“She knew nothing about him, other than what he revealed of himself through his garden.”

“Housework would never be her crowning achievement, the life's work for which she'd be known.”

“He tried to stand perfectly still and relinquish control, so she could do whatever she wanted with him, and he just about cried.She felt so amazing wrapped around him. Strange and yet familiar. Brilliant. Too vibrant and frightening to explore with anything other than his body.”

“She was pleased her husband still thought her attractive, despite her beached-whale state, but was finding it increasingly awkward to accommodate him. The spirit was willing but the flesh was swollen. Still, she enjoyed the compliment and understood that there was no real demand behind the caresses. The earl knew her well enough to realize she valued his desire almost as much as his love. After a lifetime of feeling ugly and unworthy, Alexia was now tolerably assured that Conall genuinely did want her, even if they could do nothing about it at present. She also understood that he was expressing his conjugal interest partly out of knowledge of her own need for such assurances. A werewolf and a buffoon, her husband, but wonderfully caring once he'd blundered into the way of it.”

“As time passed and he grew to know people better, he began to think of himself as an extraordinary man, one set apart from his fellows. He wanted terribly to make his life a thing of great importance, and as he looked about at his fellow men and saw how like clods they lived it seemed to him that he could not bear to become also such a clod.”

“Later on Lady Maccon was to describe that particular day as the worst of her life. She had neither the soul nor the romanticism to consider childbirth magical or emotionally transporting. So far as she could gather it mostly involved pain indignity and mess. There was nothing engaging or appealing about the process. And as she told her husband firmly she intended never to go through it again.”

“He was fully aroused as he moved against her, and she opened her mouth on a shocked gasp. His tongue slipped inside her mouth and explored slowly, thoroughly. Nothing like she anticipated from the whirlwind of sensations that exploded through her body. He hinted at seduction and passion. Subdued. Contained. Controlled.Perfect.She sighed.”