The Daring Exploits of a Runaway Heiress by Alexander Victoria

Author:Alexander, Victoria [Alexander, Victoria]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2015-03-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

“I’m not sure how you managed to arrange this,” Lucy said, forcing a bright note to her voice. “And so quickly as well.”

“Yesterday you challenged me to help you complete the tasks on your great-aunt’s list.” Cameron grinned. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t flying one of those you had yet to accomplish?”

“Indeed it is,” she said weakly, trying very hard not to let her gaze stray over the edge of the gondola of the balloon that was taking them ever upward and probably to their doom.

Fortunately they were tethered to the ground and would rise no farther than the length of the rope. A rope that did seem to be unreasonably long. The gondola itself—and she preferred to think of it as a gondola rather than a creaking, insubstantial wicker basket more suited to the storage of yarn than the carrying of people—was square in shape and no more than five or six feet across, adequate for perhaps four inhabitants, although she and Cameron were alone on this ascent. Unfortunately, the limited space meant anyone who might not wish to watch the earth rapidly growing smaller beneath them, someone who might prefer to curl up in a small ball on the floor and pray for an end to this particular adventure or at the very least a swift and painless death, was unable to do so. No, such a person had little choice but to bravely face her fate and smile and pretend that she was having a wonderful time.

To make it worse, it was shockingly cold up here. Lucy could no longer feel her toes. She pushed her hands further into her fur muff and hunched her shoulders. Her nose was numb as well. Cameron was not the only one who was not fond of the cold. Once again, she wondered at Lucinda’s lists of regrets. Had her great-aunt put no thought into the practicality and the sheer terror of any of them? Someday perhaps there would be means of flying—machines possibly like trains with wings—that did not expose travelers to the cold and a view of the far distant ground through woven wicker, but today was not that day. “I didn’t think it was possible to go up in a balloon in weather like this.”

“Actually, according to Carswell, the aeronaut who mans this balloon—”

Who had wisely remained on the ground with Clara.

“—as long as the winds are calm, winter isn’t a bad time at all to ascend.”

“Except of course for the bitter cold.”

“Oh, it’s not that bad.” Cameron drew a deep breath. “Really rather invigorating, I think.” He turned away from her and braced his hands on the rail of the gondola. “And the view, Lucy. My God, the view is magnificent. You can see all of London from here.”

“I prefer seeing it from the ground, thank you,” she said under her breath. Certainly she’d been a bit uneasy when she’d ridden Hannibal, but she’d attributed that to the sway of the animal and not the height of her seat.

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