“I was thinking of setting myself on fire tonight. Would you mind? (Callie)What? (Sin)Ha! I knew it. I knew I could get you to talk. Just think, a whole word, too. Who knows if I keep this up, I might have you speaking an entire sentence by week’s end. (Callie)”

“Thinking of jumping? (Callie)It would make you a rich widow if I did. Care to push me? (Sin)”

“And why are you sitting there? (Callie)Because it’s rather difficult to stand while sleeping. (Sin)You are sleeping outside my door? Why? (Callie)Because if I slept outside of Simon’s door, the innkeeper might think I’m strange. (Sin)”

“I was angry with you. (Callie)For what? (Sin)Sleeping on the floor again. What is it with you and the floor? Most women have to fear their husbands are in the bed of another. Me, ’tis the hearth I envy. (Callie)”

“I love you, Callie ingen Neil, Lairdess of the MacNeelys and wife of a man who is so unworthy of you that he swears he will spend the rest of his life trying to show you just how much you mean to him. (Sin)There’s no need to try, Sin. All I have to do is look into your eyes and I know. (Callie)”

“What did they do to you, to make you withdraw so far into yourself? (Sin doesn’t answer.) You’ve left me again, haven’t you? I can always tell. Your eyes turn dull, cold. Very well, I shall leave you in peace. But know this: One day I am going to find the heart you have buried away from the world. (Callie)And what would you do with it if you found it? (Sin)I would hold it safe and keep it from the hurt that has shriveled it. (Callie)”