“Her heart sank. That's why he found her attractive- because he'd been so long without. He'd probably find a perfumed rock appealing at this point.”

“He'd come back, all open and helpless, and I suppose that's what won her around in the end. But it was so sad, because it was being himself that he found so difficult to cope with.”

“Rider was of the romantic mind that in this world there was only one perfect woman for him. He'd been lucky enough to find her and smart enough to marry her. He'd be damned if he'd give her up! Even if it took an eternity, he'd find her and make her love him again.”

“The next day he woke up feeling like he'd been unshackled from his fat, like he'd been washed clean from his misery, and for a long time he couldn't remember why he felt this way, and then he said her name.”

“He found what he'd hoped to see, the reason why she'd left so quickly. Just outsidee the tent, Lan held her tightly.”

“He'd pushed her. He'd scared her. He'd besieged her. He'd vowed he wouldn't, and he did.”