“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.”

“You're taller than I am, but I'm stronger, and meaner right this minute than you could ever imagine" - Lady Madelyne.”

“I am not a poor child, Lady Eleanor," Madelyne announced, letting her anger sound in her voice."Duncan won't marry you. He won't sign the contracts. He'd have to give up his greatest treasure in order to marry you.""And what be that treasure?" Lady Eleanor inquired, her voice mild."Why, I'm Duncan's greatest treasure. He'd be a fool to give me up," she added. "And even you must know that Duncan is anything but a fool.”

“I do know, however, that they took more than one man to their beds.”Adela gasped and Madelyne nodded, thoroughly satisfied by her friend’s reaction. “More than one at a time?” Adela asked. She whispered the question and then blushed with embarrassment. Madelyne nibbled on her lip while she considered if that was possible.“I don’t think so,” she finally announced. Her back was to the door, and Adela’s full attention was centered on her friend. Neither noticed Duncan now stood in the open doorway.”

“Johanna sat by the fire every night and worked on her tapestry. Dumfries waited until she was settled in her chair and then draped himself across her feet. It became a ritual for Alex to squeeze himself up next to her and fall asleep during her stories about fierce warriors and fair maidens. Johanna's tales all had a unique twist, for none of the heroines she told stories about ever needed to be rescued by their knights in shining armor. More often than not, the fair maidens rescued their knights.Gabriel couldn't take issue with his wife. She was telling Alex the truth. It was a fact that maidens could rescue mighty, arrogant warriors. Johanna had certainly rescued him from a bleak, cold existence. She'd given him a family and a home. She was his love, his joy, his companion.She was his saving grace.”

“Madelyne, we're married now. 'Tis a usual occurrence to bed one's wife on the wedding night.”