" Jack was not feeling warm and filial sentiments towards his new stepmother. “What was she meant to do, deliver me trussed and bound onto the ship?”
“Wouldn’t that be a bit gratuitous?” Everyone turned to look at Miles Dorrington, who held up both hands in self-defense. “Why would you truss and bind? Surely one would do.”
“You,” said Jack’s stepmother, advancing purposefully, “are not helping.”
Miles Dorrington ducked behind his wife. "

― Lauren Willig , The Lure of the Moonflower (Pink Carnation, #12)