his fingers. She was so close to something, reaching without knowing, understanding, her body overriding her reason.

Without even trying, or realizing that she’d been climbing, she reached the peak and a cry escaped her as her body seized from waves of pleasure. Every inch of her skin seemed to burn, explode from the inside out. Sweat covered her skin in a thin sheen as she fell back against the mattress. It was perfect and nowhere near enough.

“Pip.” Sam licked his lips as he lifted his head. A look of raw need was etched over every inch of his face. “Please, I need you so badly.”

Tugging him up by the shoulders, she ignored the sensitive burning between her legs and positioned herself so she could wrap her thighs around his body. The head of his cock pressed to her entrance, nudging the sensitive skin.

“I won’t spend inside your body.”

The words barely registered, the risk of motherhood never something she’d considered before. “Don’t care. I need you, Sam.”

She’d always loved how large his body was, without being overwhelming. Now, he all but consumed her with his mass, and she reveled in it. He slowly pressed forward, filling her inch by inch with his cock. While she’d always felt close to him, she hadn’t realized what it meant to be possessed by another person. This was… no wonder the Guild Masters forbade it. It was wonderful, freeing, and damning all at once.

The steady press in went on forever, until he could finally go no farther. His eyes were wide, overflowing with the same awe that filled her chest.

Finally.

Yes.

“You’re perfect.” His mouth covered her, demanding, taking, giving all at once. “Perfect.”

Samuel started up the primitive beat, thrusting into her, his slick skin sliding easily against her own. For a moment, she forgot how to breathe. He filled her completely, pressed down on her, wrapped around her from every possible side. What little pain there was dissipated, absorbed by the sudden rise of pleasure. Yes, this was everything she’d ever dreamed of. He was hers, and she’d be dammed if she ever let him go.

His hot breath came in shallow pants, heating the skin of her throat and cheek, her body swallowing up the moans and soft grunts as he increased the pace, driving into her over and over until Piper didn’t know how much more she could take. She pressed her face to his ear, kissing the ridge and sucking on the plump flesh.

“Only you, Sam. From the beginning. Only you.”

He hooked his hands beneath her shoulders, holding her tight to him, and for a moment she thought this was it, she could die now and know that she’d finally lived, experienced the ultimate intimacy with another human being. Samuel’s thrust grew erratic, and Piper forgot how to think.

“Yes. Sam, don’t stop.”

Her entire world focused down to the pleasure building inside her, the press of his body against her clit. “Come for me, darling.”

She couldn’t draw in air, gasping as her vision blurred. The orgasm fired her blood, drove her mad as wild ecstasy roared through her. Her mind catalogued every feeling, smell, Samuel’s lustful moans against her. One moment he was thrusting into her, the next he jerked his body up, pulled his cock from her, and spilled his seed across her thighs.

As Piper came down from her erotic haze, the only thought she could form was wondering what their children would look like.

No.

Ragged breathing filled the air. Neither of them moved for a long time, as if the thought of parting, even for a moment, was too much to bear. Eventually, their bodies protested, and Samuel slowly got to his feet and fetched a damp cloth from the washbasin. He took great pains in cleaning her up, looking down at her with affection.

“Are you sore?” He pressed the wet cloth between her legs, soothing the skin, attempting to examine her in the dim, flickering light of the steam lamps lining the wall.

“I’ll live.”

“Of course you will. You’re far too strong to let something as simple as relations do you harm.” Samuel ran a hand over her stomach, sending shivers through her body. “Stay with me?”

“Yes.” A simple answer. There was no question of her leaving. Not now, not when she was still half mad for him.

But even as Samuel shifted beside her and pulled the blankets up to cover their naked bodies, Piper realized that there was nothing simple about what they’d done at all. The Guild Masters would never allow them to marry, society would shun her if they knew what she’d done, and for the first time in years, she was confused as to what she wanted.

No, this complicated things quite a bit.

A loud banging from somewhere above them wrenched Samuel from his sleep. Piper was buried next to his body, her face pressed against his chest and the steady rhythm of her breathing warming his skin. Lifting his head from the pillow, he listened for the source of the disturbance, praying that whatever had caused it was a singular occurrence.

When there wasn’t an immediate follow-up, Samuel softly laid his head back on the pillow. For the first time in ages, he was content. Piper was here with him, they were safe, and for a short time he could fool himself into believing they could have a normal life together. They’d catch Jack and make sure the public was unaware of his connection to the Archives. For a fleeting moment he even let himself imagine that he would persuade Piper to run away with him to Canada.

Samuel pulled her tighter to his chest. It wouldn’t happen. She was dedicated to the cause, believing in what the archivists stood for, the preservation of knowledge and humanity. She’d never willingly walk away from the only life she’d ever known.

There was no way in hell he’d ever go back.

Still, having her here in his arms was right. A sense of belonging he’d longed for, desperately chased for years, had finally taken root in his heart. All he’d needed was her, a chance to have a family of his own, to be a part of something bigger. Laughter, lovemaking, babies, and everyday fights. Someone to hold him when the pressures of the world got to be too much. Pip. He’d enjoy the fantasy while he could.

