The name didn’t fit my lifestyle. Charles is dull. Chase sounds roguish. Exciting. No woman wants to cry out, ‘Oh, Charles! Yes, Charles!’ in bed. I mean, would you?
I’m here to present my findings at the symposium. I’m an esteemed member of the Society, with an impressive record of scholarship, and I have something of value to contribute to these proceedings. I also happen to be female. I’m a woman who knows a great deal about rocks. I suggest you find the stones to deal with it.
As an experienced wallflower, Violet Winterbottom knew to stake her ground and guard it.
You’re so young, you can’t know the meaning of true regret. It’s never what you’ve done, love, it’s what you’ve left undone.
Because I’m good at it,” he said, sounding agitated now. “I am bloody great at it. And I was never good at anything. Because it’s the one place where I know that my success is mine, and my failure, too. In the ring, I might be facing an Irish dock laborer or an English tanner or an American freedman. When the bell rings, none of it matters worth a damn. It’s only me. My strength, my heart, my wits, my fists. Nothing I was given, nothing I took. I fight because it tells me who I am.
When Susanna cocked her pistol, the others followed suit. The chorus of clicks raced down Bram’s spine. “I find this scene wildly arousing,” Colin murmured, echoing Bram’s own thoughts. “Is that wrong?” “If it is, I can promise you company in hell.” His cousin made an amused sound. “And you thought we have nothing in common.
All that talk about my being just a girl, it being unsafe – imagine, you truly meant it!” “What, did you think I was just being severe?” “Yes, of course,” she replied with a shrug. “For the first year I knew you, perhaps two – I thought you were put on this earth simply to vex me.” His eyebrows lifted. “And after two years?” “Oh, then I figured out the truth,” she said as they walked out of the room. “I was put on this earth to vex you.
She passed through the door, walked down a dim corridor, and emerged into a soaring, empty space. What she found made her blood turn cold. Oh, muscadine.
Curse him, he was so good at this. He had her toes melting into the evening dew. Her knees felt close to dissolving, too. Soon she’d be reduced to ten thousand drops of Alexandra scattered across the green, desperately clinging to ten thousand blades of grass.
He wanted to peel the garment from her, cast it aside, and offer himself instead. Chase wasn’t good for much, but he could stand between her body and the world.
All women are competitors, and sisters most of all. Ladies are perpetually jockeying for position, sizing themselves up against their peers. I can’t tell you how often I’m enjoined to comment on which lady is the prettiest, the wittiest, the most accomplished, the lightest on her feet. And who solicits these opinions? Always women, never men. Men could not care less. About those comparisons, at least.
For better or worse, she’d always been a quiet girl. But for the first time in her life, Violet wanted to be loud. She wanted to shout and scream and call on God in twenty different languages.
If it’s done right, a kiss changes everything.
Nevertheless, her stomach was a giddy frolic of crickets and butterflies. He was just so near. And so tall. And so commanding. So male. Everything female in her was rallying to the challenge.
Her mother credited the healthful atmosphere of Spindle Cove, and both Lady Melforth and Mrs. Busk expressed a particular wish to send their own patience-trying daughters on holiday. Good, Violet thought, smiling to herself. Very good. She didn’t know that the girls would find husbands there, but they just might find themselves.
If you need anything, you will ask?” “Oh, of course I will,” she assured him. “Don’t look so worried. It’s not as though I’ve never done this before.” Diana had never done this before. Any of it.
Side by side, elbows propped on the rail, they remained there. Two people who would never belong to the crowd, happily belonging to each other.
To begin, there is no better way to prove the worth of one’s mind than to display a willingness to change it.
Dear heaven,” Kate breathed. “He’s just covered in blood.” “And dirt,” Sally said. “But cor, he’s gorgeous anyhow.” “Sally, only you could think of such a thing at a time like this.” “You can’t tell me you didn’t notice.
You’ll be five-and-thirty this year, Griffy.” “Yes. Which makes me much too old to be called ‘Griffy.’ ” “More to the point, I am fifty-eight. I need grandchildren before my decline. It’s not right for two generations of the family to be drooling at the same time.” “Your decline?” He laughed. “Tell me, Mother, how can I hasten that happy process? Other than offering a firm push.” Her eyebrow arched in amusement. “Just try it.