Ingenious Mechanical Devices

"The Errant Earl" is an 8,000 word companion short story to the Ingenious Mechanical devices series that takes place seven years before the events of The Earl of Brass (IMD #1).Forethought is not a virtue Lord Sorrell possesses. At nineteen, he feels as if his life is beyond his control. He wants nothing more than to get away from his father, his teachers, and especially England, but he may have found a way with a little help from his friend and valet, Patrick.He has one shot to escape to the East: catch the first Orient Express dirigible out of England when he returns home from university. The only problem is his mother has planned a party.With a house crawling with guests and his brother scrutinizing his every move, will Lord Sorrell be able to sneak away or will he lose himself to the duties of the earldom once and for all?

Eilian Sorrell is no stranger to cheating death, but when a dirigible accident costs him his arm, he fears his days of adventuring are over. As the eldest son of the Earl of Dorset, Lord Sorrell knows he will face a bleak future among London's aristocracy unless he can escape. On a quest to return to his old life, Lord Sorrell commissions a prosthetic arm, but the craftsman isn't quite what he expected. Fenice Brothers Prosthetics is in trouble. Hadley's brother is dead, and she is forced to pick up the pieces and finish what he started. When clients begin turning her away, she fears she will fail until she crosses paths with the enigmatic Lord Sorrell. In exchange for a new arm, he offers her a chance at adventure in the deserts of Palestine. Beneath the Negev's sand lies something far more precious than potsherds or bones. A long lost crystal city has been found that could change Eilian and Hadley's world forever, but they aren't the only ones who know its secrets. Will they make it out alive or will they, too, be buried beneath the desert sands?