Christine Feehan

“Jack glanced at ken. "Lily is a brilliant woman when it comes to academics, but she;'s so blind when it comes to people." It was a small warning to keep Ken's anger from boiling over. "She's struggling to accept that Whitney needs to die, but she needs more time. The pregnancy also probably makes her more emotional when it comes to her father.""When the hell did you get so smart?" Ken demanded."I've been reading all the pregnancy books." jack sounded a little smug.”

“It's Mari, Jack," Ken whispered, needing to say it aloud. "What?" Jack jerked around, staring at the sniper as the eyes fluttered closed. "Are you certain?"Ken pulled the woman's belt loose and buckled it around her leg. "Either that or your wife is playing sniper for the other team. It has to be Mari. She looks exactly like Briony.”

“Sebastian it is. You can tell me what a patron saint is later, since I have no knowledge of such things. Sebastian Kane."Sebastian Kane Cannon. You're going to marry me and use my last name, right?""Is that supposed to be a proposal?”

“We have to actually choose a name," Kane murmured above her head. "We can't keep calling him 'baby.' When he's fifteen he might resent it.”

“They're spreading out. Look unaware and sweet and innocent.It's a little hard to look innocent when I'm as big as a house.”

“Of course I can do this. I'm pregnant, not brain-damaged. My condition doesn't change my personality.”

“So they wanted to take Tansy to a different doctor and her husband refused", Ryland said. "I wonder why he would do that." He frowned and leanede close to Kadan, sniffing. "Cinnamon?""Shut the hell up", Kadan said and pushed past him.Ryland took another whiff and gave a low whistle."You smeel yummy. I'm getting hungry. Maybe cinnamon buns".Kadan flipped him off rudely.Nico stood waiting by the front door. As always he was their backup. He frowned when the two Ghostwalkers got close. "What the hell is that smell?""Kadan's new spicy cologne"."Go to hell Rye", Kadan said ans shot him a look thaty should have withered him on the spot. "Both of you can go to hell"."I think his blood sugar's dropping", Ryland explained. "Must have been all the cinnamon candy he got tonight".”

“I absolutely love you, Briony, and I am on my knees. So we're getting married - right? But say it fast before we get shot."Only Jack would ask - if you could call it asking - in the middle of a battlefield, with a man lying dead at his feet.”

“And Ken said I can't marry you."Jack felt his heart jump in his chest. He glanced at his sleeping brother. "Did he say why?""Yes." She kept her voice sober. "He said you have to ask me properly."Relief made him weak. His pulse beat at his temples, throbbed in his neck. For one moment his fingers closed in her hair in a tight fist. "Properly? If I ask, you might say no, so I'm thinking we'll just start off right and I'll tell you and we'll get the thing done.""Get the thing done?" Briony echoed.Ken snorted aloud. "Jack, I'll take over watch and you get some sleep. I think you fried your brain up there on the roof.""Pipe down over there." Jack said. "You're already stirring up trouble.""Get the thing done?" Briony repeated slowly. "The thing being what exactly?""The ceremony. The paperwork. Whatever the hell it takes to make it legal."Briony sat up and glared at him. "Take your 'it' and shove it, Jack.""There's no need ti be getting upset, Briony. We can't exactly go around with a bunch of kids and not do whatever the hell it is one does to make it legal.""Whatever the hell it takes to make what legal?"He shrugged. "How the hell would I know? I've never done this before. Sleeping together I guess.""So you are going to marry me so it's legal to sleep with me?""This isn't coming out right.""You think?""Don't get upset, baby,. I don't understand why you're getting upset.”

“And of course I'm a chauvinist, but it isn't my fault.""It isn't?""No, Jack was born first and I share his genes. I can't help it if he infected me inside the womb."Briony burst out laughing. "I should have known that would be your excuse.”

“He glanced at Ken. "Why the hell does a women complete a family?"Ken shrugged and exchanged a small smile with him. "I don't know, but let's keep her. She's mellowed you out, and I didn't think that was possible.""I've always been mellow.”

“I should have known you'd side with them. It's some sort of of male bonding thing to think women aren't capable of running their own lives."He nuzzled the top of her head with his chin. "It's ego and sheer desperation. We have to keep you thinking we're the superior species.""News flash, Jack - no women on the face of earth believes that anymore."He trailed kisses down her cheek. "But men don't know women know that. We still live in our fantasy world, so don't muck it up for us.”

“That be the jealousy talking," Gator said, in no way perturbed. "I can't help the way the women love me. I was born with the gift."The men hooted and made rude noises. "You were born with a gift of bullshitting." Sam pointed out, "but that's about it." He looked at Dahlia. "Pardon me, ma'am, but its the truth.""I rather thought it was," she agreed.”

“The men gasped at Nicholas. "That's the most I've heard him say in three years." Sam said. He turned to the others. "You ever hear him talk that much?""I wasn't sure he could talk," Tucker Addison replied straight-faced. "He talks," Dahlia said defensively."Begging your pardon, ma'am, but he's just plain anti-social," Sam pointed out, "Always had been, always will be.”

