“Her eyes narrowed, and her lips parted around a knowing laugh. "Oh. It's you.""Pardon?" He was taken aback. "Do we know each other, lass?" He was quite certain they didn't; he could never haveforgotten this woman. The enticing manner in which her lips were currently pursed would have been seared into hismemory."The answer is no. I don't know you. But every other woman in this room does. Duncan Douglas, isn't it?" she said dryly.Duncan studied her face. Although she was young-perhaps no more than twenty-she had a regal bearing beyond her years. "I do have some reputation with the lasses," he conceded, downplaying his prowess, confident of her impending maidenly swoon.The look she gave him was far from admiring. He did a double take when he realized her gaze was downright disparaging."Not something I care for in a man," she said coolly. "Thank you for your offer, but I'd sooner dance with last week's rushes. They would be less used. Who wants what everyone else has already had?" The words were deliveredin a cool, modulated tone, shaped by an odd accent he couldn't place. Quite finished with him, she presented herback and resumed talking to her companion.Duncan was immobilized by shock.”

“Chloe kept her expression bland. He looked immensely pleased with himself this morning, and there was no wayshe was letting him know she'd had even one nocturnal thought about him. "I can't remember," she said, blinkingguilelessly. "In fact, I slept so deeply I don't think I dreamt atall.""Indeed," he murmured. When he moved forward, she nearly jumped out of her skin, but he simply reached behindher and pulled the door to her bedchamber shut.Then backed her against it."Hey," she snapped."I sought but to give you a good morrow kiss, lass. 'Tis a Scots custom."She craned her neck, scowling up at him, and gave him a look that said Yeah, right, nice try."A wee one. No tongue. I promise," he said, his lips curving faintly."You never give up, do you?""I never will, sweet. Doona you know that by now?"Oooh, that was beginning to take on shades of her dream.And he'd called her "sweet," a little endearment. She damped her mouth shut and shook her head.”

“Although Jillian had known what Grimm was before that moment, she was briefly immobilized by the sight of him. It was one thing to know that the man she loved was a Berserker-it was another thing entirely to behold it. He regarded her with such an inhuman expression that if she hadn't peered deep into his eyes, she might have seen nothing of Grimm at all. But there, deep in the flickering blue flames, she glimpsed such love that it rocked her soul. She smiled up at him through her tears.A wounded sound of disbelief escaped him.Jillian gave him the most dazzling smile she could muster and placed her fist to her heart. "And the daughter wed the lion king," she said clearly.An expression of incredulity crossed the warrior's face. His blue eyes widened and he stared at her in stunned silence."I love you, Gavrael McIllioch."When he smiled, his face blazed with love. He tossed his head back and shouted his joy to the sky.”

“I am so lonely without you, Aedan," Jane said simply."You truly want me?""More than anything. I'm only half without you.""Then you are my woman." His words were finality, a bond he would not permit broken. She had given herself to his keeping. He would never let her go."And you'll never leave me?" she pressed."I'll stay with you for all of ever, lass."Jane's eyes flared, and she looked at him strangely. "And then yet another day?" she asked breathlessly."Oh, aye.”

“Nope,” she managed. “No other questions.”Eleven centuries of captivity. Hung on his hated enemy’s study wall. Eleven centuries of not touching. Not eating. Not loving. Had he had anyone to talkto?Her face must have betrayed her thoughts, for he startled her by saying softly, “ ’Tis no longer ofconsequence, lass, but thank you for the compassion. ’Tis nigh over. Seventeen more days, Jessica. That’s all.”For some reason his words brought a sudden hot burn of tears to the backs of her eyes. Not only hadn’t eleven centuries turned him into a monster, he was trying to soothe her, to make her feel better about his imprisonment.“You weep for me, woman?”She turned away. “It’s been a long day. Hell, it’s been a long week.”“Jessica.” Her name was a soft command.She disobeyed it, staring out the window at the rolling hills.“Jessica, look at me.”Eyes bright with unshed tears, she whipped her head around and glared at him. “I weep for you, okay?” she snapped. “For eleven centuries stuck in there. Can I start driving again or do you need something else?”He smiled faintly, raised his hand, and splayed his palm against the inside of the silvery glass. Without an ounce of conscious thought, her hand rose tomeet his, aligning on the cool silver,palm to palm, finger to finger, thumb to thumb. And though she felt only a cold hardness beneath her palm, the gesture made something go all warm and soft in her heart.Neither of them spoke or moved for a moment.”

“Life was rich and full. She couldn't have asked for more.Well... actually... she amended with a little inner flinch, she could have.Though most of the time she looked at Adam and just felt awed and humbled that this big, wonderful man had given up so much to love her, sometimes she hated that he didn't have a soul, and sometimes she wanted to hate God.And she had a dream, a silly dream perhaps, but a dream to which she clung.They would live to be a hundred, until long after their children and grandchildren were grown, and one day they would go to bed and lie down facing each other, and die like that, at the same moment, in each other's arms.And this was her dream: that maybe, just maybe, if she loved him hard enough and true enough and deep enough, and if she held on to him tightly enough as they died, she could take him with her wherever it was that souls went.And there she would do what was in her blood, what she now knew she'd been born for; she would stand before God, a brehon, and she would argue the greatest, the most important case of her life.And she would win.”

“No new beginnings.Damn it, it shouldn’t bother her!But it did. She tried to turn away, but his hand flashed out and caught her by the chin.“Let me go,” she snapped.“Nay.” His grip was implacable on her jaw.There was little point in fighting for control of her face; he could have hoisted her into the air with that one big hand on her jaw, if he’d wished.He searched her gaze a long silent moment. “You truly doona ken it, do you? Excepting with you, Jessica. You, lass, are the exception to everything,” he said softly.As if he’d not just knocked the breath out of her with those words and left her feeling weak-kneed, he released her chin, turned away, and began pushing the cart again.”