“Charlotte!" Denbigh roared. "What are you doing in my bedroom, and why didn't you knock?""I brought the doctor," she said with asperity."A young lady does not enter the bedroom of a gentleman to whom she is not married," Denbigh retorted."Then what is Olivia doing in here?" she asked."Olivia is my sister.""So?""You are my ward.""So?"Olivia laughed. "Oh, Lion, you won't win an argument with Charlotte. Believe me, I've tried.”

“I don't trust you to go alone," Charlotte said. "You'll end up getting killed in a duel with Braddock.""If I do, it won't happen before dawn at the least. There are still several hours during which you will have to obey me.""What happens to me if you're killed?" Charlotte asked. "Will I be free to do as I wish then?""Remove that bloodthirsty look from your eye, baggage. If anything happens to me, you will be passed along with the furniture and the paintings to the next Earl of Denbigh, whoever he may be."Charlotte pursed her lips. "I think I would prefer to deal with you. At least we have reached a sort of understanding. So, if you please, I would rather you did not let the duke kill you.""I'll do my best to avoid it," he assured her.”

“I love the adrenaline of my bike. I always have. I try my best to let it chase away the feel of Olivia at my back, but I think nothing short of a week locked up in a bedroom with her can accomplish that. And oh what a week that would be.”

“Olivia was her only beautiful child. Julia, with her dark curls and snub nose, was pretty but her character wasn't, Sylvia --- poor Sylvia, what could you say? And Amelia was somehow ...bland, but Olivia, Olivia was spun from light. It seemed impossible that she was Victor's child, although, unfortunately, there was no doubting the fact. Olivia was the only one she loved, although God knows she tried her best with the others. Everything was from duty, nothing from love. Duty killed you in the end.”

“I don’t know why I feel so compelled to tell Olivia all my dirty little secrets, but I do”

“If you’re really uncomfortable with this, you don’t have to do it.”I hold my breath as I lean back to get her answer, hoping the brave one will win out.And she does.Slowly, Olivia shakes her head and wiggles a little closer to me on the bar. Her eyes are sparkling with determination. And challenge. And it makes me jerk in my jeans.I grin at her. “All right. You asked for it,”