And really, was there anything so demoralizing as meeting a former lover? Never did a woman have more cause to doubt her judgment than when confronted with the pathetic evidence of what she had once somehow found appealing.
Boneless with relief, she let him pull her forward, into the open air, into his lap. And in this wild darkness, in the middle of an empty earth, she grieved for both of them – indeed, for every human in this wretched world, who must face the trials life offered, negotiate the changes wrought by time. There was so little joy to cling to, so few certainties. Yet humans continued to endure. Continued to hope. The undeniable compulsion to survive powered them onward, like Sisyphus on his mountain.
I’ll never belong to your world.” She spoke carefully, with all the honesty she could offer. “Even after twenty years, Simon. Or forty.” The memory of hunger would still be inside her. It would prevent her from taking good fortune for granted as he did. “But nobody belongs to that world, Nell. Nobody feels as if they belong, at any rate. They’re all watching each other – fearful of the laughter coming from across the room, wondering to themselves, are they the target? Are they the joke?
Here, inside her rooms, as she stood naked before him, an enchanted silence enclosed them, profound and.
Some women would never know a touch like this. They would never know what they deserved. But she knew.
This was reckless.” “Extremely. The best decisions generally are.
Only the tips of her stockings showed, quick flashes of white lace. She wore lace stockings to bed. Now, why should that be the best news he’d had all day? Should.
A body, he thought, was like a complex and complicated clock. Each one unique in its parts. Through study, one might discover the tricks of its mechanisms. Through trial and error, one might calibrate one’s touches on the gears and learn to make the clock tick. He drew his knuckles down her nape, along her spine. She shuddered.
A woman did not only wish to be wooed. Sometimes, God be praised, she wanted to be taken.
Prepare for the worst, and pursue the fun: this was her philosophy.
Here was a new lesson for her, then: it was possible to behave like an utter goose in front of a man, and then to take his arm again and stroll companionably onward, without feeling any awkwardness.
They’re diplomats, Mr. Godwin. Their livelihood depends on trouble. When they find none, they must invent it, lest they be thrown out of a job.
But she had been born with a talent for smiling: with the mere curve of her mouth, she could make men stumble and gape, or quail in momentary fear, for reasons they would never manage to explain to themselves.
She had a girlish fullness to her face, which made a provocative contrast to the self-possession of her bearing as she opened her eyes and smiled at him. She’d known he was looking at her. She’d let the moment draw out, for some private feminine reason. The knowledge brushed over him like fingertips – stealing away his breath.
He was a mad creature, who no doubt said up when everyone else said down, just to be contrary.
She had that kind of power, though thank God she didn’t know it. She had no idea that she could light up a room like a lamp at midnight. He.
How had he ever imagined that a petite frame was the key to feminine appeal? Miniatures might be compassed in a single glance. But such an abundance of perfection, long limbs and generous hips, nearly six feet of woman, made for an endless expanse of skin. Such a woman would demand hours to properly peruse. To taste. To penetrate.
Anyway,” she went on, “you must think the whole thing laughable. I am cared for, am I not? Provided with every luxury my heart can desire, all the ink and paper and silk floss I could ask for. But you’ve never been powerless, Mr. Burke. Or discounted in every regard that makes one human. So you must trust me when I say that comfort can be a prison.
History remembered the villains even better than the saints.
Beauty had a horrible power. It did not conceal faults so much as it persuaded the viewer to ignore them, and to disregard the instinct that screamed danger.
His mouth found hers in the dark. “Let me be your villain,” he whispered.