“Dr. Franklin grouped several Leyden jars into what he described as a battery. By multiplying the number of holding vessels, a stronger charge could be stored, and more power would be available on discharge.”
“And what do you propose?”
“To make a better battery. To prove that electricity can be generated chemically and to make the battery a continuous and reproducible source of electric current.”
Rachel stared at him, completely absorbed, trying to grasp the significance of his genius. “It is insane, Lord Anthony. Impossible. It can’t be done.”
“I call it the Unicorn.”
Rachel let out the breath, Anthony’s spell still woven tightly around her. “Because it has never been seen. There have been only short bursts of electricity, nothing consistent.” She examined his notes again. “Why saltwater?”
Anthony shrugged as if his genius were no great feat. “Electrical fire loves water, is strongly attracted by it, and they can subsist together. My theory is salt water is added density and greater will be the conduction. I hate to see you caught up in all this nonsense, Miss Thorne. But even more disconcerting, being near me could get you hurt or killed.”
He referred to his assistant’s murder and the consequences of being associated with the Rutland’s. She cocked her head and studied him, regardless of the inappropriateness of it. He was a curious man. A genius, but an enigma. Tall and lean, a day’s growth of a beard and brilliant blue eyes, clear as the sky that graced a summer morn. Anthony Rutland was superb. “I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself. Besides you owe me.”
“How’s that?”
“You saved my life.”
She watched his forehead furrow, saw a range of emotion playing across his face, too complex to discern. Guilt? Desperation? Suffering? What? And why? Suddenly she wanted to know everything about him.
He leaned closer, his head dipping down, but his eyes, sincere now, burned at her through dark lashes. His hand hovered in the space between them, his expression a mixture of pain and longing.
Then, as if realizing something, he dropped his hand, his emotion disappearing as swiftly as it had appeared.
He moved away.
Rachel shook her head, unable to dispel the look in his eyes…the despairing, haunted look…as he’d reached toward her. Anthony had scars, hid them well beneath a veneer of isolation. Frightening to be sure, but the naked, yearning, the agony she’d glimpsed painted her unease with bewilderment.
She cleared her throat. “The Chinese believed that through the act of saving someone’s life, you are responsible for that life. Since we will be working together, call me, Rachel.”
He swung around, dangled his disbelief, left it hanging in the air. “Miss Thorne. That is the most convoluted…you should be indebted to me.”
“Rachel.” She repeated.
“What?”
“Call me Rachel. While we’re working in the lab, call me by my name.”
“On one condition, you tell me how a Colonial woman is so well educated?” He handed her a roll of gold foil. “Wrap the gilt paper with the gilt face next to the glass.”
He was back to business, shuttered behind his passion for discovery. When she finished the wrapping, she pushed the gilt wrapped jars toward him. “Of course, the brute that you are had to reveal me as a bluestocking at Lord Chelmsford’s. I won’t forgive you for that. All the tongues will be wagging.”
Anthony was standing over her, his hands calmly placing a metal rod through the cork, inserting it into the bottle, not a bit of quiver or restlessness in his hands. She suddenly became aware of how real and large and solid he was and had to force herself to stop squeezing the bottle.
“Since when have I cared about wagging tongues and the rest of humanity? My family and you excluded.”
“The rest of humanity? Lord Anthony, you are incorrigible.”
“Anthony,” he insisted. “Since you are my assistant—”
“Colleague,” she corrected and handed him another metal rod to insert in a cork. His mouth closed like he swallowed a cup of vinegar.Having a hard time with that notion?
She plunged ahead with her history and education. “An Oxford tutor was supplied to my cousin, Jacob, and my brother, Ethan, with shipments of books from England. Anything required for their education was made available without any knowledge of the benefactor. The tutor noted my capabilities and included me.”
Anthony rubbed the back of his neck, bestowing a baleful stare.
Rachel’s stomach clenched.
