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a66662e
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I won't walk through the wedding arch with you," she said. "The arch is traditionally used by grooms with reluctant brides, for the arch is tall enough for a man with his woman on his shoulder." As they reached the door, he bent and put his shoulder in her stomach. As if she were a sack of potatoes, he swung her up and over. Amy shrieked and gave his back a good hard thump. He dropped her down until her rear sat uppermost on his shoulder an..
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Christina Dodd |
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c05b143
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Because late night, when I made you mine--" "Shush. You didn't!" "All right. Last night when you made me yours--" She definitely heard Pom snort."
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Christina Dodd |
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3b7f4b5
|
She glanced over her shoulder at him. "So until the wedding ceremony in your chapel, we'll be chaste?" Her smile flirted and taunted, and he marveled at how quickly Amy had learned to entice. "There is an advantage with living in a building that was once an abbey." "What is that, Jermyn?" She pulled on her tattered gloves. Biggers moaned softly. "The place is riddled with secret passages," Jermyn told her. "But my lord! You're not suggestin..
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Christina Dodd |
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80d29b5
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Although his honor demanded he immediately leave Juliana, he couldn't, for the queen visited. He couldn't seek an annulment, for the king demanded he retain Juliana's lands. He would remain her husband, and even if he moved his official residence to Barton-hale and she stayed at Lofts, he would still have to meet with her at Christmastide and Easter, at harvest accounting and at Midsummer...what pleasure he would find in the touch of her ha..
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Christina Dodd |
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05481ed
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I could write an epic poem about your thighs." "That would amuse polite society rather too much, and I wouldn't like that." "I wouldn't either." She pressed her cheek to his belly. "I can't think of a word to rhyme with marble column." --
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humor
sex
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Christina Dodd |
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cd308c2
|
When she thought of how Lord Northcliff was ruining the life of a poor, sweet, old lady, she wanted to shriek with frustration. She wanted to shake him until he saw sense. She wanted to . . . she wanted to arrange a carriage accident that would finish him off.
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Christina Dodd |
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dc63f90
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I think that's Miss Victorine now with your breakfast. Are you hungry?" "Do you expect me to sit here like a bloody fool and eat a meal?" "You'll always be a bloody fool, there's nothing to be done about that, and I don't care if you starve to death." Moving to the bottom of the stairway, she took the tray from Miss Victorine's hand. "But right now you have to maintain a modicum of health or we won't get our money."
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Christina Dodd |
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63d07f7
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By the time it was over, we knew the dead were the lucky ones.
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christina-dodd
death
life
suspense
thriller
virtue-falls
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Christina Dodd |
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21f76b6
|
Saura nodded, bemused by the code of ethics that allowed for murder and kidnapping but balked at a lady touching a lord outside of the state of wedlock.
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Christina Dodd |
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0254fe2
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Fill me in on the details of your life." "I thought you didn't give a shit." "It'll give me something to do while I wait for you to stab me to death."
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christina-dodd
humor
life
suspense
thriller
virtue-falls
|
Christina Dodd |
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f70658c
|
Yes, I'm a man and everyone knows men are great hairy beasts scarcely tamed by civilization -Jermyn, Duke of Northcliff to Amy, Princess Beaumontaigne
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man
rake
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Christina Dodd |
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3683865
|
Let her go or I'll shoot you." "I've never met a woman who'd have the guts to shoot a man," he sneered. All the women he knew were too kind. Too gentle. "I have the guts," the girl said. "Better yet, I to shoot you." That shook him. The words, and the tone, a kind of flat, plain aversion the like of which he'd never met in all of his privileged life. What had he ever done to deserve this girl's contempt? And why did he even care? "Which p..
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Christina Dodd |
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bfa58b4
|
Don't you have any respect for your betters?" "I do. That's why I'm going to help her up the stairs and put her to bed with a cup of hot tea. You can just sit here and . . . jangle your manacle!"
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Christina Dodd |
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c389977
|
With great care, Amy opened the cellar door. With ladylike demeanor, she descended the stairs. And as her reward, she had the satisfaction of catching His Mighty Lordship sitting on the cot, his knee crooked sideways and his ankle pulled toward him, cursing at the manacle. "I got it out of your own castle," she said. Northcliff jumped like a lad caught at a mischief. "My . . . castle?" At once he realized what she meant. "Here on the island..
