Seduction And Scandal Quotes

“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 first time I met death, it was at a ball and we danced a waltz.”
― Charlotte Featherstone, Seduction & Scandal

“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

“Black would trust her with his secrets. He would protect hers. But did she trust him with her heart? Could she?

She thought of Wendell, and no longer felt any remorse for her feelings. She did not love him. Her heart had been taken two years ago, by a stranger she thought she had conjured up in the atmosphere of her imagination.

He had asked her to trust him—and there was only one way she knew how. She reached into the wardrobe and pulled out the crimson gown.

No regrets. No seduction. No scandal. Only love.”
― Charlotte Featherstone, Seduction & Scandal

“Jude,” she whispered as she touched his face. “I’m so frightened of this. This bind that links us. It whispers to me to take what you’re offering, but I fear the consequences. I have lived the consequences.”

His fingertips traced the column of her throat down over the swells of her breasts where they lingered until her breath caught. “I am not your father, Isabella, and you are not your mother.”

“I know, but—”

“There are no certainties in life,” he murmured as he lowered his head and kissed the apex of her breast where her heart hammered so hard. “But I can give you this certainty. I love you. And I want you. I have wanted you for so long, and that feeling has only grown. There must be trust between us, Isabella. Passion is not enough for me. I want more from you.”

“You ask for so much,” she said, then trailed off.

“Not any more than I am offering you.”
― Charlotte Featherstone, Seduction & Scandal

“What did you discover about the shooter?” Jude asked as he struggled to sit upright.

“Once I spotted him on the rooftop, I ran up the back stairs to follow him. He was long gone, but he left something behind,” Sussex said.

“Oh?”

“Yes, I’ll take it upon myself to investigate it.”

Jude opened his eyes, his stare focused on the duke. “Do you need my help?”

Alynwick snorted. “A soiled dove with a broken wing,” he drawled. “What use would you be?”

Jude grumbled, “I’ll be fine by the morning.”
― Charlotte Featherstone, Seduction & Scandal

“Tis not your time, my love,” he whispered. “You will not die tonight.”

“Never,” I said to him, “for I have been blessed by Death’s Eternal Kiss.”
― Charlotte Featherstone, Seduction & Scandal

“Am I to die?” I asked, and he stopped, raised our joined hands to his mouth and gently kissed my knuckles.

“You are, my love, and in your sleep, you will become Death’s bride.”
― Charlotte Featherstone, Seduction & Scandal

“The crimson satin lining gleamed in the firelight, and so, too, did his eyes. When he looked up at her, there was a mist to them once again.

“Little magpie,” he whispered as he looked at the black onyx ring. “You gave up everything for this, didn’t you?”

She nodded. “That is how much I trust you. Everything I had hidden away in that biscuit jar went to this. All my worldly goods are in that ring, Jude.”

“Then I will take it and hold it close, and never give you cause for regret.” He put the ring on his index finger, and Isabella grinned. How perfect it looked—how utterly sensual. She wanted that ringed hand on her body, comforting her. Loving her.”
― Charlotte Featherstone, Seduction & Scandal

“Unsettled by the sudden appearance of Captain Quire within her court, Gloriana resolved to forego all frivolous entertainments and shun the more unnecessary pleasures. Yet, the queen reasoned, this surely did not apply to healthful exercise, such as riding in the royal park. Nor could she refuse to spend the remainder of the afternoon in quiet seclusion, lying face down upon a cushioned bench in her private dressing room while gentle Lady Mary rubbed all the soreness from her muscles. Such occupations were safe, and harmless. It was only afterwards, when she was sleeping deeply, that Captain Quire came to her in a dream.”
― Michael Moorcock, Gloriana, or The Unfulfill'd Queen

“Good evening, Miss Fairmont.”

She saw Black sprawled out in a wingback chair, jacketless, the white shirt he wore unbuttoned to the waist, revealing an enticing view of his chest and the fine black hair that was hidden beneath. “I was beginning to wonder if you would come tonight. It is midnight after all.”

On cue the large pendulum clock in the hall began to chime out the hour. Isabella met his gaze, marveled at the dark layers in his eyes. He appeared at once indolent, yet supremely masculine, and in his state of dishabille he was utterly breathtaking.”
― Charlotte Featherstone, Seduction & Scandal

“Even from behind the screen, it was possible from certain angles for Sabbath to catch a glimpse of the audience, and whenever he spotted an attractive girl among the twenty or so students who had stopped to watch, he would break off the drama in progress or wind it down, and the fingers would start in whispering together. Then the boldest finger - a middle finger - would edge nonchalantly forward, lean graciously out over the screen, and beckon her to approach. And girls did come forward, some laughing or grinning like good sports, others serious, poker-faced, as though already mildly hypnotized. After an exchange of polite chitchat, the finger would begin a serious interrogation, asking if the girl had ever dated a finger, if her family approved of fingers, if she herself could find a finger desirable, if she could imagine living happily with only a finger... and the other hand, meanwhile, stealthily began to unbutton or unzip her outer garment. Usually the hand went no further than that; Sabbath knew enough not to press on and the interlude ended as a harmless farce. But sometimes, when Sabbath gauged from her answers that his consort was more playful than most or uncommonly spellbound, the interrogation would abruptly turn wanton and the fingers proceed to undo her blouse. Only twice did the fingers undo a brasserie catch and only once did they endeavor to caress the nipples exposed. And it was then that Sabbath was arrested.”
― Philip Roth, Sabbath's Theater

“It’s the character of man woman chemistry that feminine tendencies catalyze male proclivities. Carried away by the euphoria of her coquetry, man begins to woo woman with hope. With her vanity thus addressed by his advances, she turns flirtatious, furthering his passion for her possession. In the excitement of the moment, should he transgress the threshold of her sensitivity, fearing she had compromised her honor, she sinks in shame. Thereafter, she withdraws from him to brood over her infirmity, and in the end, as though to atone for her moment of weakness, she cold-shoulders him altogether, making him wonder what went wrong in the midst of his conquest.”
― B.S. Murthy, Benign Flame: Saga of Love