Victoria Connelly

It was a perfect dinner. The starter was light and sublime, the main course was sumptous and satisfying, and dessert was ravishingly chocolatey.

That night, Kay Ashton dreamt of Mr Darcy again. It wasn't the first time, of course, and it wouldn't be the last. She often dreamt about her favourite fictional hero, and sheoften daydreamed about him too. How many dull afternoons in the office had been cheered up by imagining the sudden arrival of Mr Darcy ? He'd come striding in accross the carpeted reception, his eyes fixed on Kay.
"In vain have I struggled," he'd say, confessing his love to her thereand then and sweeping her up in his arms, telling her to leave her desk behind and run away to Pemberley with him.
If only I could, Kay thought.

Learning is a lifelong pleasure.

Honestly, any man that wasn't safely tucked between the covers of a book was a liability. You couldn't trust any of them. Was it any wonder that Katherine turned to fiction time and time again ? Ever since her father had left home when she was seven, she'd hidden away from the world around her, nose-divibg into the safety of a friendly paperback. Books had always rescued her and had remained the one constant in her life.

Vous vous plaignez de voir les rosiers épineux. Moi je me réjouis que les épines aient des roses.

- Tu ne comprends toujours pas, hein ?
- Comprendre quoi ? Dis-moi ce que je ne comprends pas, parce que j'ai vraiment envie de savoir !
- Tu ne peux pas revenir après trois mois d'absence et t'attendre à ce que nous te fassions tout de suite des confidences. Les relations entre les gens, ça ne fonctionne pas comme ça, Céleste ! dit Evie. Tu as réussi à t'échapper - tu n'as pas été là pour les derniers moments de maman et tu n'as aucune idée de ce que nous avons enduré. Toi, tu étais avec ton super mari dans ta nouvelle maison, c'est bien ça, non ?
- Tu crois que mon mariage était une solution de facilité ? s'indigna Céleste le souffle coupé. Eh bien, il ne l'était pas. C'était la plus grande erreur de ma vie et je l'ai faite seulement pour pouvoir partir d'ici. Je pensais que c'était la meilleure chose à faire à l'époque. j'étais désespérée et je savais que je ne pouvais pas continuer à vivre ici.

Katherine had just delivered her two beloved cats to a friend in the village and now had the unenviable task of saying goodbye.
"My darling boys," she said, bending down to fondle them both.
Marion, her friend, shook her head. "Freddie and Fitz," she said. "They're unusual names for cats."
"They're my two favourite heroes," Katherine said. "Darcy and Wentworth."
"Oh, I should've guessed. If they were named after my favourite heroes, they'd be Johnny and Brad."

To be stuck in a car with a loved one for over two hundred miles would be a challenge at the best of times but being stuck with the most impatient driver in the world when what you most wanted to do was break up with him was an impossible situation.
"I told you I should've got the train!" Robyn said, as Jace honked the driver in front of him for not moving away fast enough at a set of lights.
"What are you complaining about? We're making good time"

"I've got books in every room - even the bathroom," Roberta confessed.
"You mustn't keep books in a bathroom. It's not good for them," Doris said.
"But it's good for me ! I love reading in the bath," Roberta said. "It's the only time I can get naked with Mr Darcy."

- Elle ne ferait pas quelque chose d'idiot, si ?
- De quel genre ? Qu'est-ce qu'elle pourrait faire ? demanda Gertie.
- Je ne sais pas. Se taillader les veines avec une facture impayée ?