Status Updates From A Proposition for the Comte...

'She wondered how many times he had done this, rescued someone needy from dire circumstances, killed a man & held a knife in his fist as though to welcome violence. Many, many times she imagined for the dangerous edges of him here were well on display. Her fingers laced now into his own, & she relished the strength of him as he blew out the candle & discarded it.'

"You sell yourself short, my dear. You have endured one marriage to a man no one could stand & emerged out the other end of it almost intact. I salute you in that."

'The memory of Harland's death dropped into the middle of her stillness, how her husband's face had contorted w/ rage as he died at her feet, the blood running down the side of his temple & into the blonde wispiness of his hair. She had led the stallion into the stall as soon as Harland ceased to breathe & left the horse there w/ the body, taking the bloody hammer in her full & voluminous skirts w/ shaking fingers.'

'Darkness was all about them, the night, the moon, the shadows, the silence. She wanted him to strip off her clothes & take her hard here, on the floor without resistance. She wanted him to hurt her with love to make her live again, make her real, make her want & cry & laugh.' ....Violet is a badass.

'Violet Addington observed him in a different way. There was a decided sensual slide underneath the mask of cordiality. She was no untried girl, no ingénue who would demand careful handling & slow measured steps. She was no longer young & that attracted him, too. He wanted her in his bed underneath him, her tresses of fire falling across white sheets & staining their tryst with passion.'

'With determination she pulled her thoughts back to this minute, the gentle 3-point melody of a waltz in the distance & the muted chandeliers above twinkling in long lines of muted light. The beauty & energy of the room swirled around her. Here nothing sordid or ignoble could touch her. Here she was beyond reproach & lauded.' ....This is really good, y'all. Classy, dark prose + complicated motives.

Heroine Violet finds an injured man in the road: 'He looked nothing like the milksop lords they had waded through tonight at the Barrington's ball. His dress was too plain & his hair was far longer than any man in the ton would have worn theirs. He looked menacing & severe & beautiful. Society would tiptoe around a man like this, not quite knowing how to categorize him.'