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

“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.”

“January worked harder than a stump-tailed cow during fly time...”

“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.”

“In sober moments, it shamed him to think and act like he did. But he wasn't sober now.”

“When she squeezed his arm and told him she had two pies in her buggy, he thought he'd died and gone to heaven.”

“Abruptly, he wheeled Shadow into a full turn, stopped, and yanked his rifle out of the sheath on his saddle.”