Photographs & Phantoms by Cindy Spencer Pape

Dear Reader,
    A new year always brings with it a sense of expectation and promise (and maybe a vague sense of guilt). Expectation because we don’t know what the year will bring exactly, but promise because we always hope it will be good things. The guilt is due to all of the New Year’s resolutions we make with such good intentions.
    This year, Carina Press is making a New Year’s resolution we know we won’t have any reason to feel guilty about: we’re going to bring our readers a year of fantastic editorial and diverse genre content. So far, our plans for 2011 include staff and author appearances at reader-focused conferences such as the RT Booklovers Convention in April, where we’ll be offering up goodies, appearing on panels, giving workshops and hosting a few fun activities for readers. We’re also cooking up several genre-specific release weeks, during which we’ll highlight individual genres. So far we have plans for steampunk week and unusual fantasy week. Readers will have access to free reads, discounts, contests and more as part of our week-long promotions!
    But even when we’re not doing special promotions, we’re still offering something special to our readers in the form of the stories authors are delivering to Carina Press that we’re passing on to you. From sweet romance to sexy, and military science fiction to fairy-tale fantasy, from mysteries to romantic suspense, we’re proud to be offering a wide variety of genres and tales of escapism to our customers in this new year. Every week is a new adventure, and we want to bring our readers along on the journey. Be daring, be brave and try something new with Carina Press in 2011!
    We love to hear from readers, and you can email us your thoughts, comments and questions to [email protected]. You can also interact with Carina Press staff and authors on our blog, Twitter stream and Facebook fan page.
    Happy reading!
    ~Angela James
    Executive Editor, Carina Press
    www.carinapress.com
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    www.facebook.com/carinapress

Chapter One
    Southern England, June, 1855
    Kendall, Marquess Lake, stood on the observation deck of the dirigible’s gondola as it flew west toward Brighton, wishing he was heading north instead. London beckoned. He’d spent far too long in the countryside, overseeing the implementation of automated harvesters at Lakeview, one of his father’s estates. The early June haying had been a trial run of the equipment before the serious harvest in the fall.
    He wanted adventure, craved it. His restlessness had been aggravated by his delay in Essex to witness the wedding of a childhood friend. While Kendall understood the social obligation of marrying someday, at thirty he was in no hurry to do so, and watching a friend get leg-shackled had been more than a little discomfiting.
    A man of action, a Knight of the Order of the Round Table, Kendall was more used to fighting vampyres or rogue mages than dealing with disputes between tenant farmers or partnering bridesmaids. As the heir to the Duke of Trowbridge, however, he knew he had to get used to juggling missions with estate and social obligations. Upon his grandfather’s death a year earlier, Kendall’s father had been elevated to the dukedom and Kendall to the marquisate. Kendall’s responsibilities to both family and the Order had increased substantially, leaving him little time for fieldwork. He longed for a nice, simple task like putting down a goblin invasion.
    Instead, he was off to Brighton just as the middle-class tourists began to flood the seaside town, to hold the hand of the niece of one of his father’s cronies and assure her all was well. The task was one they could have assigned to a clerk rather than a Knight, but Lord Drood was one of Kendall’s father’s closest friends and he was the most powerful sorcerer in England, perhaps in the world. Kendall’s father tended to jump when Drood asked for a favor.
    As the airship approached