Rendezvous at Raptor's Rest — C.M. Simpson

When his flying ship, the Red Horizon, was shot down, Tescher told no-one he had a woman on board. Three years later, he returns to the ship wreck and finds Marianna not only survived the crash, but left him a message. She found what she was looking for aboard his ship, and she'll wait for him at the Raptor's Rest, but once a year -- tonight. Tight flying will get him there in time, but it will take more for him to navigate clear of the underworld predators circling the criminal shores on which Marianna has landed. Rendezvous at Raptor's Rest is set in the steampunk world of 1840's Australia, complete with flying ships, landed gentry, velociraptors and those who take their tinkering with the ether just a little too far.