For the first time, Mary understood what drove animals to bite the hand that fed them—sheer irritation at being patronized.
For I shall bring you crimson leavesAnd rippling wheat in golden sheaves;A cache of berries, red and sweet,And dappled deer on silent feet.- Emma Delagardie and Augustus Whittlesby, Americanus: A Masq...
Don’t worry, said Lizzy brightly, dancing into the chamber in a peculiar costume that was part Robin Hood and part Paris frock. I have my crossbow.Nicolas regarded the costume appreciatively. That is...
There's nothing like competing for your boyfriend's attention with an emotionally needy sibling to make you feel like the worst sort of evil psycho-bitch.
Swooning solves nothing.
Its nice to know that your common sense stands between me and the grave.
It wasn't the big decisions that set the course of one's life; it was the slow accretion of all the little ones.
It was lovely to see cynicism in one so young. It positively restored his faith in human nature.
It didn’t take peering at the brass plates at the bottom of the paintings to guess who they must have been: my very own Lord and Lady Uppington, presiding over Uppington Hall in paint as they once had...
If a man took a lover it would be accounted commonplace. Why shouldn't you? Your virtue lies in your mind, not in what lies between your legs.
I know historians aren’t supposed to fall in love with their own theories, but I was head over heels about the notion of an entire band of female French agents, like a nineteenth-century Charlie’s Ang...
Before Jack could say anything, he was bowled sideways by a small female moving with great velocity.Jack! Jack, Jack, Jack! His sister Lizzy flung herself at him, momentarily stunning him. Or maybe th...
Amazing what the application of a knitting needle could do for one's manners.
A Frenchman, judging from the black turtleneck and the fact that his armpit was a deodorant-free zone.
Myself in love with her,’ he repeated,
The woman in purple subjected Jack to a critical inspection. You must be Jack. Jane succeeded in part of her mission, at least. And then: You don’t look at all as I expected.Fewer horns? said Jack ter...
The room was so still that Mary could hear the ticking of the clock on the mantel and the gentle whisper of Vaughn’s breathing, in and out, in and out. Outside, there was the rustle of the leaves in t...
Some things worked far better in imagination than reality. In imagination, she was intrepid and resourceful; in reality she wished she were home, wrapped in a quilt.
My dear Mrs. Grimstone, sometimes cowardice is merely another word for common sense.
Miles was frantically trying to rearrange his cravat and smooth down his hair. ‘Damn. No time to stop off at home and get my valet to tidy me up. Oh well. Give Hen a kiss for me.’Richard shot him a sh...