“Caine might have smiled at her, had his heart not been breaking to smithereens inside of him.” — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“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.… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“Somehow, I did not finger you for a treasure-hunter.” “Oh, but I am,” without shame. “Her name is Titianni Aziz.” — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“He didn’t deserve compassion. Sympathy. Not even understanding. He deserved worse, far worse than he had ever been given.” — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“I will not marry Ashton. However bound by honor to do so, I will not marry Ashton. I will not marry, ever!”… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“I remember every good thing about you. Every sweet and perfect thing. And nothing else.” He touched her chin, tipped it up… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“And what was to become of what he had taken from her? He had dashed her heart to the ground and danced… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“By now, she was far from the scorch of these sands. After the ransom deal, she would be safely married in England.… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“Better this way, what remained of his battered sensibilities told him. He was no good for her, anyway. She didn’t understand him.… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“Southern gentleman,” he said aside to him in Arabic. “Do you wish for me to continue this for you?” Caine’s temper shifted… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“She wondered how a man could look into a woman’s eyes and lie so completely, so convincingly. She wondered how he could… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“The horizon was indistinguishable from the inky black, which fell upon the desert like a sorcerer’s mantle shot through with diamonds. The… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“No fairy tale, this. This was by no stretch of the imagination a polished fantasy. This was a searing, living force, rough… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“The blood dried on his good hand, he passed his palm over her hair. It curled about his wrist and sprung back… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“He had always prided himself on his ability to bargain, to bluff, to contain his ever-aching heart within the folds of his… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“I know I am flaky, I accept that—and I know, as well, that I can mangle the good king’s English like no… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“My name, sir, is Virgilia Wessex. I am a Sunday school teacher from Sussex, England, and I have given you no leave… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“He squinted at her. He recalled the tears in her eyes that had not fallen into her teacup. No, it wasn’t a… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“Wait for me.” If his voice was just a bit hoarse, she didn’t seem to take note of it. She looked at… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“Remind me to thank God I don’t have a sister.” Caine eyed him critically. He was a filthy heap of blood and… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“He felt, rather than saw, her chin lift toward him. But instead of pulling her hand from his grip and turning away,… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“Because you have my heart, Virgilia Wessex.” Softly, almost achingly. “Every black ounce of it. Scars and all.” — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“I’ve crossed a world of sand and tears in search of you. I love you. I’ve done nothing in my life worth… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“She might not bring much gold from a fat pasha locally, but there are men in Israel who would pay handsomely for… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“Care for her. He was unworthy of such a gift. Unworthy of her blind trust and her sparkling, slightly crooked smiles, let… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“She accepted it uncertainly. “This will help?” Without waiting for an answer, with that unsettling trust of hers, she popped open the… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“Shifting uneasily, Caine cleared his throat, left to wonder why her eyes would make him so unbelievably uncomfortable now after all that… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“Just say, dakhilak.” Without hesitation, “Dakhilak.” He nodded. Her accent was getting no better. “Now, you can never take it back.” “Well, what does… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“She was a little thing, too, inciting that basic compulsion in him as a man to protect her in so hectic a place as… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“What she knew was sand and wind and innumerable stars. The rumble in a camel’s throat as it swayed over shifting dunes, its trappings… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“He squinted at her. He recalled the tears in her eyes that had not fallen into her teacup. No, it wasn’t a revelation. Not… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“He felt, rather than saw, her chin lift toward him. But instead of pulling her hand from his grip and turning away, she tightened… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“Somehow, I did not finger you for a treasure-hunter.” “Oh, but I am,” without shame. “Her name is Titianni Aziz.” — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“La mu’axsa, but I think I’ll just keep sliding down this greased pole to hell?” — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“There will always be another war, Gillia.” He allowed his cynicism to seep through. “Do you know why? Because there will always be bigots… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“It came as naturally to him as breathing or lying, or worse. His mama had only taught her son to be cautious at all… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“She wondered how a man could look into a woman’s eyes and lie so completely, so convincingly. She wondered how he could have looked… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“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:… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
“And what was to become of what he had taken from her? He had dashed her heart to the ground and danced on it… — V.S. Carnes Copy Share Image
