Loretta Chase

“Mrs. Wingare regarded him through slitted blue eyes. "Have you any idea, Rathbourne, how utterly detestable you become when you adopt that tone of patient superiority?""The trouble is, you are tired, hungry, anxious, and afflicted with an aching hand," he said. "The trouble is, you had confidently expected a happy outcome only to have your hopes dashed. Consequently, you are too low-spirited at present to appreciate that I am perfect and therefore cannot be detestable."She gazed at him for a moment, up and down, then up again. Then, "Did your wife ever throw things at you?" she said.”

“That man," she said in low but still audible tones, "is an idiot.""Yes, madam, but he's all we've got.""I may be stupid," Rupert said, "but I'm irresistibly attractive.""Good grief, conceited too," she muttered."And being a great, dumb ox," he went on, "I'm wonderfully easy to manage."She paused and turned to Beechey. "Are you sure there's no one else?”

“And, while Jessica had faith enough in Providence, she preferred to seek help from more accessible sources. Her assistant was Phelps, the coachman.”

“Just like a damned man, he thought exasperatedly. She got what she wanted, then curled up and went to sleep.That was what he was supposed to do, blast and confound her bloody impudence.”

“Bertie’s gaze fell there and his blue eyes widened. “Deuce take you, Jess,” he said crossly. “Can’t a fellow trust you for a moment? How many times do I have to tell you to leave my friends alone?”Miss Trent coolly withdrew her hand.Trent gave Dain an apologetic look. “Don’t pay it any mind, Dain. She does that to all the chaps. I don’t know why she does it, when she don’t want ‘em. Just like them fool cats of Aunt Louisa’s. Go to all the bother of catching a mouse, and then the confounded things won’t eat ’em. Just leave the corpses lying about for someone else to pick up.”Miss Trent’s lips quivered.”

“Beaumont wanted Esmond very badly. Esmond wanted Beaumont’s wife. And she didn’t want anybody.”

“Ona je bila posjednički nastrojena... i to zbog njega.To prekrasno, ludo stvorenje — ili slijepo i gluho stvorenje, štogod bila — hladnokrvno je to izjavilo kao da govori: »Dodaj mi solenku«, bez imalo svijesti da se Zemljina os upravo snažno nagnula.”

“Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero. Uzmi sve što ti dan donosi i ne vjeruj u sutra.”

“Znala sam da me želiš. To je jedino oko čega nikad nisam dvojila. Ali dovući te u svoju postelju — tebe, najvećeg kurvara u kršćanskom svijetu — zaboga, bilo je to gore nego onda kad sam Bertiea morala odvući zubaru. I”

“»U mojem rječniku, romantika nije plačljiv, sladunjav pojam«, rekla je ona. »Ona je poputukusna jela začinjenog uzbuñenjem i humorom i zdravom mjerom cinizma.«”

“»Malo se ona trudila, i mnogo se kajala, / I šapćući >Nikad neću pristati< — uvijek pristajala.« (Byron)”

“»Ne bi se trebao služiti muškim lukavstvima«, rekla je, stegnuta grla. »Što sam to tako neoprostivo učinila?« Natjerala si me da te želim, rekao joj je na svojem materinjem jeziku. Učinila si me klonulim duhom, usamljenim. Natjerala si me da čeznem za onim za što sam se zakleo da nikad neću trebati, nikad to iskati”

“Nije bilo zabavno biti razdražljiv i nemiran i usamljen i dosađivati se do neizdržljivosti jer je već bila skoro ponoć, a jedan se prijezira vrijedan grubijan uopće nije udostojao doći. Nije bilo zabavno niti znati da je bolje što nije došao, a opet ga željeti ovdje i mrziti sebe zbog te želje.”

“Istina, Dain to nije u to vrijeme na taj način vidio, ali muškarac nije u stanju išta vidjeti kako valja dok žena zariva svoje kandže u njega i trga ga na komadiće”

“Ali skrivanje osjećaja dotad mu je već postalo refleksna reakcija.”

“Jessica: “You great drunken jackass!”Dain: “I did not give you leave to use my Christian name.”

“It is brilliant, and I would swoon if I knew how. Perhaps I learnt the art but it was long ago, and I've forgotten, It is merely one of a number of feminine skills I lack.”

“His conscience smote him. As smitings go, it wasn't much, his conscience being in poor fighting condition.”

“Shockingly tactless,” Lady Warford said. “Unfortunately, Longmore can be tactless quite fluently in several languages”

“I know why you want to wear the plum,” Marcelline said. “It’s ravishing. It’ll make Longmore swoon.”“It might make him do some things,” Sophy said. “But swooning isn’t one of them. He’s the sort of man who tells a girl he l-loves her—and then l-laughs. As thoughit’s a j-joke.”

