The Rogue Not Taken (Scandal & Scoundrel, #1)

by Sarah MacLean

There was, after all, never a stare so blatant as the one that carefully evaded its object.

Do not do something that you will regret!” Sophie did not lower her voice when she said, “My only regret is that the pool was not deeper. And filled with sharks.”

He smirked. “Be careful. Lady Liverpool might hear you.” She straightened her shoulders. “As Lady Liverpool is dressed as a Japanese fish, I don’t imagine she would care about my views.”

“You left my Hessian in a hedge.” “You left me in a hedge,” she pointed out. “I had no use for you.” “Well, I had no use for your boot.”

“No. I believe you used the term unfun, which is even more unflattering, as it appears that I am so deeply boring that I require a word that, prior to today, did not exist.”

“Oh, yes. You’ve been a glorious gift of good luck from the moment you nearly dropped a boot on my head.”

“We don’t need to know a person to know how to do right by them.”

“You’re so arrogant. I have half a mind to die just to prove you wrong.”

“Do not worry, my lord. Your ailing father will loathe me. I shall make him wish death would come sooner.

“Happiness. That’s what books smell like. Happiness. That’s why I always wanted to have a bookshop. What better life than to trade in happiness?”

Sad was such a simple, damaging word. It meant so much more than its elaborate cousins.

Vaguely, it occurred to her that other people found love to be a pleasurable experience, filled with roses and doves and sweets and whatever else. Those people were obviously cabbageheads. Because she loved the Marquess of Eversley quite desperately, and there wasn’t anything remotely pleasurable about it.

“It’s you who don’t see. I only ever wished you to be the man you are.”