Ashley March

“It’s not just your beauty—you’ve always had that. It’s the way you believe in yourself, the way you make everyone around you believe there is no better place on earth than wherever you are. In the park, in a carriage, at the suppertable, next to you.”

“You’re very handsome tonight, my lord.”“What’s this? A compliment from the lovely widow?”“A mere observation.”“Why do I suspect that you had too much to drink at dinner?”

“Leah tilted her chin and smiled. “I thought we disliked each other.”“Oh, we do,” he said, taking another sip. “I detest you quite thoroughly. Especially when you smile.”Her lips flattened. “Do you?”He gestured toward her with the drink, the liquid sloshing out the side to drip over his thigh. Leah’s gaze followed the brandy’s path where it darkened on his trousers, then jerked upward again as he spoke. “You’re too bloody happy. It’s very offensive.”

“Sebastian closed his eyes, his chin sinking toward his chest. How long he’d been trapped by those words, afraid to scare her away. How long he’d hoped that after she dealt with Ian’s ghost she would one day turn to him. Her confession of her relationship with Ian while they sat in the tree had been one step, her willingness to let him pleasure her another, and yet still it wasn’t enough. He wanted everything: her trust, her joy, her heart, her vulnerability.”

“The problem with telling yourself you didn't want something, Sebastian discovered, was that soon you desired it even more.”

“Everything you do seduces me. All you need to do is breathe and I would do anything for you.”

“Oh? And what was I to say? I beg your pardon, Lord Wriothesly, but your wife seems to have acquired a distinct liking for my husband's cock. Would you mind kindly retrieving her to your own bed?”

“But that isn't the strangest part," Fallon said. He peered down the corridor, as if to make sure Philip wasn't nearby.Then he turned to Charlotte. "He's started thanking me, Your Grace." His beetled eyebrows pulled low. "When I iron the paper, he thanks me. When I announce a visitor, he thanks me. Why, he even thanked me the other day for opening the door. 'Thank you, Fallon,' he says.”