1
2
3
5
8
12
20
33
52
83
133
213
340
543
867
1384
2208
3346
3522
3966
3967
3968
3969
3970
5443
5619
6757
7581
8098
8422
8625
8752
8832
8882
8913
8932
8945
8953
8957
8960
8962
8963
8964
8965
▲
▼
| Link | Quote | Stars | Tags | Author |
| 23ca81e | At the moment, however, she had an ever larger problem: what to do now, when two defenseless women were completely lost in the wilds of Scotland, at night, in the rain and cold. Shuffling footsteps sounded on the gravel path, and both women straightened, both suppressing the hope soaring in their breasts and keeping their faces carefully expressionless. "Well, well, well," Jake boomed. "Glad I caught up with you and-" He lost his thought as.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| ee6437e | It was the same as I remembered it," she whispered, sounding defeated and puzzled and shattered. It was better than he remembered. Stronger, wilder...And the only reason she didn't know it was because he hadn't succumbed to temptation yet and kissed her once more. He had just rejected that idea as complete insanity when a male voice suddenly erupted behind them: "Good God! What's going on here!" Elizabeth jerked free in mindless panic, her .. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 64e1355 | Well?" demanded the vicar at last, looking at Ian. "What do you have to say to me?" "Good afternoon?" Ian suggested drolly. And then he added, "I didn't expect to see you until tomorrow, Uncle." "Obviously," retorted the vicar with unconcealed irony. " " blurted Elizabeth, gaping incredulously at Ian Thornton, who'd been flagrantly defying rules of morality with his passionate kisses and seeking hands from the first night she met him. As i.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| c173d92 | That evil-tempered horse she was riding has a tendency to kick, Jake tells me." "Was Lucinda badly hurt?" Elizabeth asked, already trying to think of a way to go to her. "The horse kicked Mr. Wiley," the vicar corrected, "and the only thing that was hurt was Mr. Wiley's pride and his...ah...nether region. However, Miss Throckmorton-Jones, rightly feeling that some form of discipline was due the horse, retaliated with the only means at her d.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| c3b5d69 | If you're hoping for a good meal, you've come to the wrong place. Miss Cameron has already attempted to sacrifice herself on the altar of domesticity this morning, and we both narrowly escaped death from her efforts. I'm cooking supper," he finished, "and it may not be much better." "I'll try my hand at breakfast," the vicar volunteered good-naturedly. When Elizabeth was out of earshot, Ian said quietly, "How badly is the woman hurt?" "It's.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| f5a5b7c | Until that moment Elizabeth wouldn't have believed she could feel more humiliated than she already did. Robbed of even the defense of righteous indignation, she faced the fact that she was the unwanted gest of someone who'd made a fool of her not once but twice. "How did you get here? I didn't hear any horses, and a carriage sure as well can't make the climb." "A wheeled conveyance brought us most of the way," she prevaricated, seizing on L.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 7ef32a8 | Do you mind?" Elizabeth glanced at the cigar, smiled, and started to shake her head, then she stopped, assailed by a memory of him standing in a garden nearly two years ago. He'd been about to light one of those cheroots when he saw her standing there, watching him. She remembered it so clearly, she could still see the golden flame illuminating his chiseled features as he cupped his hands around it, lighting the cigar. Her smile wobbled a l.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 0faacff | Speaking of debutantes," Jake continued cautiously when Ian remained silent, "what about the one upstairs? Do you dislike her especially, or just on general principle?" Ian walked over to the table and poured some Scotch into a glass. He took a swallow, shrugged, and said, "Miss Cameron was more inventive than some of her vapid little friends. She accosted me in a garden at a party." "I can see how bothersome that musta been," Jake joked, ".. | Judith McNaught | ||
| b127cb4 | Ian, about Elizabeth Cameron. Her duenna said some things-" That alarmingly pleasant yet distant smile returned to Ian's face. "I'll spare you further conversation, Duncan. It's over." "The discussion or-" " of it." "It didn't look over to me!" Duncan snapped, nudged to the edge by Ian's infuriating calm. "That scene I witnessed-" "You witnessed the end." He said that, Duncan noted, with the same deadly finality, the same amused calm with .. | Judith McNaught | ||