“But you are a charming and beautiful dunces, madame. And,” he continued in French, “a charming and beautiful womancan get away with murder. Can you imagine that any man here would prosecute you for assassinating our language?”

“Oh, good,” he muttered. “We’re going to discuss it now.”“No discussion,” she said. Her mind was quite clear now, as though a fire had blazed through it, burning away all confusion. “It’s perfectly simple. No One MustEver Know.”He came up onto one elbow and looked at her. “Do you know,” he said, “I can hear those five words in italics. Capitalized.”

“The whole thing’s absurd,” he said. “Your sister married a duke. I told Clevedon . . .” he trailed off.“What did you tell him?”“Never mind that now,” he said.“I certainly will mind it now,” she said.“Do you want to find Clara or do you want to quarrel?” he said.“Preferably both,” she said.”

“Did you know you could kill a person with a hatpin?” she said.“I did not,” he said. “Do you speak from experience? Have you murdered anybody? Not that I’d dream of criticizing.”

“That’s what brings in the customers: the combination of gossip and the intricate detail about the dresses, all related as drama. It has the same effect on women, I’m told, as looking at naked women has on men.”

“Just listen,” she said. “You can’t kill him in cold blood.” “Whyever not?” Ye gods grant me patience. “Because he’ll be dead,” she said as patiently as she could, “and Lady Clara’s reputation will be stained forever. Do not, I pray you, do anything, Lord Longmore. Leave this to us.” “Us.” “My sisters and me.” “What do you propose? Dressing him to death? Tying him up and making him listen to fashion descriptions?”

“Clara will break him to bridle,” Longmore said. “And if she can’t cure his wild ways, who knows? Maybe he’ll ride into a ditch or get run over by a post chaise, and she’ll be a young widow. Do try to look on the bright side.”

“Go away,” he said. “Do you know you’ve almost no clothes on?” “Never mind. I need—” “Never mind? Listen to me, Miss Innocence. There are many things a man can ‘never mind.’ A nearly naked woman isn’t one of them.”

“There is no animal more invincible than a woman,”

“She’s never met an adjective or adverb she didn’t like.”

“I mean to court you, yes,” he went on. “But in thesecoming days I am determined as well to find a way to ease your heart.”It took her a moment to answer, because the heart he spoke of was so full. “You’re a shockinglygood man,” she said at last. She mustered a smile. “Perhaps I’d better say yes and have done with it. I’ve never had any trouble resisting men’s lures—at least not since that first time—but so much kindness isbeyond me.”“No, I want a hearty yes,” he said. “No questions, no doubts. I am determined to make youbelieve your life will be a desert—utterly unlivable without me.”

“A dress is a weapon. It must dazzle his eye, raise his temperature . . . and empty his purse.”

“I spent hours yesterday talking of little but medical symptoms and insane asylums. And you listened as though it were poetry and all but swooned at my feet. It is too bad I don't have any medical treatises about. I'm sure I need read a paragraph or two, and you will become ravenous with lust and begin tearing my clothes off. (Dorian from "The Mad Earl's Bride")”

“I have dealt with the poor, Bathsheba. They need a great deal, but I do not believe they feel any great want for aristocratic females dressed in the latest stare of fashion telling them they are proud, vain, and licentious.”

“Sognavo di te. I’ve dreamed of you.Ti desideravo nelle mia braccia dal primo momento che ti vedi.I’ve wanted you in my arms since the moment I met you.Ho bisogno di te. I need you”

“Clevedon told the dressmakers that the previous tenants (a husband and wife) had fallen into dire financial difficulties within months of opening the place. They’d absconded in the dead of night mere days ago, owing three months’ back rent. They must have borrowed or stolen a cart, because they’d taken away most of the shop’s contents and fixtures. This was a complete lie. The truth was, Varley had bribed them to move and sweetened the offer by allowing them to take with them everything that wasn’t nailed down.”

“She longed to throw something at him. A chair. Herself.”

“Orphans? Would you really? Adopt children?""There are advantages. If they turn out badly, we can blame their natural parents. We can also choose our own assortment of ages and genders. We can even get them ready-grown, if we wish.”

“By gad, is that you, Ainswood? I haven't seen you in a dog's age. How's the gout? Still troubling you?”

“Lydia: What the devil do you mean by creeping up on me? You're suppose to be in a brothel.Vere: I lied. I can't believe you fell for the old going-to-a-brothel ruse. You didn't even look out the window to make sure I'd gone away.”

