'I am not in the mood to play games,' she said with false bravado.

If only she possessed real courage instead of this false bravado.

Miriam knew it was false bravado even as the words left her mouth.

No false bravado was detectable in her voice or manner.

"I don't have anything to hide," he said, hearing the false bravado in his own voice.

"I always think that's more false bravado than it is real," he said.

"If nothing else," he said with false bravado, "I can help you develop your new methods."

Real confidence, not the false bravado that had sustained him for so long.

Now the consequences of all that false bravado have come home to roost.

"Yes," I said, too tired to keep up a false bravado.