Sarah Mac’s Reviews > The Housekeeper of Thornhallow Hall > Status Update

—“I think, in fact, you thought of nothing before you so carelessly risked your life.”
—Only then did Rebecca fully realize how incredibly close he was. She hadn’t so much heard the words as felt his breath against her cheek, soft as a caress, & yet cold enough to freeze her blood.

‘The door he had seen so many times in his dreams seemed unreal now. Different. In his nightmares it had been a great impossible barrier, full of ancient magic & dread. It had stood between him & his sister, taunted him as it kept him from her. Yet now, standing before it, Liam saw it in all its acute simplicity. Only a door. And beyond it, only a room.’

‘Breathing deeply, she tried to think back on the dream. It had been pleasant enough, nothing extraordinary, at least not that she could recall. Whereas the nightmares…the nightmares, when her prince finally caught her after all these years, when she could not run fast enough…those were impossible to forget.’

‘Her dress—it would have made any woman of quality shriek in terror. Drab, faded black wool, w/ a high collar & devoid of any adornments. Yet it was a dress that somehow seemed to suit this creature perfectly, in no way distracting from her natural grace & the shape of her body. Voluptuous. Strong. Restrained. Briefly, he longed to tear it from her & liberate all that awaited him beneath it.’

‘This house might be functioning, but there was something more to it…something out of sorts that needed to be set right, & she would find out what. Rebecca was not the sort simply to leave everything as it was because it worked well enough—where was the fun in that?’