Samuel sat up and listened. There it was again. The crying. The past few nights in his new quarters had been strange. At first he assumed the noises were sounds of the new acolytes he’d met since his move. But either the others were too ashamed of it, or they didn’t trust him yet; no one claimed ownership.

Sitting up, he listened intently, trying to decipher who the voice might belong to. When the sounds grew faint, he got up and moved the small wooden stool in his room so he could press his ear to the ventilation shaft.

“Hello?” His voice echoed in the pipes. “Who’s there?”

No one answered.

“Hello? John?” No answer.

Samuel was helpless to do anything, so instead he stood there and listened. Only when his legs were too tired for him to continue to stand did he return to his bed. It would have been nice to have found the boy, whoever it was.

Samuel was lonely, too.

Sleep had all but reclaimed him when an explosion rocked the walls and sent rivers of plaster dust snowing down upon the room. Samuel was out of bed, yanking his trousers on, before Piper was fully awake.

“What happened?”

“Explosion.”

She was up and pulling her undergarments on as quickly as she could. “The Archives? Jack?”

“Doubtful. More likely it’s an experiment of David’s gone wrong. Stay here and I’ll check.”

She snorted, tossed her corset on the bed and pulled her dress over her head. “Lead the way.”

Aiko was already racing down the hall when they emerged. “David?”

The Japanese woman spun around. “That
baka
is going to get himself killed. And us along with him.”

“Need help?” They were already moving to join her. There was no way he’d be able to stop Piper’s curiosity, or his own for that matter. “Where’s Timmons?”

They took the stairs two at a time and raced down the short hallway until Aiko slid in front of a large wooden door. “He was called to a case.”

Samuel glanced at Piper, her expression mirroring his own fears. “Did he say what happened?”

“Another prostitute was killed.” Aiko pounded her fist on the door, while Samuel shared a look with Piper. They were too late. “David, open up right now.”

“He might be injured.” Piper shifted to move closer to Samuel. “Is there a way we can force the door open?”

“If he isn’t injured, he will be when I get through with him. David!”

Beyond the door came the sound of broken glass and the clanking of metal being moved. Piper held her breath while Aiko continued to scowl at the door, until finally it was pulled open with a jerk, revealing a soot-covered David.

“Hullo.” He grinned at them. “I seem to have made a bit of a mess.”

“I’m going to kill you.” Aiko pushed her way past the clockwerker into his workroom. “What did you do this time?”

“I’m afraid I got a bit distracted by your case, sergeant. I forgot the time and overboiled the anticorrosive compound I plan to use to coat the metal of my new radiation detector.”

Samuel moved past David to join Aiko in lifting up a large piece of wood that looked to be a former desk. Piper grabbed a cloth and began to wipe the black mess from David’s face. “What case is that?”

“Oh, the dead women. Rory got called out again this morning, and with everything you all said it got me thinking.”

Samuel caught Aiko’s gaze and frowned. She dropped the warped and blackened metal she’d been holding, crossing her arms as her frown deepened to a scowl. “How did you hear what they were talking about? You were with me creating the antidote.”

“Yes, how do you feel this morning, sergeant?” David stepped over the rubble until he reached Samuel. Grabbing his face, David peered into his eyes. “No glassiness and your color looks good. I’d say you’re feeling well.”

“He sounded fine last night,” Aiko muttered. Samuel chuckled even as Piper turned red. “How did you hear about the woman?”

“Oh, well I might have left one of my automatons behind.” He stepped away from Samuel and shrugged. “I needed to test it to see if its ability to record limited speech was working again. Sergeant, I might get you to take a look as well, see if you can make her sing.”

Jumping over the rubble once more, David picked up a small mechanical dove from the undisturbed workbench on the far side of the room. Its copper wings were coated in a thick layer of soot that came off when he rubbed it against his shirt. Each metal feather was inlaid with silver, capturing the details in such a way that made them look delicate, almost fragile.

“It’s not like my other automatons. This one doesn’t give any outward appearance of being able to function. The real beauty is on the inside.”

Unable to stop his curiosity, Samuel moved closer so he could see what David was doing. The underbelly of the dove contained a small door. Opening it revealed a complex array of cogs and gears, each one so tiny Samuel feared he would crush the entire works merely by brushing a finger along the edges.

“It has a limited recording capability, but if you look close you can see the metal strip that captures the voice and images.”

“Images?” Piper pressed up against him, trying to see where David indicated. “How is that possible?”

“Watch.” Setting the dove back on the table, he turned it so the head faced the wall. When he pressed a button concealed beneath the left wing, a small beam of light projected from the eye onto the wall.

The images were jerky and unfocused at best, but Samuel was able to make out himself, Timmons, and Piper as they moved about the room. Their voices were metallic in sound, but clearly discernible. Within moments their entire conversation had been recounted.