| ae73afe | A few minutes later Elizabeth watched Lucinda emerge from the cottage with Ian, but there was no way to guess from their closed expressions what they'd discussed. In fact, the only person betraying any emotion at all was Jake Wiley as he led two horses into the yard. And face, Elizabeth noted with confusion-which had been stormy when he went off to saddle the horses-was now wreathed in a smile of unrestrained glee. With a sweep of his arm.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 5fdf99b | Every time Ian's amber gaze flickered to her, her heart began to pound. Whenever he wasn't looking she found her gaze straying to his mouth, remembering the way those lips had felt locked to hers yesterday. He raised a wineglass to his lips, and she looked at the long, strong fingers that had slid with such aching tenderness over her cheek and twined in her hair. Two years ago she'd fallen under his spell; she was wiser now. She he was a .. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 0c44bbc | We must not let her uncle send her into the gloom, which is what he always does." "Is there a means to stop him?" Alex asked, smiling. Bentner straightened, nodded, and said with dignified force, "I, for one, am in favor of shoving him off London Bridge. Aaron favors poison." There was anger and frustration in his words, but no real menace, and Alex responded with a conspiratorial smile. "I think I prefer your method, Bentner-it's tidier." .. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 63c3146 | Why did you come here-that is, why did you agree to reconsider my proposal?" The question alarmed and startled her. Now that she'd seen him she had only the dimmest, possibly even erroneous recollection of having spoken to him at a ball. Moreover, she couldn't tell him she was in danger of being cut off by her uncle, for that whole explanation was to humiliating to bear mentioning. "Did I do or say something during our brief meetings the y.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 6741ebb | Is Belhaven the other man?" he asked gently. The color drained from Elizabeth's face, and it was answer enough. "Damnation!" expostulated the earl, grimacing in revulsion. "The very thought of an innocent like yourself being offered to that old-" "I've dissuaded him," Elizabeth hastily assured him, but she was profoundly touched that the earl, who knew her so slightly, was angered on her behalf. "You're certain?" "I think so." After a momen.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 6f500f9 | He stared at her in insolent silence, unable to believe the alluring, impulsive girl he remembered had become this coolly aloof, self-possessed young woman. Even with her dusty clothes and the smear of dirt on her cheek, Elizabeth Cameron was strikingly beautiful, but she'd changed so much that-except for the eyes-he scarcely recognized her. One thing hadn't changed: She was still a schemer and a liar. Straightening abruptly from his stance.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| a36e509 | You have insulted me and degraded me every time I've been in your presence. If my brother were here, he'd call you out! Since he is not here," she continued almost mindlessly, "I shall demand my own satisfaction. If I were a man, I'd have the right to satisfaction on the field of honor, and as a woman I refuse to be denied that right." "You're ridiculous." "Perhaps," Elizabeth said softly, "but I also happen to be an excellent shot. I'm a f.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 96083c4 | I suppose we ought to go back," she said when several minutes had passed, and his silence became unsettling. In answer Ian tipped his head back and closed his eyes, looking like a man in the throes of some deep, internal battle. "Why?" he said, still in that odd posture. "Because there's nowhere else to walk," she answered, stating the obvious. "We did not come out tonight to walk," he said flatly. Elizabeth's sense of security began to dis.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 5bb9f94 | A rueful smile touched Lauren's lips as she turned her head toward the window. Everyone always said she was so intelligent, so sensible, yet here she was, already planning to make Nick Sinclair fall in love with her...because she knew she was already falling in love with him. "Lauren,this trip is getting a little lonely on my side of the car. What are you thinking about?" Filled with thoughts of their destiny, Lauren turned to him and, smil.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| a7b3562 | He'd promised she would be "safe," which she now realized left a great deal of room for personal interpretation. "If I'm going to remain," she said uneasily, "I think we ought to agree to observe all the proprieties and conventions." "Such as?" "Well, for a beginning, you really shouldn't be calling me by my given name." "Considering the kiss we exchanged in the arbor last night, it seems a little absurd to call you Miss Cameron." It was th.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 05157b6 | Now, where were we when our conversation had to be abandoned downstairs?" he said when Ian handed the papers back to him. Ian's thoughts were still in the study, where a desk was filled with his likenesses and carefully maintained reports of every facet of his life, and for a moment he looked blankly at the older man. "Ah, yes," the duke prodded as Ian sat down across from him, "we were discussing your future wife. Who is the fortunate youn.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 3497b19 | For himself Ian would have calmly and unhesitatingly told society to go to hell, but they'd already put Elizabeth through hell, and he wanted somehow to make it right for her again. | Judith McNaught | ||