“Cute? You think he's cute? What's cute about him?...Well, yes. He's got that smile, that really bad boy smile, and a great backside.On page eighty of the relationship manual, it clearly states, you cannot look at another man's backside, especially if you think it's great.”

“(After Nicholas tells Dahlia that he loves her)"...Just don't break my heart my heart, Dahlia. I've never handed it over to anyone before."She placed both hands over his. "I've never had anyone's heart. I don't know the first thing about keeping hearts. You're taking a terrible risk.""That's what I do best." ... "Are you feeling relaxed now?" ..."I was until you started throwing around the L-word. That's enough to scare anyone.”

“Do you think anything else can go wrong tonight?"Kaden turned to look at Nicholas coming up behind her and nodded. "Yes ma'am. I'd say all kinds of things could go wrong.”

“Suddenly gator was framed in the doorway, grinning at them, his black unruly hair tumbling into his face and his piercing blue eyes bright with laughter. "Oh, I see you are most friendly with each other. And Lily was so worried." He turned his head. "Ian Tucker, come look at this. Our man has found himself a little kitty cat.""Shut up, Gator, or I'm going to shoot you." Nicholas put the gun away and looked down at dahlia. She had the covers pulled up to her chin. Here eyes were enormous and getting bigger by the moment as more Ghost Walkers crowded into the doorway to gape at the sight of Nicholas, the loner, in bed with Dahlia."And you said he didn't know what to do with a woman," Tucker Addison accused the tallest of the group, Ian McGillicuddy. "I stand corrected." Ian gave Nicholas a small salute.Dahlia made a small distressed squeak. Nicholas picked up the gun. "I'm going to start shooting if the lot of you don't get out and close the door.""What a poor sport," Gator groused. "And this is my house.”

“Nicholas wanted to believe in fairy tales. She'd read her share, hoping for miracles, but in the end, there was no hundred acre wood to play in with her little stuffed animals. There was pain and crushing disillusionment and betrayal.”

“There were a thousand secrets in her eyes, a thousand wounds. A lifetime of distrust and betrayal. Isolation. How did one overcome such things?”

“You listen to me this one time, Dahlia. If something goes wrong, anything at all, you haul butt out of here fast. You have the cell phone and the number. Call Lily. The Ghost Walkers will be here as soon as possible."She caught him before he could turn away. "You listen to me this one time, Nicholas. If anything goes wrong, don't be a hero. Haul your butt out of there and in one piece. We'll call Lily, and she can send the others.”

“As a child he had grown up without a mother or even a grandmother. He had never really explored emotional relationships or marriage. He'd never been given advice on the matter. The closest he'd really come to seeing a relationship was watching Ryland Miller pursue Lily. The man had lost his mind. Nicholas had a feeling he'd joined the ranks of en losing their mind over women.”

“His energy is very malevolent.Don't get sick or I'll start asking you if the baby is all right in front of him.”

“cell phones have a way of disliking the bayou and the river. It must be water thing.""But what about when you weren't i the bayou? Surely Calhoun gave you a cell phone to keep in touch when you were in town.""I melted two of them. he decided it wasn't worth it."He looked down at her to see if she was teasing him. Her gaze was all too serious. "You melted them?"She nodded. "I melt things. Accidentally."Nicholas wasn't touching that. Considering all that melting going on inside of him any time he was close to her he could believe she'd melted a couple of phones. After all, they were much smaller than he was. His breath chuffed out and he took her hand, deciding to try to diffuse the situation. "Try not to melt any body parts.”

“I think my vision's blurred," he murmurred.SHe responded with a hesitant laugh. "If that's all that happened, you're a heck of a better kisser than I am. I can't stand up.""I'm afraid to touch you. We might go up in flames."She sighed. "They story of my life...”

“You learned several forms of martial arts.""yes, and for the most part, because I was doing something physical and most of my instructors enjoyed what they were doing, it was fun. Later, as I got older and they were serious about training me, I was faster than the instructors, and some of them would get angry.""Honey, that's entirely understandable. You're barely five feet tall, and you can't weigh a hundred pounds. To make matters worse, you're a girl. Kicking some man's butt is not ladylike.”

“You missed him," she said. Somehow it didn't seem possible. He was so sure of himself, almost invincible in his manner."I hit what I was aiming at," he answered quietly. "We have to keep moving. I'm hoping I slowed them down, but we can't count on it." He forced the oars through the water with his powerful arms and the boat shot through the channel toward open water."I didn't feel anything."His gaze brushed her face, an odd little caress she felt all the way through her body, just as if he'd touched her with his fingers. "I wasn't aiming at you."She caught the fleeting glint of his white teeth in what could have been a brief smile. One dark eyebrow rose in response. "Has anyone ever told you your sense of humor needs a little work?""No one's ever accused me of having a sense of humor before. You keep insulting me. First you accuse me of missing, and then you try to tell me I have a sense of humor."His face was made of stone, his tone devoid of all expression. His eyes were flat and ice cold, but Dahlia felt him laughing. Nothing big, but it was there in the boat between then, and the terrible pressure in her chest lifted a bit. "And it needs work," she pointed out. "Get it right." She even managed a brief smile of her own to match his.”

