Major Mischief

By Michelle Kopra

Ellie is trying to prove to the world and to her mother she is more than just a woman to be dragged to the altar, and forced to bear children. Even though she feels an attraction for the strange man that helped her escape her maman, she fights it, determined not to give up her freedom.
But the attraction only grows as they go in search of her uncle and his partner, who have been kidnapped by a very naughty Troll determined to take over the world with Uncle René’s invention, a portal machine that not only opens the door to other parts of the world, but to other dimensions.
As they adventure across the world, can Major Grey Caudle convince Ellie Hawke that they belong together? Even if he is an elf from a highly advanced world and she is a human from Victorian earth. Will he make her understand that she does not have to give up her work, her teaching, or her inventions to be a wife?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michelle Kopra
• Release date: Aug 2, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465989444

Michelle Kopra

Lives in Texas!

Book preview

Major Mischief

by

Michelle Kopra

Steampunk Romance

21,900 words

Major Mischief

Michelle Kopra

Copyright by Michelle Kopra

Smashwords Edition

Chapter One

Ellie narrowed her eyes through the magnifying lens. She held a small crimping tool in one hand and tiny copper wires in the other. She had almost finished her newest steam powered invention, when a loud boom came from the street.

What now! She got up and looked out the second story window.

Ellie Hawke felt trapped in her mother’s house in London. It didn’t help that the view from her window was a dreary one. Dark carriages and grey pedestrians passed by, only to be outdone by even more grey and dismal row houses across the street.

She wanted to be free of London, to explore the wilds of Africa, or the sands of Australia. Ellie needed a new adventure. But the only thing interesting as far as she was concerned was the odd-looking man under the lamppost.

Something is off about that fellow. She leaned her elbows on the windowsill. The man’s dove grey suit did not quite seem to fit his large frame. And his bowler hat, angled a little too cheerfully on his head.

Who wears goggles outside of a lab? She moved forward to get a better look at the eyewear. Suddenly he turned to face the road as a black carriage stopped in front of the house.

A small boy in a dark uniform scampered off the back of the elaborate carriage and ran to open the door. Maman and Louisa dressed in their very best, exited the carriage. They brushed past the odd fellow with the goggles, never noticing him as they entered into the house.

Ellie’s jaw tensed as the front door below slammed shut and Maman distinct footsteps marched up the stairs.

Of course it will have to be a quick wedding. The sooner you’re wed the sooner I will have grandbabies!

Maman burst into the room. Wondrous news Eleanor, Louisa is too be married!

Congratulations Louisa, Ellie hated being called Eleanor. You’ll have to send me all the details.

Nonsense, you will stay for the wedding! This will give us more time to find you a suitable match. Maman bit her lip in such a way that Ellie knew her mother was plotting.

Maman I came because you were ill, not to find a husband. Ellie glared at Louisa. Her sister’s heartfelt letter had Ellie traveling across the world to be at her mother’s bedside, only to find her mother waiting for her with a line-up of would-be husbands.

Nonsense, just a bit of indigestion. Really Eleanor, you should have been the first to marry, since you are the oldest. Instead of tramping all over the world with that crazy uncle of yours. Mother sniffed. Come Louisa, let’s prepare your hair for tonight.

Ellie turned back to the window. Sick of London, sick of Victorian sensibilities, and most of all sick of Maman’s obsession with getting Ellie married. She started to daydream about ways of escaping back to Flagstaff. A pang of homesickness shot through her at the thought of her home in the western Rockies. The tall pine trees, the fresh air, the clear blue skies. It was heaven compared to London.

Ellie missed her position at the University. Her lab in the home she shared with Uncle René, and of course, her friends Ruby and Miranda.

A light flashed from below, blinding her for a brief second. All thoughts of home-sickness evaporated as the familiar figure appeared. Ellie's heart beat faster at the sight of the man with the funny goggles. He had been standing under that post for the past week. She had thought about approaching him. But every time she left the house he disappeared.

Her gazed lowered over his form. There was something about the tilt of his head, while he looked up at her. He leaned his broad shoulders against the pole. A slight smile appeared on his face. She breathed in a little faster as his hands moving towards the bulge in his pants.

Ellie felt certain he couldn’t possibly see her hidden behind the lace panel. A rush of excitement filled her as a deliciously tingly feeling trickled from her belly down to the sweet spot between her legs. One hand slid over the fabric over her skirt as the other reached for already-hard nipples.

Ellie wished for many things at that moment. She wanted a lock on the door and the man below on her bed. For the first time Ellie preferred the real thing to one of her favorite inventions: a long brass phallus attached to a rather bulky machine. Ellie could not stop the moan from tripping across her lips. As one hand gripped the back of the chair, the other started to lift her skirts, ready to relieve herself in the old-fashioned way.

Miss Eleanor?

Ellie jumped at the sound of a timid voice.

Mary, she said sternly as the throbbing ache faded away. Please call me Ellie.

The magic of the moment fled. Ellie felt trapped in her bedroom once more. It had not changed from the day she left ten years earlier. The pale pink stripes on the walls show no sign of age, and the giant bed she shared with her sister Margaret filled the room. The other furniture was the wooden wardrobe filled with dresses Ellie hated wearing.

Yes Miss Ellie. Mary dipped into a curtsey.

No, just Ellie. Sighing with exasperation, she added, You may work for my Maman but I am not your superior. Call me Ellie.

Mary kept her head down as she bobbed again, to hide the shock in her eyes. She had heard the other staff whispering of the daughter that ran away to the Wild West, and it obviously scared her. Ellie turned back to the window, disappointment hit seeing the mysterious man had disappeared once more.

Your mother sent me to help you dress for the party. The maid opened the closet and pulled out the burgundy dress Maman had picked out earlier in the day.

With a shiver, Ellie urged herself away from the window. She unbuttoned the brown shirt and pants Maman refused to let her wear in public. Hand me that over there.

Mary reached for the stiff white corset.

Oh Mary, not that one. It’s too stiff; hand over the pink one. One of Ellie’s first inventions was a corset that had thin strips