historical-fiction

Once the spark of true love has been ignited, it cannot be quenched. It is there forever.

One day you will meet someone who will show you what you are made of. I only hope it is someone not forbidden to you ...

I falter in the doorway, swept with memories of my reckless behavior last time I saw him. I sipped wine from a bottle. I kissed him. And as my pulse flutters with excitement, I know I would do it again, given the chance.

The engorged moon hung full and low in the sky like a yellow skull. Misshapen clouds stretched across the floating orb with elongated hands and bony fingers grasping. As they neared the docks, the gas lamps grew fewer and the streets gloomier. The cobblestones blackened as they passed the deserted brickfields. Bottle-shaped kilns spat their outrage with orange tongues of fire into the cooling air. Mangy dogs snarled in hunger and wandering sea-gulls screamed their displeasure at the hansom__ passage.

Enjoy the ride!

She didn't know how she would survive when every breath stung, every tear burned, and every step took her further from the only man she'd ever loved.

For Alex to be enveloped into one of New York State's blue-ribbon families helped put to bed a lifetime of doubts and depression about his own dubious birthright.

Medicine is a bit like love," Aunt Gertrude began. "There are the theatrical outer forms gone through by the players-the bandages and injections and extractions, the flowers and love notes and dances-but the real work is always happening out of sight. In here," she added, tapping herself on the heart.

I would be no more than a shadow of myself if I thought that I had truly lost you.

silly man. I know the man I am marrying is destined for great things, as the many remarkable things he has done thus far have brought himto such a high oint already. Mark my words, Alex. You are a man whose future lies before him for all to marvel at one day. And you, Colonel Hamilton, are mine, and I am yours always.

This isn't London, sweetheart. This is New York City and we can spot a fraud from a mile away.

Over time, this unspoken attration continued to blossom, refusing to dwindle or fade, though they had little opportunity to foster or nourish it. Slowly and patiently, Robert's sheer persistence in the chase had revealed his heart, and Charlotte came to realize the nameless thing between them was love.

If queens did not exist, the poets would have had to invent them, so necessary as they are to a nation's glory.

Yes, she had seen Alex's temper flare over his disappointment with a lack of his own regiment to command, but she saw that as merely the fighting spirit of an ambitious and confident leader. Yet, wasn't that what appealed most to her about him? A spirit and impetuousness that could match her own and challenge her to be better herself in this new democracy? A man who could honor her own values?

Love is a poison,' her father responded. 'One you grow accustomed to, but does not kill you.

A sudden yearning to hold Artagan close overtakes me, to smell the scent of his skin and run my hands through his tousled black hair. He will soon ride into peril again as he has many times before. No matter how often he rides away, I never get used to it.

And at last, the lonely young man who belonged to no one finally belonged to someone, forever, and the practical girl who would not settle for less than a love story for the ages found the lifelong romance she had yearned for all her life.

Son of a beast tried to bite me when I turned my back to the billets!"...Nostrils flaring and ears pinned, the grey repeated the offense. "He wants another go at it. Be a sport ol' man!" Robert chortled. The indignant Scotsman threw the reins in his face, tromping off to collect the major's horse."I wonder was it reward or punishment Winthrop had in mind in allowing you to keep that brute?" Drake innocently inquired."He only eats Scotsman," Robert quipped.