Miranda shook her head slowly. 'Good heavens. That's quite an act you put on.'He drew himself up haughtily. 'I beg your pardon.''An act,' Miranda repeated. 'Stand as tall as you like, and frown at me all you wish. I saw you just now. You were feeding cats.''So I was. And do you make something of that?''You,' Miranda said daringly, 'have a kind heart.'He turned away from her, the tails of his greatcoat swirling about him. 'Don't enlarge too much upon the matter. The cats were hungry. I had food. This seemed to be a problem with a ready solution. It's not kindness to solve problems; it's efficiency.''I stand corrected. You have an efficient heart.

You intend to keep me confined in here with you for three days?" His voice was low and ominous."It doesn't have to take three days," she said, "It just depends how long it takes for you to come to your senses.""My senses?" he shook her so hard she thought her teeth would rattle. "It is you whose mind is disordered if you think you can tame me like some pet! Is that what you think, Vesta? That you can somehow turn a man like me into your little lap dog?""No," she said, as earnest as she had ever been in her life. "I could never imagine you as a lap dog. Ever. You are a Mastiff. Big, powerful, dignified, brave, and yet gentle." She nodded with a look of self satisfaction. "Yes. Most definitely a Mastiff." from THE VIRGIN HUNTRESS

«Guardami!» gli ordinò «Io sono Isabelle Morens. Il mio cognome è sinonimo di traditore, la mia famiglia è stata uccisa e i nostri beni confiscati, cosa pensi che direbbero a Corte se annunciassi che hai intenzione di sposare la figlia dei traditori? In questi mesi ho sempre avuto la speranza di ritrovarti e ricominciare da dove ci eravamo lasciati, ma pensavo di avere a che fare con un uomo normale, un borghese come me».«Isabelle, non mi importa chi sono, non mi importa chi la gente creda che tu sia…» disse lui avvicinandosi. Isabelle non si oppose. «Un modo l’avremmo trovato… Lo possiamo an-cora trovare!».La ragazza scosse la testa e abbassò lo sguardo.

«State attento a come parlate, visconte.»«Oh, so bene che devo stare attento con voi, credetemi. So che la vostra lingua ferisce e che il vostro amore è veleno: pago il pegno della vostra vicinanza ogni giorno, anche quando non sto con voi. Mi basta pensarvi per sanguinare dentro, e anche se non potete vederle posso assicurarvi che ho l'anima cosparsa di cicatrici», Russell replicò allargando le braccia, come se potesse mostrargliele. Il suo tono era fermo e solenne, e conteneva di tutto: un giuramento d'amore, un'ammissione di colpevolezza. Un rifiuto a farsi massacrare ancora. «Ognuna porta il vostro nome, Helena, e vi assicuro che fanno un male del diavolo. Sono stufo, stufo, STUFO di darvi nuova carne da torturare!»

Oh! my dearest love, why are our pleasures so short and so interrupted? How long is this to last?Know you, my best Mary, that I feel myself, in your absence, almost degraded to the level of the vulgar and impure. I feel their vacant, stiff eyeballs fixed upon me, until I seem to have been infected with their loathsome meaning--to inhale a sickness that subdues me to languor. Oh! those redeeming eyes of Mary, that they might beam upon me before I sleep! Praise my forbearance--oh! beloved one--that I do not rashly fly to you, and at least secure a moment's bliss. Wherefore should I delay; do you not long to meet me? All that is exalted and buoyant in my nature urges me towards you, reproaches me with the cold delay, laughs at all fear and spurns to dream of prudence. Why am I not with you?