“We're of one mind, Grenville and I, and the mind is hers, on account of my being a man and not having one.”

“If this is how it's going to be -you getting all broody and distracted every time you fall in lust with somebody -well, I haven't the stomach for it. I won't put up with it, not for a dukedom. Not for three dukedoms. I deserve better than the role of a quietly accepting wife. I'm an interesting woman. I read. I have opinions. I appreciate poetry. I have a sense of humor." "I know all that. I've always known." "I deserve to be loved, truly loved -mind, body and soul. And in case you haven't noticed, there's a line of men ready to give me all that. Why on earth should I settle for a man who can't give me anything but friendship. Why should I settle for you?”

“Jessica frowned at her. “It was very difficult to keep a straight face—but that wasn’t the hardest part. The hardest part was—” She let out a sigh. “Oh, Genevieve. He was so adorable. I wanted to kiss him. Right on his big, beautiful nose. And then everywhere else. It was so frustrating. I had made up my mind not to lose my temper, but I did. And so I beat him and beat him until he kissed me. And then I kept on beating him until he did it properly. And I had better tell you, mortifying as it is to admit, that if we had not been struck by lightning—or very nearly—I should be utterly ruined. Against a lamppost. On the Rue de Provence. And the horrible part is”—she groaned—“I wish I had been.”

“Jessica, I know I've been...difficult," he said. "All the same—""Difficult?" She looked up, her grey eyes wide, "You have been impossible. I begin to think you are not right in the upper storey. I knew you wanted me. The only thing I've never doubted was that. But getting you into bed— you, the greatest whoremonger in Christendom— gad, it was worse than the time I had to drag Bertie to the tooth-drawer. And if you think I mean to be doing that the rest of our days, you had better think again. The next time, my lord, you will do the seducing— or there won't be any, I vow.”

“Thank you, Dain," she said. "I should like that very much. I've never seen a proper wrestling match before.""I daresay it will be a novel experience all round," he said, gravely eyeing her up and down. "I can't wait to see Sherburne's face when I arrive with my lady wife in tow.""There, you see?" she said, unoffended. "I told you there were other benefits to having a wife. I can come in very handy when you wish to shock your friends.”

“We have been wed scarcely three days," she said. "You do not desert your new bride for your sapskull friends. You will not make a laughingstock of me. If you are unhappy with me, you say so, and we discuss it— or quarrel, if you prefer. But you do not—""You do not dictate to me," he said levelly. "You do not tell me where I may and may not go— or when — or with whom. I do not explain to you and you do not question. And you do not come into my room and throw temper fits.""Yes, I do," she said. "If you leave this house, I will shoot your horse out from under you.""Shoot my—""I will not permit you to desert me," she said. "You will not take me for granted as Sherburne does his wife, and you will not make all the world laugh at me— or pity me —as they do her. If you cannot bear to miss your precious wrestling match, you can jolly well take me with you.""Take you?" His voice climbed. "I'll bloody well take you, madam— straight to your room. And lock you in, if you can't behave yourself.”

“You needn't consult me about redecorating. I know no female can live two days in a house and leave anything as it was. I shall be much astonished if I can find my way about when I return.”

“It was then Jessica realized he wasn't using his left hand at all, and that he held the arm oddly, as though something were wrong with it. There shouldn't be except for a minor bullet wound. She'd aimed carefully, and she was an excellent markswoman. Not to mention he was a very large target.He looked her way then, and caught her staring. "Admiring your handiwork, are you? I daresay you'd like a better look. Regrettably, there's nothing to see. There's nothing wrong with it, according to the quacks. Except that it doesn't work. Still, I count myself fortunate, Miss Trent, that you didn't aim a ways lower. I'm merely disarmed, not dismanned. But I have no doubt that Herriard here will see to the emasculation.”

“Dain wasn't certain what exactly was wrong with her, but he had no doubt that something was. He was Lord Beelzebub, wasn't he? She was supposed to faint, or recoil in horrified revulsion at the very least. Yet she had gazed at him as bold as brass, and it had seemed for a moment as though the creature were actually flirting with him.”

“In the month and a half since the Earl of Hargate’s fourth son had arrived in Egypt, he had broken twenty-three separate laws and been jailed nine times. For what Mr. Carsington had cost the (England) consulate in fines and bribes, Mr. Salt (His Majesty's consul general) might have dismantled and shipped to England one of the smaller temples on the island of Philae.He now knew exactly why Lord Hargate had sent his twenty-nine-year-old offspring to Egypt. It was not, as his lordship had written, “to assist the consul general in his services on behalf of the nation.”It was to saddle someone else with the responsibility and expense.”