J.D. Robb

“Roarke: “Our engines don't run at the same speed.”Eve: “What the hell does that mean?”Roarke: “Just that.”Eve: “It sounds like something that ought to piss me off. But I can't figure out exactly why. When I do, I might have to pop you one.”Roarke: “I'll look forward to it. If you don't sleep, eat. You need something in your stomach. And what are you grinning at?”Eve: “You. You're such a wife.”Roarke: “Now, I'm pissed off.”

“Eve: “Would you jump in front of a maxibus for me?”Roarke: “Absolutely. They don't go very fast.”

“Her killer wrote a note on that stationary.""A note." Now Renquist's eyebrows lifted. "Well. That was rather arrogant of him, wasn't it?”

“Hey, pretty damn smart aren't you? You made it just ugly enough. inconspicuous. Nobody looks twice.""I have to admit, that was a hard one for me. I think one of the designers had a breakdown. Cried for an hour”

“He wanted to heave the glasses against the wall. Break them, break everything he could reach. Beat it, rend it. He stared out the window, imagined the city in flames, consumed to ashes. And still it wasn't enough.”

“You tell Roarke you were tagging me for this? Or is he going to get riled up so I have to kick his ass again?""Oh, is that what you were doing when you had to be carried out of the room unconscious?""I like to remember it that I was just getting my second wind.”

“Eve: “If you ended up naked and dead with another woman, I'd do the Rumba on your corpse.”Roarke: “You can't do the Rumba.”Eve: “I'd take lessons first.”Roarke: “You might very well. Not that you'll ever get the chance, but you'd also grieve.” Eve: “Wouldn't give you the satisfaction. You cheating f-wit putz. "Roarke: “You'd weep in the dark and call my name.”Eve: “Call your name alright. How are things in hell? You dickless bastard. And I'd laugh and laugh, that's how I''d call your name.”Roarke: “Christ Jesus Eve, I love you.”--Eve, Roarke”

“That Chippendale is a coffee table, Lieutenant, not a footstool.""How do you walk with that stick up your ass?" She left her feet where they were, propped comfortably on the table. "Does it hurt, or does it give you a nice little rush?""Your dinner guests," he said, curling his lip, "have arrived.""Thank you, Summerset." Roarke got to his feet. "We'll have the hors d'oeuvres in here." He held out a hand to Eve.She waited, deliberately, until Summerset had stepped out again before swinging her feet to the floor."In the interest of good fellowship," Roarke began as they started toward the foyer, "could you not mention the stick in Summerset's ass for the rest of the evening?""Okay. If he rags on me I'll just pull it out and beat him over the head with it.""That should be entertaining.”

“Goddamn Summerset. I've told him to leave my car when I park it.""I think he did." Peabody flipped on her sunshades, pointed. "It's blocking the drive, see?""Oh, yeah." Eve cleared her throat. The car was just as she'd left it, and fluttering in the mild breeze were a few torn articles of clothing. "Don't ask," she muttered and started to hoof it down the drive."I wasn't going to." Peabody's voice was smooth as silk, "Speculation's more interesting.”

“I'm still picking pockets--I just do it as legally as I can. Being married to a cop limits certain activities.”

“You don't need to diet, She-Body. You are a just-right female.""McNab?" Eve said."Yes, sir.""Shut up.""It's all right, Dallas. We're a couple.""A couple of what? No, don't tell me. Don't talk to me. Don't talk to each other. Let there be silence across the land.”

“Do you think you're walking out on me, on your life, because you defended yourself against a monster?""I killed my father.""You killed a fucking monster. You were a child. Are you going to stand there, look me in the face, and tell me that child was to blame?"She opened her mouth, closed it. "It's not a matter of how I see it, Roarke. The law--""The law should have protected you!" With visions dancing evilly in his head, he snapped. He could all but hear the tight wire of control break. "Goddamn the law. What good did it do either one of us when we needed it most? You want to chuck your badge because the law's too fucking weak to care for it's innocents, for it's children, be my guest. Throw your career away. But you're not getting rid of me.”