Smrtna opasnost ne dotiče se njezine duše. Ne vidi i ne čuje grmeću rastuću bujicu i jače se privija uz njega. On je miran, dok oko njega dozivaju, zapomažu. (...) U njegovu dušu ulazi spokojnost, draga, kao da ga miluje. Stoji na pećini i osjeća kao da je svijetu oteo, ugrabio njezino tijelo. Drži ga u naručju... i ne da ga više nikome. Časovi teku nijemo kao da su čitav život. Sve što je bilo prije toga, nestaje u njegovu sjećanju. Ima samo jednu životnu spoznaju: da na grudima drži nju... Ničim ne mjeri vrijeme, sam je sa svojim srcem i s njom. Osjeća se na pragu prelaza u drugi svijet. (...) Pogleda dolje. Voda opada, a on još uvijek drži svoje blago... Zar ga opet mora ljudima vratiti?

Vidim i slušam: oni koji doživljavaju sud, tuže se radi nevolje, a nikad se mislima ne vraćaju natrag u svoj život i ne razmišljaju što su sve i kome učinili zlo. Kad bi pošli natrag i svoje čine upoznali, morali bi se uvjeriti da je nevolja došla kao kazna za zlo što su ga učinili drugima. Oni koji su doživljavali nepravde i tada je ujednom došla sreća - ne misle da im pravednost pruža nagradu za sve što je bilo nepravde u njihovu životu. Da je to plaća što su nevino stradali, hrabro i pošteno snosili svoju sudbinu. Ljudi primaju dobro, a da se ne sjete otkud dolazi. Isto tako primaju zlo, a ne razmišljaju zašto je došlo. Zlo i dobro - nagrade su i kazne koje smo zaslužili.

Where are you going?""To get my Bible.""Right now? You can't get your Bible out right now! I'm, I'm, we're just about to..."She'd never be able to go through with this if he got out his Bible. She wiped all humor from her face."I believe you. Proverbs 5:18. Rejoice, relish, and romp with your husband."He chuckled. "I'm serious, Connie, and I won't have you feeling ashamed or unclean over anything we do in that bed, tonight or any other night.""I won't. I feel unashamed and very clean. I promise. But please don't get out that Bible.""What? Think you that God can't see us right now?"Groaning, she slid off his lap and covered her face with her hands. He sunk to his knees in front of her, drawing her hands down."I love you. You love me. We are man and wife. God is watching, Connie, and He is very, very pleased.

If I could,” he went on, “I would remain like this indefinitely—clasped by you, held inside you, a part of you—without moving at all. When we make love, I fight climax with everything I have. I don’t want to come; I do not want it to end. No matter how long I make it last, it isn’t nearly long enough. I am furious when I cannot hold back any longer. Why, Jess? If all I seek is the physical relief of natural lust, just as I would seek sleep or food, why would I deny myself?”She turned her head and caught his mouth with hers, kissing him desperately.“Tell me you understand,” he demanded, his lips moving beneath hers. “Tell me you feel it, too.”“I feel you,” she breathed, as intoxicated by his ardency as she was by the finest claret. “You have become everything to me.

It had seemed entirely sensible at the time. A simple way to test the truth of her claim that she had lain with de Villiers. To show her that lying to him was useless. To make a point.Instead, he had ignited a desire that burned him like none he had ever felt before.He had expected Lady Laurien d'Amboise to be a timid little convent mouse. Quiet and passive and pliant. Easily manageable. Instead she was outspoken and strong-willed...and stunning in a way he could not even describe.An innocent beauty caught up in a deadly game that was none of her making....Malcolm rose to leave, chuckling."And what is there to laugh about?"Darach gave his jovial friend a dour look.Malcolm stopped just long enough to do his best imitation of Darach. "'Simple. Kidnap one French lass, hold her for a fortnight, and return her to de Villiers after he meets our demands. Perfectly simple.

Erős karok ölelték át a derekát, szilárdan tartották. Hálásan dőlt a kemény mellkasnak.– Mi történt? – ismerte fel Lord Saint-Germain mély hangját.– Nem tudom – felelte Alexandreia nyilvánvalóan ismét a sírás határán. – Mi csak beszélgettünk. Egész eddig tökéletesen jól érezte magát. Talán el fog ájulni?Istenem add, hogy ne kezdje ismét az egereket itatni – fohászkodott magában Amelia. Hangosan azonban csak ennyit mondott:– Jól vagyok. Még soha életemben nem ájultam el, ezután sem áll szándékomban. A mama szerint erős vagyok, mint egy bányaló.

