title: Anatomy of a Rose: Exploring the Secret Life of Flowers
author: Sharman Russell
description: "A luminous blend of memoir, botany lesson and history of science..." -- <i>Publishers Weekly</i> (starred review)<br /><br />"Elegant prose." -- <i>Discover</i><br /><br />"Russell is an enthusiast, a writer with a gift for compression and clarification." -- <i>The Times (Trenton, N.J.)</i>
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Rose in Bloom  
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  Stephanie Laurens
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  One
  
  
    
  
  
  Ballynashiels, Argyllshire June 17, 1826
  
  "What the devil are you doing here?"
  
  Duncan Roderick Macintyre, third earl of Strathyre, stared, stupefied, at the
  willowy form bent over the piano stool in his drawing room. Sheer shock,
  liberally laced with disbelief, held him frozen on the threshold. A lesser man
  would have goggled.
  
  Rose Millicent Mackenzie-Craddock, bane of his life, most insistent,
  persistent thorn in his flesh, lifted her head and looked up—and smiled at
  him, with the same, slightly lopsided smile with which she'd taunted him for
  decades. Her large, light-brown eyes twinkled.
  
  "Good morning, Duncan. I'd heard you'd arrived."
  
  Her soft, lilting brogue washed over him, a warm caress beneath his skin. His
  gaze locked on the expanse of creamy breasts now on display, Duncan
  stiffened—all over. The reaction was as much a surprise as finding Rose
  here—and every bit as unwelcome. His j