In a land that knew only dark beauty, she was something of a hybrid no one dared touch. But the tall Arab did not appear in the least daunted by her abnormality. No, she saw his eyes. He was not daunted in the least. - V.S. Carnes
Remind me to thank God I don’t have a sister.Caine eyed him critically. He was a filthy heap of blood and soot and sand stuck to the gun oil on his face. Yeah, without much enthusiasm. I’ll thank Him for ya. - V.S. Carnes
I remember every good thing about you. Every sweet and perfect thing. And nothing else. He touched her chin, tipped it up to look into her wet brown eyes. Even smudged, they were gorgeous. The dawning light in them filled his heart, and healed it. Nothing else. - V.S. Carnes
Care for her. He was unworthy of such a gift. Unworthy of her blind trust and her sparkling, slightly crooked smiles, let alone her heart. But he wanted her, selfish fool he was and had always been. Care for her? Ah, God, she consumed him. - V.S. Carnes
Somehow, I did not finger you for a treasure-hunter.Oh, but I am, without shame. Her name is Titianni Aziz. - V.S. Carnes
He’d thought it would be the right thing to say, but she scoffed a little… and that, more than anything—more than the prospect of having his ribs crushed in or his face pulled off or his neck stretched on a rope—scared him out of his wits. - V.S. Carnes
I stole you, among others, from the streets of God’s birthplace. I forced you to work as a slave. Imprisoned, mistreated and starved you and your companion. To top it off, I am in the process of selling your life to the highest bidder. Why would you trust me? - V.S. Carnes
Kent steepled his fingers in consideration. Blood-red rubies flashed in the sunlight, like the eyes of a demon clutched in his hands. - V.S. Carnes
He felt, rather than saw, her chin lift toward him. But instead of pulling her hand from his grip and turning away, she tightened her own fingers and unceremoniously, unexpectedly, threw herself down the incline, dragging him with her.Dragging him with her! - V.S. Carnes
I’ve crossed a world of sand and tears in search of you. I love you. I’ve done nothing in my life worth more than that. - V.S. Carnes
When silence greeted her question, she looked at Caine—for that was how he saw himself in that moment and in all the moments after: his brother’s murderer. - V.S. Carnes
He didn’t deserve compassion. Sympathy. Not even understanding. He deserved worse, far worse than he had ever been given. - V.S. Carnes
I will not marry Ashton. However bound by honor to do so, I will not marry Ashton. I will not marry, ever! Why not?Because I love you, you idiot! - V.S. Carnes
By now, she was far from the scorch of these sands. After the ransom deal, she would be safely married in England. To Ashton. And Caine, who had hurt her far more than anything Abdullah had planned for her with that long, curved dagger, deserved no better than this torment of knowing it. - V.S. Carnes
Southern gentleman, he said aside to him in Arabic. Do you wish for me to continue this for you?Caine’s temper shifted to a low simmer in his chest. Your way takes too long.Ma’aleyk, and your way hurts my ears, he argued. - V.S. Carnes
She’d said she loved him. She'd put that impossible, unimaginably beautiful gift in his hands and he’d thrown it back at her. To save her. To save himself. - V.S. Carnes
No fairy tale, this. This was by no stretch of the imagination a polished fantasy. This was a searing, living force, rough around the edges, unfamiliar and bittersweet.And precious. - V.S. Carnes
Caine might have smiled at her, had his heart not been breaking to smithereens inside of him. - V.S. Carnes
Because you have my heart, Virgilia Wessex. Softly, almost achingly. Every black ounce of it. Scars and all. - V.S. Carnes
Are you in the habit of taking tea with anyone who approaches you in a foreign port? He went on and snorted carelessly. No wonder you were abducted so easily. - V.S. Carnes
Oh, Lord, why was she doomed to adore a man steeped in blindness and utter stupidity? - V.S. Carnes
This man was no servant. She looked up at him in acute agitation and knew: this man was now her master. - V.S. Carnes
Fate had a cruel sense of humor. It had been all his fault, anyway, whatever Mick or Gillia told him. Careless preoccupation and utter stupidity. Boyhood ignorance and negligence. He was only getting what he deserved, over and over again, for the rest of his life. If only in his dreams. - V.S. Carnes
Anger swirled in him, a tempest readying her strike. And like a helpless vessel caught in her fury, he felt himself dashed against the rocks without mercy. - V.S. Carnes
La mu’axsa, but I think I’ll just keep sliding down this greased pole to hell? - V.S. Carnes