| bc97e52 | The next day Elizabeth was anxiously waiting in the hall on Promenade Street for deliveries of both the newspapers. The exonerated Ian by splashing across the front page: MURDEROUS MARQUESS ACTUALLY HARRASSED HUSBAND The humorously remarked that "the Marquess of Kensington is deserving, not only of an acquittal, but of a medal for Restraint in the Face of Extreme Provocation!" Beneath both those stories were lengthy and-for Elizabeth-de.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 75d3b5f | Lucinda and Mr. Wiley were returning at last, and she ran to Lucinda, hastily stepping around the black horse, who laid his ears back evilly in warning. "Lucy!" she burst out while Lucinda waited calmly for Mr. Wiley to help her down. "Lucy! Disaster has struck." "A moment, if you please, Elizabeth," said the unflappable woman. "Whatever it is, it will surely wait until we're inside and can be comfortable. I declare, I feel as if I were a.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 92fc590 | That night he had answered no. Tonight he would have said yes. Among other things, he wanted to know where she was; a month ago he'd told himself it was because he wanted the divorce petition served. Tonight he was too exhausted from his long internal battle to bother lying to himself anymore. He wanted to know where she was because he to know. His grandfather claimed not to know; his uncle and Alexandra both know, but they'd both refused.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| c18ad8d | Am I to assume the Valerie I was introduced to earlier was the Valerie of our greenhouse notes?" He realized his mistake the instant her eyes clouded over and she glanced in the direction he'd looked. "Yes." "Shall I ask Willington to clear his ballroom so you have the requisite twenty paces? Naturally, I'll stand as your second." Elizabeth drew a shaky breath, and a smile curved her lips. "Is she wearing a bow?" Ian looked and shook his he.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 03a4ca5 | It was dusk when Ian returned, and the house seemed unnaturally quiet. His uncle was sitting near the fire, watching him with an odd expression on his face that was half anger, half speculation. Against his will Ian glanced about the room, expecting to see Elizabeth's shiny golden hair and entrancing face. When he didn't, he put his gun back on the rack above the fireplace and casually asked, "Where is everyone?" "If you mean Jake," the vic.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| dbae1e3 | I only have the story in two parts from Miss Throckmorton-Jones. The first time she spoke she was under the influence of laudanum. Today she was under the influence of what I can only describe as the most formidable temper I've ever seen. However, while I may not have the complete story, I certainly have the gist of it, and if half what I've heard is true, then it's obvious that you are completely without either a heart or a conscience! My .. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 7f31523 | In the ensuing two weeks Ian managed to buy back Elizabeth's emeralds and Havenhurst, but he was unable to find a trace of his wife. The town house in London felt like a prison, not a home, and still he waited, sensing somehow that Elizabeth was putting him through this torment to teach him some kind of well-deserved lesson. He returned to Montmayne, where, for several more weeks, he prowled about its rooms, paced a track in the drawing roo.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 402a386 | They seemed so right together-both of them sophisticated, dark-haired, and striking; no doubt they had much in common, she thought a little dismally as she picked up her knife and fork and went to work on her lobster. Beside her, Lord Howard leaned close and teased, "It's dead, you know." Elizabeth glanced blankly at him, and he nodded to the lobster she was still sawing needlessly upon. "It's dead," he repeated. "There's no need to try to .. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 3b6fe6d | The truth is that I want you. I have wanted you, and you know that." "I that word," she burst out, trying unsuccessfully to break free of his grasp. "I don't think you know what it means." "I know you say it every time you force yourself on me." "And every time I do, you melt in my arms." "I will not marry you," Elizabeth said furiously, mentally circling for some way out. "I don't know you. I don't trust you." "But you want me," he t.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 6d9cb74 | Oh, good. I was worried you'd taken ill." "Why?" Elizabeth asked as she took a sip of the chocolate. It was cold as ice! "Because I couldn't wake-" "What is it?" Elizabeth cried. "Nearly eleven." "Eleven! But I told you to wake me at eight! How could you let me oversleep this way?" she said, her sleep-drugged mind already groping wildly for a solution. She could dress quickly and catch up with everyone. Or... "I try," Berta exclaimed, h.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 0d83326 | She arranged the bacon on a platter and then debated what to do with the ten-inch biscuit that had actually been four small biscuits when she'd placed the pan in the oven. Deciding not to break it into irregular chucks, she placed the entire biscuit neatly in the center of the bacon and carried the platter over to the table, were Ian had just seated himself. Returning to the stove, she tried to dig the eggs out of the skillet, but they woul.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 1cfdbdc | Separately they surveyed their individual plates, trying to decide which item was most likely to be edible. They arrived at the same conclusion at the same moment; both of them picked up a strip of bacon and bit into it. Noisy crunching and cracking sounds ensued-like those of a large tree breaking in half and falling. Carefully avoiding each other's eyes, they continued crunching away until they'd both eaten all the bacon on their plates. .. | Judith McNaught | ||
