"She knew all the tricks of the trade. How else could she have caught the eye of a man like Reginald Harper? How else had she seduced him into making her his mistress?"
Prologue, p. 3

"She turned to the mirror and saw what she needed to see. Beauty, charm, grace. She didn't see that the red gown sagged at the breasts, bagged at the hips, and turned her pale skin a sallow yellow. The mirror reflected the tumbling tangle of curls, the overbright eyes, and the harshly rouged cheeks, but her eyes, Amelia's eyes, saw what she had once been."
Prologue, p. 4

"You're beautiful, Roz thought, puffing a little on that last half mile. Now, stay the hell out of my gardens."
Chap. 1, p. 10

"It had been too long since there were children in the house for Christmas, Roz thought as she hurried upstairs. And damn if having...