Lyall understood a broken heart, but it could not be allowed to rumple perfectly good shirtwaists.

Rail is such an undignified way to travel. All that rapid racing about. Floating has so much more gravitas.

Really, Alexia, what could have possessed you to attach yourself to the side of the ship in such a juvenile fashion? It is positively barnacle-like.

She sifted, sighed, and stared up at the ceiling, trying to think about anything but Lord Maccoon, her current predicament, or Lord Akeldama's safety. Which meant she could do nothing but reflect on the complex plight of her mama's more recent embroidery project. Thins, in itself, was a worse torture than any her captors could devise.

What have I done thins time?" he paused to ask before continuing with his oral expedition about her body: her husband, the intrepid explorer.

His eyes were jet-colored circles of perpetual disapproval.

Oh, dear me, no. Then I should be known as that vampire with all the cats.