“Lord save us, first you have a heart, now you have a god? Will wonders never cease?”

“You know as well as I do, damn you. Like it or not I seem to have grown a heart. I have absolutely no use for the damned thing, but there it sits, demanding Elinor. I can't live without her.”

“I lied. I do that, you know, when it suits me. I would have thought you'd realized that by now.”

“If we're going to die there's no harm in telling me pretty lies, In the end it won't matter, and I'll die happy.""I have no intention of letting either of us die. And then where would the lies get us?""If you manage to keep us alive then I promise I'll forget. Just tell me you care about me. If we're going to die then how important is the truth?""It's because we might die that the truth is particularly important,And telling you that I care about you is a waste of time. I wouldn't have crossed the ocean, come out of hiding and tracked you down ifyou didn't matter to me.""Then come up with a better lie. Tell me you love me.""You don't need lies, Chloe,I do love you." he said.”

“Stop it," she said."Stop what?"Her eyes flew open, filled with rage and betrayal. "Stop pretending. You madeyour point this morning—you don't have anything more to prove. You don't want me, you can make me do anything you wish, and I'll be pathetically grateful for your attention, while you won't feel a thing…""You idiot," he said, his voice savage. "How blind are you?""Leave me alone."He pulled her legs apart, pushing between them, fully clothed, the rigid length of his cock pressed up against her. Her eyes widened in shock."You can feel that, can't you? It's been like that all day. It's been like that almost since I first touched you. You make me crazy with wanting you, but right now doing what I want could get us both killed.""No," she said. "You're lying. This morning you didn't—"He rocked against her, and she shivered in unwilling response. "This morning Iwas so turned on that I came without touching myself. And five minutes later I was hard again. I need you. I need to be inside you, now, and it's too dangerous." He thrust against her, feeling the tremor of response wash over her, and he knew he couldn't stop, not until he made her come again, over and over...”

“He wasn't marrying her. Even if she'd have him, which she certainly wouldn't, he had no intention of leg-shackling himself to such a difficult woman. She's always be racing off to save some new stray lamb, and if she even caught wind of the Scorpion's criminal associations she'd probaby try to save them, as well. She was a dangerous woman, never content with the status quo, and she would drag who ever was fool enough to marry her along for the ride.”

“Who shot you?"For a moment he looked annoyed. "I fail to see what that's got to do with anything. Reading assures me that anyone who's ever met me would have reason to shoot me, so I mustadmit with all candor that I have no idea. Was it you?""If I'd shot you I wouldn't have missed," she said."Was that wishful thinking or are you in fact a practiced shot?""Desire would have made up for lack of expertise.”