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Christina Dodd |
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1e71d30
|
So while I can spin my fantasy whenever I wish, I'm afraid you wouldn't do for me." Sarcasm dripped from her every word. "You're good at imagining, so pray imagine my heartbreak."
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Christina Dodd |
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fcdb539
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Amy's disagreeable tone shredded his fantasy. "My lord, you have been staring at the chessboard for a full five minutes. Would you like me to make your move for you?" He jumped like a lad with his fingers caught in the jam pot. The rickety chair beneath him groaned. "Now, Amy, you must be patient with His Lordship," Miss Victorine chided. "He's spent the day manacled by his ankle and he's ready to snarl like a lion." "More like a small, ill..
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Christina Dodd |
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a747648
|
I'm manacled to the bed. When the house is quiet and even the cat is asleep, you could come down the stairs and make love to me." "Don't be ridiculous. You would never let me--" "But I would. I'd let you take the lead, explore me as you liked, show me what gives you pleasure. I would kiss you anywhere you instructed--on your lips, on your breasts, on your--" "My lord, please!" "--shoulders. Really, Amy, what did you think I was going to say..
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Christina Dodd |
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3df3a0d
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In the top drawer of my bedside table, there's a small box. It contains everything we need to make our night pleasurable. If you have to, leave everything else behind but bring that box." She snorted as if in derision--but it was a weak snort. She walked toward the steps again. "Amy." She turned back to him. "What?" "Did you notice I didn't ask for a nightshirt?" She glanced at his lit in her hand and wondered why he told her that. Then she..
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Christina Dodd |
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f26ccd7
|
Jermyn's breath stilled. He watched intently. So far, she had followed his instructions. Now he waited to see if she would follow his last, insistent direction. He bent his will on her. If thoughts had power, then his directive would surely be followed. She gathered the clothes, wrapped them in a piece of brown paper and tied them like a package with a string. She thrust the package into a large cloth bag that hung by her belt and started ..
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Christina Dodd |
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8fec632
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Amy tossed in her bed, then froze as she heard Northcliff's voice in her head. A shiver ran up her spine at the memory of Northcliff's words, but it wasn't fear. It was desire. She wanted to rise from her bed and go to him. She wanted to see him. Not just his face or the expanse of his chest, but all of him. Because while he said he had been imagining her, she had also been imagining him. In a motion so slow and cautious her ancient straw..
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Christina Dodd |
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40198db
|
Why do we have to go to Summerwind Abbey tonight? Why couldn't we have waited until I at least combed the sand out of my hair?" She heard the whine in her voice and realized she'd been reduced to petulance. With any luck at all, she'd become a nag and make Jermyn a dreadful wife."
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Christina Dodd |
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b1a67b6
|
When I break a rock open with my pick, I'm a prophet. I see the past. I see the future. I know where the world is going, and where it's been. And I always, always want to know more.
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Christina Dodd |
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da40ffb
|
If Amy had one ounce of romance in her soul, she would be sighing with gratification. Instead, she said acerbically, "All that's missing is the love poem." Jermyn deposited her in a chair by the table. "I'll order a pen and ink for you."
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Christina Dodd |
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45ef581
|
I can't take this kind of suspense. Decide now." He untied the ropes around her wrists. "Walk out the door. In a year you'll be free of any entanglements with me. Or stay and be my wife. My real wife. Make your choice." She looked down at the loosened ropes still wrapped around her, then up at him. He wore an expression of fierce indifference, but she knew better. This proud man, this noble marquees, had made up his mind he wished to marry ..
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Christina Dodd |
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4060833
|
That's the master bedchamber, remember? You've been there collecting my underwear." "That's right. You're the swine who sent me on a fool's errand when you could have gone yourself." She observed his expression. "You did go yourself!" "I saw you there," he admitted. "Did I call you a swine?" Remembering the drama with which she sneaked into Summerwind Abbey, she didn't know whether to laugh or shout. "Louse, rather!" "Yes, but you must forg..
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Christina Dodd |
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635e7ef
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With well-feigned impatience, he asked, "Don't you recognize a man who's urgently trying to impress his woman with his good deeds?" "No, is that what you're doing?" "Most definitely." He did kiss her, but only a swift brush of his lips, a tease that made her want for more. "Although I suspect it has lost its impact since I had to point it out."
