#ofmd is of course far from the first pirate or bandit romance but it is the one eating my brain so

[bewareofitalics]

She also wrote several stories—desperate love affairs wherein she struggled heroically against the difficulties of affectionate dialogue; tales of bandits and pirates—Emily liked these because there was no necessity for bandits and pirates to converse lovingly;

You say that now, Emily, but in 120 years or so...