Jules could have sworn there was a devilish glint in the shopkeepers eye. ‘I find today I am in need of a bonnet.’Mr. Postlethwaite was silent. And then his eyes crept toward the marquess’s hairline.’It...

And this is the potency a first kiss should have: it should be earned. The moments leading up to it should be as tense as a crossbow drawn back. The reader should want it as...

if you leave me again. Just watch me.

I love you,” she murmured. The words … it was as though an entire sun had exploded in his chest.He’d been ridiculous. His thrashing thoughts, his grand confusion and torment and helplessness — it was...

You might accidentally lock eyes with Lisbeth Redmond, stumble, and fling me across the room to avoid crushing my feet.

He was still thoughtful. ‘Do you think any of us ever really knows anyone?’ ‘Philosophy, Lord Dryden? And yet it’s daylight and everyone is still sober.

I suppose we all tend to want the impossible. And sometimes in attempting it we achieve something near enough to the impossible to elicit satisfaction.

I don’t know,’ he said irritably. ‘Is it meant to improve you?’She swiveled toward him, eyes wide with shock.’Because nothing could,’ he added. Her mouth dropped in astonishment. Blotchy scarlet rushed her complexion. One would...

brown.”Burnished. Silk. Copper. Azure. Delicate. Angel. Hallelujah. Suddenly these were the only words he knew.

but the pain was old to him, and somehow it had become a part of him. He could bear it and speak of it. It had shaped him; he had accomodated it. He had loved...

Of course you’re sorry. The first words out of the mouths of men who are caught doing something they’re only too happy to continue until they’re caught.

Magnanimous of you.’His mouth twitched. ‘Mmm. Use more words like that, please. Schoolmistress words. Long, impressive ones.’ He’d made the last three words sound like an innuendo.

It isn’t a weakness to accept kindness. It isn’t a weakness to allow yourself to be cared for.