In Total Surrender Quotes

“Oh!” This was said brightly, as if she was happy he had noticed. “I decided I needed my own workspace, instead of constantly infringing upon yours. So I had a few of the boys move a desk in here.”

He stared at the petite, feminine, desk that was pushed against his. And wondered how the bloody hell she had managed to convince men who were terrified of him to move the desk inside his domain.

“Absolutely not.”

***

Two hours later, he was still scowling as she happily worked on . . . whatever the hell it was she was working on. Across from him. At her desk. How the hell . . .

He remembered saying no. He remembered cursing. Threatening her unborn children. Then there was a sort of hazy period of smiles and calm words. Then she had touched the back of his hand with her naked fingers.

And now, here he was with . . . her desk . . . pressed to his—surreptitiously watching her scratch her paper, the tip of her tongue poking from the side of her mouth as she worked.”
― Anne Mallory, In Total Surrender

“...Go somewhere else. Somewhere safer.”

Anywhere else. God, please. Or he was likely to do something horribly awful, like surrender his sanity and kiss her.”
― Anne Mallory, In Total Surrender

“How do you define difficult?”
“By your presence.”
She grinned fully, delighted to feel the tension
dissipate. “Now you are just flattering me for no
reason.”
He grunted.
“On the contrary,” she said, as if his grunt had
been a worded response. “It was most flattering.”
He stared at her.
“What? Did you think I wouldn’t figure out how to
interpret your grunts?”
― Anne Mallory, In Total Surrender

“Yes. She got into a right state when she realized no one could read them, though. She's setting up some sort of literacy curse. Some of the boys want to know--is that like gypsy magic? Can you curse someone to read?”
― Anne Mallory, In Total Surrender

“Mr. Wiggles seems
taken with you.”
“It tried to urinate on me the other day. I prefer not
to be ‘taken’ by something like that.”
― Anne Mallory, In Total Surrender

“There was a small woven basket waiting on his desk
the next day, still smelling like warmed-from-the-oven
sin. A note was attached written with the words
“Have a good day!” A drawing of a tiny dog chasing
a butterfly completed the absurdity.
He stood in front of his desk, just staring at it and
the basket for a full minute. Asps didn’t smell like
baked items, but the latter were no less dangerous.
He tented the edge of the cloth cover with his
smallest finger. Three fruit tarts lay inside.
Poisoned most likely.”
― Anne Mallory, In Total Surrender

“Some people get dealt all the aces in life.”
― Anne Mallory, In Total Surrender

“She gifted him with that soft smile. And it did that
strange thing to his insides. He would probably lead
a revolt against the king if she asked him to do it
while wearing that smile.”
― Anne Mallory, In Total Surrender

“What do you have?”
“Wine. Weak cider. Water. Whiskey.”
“A veritable plethora of ‘W’ drinks.”
“If I ever have walrus piss, I will offer it as well.”
― Anne Mallory, In Total Surrender

“I want to know who she is particularly close to
among the staff here.” Who is besotted with her. Hell,
they probably all were. Except Donald, who rarely
broke his stoic façade. And Andreas. “And what
questions she asks.”
Donald inclined his head, hair slipping a fraction
more. “It will be done.” He watched Andreas for a
moment. “And she and her family will be safe here,”
he said, gaze steady, eyes just an extra bit bright.
Andreas nodded sharply back, dismissed him
quickly, all while trying to hold back the curses
layering his tongue at the words that were both said
and unsaid. Donald was infected too.
Goddamn biscuits.”
― Anne Mallory, In Total Surrender

“But it had always been that smile. Not her position
as Henry Wilcox’s possible wife nor the possibility
that he could take his enemies down by manipulating
her family. Those hadn’t been the things that had
driven him when it came to his feelings for her.
It had been that smile. Through the shadows of the
theater that first night. When their eyes had met. She
had smiled. Simply. Warmly. Looking directly at him,
unaware that she should be afraid.”
― Anne Mallory, In Total Surrender

“She smiled, a warm smile that held no trace of
aberrant humor.
It bothered him on a level he couldn’t comprehend.
It bothered him on a level he couldn’t comprehend.
He experienced an overwhelming urge to grab that
smile and hide it solely for himself to gaze upon. A
Da Vinci masterpiece he intended to jealously
guard.”
― Anne Mallory, In Total Surrender

“He was well aware of what an ass he was. Only
Roman could tolerate him, really. Stupid, charming
bastard.”
― Anne Mallory, In Total Surrender

“She
touched his hand, and he went stock-still. She
leaned over to examine it, the top of her head
brushing beneath his nose. Only his sudden
immobility stopped him from violently pulling away.
“From the candles?” Had she bathed in bloody
honey?”
― Anne Mallory, In Total Surrender

“ Change was Fate' the Romans said. well, Andreas loathed Fate, That Bitch.”
― Anne Mallory, In Total Surrender

“This was what marriage was like, being able to look one's fill.”
― Anne Mallory, In Total Surrender

“She leaned down, a fraction closer, and for some
reason unknown to man, he lifted his head the tiniest
bit. Enough so she could brush his cheek with her
lips. “Good night, Mr. Merrick.”
― Anne Mallory, In Total Surrender

“No one knocked on his door the next day. Nor the
day after. Nor the one after that. But that didn’t mean
he was unaware of what was happening. Someone
had carried a plate of those fucking biscuits past his
room, and even the oak door had provided no
barrier for the smell. Not for anything of hers.”
― Anne Mallory, In Total Surrender

“No.” She smiled. “I am exactly where I need to be.
I have no desire to enter negotiations with Lord
Garrett and his heir.”
He couldn’t keep down his dark pleasure at that.”
― Anne Mallory, In Total Surrender

“She smiled at him. Why was she always smiling at him? It made him tense.”
― Anne Mallory, In Total Surrender

“It was like a disease. A Phoebe-Pace-inspired disease, this need to speak so much—to explain himself.”
― Anne Mallory, In Total Surrender

“You always make me feel strange.” His gaze sharpened, and she plowed ahead. “I don’t mean that in the negative. But you do, and have, ever since that night I met you. I can’t say I rightly felt that way before that night, though there was something about you across the theater that made me want to get you to smile at me in return. Still, it was that night we met. I had never felt such a reaction to a man before. Something tight and uncertain and exciting. Wild.”
― Anne Mallory, In Total Surrender

“Even should I wither from lack of food, lack of drink. I would be happy to exist solely on the feel of your lips against mine, I think.”
― Anne Mallory, In Total Surrender