Read Photographs & Phantoms for Free Online Page A

could simply fight.
    Knowing Amy was asleep in the room right beneath him wasn’t helping ease his mind. Kissing her today had been a mistake of phenomenal proportions. He almost hadn’t stopped. Kendall had never been particularly impulsive. Even during his rebellious days in India—two short years between university and his formal Order apprenticeship—he’d planned his moves with excruciating detail. What was it about the delectable Miss Deland that made him act so out of character? Whatever it was, he’d be on guard now to make sure it wasn’t repeated. The last thing he needed was to find himself leg-shackled to a woman as curious and independent as Amy. She’d tear apart his carefully constructed world and be off taking photographs without bothering to pick up the pieces.
    The floorboards over his head creaked. Peterson was up there tinkering with his toys, from the sound of it. There was something about the man that bothered Kendall, though it may have simply been the sergeant’s determination to claim Amy as his own. Half a dozen times during luncheon, Peterson had made offhand remarks about ladies who shouldn’t be forced to labor for a living, and how the delicate sex was designed to keep home and hearth instead. Though he’d only met her today, Kendall could have told the man that was the last way to win Amy’s regard. She didn’t consider her photos a labor—they were an extension of her very soul. Giving it up—which he knew she was considering if he couldn’t solve her problem—would wound her deeply.
    He heard Peterson walking and then the creak of the attic stairs. Mrs. Bennett had mentioned that she left bread, cheese and sliced meats in the cold box in the kitchen, so her tenants could help themselves to a midnight snack if need be. This would be a good time, Kendall decided, to spend some time chatting with the sergeant. He’d taken off his coat and cravat, but for raiding the kitchen, shirtsleeves would be fine. He grabbed his cigar case and walked out into the hallway, just in time to see Peterson at the stair landing.
    “Heading down for a snack, are you? Mind if I tag along? Thought I’d grab a bite and step out back for a smoke.” He waved the leather traveling case. “Join me?”
    “Why not?” Peterson motioned for Kendall to join him. “I’m sure you’re used to just ringing for a meal whenever you’re hungry.”
    Kendall shrugged. Peterson appeared to have a grudge against Kendall’s wealth, but he wouldn’t be the first. Public school hadn’t been a dream for the grandson of a duke, especially when he’d been forbidden to use his Knightly abilities to defend himself. “Sometimes. Others, I fend for myself. Depends on where I find myself at the time. Right now, I live in rooms in London with one manservant. I don’t wake him up every time I want a drink or have to piss.” He lived on his own because living with his parents made him insane. He much preferred his privacy to his mother’s social whirl, and maintaining an entire townhouse for one person was simply stupid.
    The two men made their way to the kitchen where they made thick sandwiches of the roast beef left over from luncheon and poured mugs from Peterson’s small cask of ale, which Mrs. Bennett allowed him to keep in the cold box. They took their bounty out to the garden, and after eating, each smoked one of Kendall’s cigars.
    “So how did a soldier end up working with automatons?” Kendall leaned back in his chair and puffed on his cigar. “Were you a military mechanic?”
    “No, just a hobby.” The other man inhaled deeply. “My father was an inventor, always building something. He died shortly after I left the service, left me all his tools. I was adrift, with nothing else to do, so I started tinkering with my hand, trying to make it work better.”
    “Well, you’ve done a bang-up job. Can’t say I’ve ever seen a better one.” Kendall puffed out a ring of smoke. “And you say your