This year apparently marks the hundredth birthday of romantic fiction publisher Mills and Boon. We thought we should pay tribute with a should-be-an-excerpt from one of their novels…

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She fell, breathless, into his strong arms, feeling the soft touch of his velvet cloak. He held her to him, enveloping her in his firm grip. She looked up at his noble face, into his deep   blue eyes, and pressed her damp frame closer to his muscular, hard body.

“I love you,’ she murmured, her heart fluttering like the wings of a caged bird.

“I love you, too, my sweet,” the handsome Prince replied softly. He clicked his fingers twice. Suddenly, the oak door flew open and three uniformed   officers appeared in an instant. “That’s why I cannot let your behaviour this morning go unpunished.”

He released the quivering girl abruptly from his grasp: “Guards! Take her to the dungeon, strip her, and whip her soundly.”

The Prince turned back to her, smiling as he noticed the tears welling up in her pretty eyes. “And when they have finished with you, my sweet, they will bring you to my bedchamber.”