The Secret Service of Tea and Treason Quotes

“Reading is not a hobby," she said. "It is a way of life.”
― India Holton, The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a man and woman in possession of a false marriage license must be in want of separate beds. Unfortunately, when Daniel and Alice entered their suite in Starkthorn Manor, they found only one—which quite frankly would not have come as a surprise had they read more exciting literature than was their habit.”
― India Holton, The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

“Either the patisserie across the street had exploded or a fashionable woman was walking in through the doorway.”
― India Holton, The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

“But wanton cheerfulness was like reading a book without first checking how it ended. The risk of surprise was simply too great.”
― India Holton, The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

“Even Mrs. Kew’s fluffy white cat wore a lace bow.”
― India Holton, The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

“The whole universe tilted on its axis, pouring starlit silence into the small, shy distance between their eyes.”
― India Holton, The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

“She felt all-peopled-out after the morning and wanted to go home, close the curtains, and hug a book until her nerves settled.”
― India Holton, The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

“It would be illogical for me to stay away from the woman I value above all things in the world. You are my prime number, Alice. My eyes are for you only.”
― India Holton, The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

“Instead, he was being forced to smile and nod to a man who seemed to think that amiable conversation was perfectly reasonable behavior.”
― India Holton, The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

“He smiled shyly. “I’m so ruinously in love with you, Alice.”
(...)
“This is certainly an interesting development,” she said. “As it happens, I am in love with you also.”
(...)
“That is welcome news,” he said. “Most convenient.”
He held out his hand, and Alice shook it. They gave each other a brisk nod.”
― India Holton, The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

“They are . . . are . . .” She cast about for the worst insult possible. “ Utterly inexplicable.”
― India Holton, The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

“I just sat and stared into the middle distance and luxuriated.”
― India Holton, The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

“She looked instinctively again for Daniel, needing his steadiness and good sense — only to find him staring expressionless into the middle distance as if refusing to acknowledge the existence of the scene before him.”
― India Holton, The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

“Not that Alice was viewing him. As a lady, she did not do such things. As a lady, she stared determinedly into the middle distance.”
― India Holton, The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

“Do not worry, Miss Dearlove,” Daniel said, leaning a little closer so only she could hear him. “I am but mad north - northwest.”
― India Holton, The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

“Twenty - four years, most of them spent in espionage training, and she’d still not learned how dialogue worked. Really, Mrs. Kew should have assigned her to be a maid so she need not speak with anyone.
She hastily reviewed the Three Primary Rules for Normal Conversation as drilled into her by long - suffering tutors at the Academy. Hold eye contact for five seconds, blink, glance away, repeat. . . . Do not speak until the other person has finished talking. . . . Do not fidget or climb on the furniture while listening. Thus mentally refreshed, she tried again.”
― India Holton, The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

“Thank God she'd never known it was possible to be so happy, or she would have been miserable wanting it.”
― India Holton, The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

“Alice gazed up at his mouth and the calm line of his cheekbone - for looking too long into his eyes overwhelmed her even more now than it had before. He thrilled every nerve in her. He engulfed every thought.

And yet he was so familiar, she could have sworn she'd seen him every day of her life.”
― India Holton, The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

“Was there a more exquisite woman in all the world than the one standing before him? If so, Daniel had not met her, and never expected to.”
― India Holton, The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

“That was a relief. She might contract tetanus over the next few hours in this shack, but at least there would be tea.”
― India Holton, The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

“She hastily reviewed the Three Primary Rules for Normal Conversation as drilled into her by long-suffering tutors at the Academy.”
― India Holton, The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

“There’s not even only one bed.”
― India Holton, The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

“No one understands why pirates do anything.”
― India Holton, The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

“For example, it was said B had saved Princess Louise from assassination, thanks to being in bed with her at the time. From this, Alice, an exceptional intelligence officer, deduced that B must be a woman. After all, who else would have a pajama party with the princess?”
― India Holton, The Secret Service of Tea and Treason