The Gospel According to Verdu (a Steampunk Novel) (The Brofman Series) Read Online Free Page A

that he could distract her from her melancholy. She had remarked more than once that sponging oneself in the crew quarters was no way to get truly clean.
    “ That would be heaven,” she said, and started to strip out of her aeronaut boots, quilted silk flight pants, and thick linen shirt while he ran the water in the tub. Once it was filled and bubbly, Fenimore kissed her and scooped her into his arms. Chenda wrapped herself around him and kissed him back. The passion between them never failed or faded. Every kiss was like a first kiss. The joy of it always surprised her; the spark was always there, feeding her and comforting her in a way that food and shelter no longer could.
    As so often happened between them in moments of passion, everything went topsy-turvy: Fenimore found himself in the tub and, unlike his wife, without the benefit of first undressing. The pair spent the rest of the evening blissfully apart from the whole world. Giggles and bubbles were their only companions.
     
    Candice tapped one foot impatiently on the landing as the Brofman drifted into the airslip at Terminal Station. Captain Endicott, standing in the wheelhouse, read the stormy expression on the professor’s face and struggled against the urge to throw the airship into full reverse and run with his tail between his legs. He reminded himself that he had personally faced down a dozen crazed Tugrulian warriors during the war and had fearlessly piloted his airship through the biggest hurricane in a century, so being too much of a coward to face his angry girlfriend (if that actually was still the case) would definitely put a kink in his manly swagger.
    However, he truly believed that five feet of Candice was worth a mile of bloodthirsty Tugrulians. He swallowed his dread and slapped on what he hoped to be his most charming smile.
    Stepping out onto the deck, he called to her, “Candice, my darling! You are a sight for sore—”
    “ You just keep your my darling s, you swindle of an old coot!” Candice shouted back. Captain Endicott winced at what was sure to be a fiery round of nonsensical name-calling.
    “ Now, now, Candice, let’s not get all bent out of shape. I did the best I could with the ship captain available at Atoll Belles. Beggars can’t be choosers—”
    “ Beggars? I’ll show you beggars! They are the children who are waiting for some food! Mercy Matilda, Max! How hard can it be to fine an honest patrol-running sea captain brave enough to deliver contraband to the resistance?”
    The fact that she was serious about such an absurd request meant that there was no winning this argument. Captain Endicott lowered the gangway from the ship and strolled to where Candice was standing on the dock. His beefy arms grabbed her around the waist, and he tipped her backward, his kiss doing its best to stop the tirade issuing from her. It worked.
    “ I’m sorry, love. But if you think you can do better,” he said as he righted her, “you can just be my guest and pick the next mule.” He winked at her playfully, still holding her against his thick chest.
    Candice patted her blond hair back into place and eyed Captain Endicott meaningfully. The look made him nervous. She took a deep breath and said, “Fine.” Pushing away from him, she turned on her heel and walked up the gangway onto the Brofman . “I will. How long will it take you to get us back out of here and on our way to Atoll Belles?”
    Captain Endicott opened his mouth to object— too dangerous was all he could think, but for reasons he could not quite come up with, he felt a kernel of rightness in the idea of Candice coming on board with him for the next mission. As much as his mind rejected taking her into any kind of danger, his heart broke into a sprint of joy.
    “ As you wish, lady. But passage eastward, it’s going to cost you,” he said.
    “ Not near as much as it’s going to cost you if you don’t get this sorry ship of yours under way with my seeds sometime