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4182673
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There were, he had come to the conclusion after many tedious evenings at Almack's, two types of chaperone. Given the number of events he had been forced to squire Hen to, Richard considered he had conducted something of an exhaustive study of chaperones. Both types were aging spinsters (Richard discounted young widows looking after their younger sisters' debuts; those tended to need a chaperone even more than the young ladies they were oste..
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Lauren Willig |
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32d29a5
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I won't do you the injustice of asking you to take my word. Words are cheap.
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Lauren Willig |
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9326cbb
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The words looped in my head. Download it for free. Cheerful, triumphant. Download it for free! What a freaking bargain. "I'm sorry," I said. "She found what?" "That website. Meems, what was the name again? Bongo or something?" Mimi looked up from her iPad. "What are you talking about?" "That website where you found Sarah's book." "Oh," she said. "Bingo. Haven't you heard of it? It's like an online library. You can download almost anything f..
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pirating
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Lauren Willig Beatriz Williams Karen White |
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9b88e63
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She could only hold on to her husband with both hands and promise herself that the best way to keep someone was to let him go.
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love
lost-love
unrequited-love
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Lauren Willig |
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cfb1af6
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Four pounds," demanded the fourteen-foot-high statue of Hercules. For such a big man, Hercules had a surprisingly high-pitched voice. It took me a moment to realize that it wasn't actually a piece of classical statuary demanding the contents of my wallet, but a very human-size woman seated at a small desk at its base. When you're confronted by a twice-larger-than-life statue of Hercules, wielding a club and wearing little more than a strate..
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Lauren Willig |
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cfd77d1
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Well?" inquired Jane. "What do think?" "I think," he said deliberately, "that if you have dragged me out to this inhospitable corner of the earth on nothing more than a bout of romantic whimsy, I shall be entirely unamused." "My dear lord Vaughn, I never matchmake." Jane smiled to herself as though at a private memory. "Well, very rarely." Vaughn arranged his eyebrows in their most forbidding position, the one that had sent a generation of ..
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jane-wooliston
matchmaking
sebastian-vaughn
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Lauren Willig |
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c950e39
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If," said Jane, ignoring him as only Jane dared, "someone were to speak to her; if someone were to suggest . . ." "Ah." Vaughn's lips compressed, as the whole fiasco suddenly fell into place. "That's what you want of me. To play Hermes for you." "We can't all be Zeus," Jane said apologetically. Prolonged exposure to Jane was enough to make anyone take to Bacchus. "I'm afraid I've left my winged shoes at home."
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terrible-influence
sebastian-vaughn
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Lauren Willig |
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af34859
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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 purple stamp. He had long ago traced the cards to a very exclusive stationer in London which boasted a wide clientele among the ton. If Delaroche were to go on the make of the paper alone, he could easily accuse anyone from the Prince of Wales t..
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Lauren Willig |
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c9a7603
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If not hatred," put in her brother-in-law as the path broadened so that they could walk all abreast, "what of love?" Out of the corner of her eye, Mary saw her sister and brother-in-law exchange a sickeningly speaking glance. "Hmph," was Mrs. Fustian's eloquent opinion on that subject. For the first time that evening, Mary found herself in perfect agreement with her. "Good enough for shepherdesses, but not at all the thing for civilized fol..
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love
miss-gwen
letty-pinchingdale-snipe
mary-alsworthy
newlyweds
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Lauren Willig |
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db73291
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Josephine!" A stentorian bellow shook the candles in their sconces. Unconsciously, Amy grabbed Richard's arm, looking about anxiously for the source of the roar. About the room, people went on chatting as before. "Steady there." Richard patted the delicate hand clutching the material of his coat. "It's just the First Consul." Snatching her hand away as though his coat were made of live coals, Amy snapped, "You would know." "Josephine!" The ..
