Night Mischief
Nina Bruhns
Silhouette Nocturne
October 2007
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PROFESSOR DAWN MAYBANK, LADY DAWN, is the daughter of the Earl of St. Yve, leader of the mysterious hermetic Order of the Cadre—protectors of the Mortal Realm from all that is evil. Dawn is chair of London University’s Department of Anachronistic Research, which secretly recruits members to the Cadre. Outwardly, the busy professor appears to have it all, even if love and romance somehow always seem to evade her. But inside she hides a fatal flaw that could destroy everything she holds dear….
GALEN MCMANUS is a demon of vengeance. Powerful and handsome as sin, he has a killer body which he uses to his advantage to weave his deceptive spell of cosmic justice. Those he targets for ruin never suspect the charming rogue until it is far too late. And neither does his true victim—always the unwitting person whose devilish thoughts have conjured him up from the Dark Realm in the first place. But this time, the sinister net he weaves will trap his most unsuspecting victim yet…himself. And with the most unlikely of reasons—for love.
Read an Excerpt from:
NIGHT MISCHIEF
London, England
October, present day
Professor Dawn Maybank peered into the dense fog and drew her raincoat tighter around her shoulders. Pressing the button to lock her Jaguar, she shivered. She shouldn’t have parked on the street. She knew better. Anything could be out there, peering back at her. It would be her downfall someday, her impetuousness, her reckless disregard for her own safety.
In the tomblike silence of the twilit morning, Dawn’s high heels clicked unnaturally loudly on the uneven cobblestones, echoing off the ancient walls that canted Old Trolly Road where the Department of Anachronistic Research, of which she was department chair, was located half a block away.
The thick pea soup fog crept slowly around her body like a moving shroud of unease. She could see sod all. Even her hearing was muffled, the cries of the gulls from the Thames sounding more like whispers in the distance. Gripping her briefcase tightly in her fingers, she quickened her pace.
And suddenly he was there. A man. Looming in front of her.
Swallowing a scream, she clattered to a halt just inches from him. His body towered over her. Their eyes met and for a moment they just stared at each other, her heart beating so quickly she thought it would burst from her chest. He was hugely tall, his broad shoulders made even broader by a menacingly black, ankle-length mack that swirled about his long legs. His hair was black. His eyes were black. Was his heart, as well? She didn’t want to stay and find out.
Instinctively one hand slid into the pocket of her suit, reaching for the emergency countermeasures she always kept there. Dead Sea salt for demons, a tiny but powerful UV flashlight for vampires which had a built-in high-frequency tone emitter to ward off werewolves and other were-creatures. Before she could decide which to choose, his fingers were suddenly wrapped around her arm. She hadn’t seen him move. One moment she’d been free to run, the next, captured.
For a split second she weighed the possibilities. Vamp? No, it was after sunrise, and very few vampires were able to venture out in the light. Demon? Maybe. Faerie? She didn’t feel an aura of glamour or magic. Were? Maybe. Human serial Killer? Good lord, she hoped not.
Never show your fear.
“Let me go,” she ordered, keeping her voice firm and steady while her mind working frantically to figure out how she was going to get to the capture crystal in her briefcase, in case he was a demon. If he was a wolf or human, she was toast. “Now!”
“Lady Dawn?” he asked, his deep voice strangely hushed, like the fog surrounding them.
He knew her name.
“Lady Dawn, I have something for you,” he said softly, barely above a whisper. “Something you’ve wanted for a long time.”
A glint of expectation flickered in his eyes as he spoke. Had he thought to tempt her with his whispered words? She wasn’t impressed. Or fooled. And he’d given himself away.
Demon.
