He glanced at the woman in purple, who was smirking fondly at Jack’s father in a way that filled Jack with darkest foreboding. We wanted to surprise you.Jack looked from his father to the woman in pur...
He appreciated her as a companion; he admired her as a comrade; he wanted her as a lover. All innocuous enough each on its own. Put together . . . Christ. What a coil.
Fingers steepled in front of him, Delaroche stared at the note. The card itself was useless. Delaroche had an entire drawer full of nothing but cream-coloured cards bearing the Gentian’s distinctive p...
Even Sally wound't want to cross fans with the Dowager Duchess of Dovedale. The woman had a tongue of steel and drank the blood of young virgins for breakfast.
Amy was mentally packing for a midnight flight to the mail coach to Dover (plan C), when Jane’s gentle voice cut through the listing of ovine pedigrees.Such a pity about the tapestries, was all she sa...
But that initial, comet-blazing-across-the-sky, Big Idea is only the beginning. Each book is composed of a mosaic of thousands of little ideas, ideas that invariably come to me at two in the morning w...
That was the problem with snide comments; they invariably lost all their punch on repetition. Besides, when facing impending death, what did the odd witticism matter?
She won’t come that way.Jack’s stepmother stepped out beside him on the large terrace in front of the fortress. All around them, the setting sun painted the sky a brilliant red and purple that only ac...
Mr. Alsworthy! exclaimed Letty’s mother. How can you laugh at such a matter! Although, I must say, I would have thought if a pirate were to kidnap anyone, he would kidnap Mary. She looks quite as I di...
Jane leaned her head against a rough bit of brickwork. She couldn’t say that she hadn’t been warned. She’d known what Jack was before they began working together.But she hadn’t known all the other thi...
It’s just a devilish odd coincidence. I shared a boat – and a carriage – with Balcourt’s sister and cousin.I didn’t realise he had a sister.Well, he does. Richard abruptly pushed away his empty bowl.W...
Good Gad! It looks like the last act of Hamlet in here. Turnip banged his head against his clenched fists, making inarticulate moaning noises.Pinchingdale gave him an odd look. 'I had no idea you felt...
Colin mustered a perfunctory leer, but his mind was obviously elsewhere. 'Do you know...' he began.I knew many things, but I didn't think he needed to hear the entirety of the Prologue to the Canterbu...
But we know Jane, put in Lady Henrietta. Her plans always go as planned. She exchanged a glance with her husband. Well, almost always. But that wasn’t her fault. And then, as if it explained everythin...
Take a deep breath, people suggested. Count to ten. Count sheep. Oh, wait, that was for sleeping. Even in her own head, her tongue ran ahead of her brain. It propelled her into all sorts of absurd sit...
Embroidered Louis XV chair, legs crossed at the
[He] had insisted that inanimate objects couldn't have malignant motivations, but Emma had extensive proof to the contrary.
You’re not holding it against Jane that Gwen asked her to bring you home? I didn’t know, he added quickly. Not until the plan was in motion. And by then—I don’t imagine many people say no to Mrs. Reid...
Ooof! Amy collided at high speed with someone entering the anteroom from the other direction. Her head was still spinning as a pair of capable hands righted her, and a warm chuckle sounded somewhere a...
No sin is original, no matter what the bright young things may hope. We're all merely playing to a theme.