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Christina Dodd |
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3f8006f
|
Ah, Lord Northcliff, how well you look this afternoon!" "Thank you. I feel well indeed." Taking Amy's hand, he held it in both of his. "As long as my princess is nigh."
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Christina Dodd |
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5c38245
|
So you know you're a ghost?" I looked at my hands; they were transparent and glowed faintly. "Can you think of another explanation?" --
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love-story
romantic-suspense
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Christina Dodd |
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b77190b
|
I've been a foul-mouthed knave." "Well, I don't know." "A beetle-headed malfeasor." "Nothing so--" "A base, proud tottyhead." He paused, but she said nothing. "Aren't you going to object?" "No," she drawled the word. "Humility is so refreshing in a man."
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Christina Dodd |
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1f39d3a
|
When at last he could lift his head, he asked, "What have you done?" "What have I done?" She lifted a mocking brow. "Why, I've kidnapped the marquees of Northcliff." "You dare to admit it?" Inch by painful inch, he dragged himself onto the cot. "Admitting to it is the least of my sins. I it."
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Christina Dodd |
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070b4a7
|
No woman would come up with a plan like this, much less be able to execute it." "I'm depending on that kind of thinking. Everyone will imagine you mad when you say a woman took you--if you even dare to admit it." She inclined her head to him in mocking homage. "Women don't have the ability to sustain a thought long enough to put such a plan in motion." "Actually you're right." She grinned, not at all offended. "It took two women."
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Christina Dodd |
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873141d
|
So you know you're a ghost?" I looked at my hands; they were transparent and glowed faintly. "Can you think of another explanation?"
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love-story
paranormal
suspense
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Christina Dodd |
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5a3e063
|
And you're prickly enough about being young." She was amusing him. "More than ever, I feel as if I've robbed the cradle." But she knew how to puncture his mirth. "You are very old," she agreed demurely. He pushed her backward onto the grass. She laughed and fought him. Within minutes he had her arms trapped over her head, and he kissed her while the world whirled around them. "I win!" he said against her lips. "Only because you used brute ..
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Christina Dodd |
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694f85a
|
You really owe me a lot for locking you up. It's improved your character immensely." She didn't giggle well. It wasn't in her character and it showed him only too clearly the fight he had ahead to keep her with him. He smiled as she wished him to do and said, "I'll give you what's coming to you. Don't worry about that."
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Christina Dodd |
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0c17104
|
Tis knowing God created Eve from Adam's rib, the spot that protected his heart. 'Tis knowing without that rib to protect him, a man is vulnerable. 'Tis knowing you're created to be at my side, not under my feet. 'Tis knowing we're one body, one mind.
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Christina Dodd |
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0a62af9
|
He imagines himself a wit, but he's only half that.
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Christina Dodd |
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d561db6
|
Ako ne mozes vidjeti svijetlu stranu zivota, poljepsaj mutnu.
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Christina Dodd |
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e1f67b4
|
Life is to be lived, not shunted aside until all the days are aches and ashes.
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Christina Dodd |
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a50786b
|
Perhaps the sorrow was not, after all, emanating from the attic, but from her.
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business
loss
love
sorrow
tycoon
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Christina Dodd |
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5fbae29
|
family of friends, people she knows only by their voices. She especially likes Griswald, gruff old butler for wealthy Zack Givens. Meeting Griswald is a shock; he is neither gruff nor old, but a powerful, handsome man. In fact, he is Zack Givens, cold, heartless -- and charmed by the artless young woman who brings him chicken soup, treats him like a friend ... and falls in love with the humble man she imagines him to be. Inevitably, she w..
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Christina Dodd |
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af767a2
|
I don't know my place in the bigger scheme of things, but I do know I'm here on this earth for a reason, and I never make the mistake of thinking that what I do is trivial. I trust in myself. I am important.
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Christina Dodd |
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2b9ca2f
|
I didn't burn down anyone's house! I didn't. I wouldn't!" Maddie looked at Jacob. "You know I wouldn't. I didn't kill you when I had the chance!"
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christina-dodd
suspense
thriller
virtue-falls
|
christina dodd |
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7e7ab51
|
If he says there's nothing wrong with them, then there most certainly is something wrong with them.
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Christina Dodd |
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bb52dfa
|
The thing that hunts me now thrives on terror. My terror. I fear he will come for me. I fear he will come for anyone who knows me.
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christina-dodd
fear
life
suspense
thriller
virtue-falls
|
Christina Dodd |