Captain and a Corset Read Online Free Page B

fledgling Navigator was everything the others on the waiting list for a Root Ball had proven they were. She had integrity and grit, but all that knowledge did was frustrate him.
    He didn’t need to like her.
    “I’m a respectable woman…”
    Her words rose from his memory, offering him the perfect evidence to back up his opinion. No, liking her was something which would lead him down a path neither of them would like. For all that she was a Navigator, Miss Sophia Stevenson had been raised by upper society. He was uncouth in her eyes. A savage.
    His lips twitched up and he walked through the arch to hide his lapse of control from the Guardians. Personally, he enjoyed knowing he wasn’t a gentleman. In his world, he had earned his place and didn’t long for the blessing of the matrons. What he was, he’d earned, not been born into. He didn’t judge his fellow humans by the circumstances of their birth. In the Illuminist world, a man could make his own fortune.
    He stopped outside her door. Temptation urged him to reach for the handle and forego the brass knocker, the savage inside him delighting at the idea of surprising her.
    He paused, his fingers closing into a fist.
    He had the authority to enter her chambers, but the right was given to him to ensure she was not conducting treason, not to placate his own cravings. But there were instances lately when he was forgetting just why he was entering her chambers—or more pointedly, he was searching for an excuse to see her, so had no other reason.
    Duty was something he’d devoted his life to. Tonight wouldn’t see him discarding those ideals in favor of following his impulses, whatever the hell they were… Sophia Stevenson was his trainee. Nothing more.
    ***
    “Wake up, sleepyhead.”
    Sophia opened her eyes instantly. “Janette?” She sat up to see her best friend pulling the curtains open.
    “Janette, do not—”
    Her warning came too late. The morning sun brightened the room, sending pain shooting through Sophia’s eyes. She jerked and closed her eyes, rolling over and reaching for her glasses, but they were not on the bedside table. Accidently, she knocked the lamp and heard it crash to the floor.
    “Oh, Sophia, I’m terribly sorry. I forgot.” Janette yanked the curtains closed but did so too hard and the rod they were strung on came right off the wall. The rod and curtains joined the lamp on the floor, the polished wood surface accentuating the noise.
    Sophia struggled to her knees, gasping when she heard hurried footfalls a mere second before the door to her bedroom burst open. She barely had time to grab the bedding to shield herself when she found herself face-to-face with Bion Donkova, with Darius Lawley a half step behind him. Both men were attired in suits, but at that moment they looked anything but civilized.
    “We’re fine,” Janette offered apologetically. “I just forgot about her eyes being sensitive.”
    “I am well enough, thank you.” The polite term felt awkward as Sophia’s cheeks burned scarlet. She remained clutching the bedding to her chin, squinting her eyes in the bright light.
    Darius turned his back and retreated from the room, like a gentleman.
    “I’ll find your glasses,” Janette said on her way out of the door.
    “Your glasses should be placed on your nightstand.” Bion frowned at her.
    His tone matched the formal picture he presented in his uniform coat buttoned to his collar. In contrast, her flimsy chemise was teasing the tops of her thighs beneath the bedding. The tops of her breasts were barely hidden by the sheet because her corset pushed them up to the edge of the chemise. The reprimand on his face did not fit with the impropriety of the moment.
    For Christ’s sake, if a man was looming over her bed while she was indisposed… shouldn’t he be enamored of her? Or at the very least somewhat interested in charming her? But then again, it was Bion. Nothing about her pleased him.
    “If your glasses were in