***

It would be a disappointment to [Regency romance author] Angelica Kestrel-Haven fans to learn that A K-H had thrown in the tea towel.

***

Juliet sighed deeply, her breath forming an amoeba-shaped cloud of mist on the chilly glass.

***

[Ten Percent Less Foul-Mouthed dept.]

"But do my neighbors give a shit--excuse me--do they care a rat's ass if the Candlewick goes belly-up?"

***

Mrs. Lunceford was, if Juliet had to classify her, a fussbudget.

***

He was a blue-eyed, handsome man whose modest height and proportions ought to have condemned him to a life of being described as dapper.

***

"We laughed all night!" he'd recall, and a tear would actually form at the corner of his eye, as if of condensed amusement.

***

"She was very--very come-hither, don't you think? [...] Just don't forget, her hither is my yon. I've got dibs. I'm hitherto."

He bent down and kissed her forehead. "And henceforward," he said, straightening. "And hereunto."