“Max - "...Do me a favor, if the constable comes knocking, tell him I was here all morning, will you?"Dodsley - "Killed someone again, did we?"Max- "Never before luncheon, Dodsley. It's still early yet.”

“I’ll never leave you. I’ll never mistreat you. I think you know that by now. Try with me. Let us find what wemay find.”“What do you expect to find, Robert?”“How should I know? I’ve never experienced anything like this before in my life.”Tears shone briefly under her graceful long lashes before she blinked them away and glanced at himagain with a reluctant twist of a smile. Sitting up, she wrapped her arms around her bent knees andsighed. “You are asking us both to set ourselves up for great hurt when it comes time for me to leave.”“Leave? Don’t speak of leaving, angel. You must stay forever.”“As your mistress.”“As my love,” he countered insistently.”

“You saved me again," she told him with a starstruck gaze. He cupped her cheek and gave her a tender smile in the dark. "Because you are my princess and I am your knight.”

“There are some people that we know all our lives and yet never really feel we know them at all. But there are other people—” Unable to resist the temptation, he ran a feather-light caress down the curve of her cheek with one leather-sheathed knuckle. The cobalt depths of her eyes flickered with response, but she said nothing, heeding his every word. “—people we meet in a day, and instantly, it feels as though we’ve known them all our lives.”

“You are tired of being alone. You told me.”“You don’t know,” he said in a low, almost hostile voice. He shook his head. “I don’t even know what I’m doing with you. You’re not like anyone else who’s in my life—” He stopped abruptly. “Did you ever drink too much wine, Alice ?” He held up the glass in his hand and waggled it idly, making the ruby contents swirl.“I’m not one to overindulge.”“No, you wouldn’t be. Allow me to explain, then, that the more you drink, the more thirsty you become. Not all the wine in the world can assuage the thirst for water. Water. Wine makes you merry, but a man needs water to keep him alive. Pure, clean, sweet water. I am parched, Alice, scorched like a wasteland, burninglike a damned soul in hell. I thirst.”

“Miranda!” “What?” She batted him with her pillow. “Hoyden! Are you drunk?” “I don’t think so. I’m not sure. They never gave us wine at Yardley. I feel happy.” “Happy?” He grabbed a corner of the pillow as she whacked him again with it. “Stop it!” “You’re too serious, Winterley!” She reached for another pillow. “I will beat you until you smile!” He ducked out of his chair with a rakish grin as she swung at him, then tackled her flat on the soft bed, both of them laughing. “You are . . . impossible,” he chided with a gentle sigh as he braced his elbows on either side of her head. He traced her cheekbones with the pads of his thumbs. “Difficult, but not impossible.” She wrapped her arms around him, relishing the weight of him atop her, the smoothness of his bare chest against her bodice. “It all depends on who’s trying.” “That sounded distinctly like an invitation,” he murmured.”

“You could be a gambler. A thief, for all I know. Besides—” He captured her hand and stoppedher from walking on, holding her in place.“Besides what, you insufferable prude?”“Prude, eh? Do you need another kiss to remind you what a prude I am?”“Don’t you dare.”“Then don’t call me names.”“You started it.”