More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
In all likelihood, she would never meet with the Bookshop Rake again. Until, of course, the morning that she did.
He didn’t want to be next in line for the Belvoir dukedom. And he most assuredly did not want to be attending his fourth funeral in as many days.
Oh, this is adorable 😂❤️
Daisy turned to them. A veil of dark netting covered her straw-colored curls. “Please show respect for the dead.” She waved Chase forward. He dutifully crossed to her side, bending down so that she could pin a black armband around his shirtsleeve. “I’m sorry for your loss,” he said. So very sorry. You don’t know how sorry.
😂😂
Daisy reached for his hand and bowed her head. After leading them in a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, she poked Chase in the ribs. “Mr. Reynaud, kindly say a few words.” Chase looked to the heavens. God help him.
“Almighty Father,” he began in a dispirited tone, “we commit to your keeping the soul of Millicent. Ashes to ashes. Sawdust to sawdust. She was a doll of few words and yet fewer autonomous movements, yet she will be remembered for the ever-present—some might say permanently painted—smile on her face. By the grace of our Redeemer, we know she will be resurrected, perhaps as soon as luncheon.” He added under his breath, “Unfortunately.” “Amen,” Daisy intoned.
He groaned. “Don’t tell me the new one quit. I only hired her yesterday.” Rosamund said proudly, “We were rid of her in seventeen and a quarter hours. A new record.” Unbelievable.
“No arguments.” He leveled a finger at his morbid little wards. “Or I’m going to lock the both of you in this room and feed you nothing but dry crusts.” “How very gothic,” Rosamund replied.
“But it isn’t—” “I insist. Most insistently.”
It’s not romantic. It’s not dangerous. It’s work.” “You don’t have to be sensible all the time,” Penny said.
Penny is me
“What are you reading?” “A book.” She turned a page. “Is it a storybook?” “No, it is a book of practical advice. How to Torture Your Governess in Ten Simple Steps.” “She’s likely writing the second volume,” Mrs. Greeley muttered.
I'll say it again: this dialogue is on point. Top notch banter, Mrs. Dare. TOP NOTCH!
“Well, I intend to acquaint myself with the schoolroom, then perhaps write a letter or read a book. How you spend the day is yours to decide.” “So you intend to bilk our guardian for wages while letting us do as we please,” the girl said. “I approve.”
This child lol
She smiled a little. “That makes it sound far too exciting. It’s boring work. A matter of searching the sky, one dark patch at a time, looking for anything smudgy.” “Smudgy? A proper scientific term, that.”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to define these things if you want me to have any idea what you’re talking about. Alternatively, you can simply go on talking while I stare at your earlobe.” She blushed. “You needn’t trouble yourself.” “It’s no chore.” He crossed his arms and leaned back against the window casing. “I’m a veritable connoisseur of earlobes, and yours is rather nice.”
“She will be remembered for her faithful companionship. A truer friend never lived. Not once did she stray from Daisy’s side—save for the few occasions when she rolled off the bed.”
“Let Millicent’s composure in the face of certain death be a model for us all. Her eyes remained fixed on heaven—and not merely because she lacked any eyelids to close.” She cast a pleading glance at him, only to catch him glancing back with devilish amusement. He wanted her to laugh, the terrible man.
“Rosamund, may I tell you something? You will find yourself reluctant to believe it, but it’s the truth.” The girl gave a lackadaisical shrug. The warmest gesture she’d made toward Alex so far. “I like you,” Alexandra said. “I like you very much indeed.”
“It’s truly none of your concern,” he said, growing testy at the suggestion of her tending the wounds of bigger and stronger men. “It is my concern. If you die of gangrene or lockjaw, I’ll never be paid.” Fair enough.
Relatable
Just yesterday, Rosamund had woken him with a single word: “Tapeworms.” He’d all but leapt to his feet with delight.
Can you just imagine being woken up by a wild-haired child staring at you in the dark while whispering "tapeworms"? I'd have a heart attack
“Oh, no. Don’t get ideas.” “Goodness. Heaven forbid that a woman have ideas.”
If I had your life story, it would be the first thing I mentioned to anyone. ‘Hullo, I’m Chase Reynaud. I learned to toddle aboard a merchant ship, and the Seven Seas rocked my cradle. And have I mentioned that no tropical sunset could compare with your beauty?’ The women would fall into bed with me.”
He supposed her mother had blessed her with that bounty of dark hair and her delicate snub of a nose—and her father was likely to blame for her stubborn, independent streak. Those Americans just wouldn’t be told what to do.
“That’s appallingly romantic.”
“Rosamund, if I go down to visit my friends for a half hour, may I trust that I’ll return to find you, your sister, and this room unscathed?” “Don’t worry. I’m still putting the final touches on our escape plan. We’re not going anywhere today.” “Good.”
I love this kid
“What of the Bookshop Rake? Has he confessed his love for you yet?” “No,” Alex replied. “No.” “That disavowal was entirely too vehement to be believed.”
