“Go, go,” she urged. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll find someother poor unsuspecting fool to torture. And yes, before you feelthe need to protest, I did just call you a fool.”“That, I think, may be the one privilege that consanguinity doesallow.”She cackled with delight. “You are a prince among nephews,”she proclaimed.“Your second favorite,” he murmured.“You’ll rise to the top of the list if you find a way to destroy herviolin.”

“A Queen is many things, but alone is never one of them.” Sheheld the brush, poised right above the canvas as if she meant to paint,but she didn’t. “I don’t need love or a man to complete me, andsomeday, you’ll find that’s true for yourself. Suitors will come and go,but you will remain.”

“Remember when we met? Before you left, you said you were going to make a fool of yourself over me. That's still what you're worried about. That you'll find yourself doing things you never dreamed of doing, things you laughed at in others, and you'll make a fool of yourself.”

“He gave her a sly, sideways look. "Did youbring it?""My list? Heavens, no. What can you be thinking?"His smile widened. "I brought mine."Daphne gasped. "You didn't!""I did. Just to torture Mother. I'm going peruse it right in front of her, pull out my quizzing glass—""You don't have a quizzing glass."He grinned—the slow, devastatingly wicked smile that all Bridgerton males seemed to possess. "I bought one just for this occasion.""Anthony, you absolutely cannot. She will kill you. And then, somehow, she'll find a way to blame me.""I'm counting on it.”

“I think you’re making a mistake,” she whispered. “You don’t need to go that party to meet a guy, you’ve got one that’s crazy about you right here,” she said, leaving me alone.”

“I am not a twenty-two-year-old boy; I am not a besotted fool. If you think to jilt me, think again. For I will not turn tail and run the other way as he did, oh no. I will find you, and I will drag you to the altar on your back if need be, no matter how you might be screaming. No matter how scandalous it might be.”