“That is amazing.” Carefully picking the bird up once the projection stopped, Samuel turned it over once more, inspecting the work. “I can’t tell you the number of occasions something like this would have been valuable to an investigation.”

“Rory said the same thing. Not that I don’t fancy making several of these and selling them at a profit, but I hate knowing they’d be used to invade the privacy of others.”

“But you have no difficulty being the master of your own espionage.” Aiko snorted. “Typical.”

“Oh, that was only Rory.” David grinned, rocking back on his heels. “I’m allowed to do as I please to him. He’s family.”

The inner workings of the dove were as beautiful as any art piece Samuel had ever seen. He could see how David’s mind had connected the lines, pulled everything together to create an intricate puzzle. He was a brilliant clockwerker, but he didn’t know how to make the animals come truly alive.

Picking up a small screwdriver, Samuel found the linchpin in the center. One half-turn, a slight redirection of the electrical current, a gentle shifting of the copper wire to cross-thread the current and…

Closing the bottom of the dove, Samuel placed it back on the table.

It began to sing.

David wiped the soot from his eyes. “Amazing. Be sure never to tell the Company about your skills. They’ll have you stowed away in the back of a factory, churning out inventions. The hours are hell, but the pay is amazing.”

It still shocked Samuel that the clockwerker could quip about his imprisonment in such a manner.

Piper placed a hand on David’s arm, causing him to stop moving immediately. “What did you learn from listening to our conversation?”

David’s smile lost some of its boyish charm and took on a sly quality that had Samuel itching to remove Piper’s touch from his person.

“Your killer is going after prostitutes.”

“Yes, we knew that.” Piper’s smile was sweet, disarming, her fingers flexed around his arm.

“Oh, well then you probably already know the rest.”

It was only then Samuel noticed the map of New London David had pinned to the wall. Three red pins were pressed into the faded and torn canvas, small indicators Sam quickly identified as the murder scene locations. David had taken a thread and connected each pin, a thin line stretched between the points, in the center of which was a familiar location.

The Archives.

“Jack was once a member of the Archivist Guild.” Swallowing, he turned to David. “If you’ve figured this out, then it will only be a matter of time before others do as well.”

“Once they do, the king will have no choice but to open up the Archives to search for him. That is, if we don’t find him first.” Piper voiced his own thoughts. But as she turned to face him, Samuel realized where her feelings were leading. “We need to get to the new crime scene.”

“No, we need the case notes once Timmons returns.”

“We need her
thoughts
. See how they compare to Annie’s. Maybe get some insight into where Jack is hiding. If I can get to another machine, perform an extraction—”

“Absolutely not!”

Samuel hadn’t meant to yell quite so forcefully, but the mere idea of Piper putting herself back into the machine, having her brain subjected to yet another mind with the potential to wash away her personality, he couldn’t tolerate.

Piper didn’t break eye contact. She pulled her shoulders back and leveled her chin. “David, Aiko, would it be possible for the sergeant and I to have a few moments in private?”

“Come with me. We need to discuss how you intend to clean up this mess.” Aiko grabbed David by the arm and jerked him toward the door. “And no spying this time.”

“I had no intention of using the—” The door slammed shut behind them.

Images of another dead body stretched out on the cracked and pitted cobblestone road, hooked up to another extractor, pumping Piper full of a poison that should never fill her, were ones Samuel never wanted to see come to fruition.

“It will kill you.” He undercut the dramatic statement with every ounce of concern and compassion he had. “If you don’t rid Annie from your mind, and try to cram the thoughts of yet another person into your head, you will get lost. Even the bloody bastards who run the guild would tell you that, and in this case I would have to agree with them.”

Piper dropped her chin to her chest and sighed softly. “I know. I have to cleanse my mind of her. I think she knows it too.” Tears trickled down Piper’s cheeks. It wasn’t fear for her own well-being that caused her pain, but remorse. Annie would be purged from her mind, taken off to oblivion, and it would be Piper’s doing.

Samuel stepped closer, still uncertain if his touch would be welcomed, but needing the proximity to her. “I thought she was burying herself deep in your mind?”

“She’s grown quiet. While she’s strong I think she knows my mind will win out in the end.”

“As long as you rid yourself of her soon.”

Piper nodded. “I don’t want her to die.”

“She already has, Pip.”

He’d never thought about needing to leave a legacy before. It hadn’t been important to him. All Samuel had ever wanted after leaving the Archives was to find a place in the world where he could belong, make a difference the way Detective Inspector Williams had. Solving this case, bringing John—no, not John any longer—bringing
Jack
to justice, that would be his legacy.

But none of it would matter if anything happened to Piper.

“We need to talk to Annie. Really talk to her.” Reaching for her, Samuel pulled Piper into a hug. “Then we find a way to let her go.”

“Fine.” Her hot breath soaked into his shirt, heating the skin below. “But I don’t want to go back to the Archives. I don’t trust the machine.”

“David will come up with something. He has access to resources that could help. He might be able to get a device that can clear your mind safely, right here, without having to go near the Archives.”