“Summerset, don't you ever sleep?""It's Lieutenant Dallas. She's--"Roarke dropped his briefcase, grabbed Summerset by the lapels. "Has she been hurt? Where is she?""A nightmare. She was screaming." Summerset lost his usual composure and dragged a hand over his hair. "She won't cooperate. I was about to call your doctor. I left her in her private suite."As Roarke pushed him aside, Summerset grabbed his arm. "Roarke, you should have told me what had been done to her."Roarke merely shook his head and kept going. "I'll take care of her.”

“Eve, we're going to be married in a few days."The jittering started again, big time. "Yeah.""If he keeps looking at you like that, I'm going to have to hurt him.”

“What about your crepe?""Stuff It.""She's crazy about you," Mavis commented."It's almost embarrassing, the way she fawns.”

“Summerset-"I see you've destroyed another police vehicle. Perhaps you now hold the record.”

“Get out of the lab occasionally, Stiles.""Why? There are people out there. Nothing fucks things up faster than people.”

“I will give you more pain than you can imagine. Your brains will leak out of your ears, and your bowels out of your ass. I will cause that to happen without leaving a mark, and every cop here will swear you died of natural causes.”

“You think they've killed before?""I'd bet your ass on it""Why my ass?" Eyes slitted, Peabody jabbed a finger in the air. "Because it's bigger? Because it has more padding? That's hitting below the belt.""Your ass is below your belt. I'd bet mine, too, if it makes you feel better.”

“The man's got more money than God, and he sends you a bag of coffee?”

“Sometimes I just want to gobble you whole, eat you alive. You're so gorgeous. You're so beautiful.”

“...but even strong women need an arm to lean on now and then. (Anna Whitney in Glory in Death)”

“Into the night, in the dark, he lay beside her, listening to her breathe. He knew the varied and sundry reasons a man would kill. But none were more fierce, none were more vital than to hold safe what he loved.”

“I'm sorry. It's Hard for me. I do love you," she said quietly. "Sometimes it scares me because you're the first. And the only"He held her there until he was sure he could speak, then eased her back, looked into her eyes "You've chaged my life. Become my life." He touched his lips to hers, let the kiss deepen slowly, silkily. "I need you”

“He blinked, then roared with laughter. "Eve Dallas, Vampire Slayer. One for the books."~Eternity in Death”

“You saved me, Eve." He watched her blink in absolute shock. "What you are, what I feel for you, what we are together saved me." He kept his eyes on hers as he kissed her.”

“I don't mind being a suspect when the corpse is a shit-for-brains fuckwit, but if I'd killed her it would've been bloody and loud. And I'd have enjoyed it too much to keep it to myself.”

“Who's with her?" Roarke asked, though he already knew. It was just like her."With her? Oh, ah, hmmm. Webster."Silence fell, a clatter of broken bricks. Peabody folded her hands in her pockets and prepared for the explosion to follow."I see." When Roarke simply turned back to the screen and continued, she didn't know whether to be relieved or scared to death.”

“If somebody doesn't call me a bitch once a day, I figure I'm not doing my job.”

“You just pounded yourself into me with all the finesse of a sweaty celibate breaking fast with a rented sex droid.”

“It's an exceptional thing to have someone in your life who knows and understands you so well. Who loves who you are. A very exceptional thing.”

“You have to trust or you're only living half a life.”

“She raised her eyes to his. They had both come from misery, she thought, and survived it. They had been drawn together through violence and tragedy, and had overcome it. They walked different paths and had found a mutual route.Some things last, she thought. Some ordinary things. Like love.”

“Tell him I took the cat”

“She doesn’t like you, McNab.“I knoooow. I find that really attractive in a woman.”

“That’s a ‘Fuck Me’ car and you know it.” ~ Dallas“Well, yeah. Maybe. But it’s got to be fast.” ~ Peabody”

“[First line]“The business of murder took time, patience, skill, and a tolerance for the monotonous.”

