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

“Do little pink fairies sing and dance in your world, Peabody?""Sometimes, when it's very quiet and no one else can see.”

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

“She stepped forward as if to pick up the fur she'd tossed over a chair. Smoothly, she turned to hand it to him. And with perfect timing, flung herself into his arms.The sable fell as he took her shoulders to shove her back.Eve stepped to the doorway to see Magdelana with her arms locked around Roarke's neck, his hands on her bare shoulders--one of the ivory straps sliding to her elbow."Son of a bitch," she said.On cue, Magdelana spun around, her face full of passion and shock. "Oh, God. Oh...it's not what it looks like.""Bet." Eve strode in.Actually, Roarke thought, it was more of a swagger. He had a moment to admire it, before Eve rammed her fist in his face."Fuck me." His head snapped back, and he tasted blood.Magdelana cried out, but even the deaf would have caught the suppressed laughter in the sound. "Roarke! Oh, my God, you're bleeding. Please, let me just--""Don't look now," Eve said cheerfully. "But he's not the only one." She decked Magdelana with a straight-armed jab. "Bitch," Eve added as Magdelana's eyes rolled back and she fell, unconscious, to the floor.Roarke looked down. "Well, now, fuck us all.”

“Fine, you do that, and you tell them that at the very first opportunity, I'm coming down there and killing all of them. Mass murder. And after they're all dead, I'm going to kick the bodies around, dance on top of them, and sing a happy song. No jury will convict me.”

“Unnerved, Summerset moved quickly to the communication center. "Roarke, the lieutenant has just come in from outside. She wore no outer gear. She looks very bad.""Where is she?""She's heading up. Roarke, I insulted her and...she apologized to me. Something must be done.”

“Damn it all to hell and back again, you know very well that was a setup. You bloody well know I couldn't put my hands on her.""Yeah, yeah, sure, sure." Eve shrugged off her coat, tossed it aside. "I know a setup when I see it, and I know your face, ace. I didn't see desire on it, I saw annoyance.""Is that so? Is that bloody well so? Well, if you knew it was just what it was, why did you sucker punch me?""Mostly?" She turned, cocked a hip. "Because you're a man."Eyes narrowed on her face, he tried to stanch the blood with the back of his hand. "And do you have any sort of idea just how often I might expect your fist in my goddamn face because of my bleeding DNA?”