Desire is a strange thing. Time can sharpen, dull, and twist desire, but wanting never dies. In three millenia of life, this is the only lesson Lucky Welles has ever learned.

—

Euphemia Horbruth is grand, imposing, out-sized. Her favorite niece has always, she thinks, been the contrast to her – small somehow, retiring, a pretty wallflower with a pretty smile. “But,” she’ll say to her ex-husbands, “There’s a tart in there somewhere, mark my words. I just hope it’s her husband that finds it.”