“I’m more likely to find my future in the stars than in the arms of Chase Reynaud.”
“Does our guardian know you’re proposing this?” “Not at all.” “He’s not going to like it.” Alex lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Pirates don’t ask permission.”
“Now.” Chase lifted a gilt-framed mirror and positioned it on the wall opposite the bed. “Tell me, can you see yourself?” “Partly.” “Which parts? The good parts?” “That’s it.” Barrow rolled to a sitting position. “I’m done.”
Siblings at their finest 😂
“Give Elinor a kiss for me.” “The hell I will,” Barrow said, shutting the door behind him. “Find your own wife.”
Hehe
“But I can always find the sixteenth. London is rife with women who’ll happily submit to my wishes.” “No doubt it is. I’m not one of them.”
dayummmm
“People want to leave a mark on the world,” Alex said. “It’s human nature. Some are remembered by their accomplishments, or their virtues. Others live on through their children.” She trailed her fingers over Daisy’s back as she strolled by. “And if he has none of those to leave behind, a man carves his name into the wall. We all want to be remembered.”
“Beheading,” Daisy said, awed.
“You are the worst example of false advertising. I was led to believe I was hiring a prim scold. Then I learn you’re remarkable and bold and interesting.”
She was so distracted watching them, she hadn’t realized she wasn’t alone in her spying. Rosamund had swung the telescope to point down toward the street. “Enemy craft sighted to starboard. And la-di-da, isn’t she a fancy one.”
I can't handle the cuteness
Alex cringed at the sound. “I just can’t. To bed with you, then.” “No.” Daisy stood firm. “Are we pirates, or aren’t we? Pirates don’t retreat.”
“I’m not prudish. I’m protecting your delicate feminine sensibilities.” “I never acquired many of those.
She took his hand. His eyes warmed. “That’s my girl.”
“I agree. If she won’t come willingly, piracy is the only choice.”
Sense and Sensibility reference?? 😇🥰
At last, he surfaced. Not in the center of the lake, but close to the bank, taking her unawares. He emerged from the water with a spray of fanfare, his translucent shirt pasted to his torso and his hair slicked back. Like Poseidon rising from the sea—hoisting a waterlogged doll in place of a trident.
Pride & Prejudice ‘95 reference 😏
Chase shook his leg, and Daisy held tight. He looked to Alex. “You’re the sailor. How does one remove a barnacle?”
“I have a better question.” Chase stepped between Alex and the intruder. “Who the devil are you?” Alex smiled. “He’s the Duke of Ashbury.”
WE LOVE A GOOD CAMEO
He walked past her to stare down Chase face-to-face. “You deserve to know what a worthless scoundrel he is, Alex.” “Yes!” Chase exclaimed. He reached for Ashbury’s hand and pumped it in a vigorous greeting. “Thank you. I’ve been trying to tell her myself, but she won’t listen.” Ashbury looked more than a bit thrown by Chase’s invitation. He gave Alex a what-the-devil-is-he-on-about look. Alex could only shrug in response.
“Three years ago, there was a sordid, suspicious business with his cousin.” “I’d been wondering when we’d get to this.” Chase took a large swallow of brandy. “This is the good part. Pay attention.”
Not this man being entertained by his own personal drama 💀
“We are nothing alike,” Ash sputtered. “No one could possibly confuse us,” Chase agreed. “Of course not,” Ash continued. “One of us is a repulsive monster, and the other was scarred at Waterloo.” She spoke over their protests. “You should see yourselves. You’re giving me identical scowls right this moment.”
“If you hurt her, in even the slightest way, I will eviscerate you.” “Understood.”
“I’ll strip you bare, tie your hands behind your back, smear salmon on your manly bits, and lock the two of you in a wardrobe. Once he’s clawed your ballocks to shreds, I’ll crush whatever remains of you to a bloody, formless pulp.” “Good Lord.” Chase sounded a little awed. “That’s remarkably vivid.
“What do you mean, you’d respect me less? When did you start to respect me at all?”
😂😂
“I love you,” she said. “Take that.”
“That’s just it.” She put her hand atop his chest, covering his fiercely beating heart. “To me, the truth doesn’t ruin anything. Why should understanding the universe diminish our sense of wonder at it? We are spinning around and around, at hundreds of miles an hour, on a rock in the midst of a fathomless universe. Isn’t that awe-inspiring enough?”
He kissed the top of her head. “I love you. There. Have you some astronomical way to ruin that?” “No.” She was grateful he couldn’t see her face contorting with elation. “That’s a miracle.”
“Mind you, we’ll all need to make a greater attempt at acceptable behavior—in public, at any rate. But I’ll try if you will. What do you say?” She was silent. He could sense her struggling. She didn’t want to admit she needed him, or anyone. “Blink once for yes, twice for no.”
This man 😂😂