| dd6c777 | Did you ever notice how very fickle males are?" she asked the horse. "And how very foolish females are about them?" she added, aware of how inexplicably deflated she felt. She realized as well that she was being completely irrational-she had not intended to come here, had not wanted him to be waiting, and now she felt almost like crying because he wasn't! Giving the ribbons of her bonnet an impatient jerk, she untied them. Pulling the bonn.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 6b65ef2 | Ever since he'd set eyes on Elizabeth Cameron he'd been blind-no, he corrected himself with furious self-disgust, in England he'd recognized instinctively what she was-gentle and proud, brave and innocent and...rare. He'd known damned well she wasn't a promiscuous little flirt, yet he'd later convinced himself she was, and then he'd treated her like one here-and she had endured it the entire time she'd been here! She had let him say those t.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 1c0d7e4 | This all could have been so much easier," he added with a sigh, "if you'd known sooner what was happening to Elizabeth. You have many acquaintances in English society; how is it they never mentioned it to you?" "In the first place, I was away from England for almost a year after the episode. In the second place," Ian added with contempt, "among what is amusingly called Polite Society, matters that concern you are never discussed with They.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 01ee426 | Oui," the lady said in a slightly dazed voice, "but I give you the emerald silk. That has already been selected by Lady Margaret Mitcham and promised to her." Ian's expression took on a look of surprised displeasure. "I'm surprised you allowed her to choose it, madame. It will make her complexion look sallow. Tell her I said so." He turned and left the shop without the slightest idea of who Lady Margaret Mitcham was. Behind him an assista.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 539a605 | Most of this is my contribution to Havenhurst," she told him proudly. The sight that Ian beheld when he looked up made his grin fade as tenderness and awe shook through him. Spread out before him in colorful splendor were the most magnificent flower gardens Ian had ever beheld. The other heirs of Havenhurst might have added stone and mortar to the house, but Elizabeth had given it breathtaking beauty. "When I was young," she confided softly.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 6c81e34 | Good secretaries are always in demand. Sinco's personnel office will probably call you eventually and offer you a job." "I doubt it," Lauren said with an irrepressible smile. "I'm afraid Mr. Weatherby, the personnel manager, doesn't think I'm very bright," she explained. Nick's head jerked up, his gaze moving with frank, masculine appreciation over her vivid features. "Lauren, I think you're as bright as a shiny new penny. Weatherby must be.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| c25058a | Not certain what she was going to say or even what she wanted, she whispered a single, shaky word, filled with confusion and a plea for understanding, her green eyes searching his: "Please--" Ian realized what she was asking for, but he responded with a questioning lift of his brows. "I--" she began, uncomfortably aware of the knowing look in his eyes. "Yes?" he prompted. "I don't know--exactly," she admitted. All she knew for certain was t.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| cdfcc5a | This was not the way Ian intended his wedding night should be, and as he removed his clothes by the light of the single candle burning across the room, he was determined that it would at least end as he intended. Elizabeth felt the bed sink beneath his weight and drew her whole body into the smallest possible space. He moved onto one side, leaning up on an elbow, and his hand touched her cheek. When he said nothing Elizabeth opened her eyes.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 6996971 | No one but she had realized that the ballroom bore a rather startling resemblance to the gardens at Charise Dumont's country house, and that the arbor at the side, with its trellised entrance, was a virtual replica of the place where she and Ian had first waltzed that long-ago night. Across the room, the vicar was standing with Jake Wiley, Lucinda, and the Duke of Stanhope, and he raised his glass to her. Elizabeth smiled and nodded back. J.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 87c551b | That man," she announced huffily, referring to their host, "can't put two words together without losing his meaning!" Obviously she'd expected better of the quality during the time she was allowed to mix with them. "He's afraid of us, I think," Elizabeth replied, climbing out of bed. "Do you know the time? He desired me to accompany him fishing this morning at seven." "Half past ten," Berta replied, opening drawers and turning toward Elizab.. | Judith McNaught | ||
| 0aa9efa | I suspect, however, that the thing that confuses you about Ian is that he's half Scot. In many ways he's more Scot than English, which accounts for what you're calling a ruthless streak. He'll do what he pleases, when he pleases, and the devil fly with the consequences. He always has. He doesn't care what anyone thinks of him or of what he does." Pausing, Jordan glanced meaningfully at the couple who'd paused to look at a shrubbery on the f.. | Judith McNaught |