Magnificent Devices 01 - Lady of Devices

I topped out at twenty. It is very crowded on that bridge.”
    “What do you say to taking it for a spin? I’ve never been able to afford such a thing, and the Dart is a very pretty model.” His gaze rested briefly on her hair, then moved to her eyes.
    Claire shifted in the chair, and checked that the clasp of her pocketbook was firmly secured. “Did you mean to drive it yourself, sir?”
    “Heavens, no. I want to expand my sphere of experience, that’s all. I’ve never seen a woman drive. It would be very useful to have an assistant with such skills. Consider it a test—much more useful than handwriting and typing samples, wouldn’t you say?”
    Below, a door slammed and footsteps thumped across the boards to the staircase. “Andrew, are you here?”
    “I’m conducting an interview. Come on up—my prospective assistant may as well know what she’s getting into.”
    “You’re interviewing someone?” A reddish head appeared in the stairwell, then the rest of the speaker’s frame. Recognition sparked a moment later, and Claire drew a breath of surprise as Lord James Selwyn stepped into the light from the aperture overhead. “Good heavens. Lady Claire, what are you doing here?” He turned to Malvern. “I thought you were interviewing an assistant.”
    “Lady Claire?” Malvern glanced down at her letter of application, as though puzzled he’d missed this fact.
    “We are one and the same.” She rose and extended a gloved hand to Lord James. “I thought it prudent to use my family name and not my title in my correspondence. Lord James, this is unexpected.”
    “Not half as unexpected as you interviewing for a job.”
    She lifted her chin, even as the hot blood scorched her cheeks. Blast. She would blotch again, and in front of her prospective employer, too. “My circumstances demand flexibility, my lord. And you agreed yourself the last time we met that a lady makes her own luck.”
    “Making one’s own luck is one thing, but reducing oneself to trade is quite another. Is this a joke you’re playing on us?”
    “James, what a thing to say.” Malvern frowned. “Miss Trev—er, Lady Claire. Please excuse my partner’s forthrightness. He has been too long in the American Territories.”
    “Believe me, my circumstances are no joke,” she replied in as steady a tone as she could manage, considering her temper was fast approaching a rolling boil. “I am seeking employment, and believe I could contribute to Mr. Malvern’s operations here.”
    “Not to mention the fact that she can drive,” Malvern put in. “That’s tipping the scale right there.”
    “Andrew, don’t talk nonsense. Lady Claire is a society belle barely out of the classroom. What can she contribute here? What does she know of science or business?”
    “If you would address me directly, Lord James, I could tell you that I graduated with firsts in mathematics and languages, and I plan to apply to the engineering program at the university this fall.” She enunciated each syllable so crisply that each word cut the air. “This position, besides keeping me in bread and butter, would go far in recommending me to the admissions committee. If that were any of your business, of course, since it is Mr. Malvern who is interviewing me at present.”
    Lord James stared. “The girl has a spine after all.”
    Malvern pushed his chair back. “James, what has got into you? Miss Trevelyan, perhaps we should go for that drive now. I don’t know what bee my partner has in his bonnet, but it’s embarrassing both of us.”
    “I just find it amusing, Andrew, that the lady who turned down the offer of my regard is now forced to seek employment in a venture I’m financing. I’m merely appreciating the irony of it all.”
    “What?”
    “The offer of your regard?”
    Claire and Malvern spoke simultaneously. Then Claire controlled her tongue, gathered her courage, and bid farewell to her hopes. “Mr. Malvern, I regret taking up your time today, but I thank you for seeing me. Good afternoon.”
    “Wait. Miss Trev—er, Lady Claire. Our interview is not finished.”
    “I believe it is. If I am to be dependent on the financing of Lord James, then I prefer to seek employment elsewhere. In any case, he does not believe me capable of carrying out my duties.”
    “But he’s not—Miss Trevelyan, wait—”
    She reached behind and twitched the hem of her grey suit out of any possible reach of Lord James’s patent-leather shoes, and swept