“Lady Madelyne had sealed her own fate. She'd warmed his feet.”

“He'd gone to Louddon's fortress totake Madelyne captive. His plan was revenge; an eye for an eye. And that had been reason enough.Until she'd warmed his feet.Everything had changed at that moment. Duncan had known with a certainty he couldn't deny that theywere henceforth bound together. He could never let her go.”

“She'd stand on her own two feet if she had to crawl.”

“The house, she'd explained to them many times, had spoken to her; she'd listened, and it turned out they'd understood one another very well indeed. Greenacres was an imperious old lady, a little worn, to be sure, cranky in her own way-but who wouldn't be?”

“Will watched her go with regret. His attraction to the dark-haired lady with her execrable embroidery had taken him by surprise. She'd been laughing at his brothers - that was what had done it. Her eyes had sparkled with humor, her smiling lips just begging for a kiss.”

“That was how the heroine of a book would play it and Diana was still writing her own story the best heroines she'd always believed took their fate into their own hands.”