Anne Beale

“Jaenelle blushed. “No, none of them are my mate. I’m not old enough for a mate,” she added hurriedly as Smoke gave them all a look of blatant disapproval. “This is Saetan, the High Lord. He’s my sire. My brother, Prince Mephis, is the High Lord’s pup. And this is my uncle, Prince Andulvar, and my cousin, Lord Prothvar. And that’s Lord Beale. Everyone, this is Prince Smoke.””

“So, who's going to tell Mrs Beale she's got a month to plan a wedding feast ?"Hell's fire. Mrs Beale was a marvelous cook. She also had what he considered an unnatural relationship with her meat cleaver. Since he'd inherited SaDiablo Hall, he had gained a finer appreciation of why his father had stayed away from anything to do with the kitchen unless cornered. The woman was downright scary at times.The fact that she and Beale, the Hall's butler, were happily married was something he tried not to think about because it made him wonder things about Beale he'd rather not wonder."If we both went to Amdarh, we could just write her a note," Jaenelle said.He looked at Jaenelle. She looked at him."Good idea," he said.””

“I walked down to the village with five Sceltie puppies. I came back to the Hall with four.”“And the fifth ?”“By now, I’m sure Sylvia has convinced the little bitch to let go of Mikal’s trousers. And Mrs Beale promised to send her recipe for puppy biscuits to Sylvia’s cook.”“Mrs Beale agreed to share a recipe,” Saetan said slowly.“Mrs Beale agreed that I could pay for... I’m not sure what it is except that it’s something she wanted for the kitchen but couldn’t justify as a normal household expense.”“And you agreed to fund this in exchange for a recipe ?”Daemon stared at his father for a long moment before he muttered, “She sharpened the meat cleaver before coming to talk to me.”One beat of silence. Two. Then Saetan burst out laughing.””