“Twin threads ran through her: fear and excitement.”

“So something had begun, and now she could not stop it. Twin threads ran through her: fear and excitement. She could leave this place today. She could start a new life somewhere else.”

“A tingling mix of excitement and fear ran over her skin, and a deep feeling of familiarity and recognition settled in her gut, as if she had at lastcome home”

“None could see her without pity, unless he had a felon's heart; she was so tightly bound. The tears ran down her face and fell upon her grey gown where ran a little thread of gold, and a thread of gold was twined into her hair.”

“His affection for the human grew steadily by the day. Sometimes by the minute. And it wasn’t simply her beauty, but her utter lack of fear of everything and anything except her brother. She didn’t fear dying. She didn’t fear battle. And, most importantly, she didn’t fear Fearghus. She touched him. Ran her hands across his scales and through his mane.But it was when he covered her up with the fur and she sighed his name in her sleep, that he lost his heart.”

“You’re shaking, baby. Excitement…." A callused fingertip ran down the length of his neck and back up to stroke over his open, panting mouth. "Or fear? Doesn’t really matter to me." Another shudder rippled through James. Cowboy grinned. "I like you trembling against me, because of me, whatever the reason.”