A Noble Masquerade (35 page)

If you've ever been to a play, you'll notice that during the curtain call someone, usually the lead cast member, will make some gestures toward different areas of the auditorium during the clapping. They aren't thanking you for being a great audience. They're indicating the out-of-sight people like lighting and prop technicians that made the play possible. As a backstage worker for several high-school productions, I appreciate the awkward wave.

These acknowledgments are my curtain call, and here are my seemingly random but entirely purposeful hand gestures.

To God, in whom I find my worth and my purpose, thank you.

Much appreciation to Jacob, who supports me enough to push aside the furniture and reenact a fight scene so that I can get it right. Thank you for letting me tie you up with a jump rope.

Thank you to my wonderfully supportive kids—particularly
Blessing 1, who has saved her pennies so she can buy Mommy's first book. I hope you like it, sweetie.

My eternal gratitude goes to every author, agent, editor, librarian, reader, or bookseller that has taken their time to judge a contest. You have provided insight, encouragement, and the occasional hard-to-swallow truth. Those victories kept me going. Without you, this book wouldn't be here.

A little bit less gratitude goes to my brother, who stole my phone so I couldn't find out if I'd won.

A shout out to Google Images, for providing hours of procrastination in the name of research, and to Pinterest for giving me a place to store it all so I could claim to be productive. Also props to the guy who put a video on YouTube of him shooting a tomato. Even though the scene turned out completely different than originally written, I still love the exploding tomatoes.

To Alana, my beta-reader extraordinaire, thank you for keeping my characters straight and not being afraid to tell me what works and what doesn't.

Hugs to the editorial staff at Bethany House who took a book I was proud to have written and helped me turn it into something I can't believe I get to put my name on. You guys are the best. Even if I said some not nice-things about you under my breath when I first got my revision letter.

To Delaney Diamond and the Georgia Romance Writers, thank you for the Gin Ellis critique. Even though the prologue you had me add has bitten the dust, it was enough to grab the right people's attention. Also Victoria Vane, who spent an hour showing
me how to improve my writing. It was a different manuscript, but the lessons still applied. Thank you to Debby Giusti for being the biggest cheerleader a girl could hope for, even if when I couldn't figure out what to do with a character you told me to kill her.

To Patty, Ane, Lindi, Brandy, Meg, and the rest of the ACFW North Georgia peeps, thank you for celebrating as if this contract were your own. For my Regency Reflections sisters, your support has meant everything.

Finally, thank you to my readers. Without you my labor of love would have a lot less meaning.

Kristi Ann Hunter
graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in computer science but always knew she wanted to write. Kristi is an RWA Golden Heart contest winner, an ACFW Genesis contest winner, and a Georgia Romance Writers Maggie Award for Excellence winner. She is a founding member and the coordinator of the Regency Reflections blog and lives with her husband and three children in Georgia. Find her online at
www.kristiannhunter.com
.

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