He covered her mouth with his ---and she felt as if she had suddenly been enveloped in a cascade of sparks. The tingling warmth from his touch did not compare to the sensations that whirled through her as his lips moved over hers. It was as if every part of her body had at once become brilliantly alive.His beard was a startling, silky roughness against her skin. His other hand came to rest at her waist, drawing her in tight, and her body seemed to meld to his hard, lean lines, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Her thoughts scattered. A sound escaped her, soft and deep, unlike any sound she had ever made in her life.Then his tongue touched her lower lip and she gave a startled little squeak.Her suddenly lifted his mouth from hers, his eyes midnight blue, his voice husky. "You have never even been kissed before, leannan. You are as innocent as the day you first set foot in the convent.

Without entering here into a dissertation upon the historical romance, it may be said that in proper hands it has been and should continue to be one of the most valued and valuable expressions of the literary art. To render and maintain it so, however, it is necessary that certain well-defined limits should be set upon the licence which its writers are to enjoy; it is necessary that the work should be honest work; that preparation for it should be made by a sound, painstaking study of the period to be represented, to the end that a true impression may first be formed and then conveyed. Thus, considering how much more far-reaching is the novel than any other form of literature, the good results that must wait upon such endeavours are beyond question. The neglect of them—the distortion of character to suit the romancer's ends, the like distortion of historical facts, the gross anachronisms arising out of a lack of study, have done much to bring the historical romance into disrepute.

Un colpo secco squarciò il velo di silenzio adagiato sulla casa abbandonata e la grande porta bianca precipitò, trascinando con sé tutta la rabbia, il rancore e la frustrazione di quei folli giorni che sarebbero rimasti nella Storia. La quiete di un mondo dorato ormai al crepuscolo si frantumò nelle voci rozze dei quattro giovani bolscevichi ansiosi di vedere il lusso e di portarsi a casa qualche ricordo di una vita che non avrebbero mai vissuto.«Finalmente! Sono dure queste porte, eh?» ghignò uno di loro.«Non sono più dure di noi! Niente è più forte del popolo!» gridò un altro, trascinato dall’entusiasmo.Varcarono la soglia della dimora signorile come se fossero i padroni, con il loro incedere sbruffone e meravigliato al tempo stesso. Scarponi sporchi e di grossolana fattura calpestarono con noncuranza il pavimento di marmo bianco striato di venature nere, battendo la marcia sostenuta e incessante della rivoluzione.

U njezinim očima drhtale su suze...A on je osjećao da pripadaju njemu...Sva mu duša zatrepti. Nije vidio ništa drugo nego njezine suzne oči, ni na šta nije više mislio, samo je osjećao nju. U tom osjećaju povuče njezine ruke i privine ih na svoje grudi. Ona se nije opirala. Osjećala je da mu srce burno udara, da je svaki udar jedan krik za njom, vapaj k njoj, da je svaki dah ovog muškarca njezin...Kroz tvrdi oklop kojim je okovala svoje srce provali zatajena ljubav. Misli i razbor utekoše, ona klone na njegove grudi...Zadrhtao je kao trstika, kad je zahvati vihor. Njegove jake ruke obuhvate je, privinu k sebi tako čvrsto, silno i pohlepno kao da će je pretvoriti u sebe. Sve misli, sav razbor zanijemiše, obamriješe. Samo srca šapću, dozivaju se i cjelivaju u besvjesnom omamnom zagrljaju. Sunce se spuštalo na zapad i kroz velike prozore opraštalo se s njima svojim krvavim suzama. Tiho i nečujno šuljaju se trenuci da ih ne probude iz sna.