“Well,what if you can't get to your reticule in time?" she wondered aloud. "What would you do then, stand there and scream?""Well,there is that." Miriam smiled in amusement. "But if only works if there's a man nearby, willing to risk his skin to save yours." She shook her head. "Most unreliable. On the other hand, I've found a hat pin or even a brooch to be quite handy. You'll notice I always wear one. Stab a varmint's hand or arm with it and see if he doesn't do a jumping jig in the opposite direction posthaste.”

“You can't get there by bus, only by hard work, risking, and by not quite knowing what you're doing. What you'll discover will be wonderful: Yourself!”

“He put his arms around her. “Well, in my defense, then, whatever I did seemed to work, didn't it?”She sighed. “I suppose.”“You suppose?”“What do you want? A medal?”“For starters. A trophy would be nice, too.”She smiled. “What do you think you're holding right now?”

“You must be sure of two things: you must love your work, and not be always looking over the edge of it, wanting your play to begin. And the other is, you must not be ashamed of your work, and think it would be more honorable to you to be doing something else. You must have a pride in your own work and in learning to do it well, and not be always saying, There's this and there's that—if I had this or that to do, I might make something of it. No matter what a man is—I wouldn't give twopence for him"— here Caleb's mouth looked bitter, and he snapped his fingers— "whether he was the prime minister or the rick-thatcher, if he didn't do well what he undertook to do.”

“Would you like me to court you?” the earl finally asked.YES. She smoothed her hands over her skirts to keep from confessing it aloud. “I would like to know if you are,” she replied. “Or what your intentions are, if you aren’t.”“My intentions . . .” His slow smile acted like a torch held to her skin. She felt prickly with heat and yet transfixed by the glowing allure of it. “I intend to have you, Maggie, in every way a man can have a woman. I want your hand in mine while we dance. I want you laughing beside me in the theater. I want you lying naked in my arms at night. And I want you standing beside me in church, saying ‘I will.’ ”

“I must confess I will miss your... proximity when jumping together.''Well,' she said, answering his smile with one of her own.'There's always sickle training in the ballroom.''That there is.”