“Traveling all alone,are you?" One of them asked with what could be described only as a leer worthy of any penny dreadful.Blast."Let me pass," I demanded. Where the devil was everyone?"There's a toll,love," he insisted. "Didn't you know?"We were well hidden by the luggage and a shroud of steam,thick as London fog. The third boy looked uncomfortable, as if he wanted to stop his companions but didn't know how. Fat lot of good his squirming would do me."Give us a kiss,then.”

“What got you through?" I whispered. "Do you remember?"He nodded but wouldn't look at me. When he didn't elaborate, I turned to face him. "What? Is it a secret? Don't I know all the Drake secrets by now?"He shifted uncomfortably. "I guess""What then?""You"I swallowed, stunned. "Me?""Yeah" He stood up and went to the door, where he paused for the barest second. "You got me through".”

“Isn't he utterly divine? Beautiful?""Somehow,I think he'd disagree with that last one." And not enough with the first."All right," she waved her dismissively. "Handsome then. Do you think he noticed me?""We were sprawled in a heap of twitching limbs and lace at his feet. He would have had to have been unconscious not to notice us."She wrinkled her nose. "I meant,do you think he noticed I'm nearly on the Marriage Mart now?"I didn't know how to reply. I didn't want to hurt her feelings,but I wasn't sure Frederic noticed anything other than cards and port.He was twenty years old,after all,and quite wealthy. He was acting exactly as he was expected to.Her cheeks were red. "We should return before Mother wonders where we've gone off to.Heaven forbid we might be somewhere enjoying ourselves!”

“Dearest Reece,I know you think it improper, or at the very least imprudent, for us to write to one another, but I don't care.There are too many rules as it is and they would choke me if I let them. Between corsets and lessons and curtsies and etiquette, I am hardly myself, and that is how they want it. They would prefer we all dress and talk and think (or not think) alike, like paper dolls.I do not wish to be a paper doll.Surely you can see that I am stronger than that.I don't give a fig for the scandalbroth or the gossipmongers. Let us remove to Paris, where no one knows us to care and where they dine on scandal with eclairs every morning.You will say again that it is impossible but I refuse to believe it. I know with every touch of your hand on mine, with every stolen kiss, that nothing is impossible.Perhaps love isn't meant to be simple. Perhaps this is merely a test, such as Psyche went through to prove herself to Cupid. Would you have me count lentils, beloved?And as you claim I have the most to lose, I pray you will let me decide for myself what it is I want and need.Which is you.Not silks or lobster soup in crystal bowls or diamonds around my neck.Just you.You say again and again that you love me.Prove it.”

“You were at the party on Friday night, weren't you?" I didn't mentioned I'd followed him into the woods.He leaned back in his chair, his legs sprawled out. His boots nudged the bottom ruffle of my skirt. "Aye."Aye? Seriously? Could he be any hotter?Unless he had been looking for his girlfriend at the party.Not hot."I was supposed to meet my cousin," he elaborated, "but I didn't find her,"Hot again.”

“He kissed me as if we had all the time in the world, as if it weren’t cold outside, as if winter weren’t coming, or the dawn, or any of the dangers that waited for us outside this field. I kissed him back as if he were right, as if there were only the two of us, as if the only worry we had were my curfew.”

“He's not good enough for you.""What?" I stared at him incredulously. "I'd say you have that backwords. He's from a good family. Iam not" His fingers slid away from mine. A swallow darted past us. "So if you'll excuse me, I have to go convince his mother that I'm not a desperate fortune hunter with a liar for a mother an a disgusting talent for drugging old ladies.""No"I frowned. "What do you mean, no?Whats the matter with you?"He just stepped closer to me, right on my shadow, which had been the only thing between us. His eyes were angry and conflicted but his hands were gently on my face, wrapping around the back of my neck. He pilled slightly and i stumbled forward. His mouth closed over mine, the kiss sending warmth shooting all the way from my belly down into my knees. His tongue was bold, sliding over mine as if I were strawberry ice cream. I felt devoured, delicious, decadent. He stopped abruptly, pulling back, his breath ragged."I'm not good enough for you either.”