Wandering Soul Read Free Page B

that she’d taken him forward in time.
    The limo’s interior was too dark to see properly, so she reached up and switched on the overhead light. Electricity might have been a better place to start.
    â€œWhat on earth is this?” Dante reached up and cautiously pressed his fingers against the glass.
    Elsa was stunned for a moment by the wonder unfolding on his face. The corners of his lips lifted slightly in an almost-smile. He gently traced his long fingers over the surface of the light fixture.
    When he turned back to her, his eyes were a roiling blue-green. Elsa’s heart seemed to stop. She couldn’t catch her breath.
    His smile faded, and Dante sat back against his seat, turning his face away from her. “I apologize. I did not mean to startle you. Perhaps you should extinguish the light.”
    â€œI wasn’t startled.”
    â€œThere is no need to preserve my feelings in this matter.” The smile he gave her then was rueful. “I assure you, I am quite accustomed to this reaction.”
    â€œWhat reaction?”
    â€œI know that my appearance is…troublesome.”
    Only in that it made Elsa want to do things that she really shouldn’t be thinking about. She couldn’t suppress a short laugh.
    Dante angled his face a bit toward her, watching her from the corner of his eye. If only he knew how ridiculous that was.
    â€œThere is nothing about you that troubles me.” Except perhaps that he felt the need to wear his mask at all.
    His gaze softened, but he didn’t say anything in response. She knew better than to push on this issue so soon. In his time, the mask had been necessary. Elsa would do everything she could to make him feel comfortable enough to show his face to the world. She would start by taking his mind off the matter.
    â€œAnd the answer to your question is, that is an incandescent light bulb.” She dropped her voice to a whisper, remembering the driver. The barrier between the front and back of the limo might be closed, but Elsa was still paranoid. She leaned closer to Dante. “I think those were pretty close to development in 1881 as well, but we’ll cover those later.”
    She saw the book she’d been looking for tucked between the seat and the side of the limo next to him, and reached across to grab it. At that moment, the limo hit a pothole, throwing her off-balance. She might have fallen off the seat, but Dante reached out and grabbed her, pulling her against him.
    Elsa’s hands landed on his broad shoulders, her breasts pressed against his chest. She thought that time might have stopped entirely, Dante was holding so still. He wasn’t even breathing.
    He was warm, or maybe she was cold. She couldn’t tell. All Elsa knew was that she wanted to be closer, wanted more of them to touch. Parts of her body that she had neglected for years responded to him.
    Finally, he asked, “Are you all right?”
    â€œYes, of course,” she said, laughing a little as she pried herself off of him. “Sorry about that. I was just trying to reach this.”
    She stretched past him and picked up the book. Her heart was still thundering from the contact. It was making her lightheaded.
    â€œPlease, look through this.” She handed him the book, then leaned back in her seat.
    â€œCarriage schematics?” he asked, leafing through the first pages.
    â€œJust keep going.”
    Dante skimmed through page after page. “This is quite extraordinary,” he said. The more he read, the more creases appeared in his brow. He also began to frown. Elsa hadn’t expected that.
    â€œWhat is it?”
    â€œThis is possible,” he said.
    â€œAbsolutely.”
    â€œThat is not what I mean.”
    He closed the book and set it on top of the cloak, his gaze roving over the limo’s interior. His hands followed, touching the glass of the windows, the stitching of the seats, the hard plastics and treated wood.