The Shot: Traincoach of Death, Book 1 Read Free Page A

began. However, she made it no further in her explanation.
    “Uh-huh…I see.” She looked at Bill in consternation. “Okay. Do you know when you will make it onboard?” Her eyebrows rose as she listened to his response. “Fine. I’ll see you then. Okay. Yes. Goodbye, Father.”
    “Well...” Bill prompted when she continued to stand there in silence.
    “When my father invited you along, did he give you the impression it would be on our personal traincoach?” she asked without directly answering him.
    “What? Yes.”
    “Well, it’s our traincoach, but we are being pulled by the mainline. Father’s decided we need to be attached to a larger train. Says it will make the visits more of a surprise, and we’ll get a better idea of how each station is being run.”
    “Makes sense,” Bill replied.
    “Yes, it does,” she said, bitterness tinging her voice regardless of her best efforts to keep it neutral. “I even told him it was unlikely we could make surprise visits on any station since we need to schedule our arrivals and departures in order to not cross another train at the wrong time. He acted as if I’d said the dumbest thing he’d ever heard and dismissed me.” Rudely. She shook her head and sat back in her chair. “I’ll never understand that man,” she murmured under her breath.
    Bill settled into the seat next to her before replying. “So he decided to run with another train, apparently,” he queried. At her nod, he continued. “And didn’t tell you?”
    “No. Not even when I boarded. He just told me to get ready for our guest ,” she said, the bitterness again leaching into her voice. Would he never show her respect? Ever see her as more than a means to an end? “Far be it from him to let me know the plans had changed.”
    “This could be useful to you,” Bill said slowly, in the manner of one thinking out loud.
    Victoria stopped her rant, waiting for Bill to elaborate. When he did not do so, she shook her head and stood up, proceeding to the door.
    “I don’t see how,” she finally said.
    “I want to think about it for a little while. A plan is starting to form, but I need to work out the details,” he replied.
    Amused, even with the situation at hand, she smiled at him. “You are so different from the others he’s brought around. Maybe this won’t be such a bad trip after all.”
    His answering grin sent shivers of awareness through her. “I’m glad to hear it. Now, what shall we do while awaiting departure?”
    She started to answer him, but never got the chance. The Earl of Louisiana walked in.
    The Earl began speaking before the door shut behind him. “Oh good. I hope you two took the chance to get acquainted. It’s going to be a long trip.”
    ***
    Bill eyed the Earl with contempt, though he kept it carefully hidden. He understood that most of the titled nobles and gentry still practiced the custom of telling their children whom to marry and when, and many of them still married for lands and titles. However, he hadn’t liked it when his parents tried it on him, and he didn’t like it currently.
    “Victoria,” he said, giving her father a cursory glance. “Would you go on a promenade with me?”
    Her unexpected giggle hit him in the gut and put his cock in gear, causing him to need to turn so it wouldn’t be obvious to her father. Lord, he’d just met her, and he reacted like this?
    “Yes, I would be glad for the walk. No one’s ever called the social lounge deck a promenade before,” she said her eyes twinkling like candles at night.
    They moved to the newly attached car, easy in each other’s company. She even allowed him to help her across the couplings. “I don’t need help,” she told him even as she allowed him to hold her hand. “I’ve been crossing couplings all my life, like most every other child in Great Britain.
    With a practiced eye, he scanned the area for threats as well as ascertaining the opulence. It truly was a piece of machine