2
" She was breathtaking in her beauty and her human spirit, he thought, unable to speak as he gazed upon her. Hers was the sort that would not fade or grow jaded with time and years, but flourish, grow more radiant with life and its experience. Hers was a beauty that no other possessed. A beauty he longed to keep, to hide away, to bask in, himself alone. She had become his. He didn’t know when, whether it had been the moment her fingertips had touched him when he was hurt, or if it had grown, like a seed, slowing spreading until Jane had become the root anchoring the shattered pieces of his heart, pulling them tight together until it resembled the organ it should. "
― Charlotte Featherstone , Sinful (Addicted #2)
17
" As I said, you have mistaken me for another. London is full of drab little peahens, sir. Now, then, I’m leaving,” she said in a huff.
“To change?” he asked, unable to stop from goading her.
“To write a poem for my toast,” she snapped. “And you may suffer, for I will not help you with yours.”
“No need, darling,” Matthew drawled, his words intending to push her away.
“I doubt you know a suitable word that will rhyme with fuck. ”
“Stuck,” she said, turning to face him. “For two days, my lord. We are stuck with one another. Let us make the best of it.”
“And how do you propose we do that?”
“By giving each other wide berth. We will not stand together, we will not talk to one another and we will most certainly not look at one another.”
“No problem from this quarter.”
“Good. You may be assured that it will be no difficulty for me, either.”
-Matthew and Jane "
― Charlotte Featherstone , Sinful (Addicted #2)
18
" It is not your time, love. You will not die tonight.
All this time she thought herself in love with the notion of Death. His gallantry, his beautiful soul. She believed he loved her because he had spared her from his grip. But it had not been Death, but Black.
“Why?” she asked, and her body shook, knowing his sacrifice, knowing he knew her most guarded secret.
“Because I loved you,” he murmured. “I couldn’t let you go, because I knew I could no longer see you, I couldn’t live, either.”
Black had risked his life to save her from taking her own.
He rose, helped her up and clutched her in his arms. “It is too soon for you to make your decision,” he said. “Come to me when you know what you want. My wishes will remain unchanged.”
“What do you want?”
He kissed her, pressed her body into his hot, hard one. “To be inside you. To lay you out and touch you with my hands, my mouth and tongue. I want to slip deep inside you and never leave. I want to wake up in the morning and open my eyes to find you lying there next to me. I want to look at my children and see you in their little faces.”
“Jude,” she whispered, holding him, weakening.
“But I want you to want that as much as I do, Isabella.”
“We have too many secrets,” she began. “Our pasts…”
“Secrets, like passion, are meant to be spent. I will bear all my sins, all my secrets, when you come to me. It’s all I can offer. You see, little love, I’m afraid, too, but the difference between us is that I believe it’s worth it to face that fear if it means that I’ll have you. "
― Charlotte Featherstone , Seduction & Scandal (The Brethren Guardians, #1)
19
" You kissed me, and I opened my eyes and thought you were Death. You were the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, and I clung to the memory of you because it gave me comfort—the only bit of happiness I had ever had. You were my secret fantasy, my lover. My story… Lord Death is you, and the woman he stalks…is me.”
“Why have you come,” he asked, “when you now know the truth?”
“Because when you saved me, you forged a link between us. I don’t believe it will ever break.”
“Bella,” he whispered, “I couldn’t allow you to take your life. Couldn’t bear the thought of existing in a world that you did not. "
― Charlotte Featherstone , Seduction & Scandal (The Brethren Guardians, #1)