I glanced up to see him looking down at me. Did my thoughts of him show on my face? I stiffened in his arms, suddenly self-conscious. “Yes, I’m having a very good time.”

“I’m glad you came,” he said with a smile. “I would have been disappointed if you hadn’t.”

His attention flustered me. I had all sorts of clever things planned to say, but my tongue had become so thick and heavy that I couldn’t move it. Just when I opened my mouth to say something witty and flirtatious, the music abruptly stopped and the room went silent. Every head in the room turned, and I followed their gaze. A woman dressed all in black, with a veil hanging in front of her face nearly to her waist, stood at the front of the room. The crowd parted for her as she moved toward the demonstrations.

Gradually, the noise level rose from dead silence to a low murmur as conversation resumed. “Who is she?” I whispered to Alec. “Wasn’t she on the bus?”

“She’s our patroness. She’s come to select the project she’ll fund. My steam engine won last year, which was why she was on board for the race.” He took my hand. “Come on, I want to see how she reacts.”

Lizzie intercepted us. “I was wondering if you could help me,” she said to me after a glance at Alec.

“How?” I asked.

“I’m covering this event for the newspaper, and I need another set of eyes to make sure I don’t miss anything. You mentioned that journalism sounded exciting. Are you interested?”

“I don’t know anything about being a reporter.”

“Just write about what you see. You’ve read a newspaper, so you know how it goes. I could submit it for you. We’d have to come up with a pen name for you, of course. I wouldn’t want to jeopardize your current position.”

I imagined myself as an intrepid reporter and liked the image. I knew I didn’t intend to be a governess the rest of my life. “I can try,” I said.

“Here, you’ll need this,” she said, pinning the Mechanics’ gear-and-ribbon insignia onto my bodice. “Don’t worry, this doesn’t make you a member, but it will make people more willing to talk to you.” Then she handed me a notebook and pencil.

Alec and I followed the woman in black as she moved from exhibit to exhibit, watching silently as the inventors showed off their creations and explained the benefits while I frantically scribbled notes. “She’s polished brass, that one is,” Everett said with an admiring smile after the woman moved on from his airship demonstration.