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guests
miss-gwen
napoleaon-bonaparte
treaty
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Lauren Willig |
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b1f7fd3
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Colin rubbed his neck with his hand, regarding me like a hopeful puppy dog. "Are you sure you wouldn't prefer just to fling something at me and get it over with?" I leaned back against the cushioned back of the banquette, folded my arms across my chest, and waited. "Dempster?" I prompted. Colin considered for a moment, contemplated the olive plate, considered some more, and came out with, "We don't get on." "That much I figured out on my..
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excuses
eloise-kelly
persuation
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Lauren Willig |
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644e753
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If you'd like to sit here and fume about Dempster or whatever else it is that's eating at you," I said, warming to my theme, "feel free to go right ahead. I'll just head off home and spend the evening watching the snooker championships." "It's not snooker season, actually," offered Colin, in a conciliatory way. "Fine. Darts, then." "Envisioning them thrown at my head?" he asked ruefully. Despite myself, I smiled back. "We were getting there..
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eloise-kelly
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Lauren Willig |
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f8a4407
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You were wrong," he murmured ruefully, resting his cheek on top of Amy's head. "You weren't safe with me." "I feel like Psyche kissing Cupid in the dark," Amy said dreamily. Richard drew Amy's arms around his back under his cloak. "Feel. No wings." Amy could hear the smile in the Gentian's voice. "Does that mean if I unmask you, you won't fly away?" Richard tightened his grip on Amy's arms. "Don't even consider it." "You could give me three..
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poetry
unexpected-rendezvous
richard
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Lauren Willig |
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09c6002
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Do you have something to say?" I prompted. "Or do you just enjoy propping up the wall?" Colin considered me for a moment longer. Aunt Arabella likes you." He sounded unflatteringly perplexed. "There is a small but vocal minority of people who do." Colin had the good grace to look abashed. "Look, I didn't mean to--" "Treat me like I have a loathsome social disease?" His lips quirked with something that might have been amusement. "Do you?" "N..
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eloise
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Lauren Willig |
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5e1dbf3
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He smiled - a real smile. Damn. It was easier to deal with him when he was being thoroughly vile. "Look, I'm sorry for being so rude earlier today. Your presence came as something of a shock and I reacted badly." "Oh." Geared for battle, his apology took me utterly by surprise. I gaped. "Aunt Arabella spoke very highly of you," he added, heaping coals of fire on my head. "She was impressed by your work on the Purple Gentian." "Why all this ..
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humor
arsenic
eloise
colin
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Lauren Willig |
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b14124b
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If you don't like the teaching and you don't like the research - why are you doing this?" "Because it's what I thought I wanted six years ago."
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Lauren Willig |
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4f2d218
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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 above her ear. "What an original way to make your presence felt!" "My lord!" Amy hastily stepped back, this time banging into a bust of Brutus that wobbled ominously on its marble pedestal. Amy grabbed at Brutus before he could take a suicidal l..
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Lauren Willig |
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614a80e
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You don't have any apples to offer while you're at it, do you?" she asked sourly. "Satan tempting Eve in the garden? Not a terribly flattering role for me, is it? And you're overdressed for the part." Amy's blush rivalled the hue of the dangerous fruit they had been discussing. Somehow, Lord Richard's frankly admiring gaze made the yellow muslin of her gown feel as insubstantial as a string of fig leaves. Amy covered her confusion by saying..
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poetry
directions
richard
garden-of-eden
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Lauren Willig |
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049cba0
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When I was in Ireland," Letty blurted out, "Vaughn was there, too." "A hanging offense, to be sure," Mary drawled, in her very best imitation of Vaughn. The furrows in Letty's brow dug a little deeper, but she didn't allow herself to be deterred. "There was a woman . . ." "With Vaughn, I imagine there would be," replied Mary thoughtfully, abandoning the drawl. "He's that sort of a man." "You almost sound as though you admire him for it." "I..
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letty-pinchingdale-snipe
mary-alsworthy
sebastian-vaughn
taking-what-one-wants
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Lauren Willig |