“I am not going to say you are right because I could not take it if you smirked.""I do not smirk," Vikirnoff claimed."Yes, you do. And I detest that after all these centuries, you are making sense. Frankly, its scary.""It is only that you are not making sense sunce you acquired a lifemate. I hope that does not happen to all men. It would be a shame.""Your sense of humor is not improving," Nicolae pointed out dryly."I do not have a sense of humor." Vikirnoff answered. "I had not noticed," Nicolae teased.”

“My heart is very much alive and in your hands. Do your best not to destroy it.You are very lucky it isn't it my hands... The only thing I know to do with hearts is incinerate them!Ouch!”

“Trust. Such an easy word. Such an impossible quality.”

“You can't go back; I can't go back either, but we can go on.”

“There was a certain feminine satisfaction in having the last word, delivering her line smartly, and breaking the connection between them quickly and decisively.”

“You’re a goner, Donovan. When a hungry man spends more time lookin’ at his woman than eatin’ , he’sin trouble.”

“I’m not a violent man.”Joshua, Jerico and Evan choked dramatically and began coughing.Remy snorted. “And if you believe that, Saria, I’ve got a sinkhole I can sell you for farmland.”“You’re not helping my cause,” Drake complained.“Ignore them. I always do,” Saria advised.”

“You’re mine,Isabeau. You’ll always be mine. Make no mistake about it. Whether you choose to forgive me and giveus a second chance, or you don’t, you’ll be my only.”

“He found a stuffed animal, a fluffy wolf with bright blue eyes, and was immediately drawn to it. "I want to get this for her. It is telling me it needs to go home with us." Francesca laughed at him.”

“I don’t like you in danger. When a man finds the only personof worth to him, that one person who matters more than anything and makeseverything he’s ever seen or done or gone through worthwhile, believe me,Rikki, the urge to protect her is overwhelming. If that bothers you, then I’msorry, because it’s going to be happening over and over throughout our yearstogether.”

“Jesse, we can’t do this.” “Sure we can, honey. It’s the perfect night for it. You’re a woman, I’m aman. Those little twinkling things overhead are stars. I believe it’s referred to as romance.”

“I made the decision fifteen years ago that you were my life. My everything. You were with me in my dreams my dark lover my friend and confidant.”

“Men always seemed to growl and sniff around each other, bristling over nothing, and just as suddenly become buddies at the least likely moments.”

“What does kiciciyapi mitawa mean?"He kept his head on her breasts. "What?""You called me kicicyapi mitawa. It sounded so beautiful. It wasn't Japanese. What was it?""It's the voice of the Lakota. It would sound silly in English." He cupped her breast, his fingers moving lightly over her skin. His breath warm on her heart. "I want to know. It didn't sound silly when you said it. It sounded...beautiful. It made me feel beautiful. And loved."He kissed her breast. "I called you my heart. And you are.”

“Joley likes to be scared, and she can't watch them alone.""I don't know how you can make that sound perfectly logical.”

“She was temptation wrapped in casual elegance.”

“It happened. It was frightening and horrible and we both wish it hadn't happened, but it did.”

“Today's my wedding day, Mom," he said softly aloud. "I'm marrying the woman I always told you I would someday.”

“Abbey," Sarah said, "life is to be lived. If you're living, you're going to stumble along the way.""All the time?" Abigail lept to her feet and began to pace. "I have such a bad temper and when I was in my teens, I wasn't above using my gift for revenge. None of you did that."Joley slowly raised her hand, sliding down in the chair as she did so. Hannah followed suit, though she didn't look in the least remorseful. Sarah shrugged her shoulders and raised her hand and glared at Elle, who just grinned sheepishly and put up a couple of fingers. Carol tossed her head and waved her arm with gusto.”

“I just want some time, Mikhail, to think things through. It’s frightening, the way I am about you. I think about you every minute; I want to touch you, just to know I can, to feel you beneath my fingers. It’s as if you crawled into my head and my heart, even my body, and I can’t get you out.”

“Do you have a camera?" Jackson asked. "We could get some pictures and may be take a print or two if we're lucky."Jonas shook his head. "We'd probably get a bunch of ghosts and that would just freak me out.”

“Do you suppose we can take that as evidence? We could cut out the sections."Jonas snorted, "You can try taking a saw to that house, but personally, I'm not about to get anywhere near it with anything resembling a weapon.”

“I'm not going to say I can at least collect DNA samples," he muttered, "because every time I open my mouth, the evidence disappears."With a little sigh, he watched te droplets of blood absorb into the wood and the window reform. "I have to tell you, I've seen some freaky shit around you girls, but nothing like this. I have just one question. Have you told your fiancées about this? Because quiet frankly it scares the hell out of me.""You never have to be afraid, Jonas," Hannah assured. "The house judges intent.""Hannah. Honey. Half the time my intent is to strangle you. And I don't doubt whoever ends up with Joley or Elle will want to do worse than that.”