“Jasper waited until the man was gone before asking, “You ever get tired of folks puckerin’ up to your backside?”Griffin faced him with mock gravity. “Yes. It is deuced tiring, people doing whatever I wish. Makes my life so very disagreeable.”

“Griffin!” Finley cried. She moved to attack the automaton, but Sam stopped her. “Wait. Griff’s got a plan.”“How do you know?” she demanded.Sam and Jasper both looked at her with bemused expressions. “Griff’s always got a plan,” Jasper informed her, as though it was absolute fact.”

“She refused to leave your side all bloody night", Sam remarked, with something that sounded like respect."She's a good friend," Griffin replied.His old friend stared at him in amused disgust. "Griff, I'm your friend and even I wasn't about to sit here and watch you heal."Griffin looked away, annoyed by the sudden heat in his cheeks. "Yes, well, she was a much prettier sight to wake up to than your ugly head.""I'll have you know I've been told my eyes are like a night sky," came the mock-indignant reply.”

“What would I do without you to give me clarity?""I imagine you'd suffocate yourself by shoving your head too far up your own backside.”

“Moments later Griffin had Finley in the carriage, and Jasper sat on the seat across from them.“What’s the matter with her?” he asked Griffin.Griffin shook his head. “Nothing. She’s just two personas struggling for dominance in one body.”The cowboy’s eyebrows shot up, but his expression was sympathetic. “Poor little thing.”

“There were moments in a person's life that they would carry with them until their dying day, and Finely knew the moment Jasper's heart broke would be one of those for her.”

“What I want from you,” he said, and Finley braced herself, “is your trust. Irrevocable and unshakable. I want you to put your life in my hands, and I want to be able to do the same without hesitation.” Disturbed to her very soul, Finley could only shake her head. “You ask too much.” Put his life in her hands? He was deranged! A bedlamite for certain. A crooked grin curved his mouth. “Too much? You strange and wonderful girl, that is the least I’ll ask of you.”