“But best of all ... was the satisfaction of having once again saved the bacon.”

“Don't you ever save me again. Do you hear me, you hotheaded little incendiary? Don't help me, rescue me, offer me succor, or do me a favor. Do you understand, you nihilistic dynamitard! Don't you dare ever save me again!”

“Never again could he see a dogwood blossom or eat a fish without thinking of her.”

“Had he forgotten all that had transpired between them in that other hidey-hole?”

“Just thinking about January being in that shack all alone made him swell up fit to bust his britches.”

“I have plans for my life and they don't include taking time out to break my back busting virgin sod with a flimsy plow.”

“Coyness wasn't the only thing Ardetta had been aggressive about and he'd had to summon up all his southern chivalry to turn her down gently. When he'd relented and obliged her with a kiss, she'd been on him like ugly on an ape. He'd narrowly escaped her clutches with his honor intact.”