“I want you to take note, Commander, that turning in my badge would be like cutting off my arm. But if it comes down to a choice between the job and my marriage, then I lose the arm.”

“She was singed, bleeding, bruised, and furiously alive.”

“An eye for an eye.”“That's a revenge thing, right? From some play.”“The Bible, darling. The Lord of all plays.”

“I was having the surreal experience of having myself show myself around my office and bullpen.” “Oh! My desk. I could’ve sat at my desk. I could’ve sat at your desk.” “No.” “It’s a vid set.” “Even then, no.”

“Today," she told it, "death comes to all your circuits. Will it be slow and systematic or fast and brutal?" Considering, she circled it, "Tough decision. I've waited so long for this moment. Dreamed of it."Showing her teeth, she began to roll up her sleeves. "What," Roarke asked from the doorway that connected their work areas, "is that?""The former bane of my existence. The Antichrist of technology. Do we have a hammer?"Studying the pile on the floor, he walked in. "Several, I imagine, of various types.""I want all of them. Tiny little hammers, big, wallbangers, and everything in between.""Might one ask why?""I'm going to beat this thing apart, byte by byte, until there's nothing left but dust from the last trembling chip.""Hmmm." Roarke crouched down, examined the pitifully out-of-date system. "When did you haul this mess in here?""Just now. I had it in the car. Maybe I should use acid, just stand here and watch it hiss and dissolve. That could be good."Saying nothing, Roarke took a small case out of his pocket, opened it, and chose a slim tool. With a few deft moves, he had the housing open."Hey! Hey! What're you doing?""I haven't seen anything like this in a decade. Fascinating. Look at this corrosion. Christ, this is a SOC chip system. And it's cross-wired."When he began to fiddle, she rushed over and slapped at his hands. "Mine. I get to kill it.""Get a grip on yourself," he said absently and delved deeper into the guts. "I'll take this into research.""No. Uh-uh. I have to bust it apart. What if it breeds?”

“The security officer smiled and said, ‘Good afternoon, ma’am,’ to me before Igave him ID.”“It’s a sick world, Eve.” He resisted taking her hand for another squeeze. “A sick,sad world.”

“I don't like the idea of you shivering unless I cause it. Stay warm." ----Roarke, Naked In Death”

“I said, you're the beat of my heart, the breath in my body, the light in my soul.”

“The vulnerability undid him even as the strength brought him pride. And the whole of her brought him love beyond the measuring of it.Of all he'd craved in his life, all he'd dreamed of having, all he'd fought to gain by fair means or foul, he'd never imagined having such such as she as his own. Never imagined himself the man he'd come to be because she was.”

“You have heard the expression 'love is blind'" "I think it's bullshit. Lust dazzles, sure, at least for the short term. But love clears the vision. You see better, sharper, because you feel more that you did before”

“I want a riot laser," Eve snapped at Peabody. "Full body armor." She yanked a six-inch combat knife from its leather sheath and watched with glee, as its wicked serrated edge caught the sunlight through her little window.Peabody's eyes popped. "Sir?""I'm going down to maintenance, and I'm going locked and loaded. I'm taking those piss-brain sons of bitches out, one by one. Then I'm going to haul what's left of the bodies into my vehicle and set it on fire.""Jesus, Dallas, I thought we had a red flag.""I've got a red flag. I've got one." Her eyes wheeled to Peabody. "I've got under fifty miles on my ride since those lying, cheating, sniveling shitheads said it was road ready. Road ready? Do you want me to tell you about road ready?""I would like that very much, Lieutenant. If you'd sheathe that knife first.”

“He was heading over the line when he strutted in here thinking he could rattle his federal balls at me.”

“You're almost as good as Peabody."He stopped at the door, grabbed her up in a steaming kiss. "You can't get that from Peabody.""I could if I wanted." But it made her grin as he uncoded the locks. "But I like you better for sex.”