by Anne Renwick
It was a matter of principle. She’d set a precedent she intended to uphold. Amanda was polite and collegial, stubbornly refusing to be relegated to the dark edges and corners of the room where most male classmates seemed to think she and the other three women belonged.
If only they’d join her.
Betsy, Joan and Sarah clung desperately to the notion that the best manner in which to succeed in medicine as a woman was to efface their sex with severely tailored dresses. Dark colors, long sleeves and high necklines revealing only the oval of their faces. They worked diligently at making themselves unpleasant and uncomfortable. Amanda saw no need to dress the dowd. She took pride in her appearance, and if her ladylike and professional behavior set her apart from others, so be it.
Lord Thornton paced back and forth across the dim lecture hall, a slight hitch to his step, while expounding upon the wonders of the neurological system, changing glass slides with astonishing speed.
Like her classmates, Amanda wrote furiously, her hand cramping. But instead of directing her eyes to the projected images, she stole glances at the man.
With an emphatic wave of his arm, a lock of his hair began to free itself. Another followed. Curls began to assert themselves, twisting tighter and sending waves along each strand. Lord Thornton’s hair took on a life of its own, falling across his brow in playful waves.
Though they’d never met, he was ton and rumors reached her ears at the various society events she’d been forced to attend. He’d been involved in a terrible dirigible accident, no doubt responsible for the slight limp she detected, but most of the gossip had centered upon his new-found eligibility. For unknown reasons, his long-time fiancée had jilted him mere months before their wedding. Not that any hopeful brides cared why. He was titled and therefore a matrimonial target.
Another slide change. More words rumbled from his throat. His voice was pure intellectual delight. She wrote faster. Really, she must start focusing on the images and not the man. But pressing concerns about the neurachnid’s design rose to mind. Here was opportunity. What questions might she put to the great neurophysiologist before her? What flash of brilliant design might she reveal? What was the best path toward winning his regard?
Suddenly, the opportunity was upon her.
The screen went dark, and the room brightened. “If there are no questions,” Lord Thornton began. “Tomorrow I will discuss…”
He would send them on their way with no opportunity to engage? She added arrogance to the list of his defining traits. “Professor, with regard to the ganglion, would you consider it possible to transform neurility into electricity via a rare earth metal?”
As intense, blue eyes turned to stare at her, Amanda fancied she’d caught the slightest slackening of his firm, square jaw before it tightened so much his lips thinned. She waited for his answer in breathless anticipation.
“My dear Miss…?” His eyebrows rose in both question and challenge.
“Ravensdale,” she supplied. Something in his eyes crystallized, not into ice, but into something much harder and denser, something with razor sharp edges, and she met that piercing gaze with the uneasy sensation in her stomach that things were about to go badly awry.
“Miss Ravensdale. From your… fantastical question, I can only conclude that you have spent far too much time reading texts beyond your comprehension without adequate guidance. Despite their high electrical conductivity, insertion of such elements into the human body would be ethically reprehensible.”
Amanda inhaled sharply at the implied reprimand. There were several smothered snickers behind her. Her eyes narrowed as they caught Lord Thornton’s gaze. No. She was right and he knew it. With great deliberation, he’d chosen to belittle her hypothesis before her classmates. All hope of a demonstration of her neurachnid followed by his assistance evaporated like a drop of water falling on a hot coal. She pursed her lips, and his eyes flashed with victory.
The arrogant bastard.
Beside her, Simon drew an indignant breath. Amanda pressed her gloved palm to his arm, stifling his impulse to rush to her defense.
Then without further acknowledgement of his audience, Lord Thornton strode from the room.
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Also by Anne Renwick
The Tin Rose
The Golden Spider
The Silver Skull
The Iron Fin
A Trace of Copper
In Pursuit of Dragons
A Reflection of Shadows
Kraken and Canals
Rust and Steam
To all cat lovers and their furry sidekicks.
Thank you to…
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The Plotmonkeys—Kristan Higgins, Shaunee Cole, Jennifer Iszkiewicz, Stacia Bjarnason and Huntley Fitzpatrick. Though the puns threatened to overwhelm, a story was born.
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Sandra Sookoo, my wonderful editor who mercilessly ferrets out weaknesses and sets my work on a better course.
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My readers, your enthusiasm makes all the difference.
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My husband and my two boys.
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My mom and dad.
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Mr. Fox and his red pen.
About the Author
Anne Renwick writes steampunk romance, placing a new kind of biotech in the hands of mad scientists, proper young ladies and determined villains. Anne lives with her family in Maryland, but makes her online home at www.annerenwick.com.
You can connect with Anne on Facebook at Anne Renwick. Or join her in the Facebook group: Department of Cryptobiology.
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For email updates, sneak peaks, new releases and giveaways, sign up for her newsletter at www.annerenwick.com.
Copyright © 2019 by Karen Pinco
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
www.annerenwick.com
Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
A Reflection of Shadows/ Anne Renwick. — 1st ed.
ISBN 978-1-948359-16-0
Cover design by James T. Egan of Bookfly Design.
Edited by Sandra Sookoo.
