“If you’re not gratified, you should be,” he told her as he tucked the letter back in the breast pocket of his jacket. “All the other members of my staff were running around like panicked rabbits without you.”“But not you, I am sure.”“I was too astonished to panic.”

“Harry - “No plovers no pigeons no snipe. No oysters mussels clams or whole lobsters. No artichokes no savories no cheese.” He paused for breath then went on “Nothing too rich nothing too highly seasoned. And never more than one glass of wine. Did I miss any no-noes ” Emma - She sighed. “When it comes to my work I do wish you would be serious.”Harry - “I am serious ” he assured her. “After reading this I understand why women have such tiny waists and go about fainting all the time. I thought it was corsets but no. You’re all hungry .”

“She gave him a dubious look, as if he wasn’t quite right in the head. "Sometimes, Englishman, I do not understand you. I love you, but I do not always understand you."She turned and started across the meadow. He remained where he was and watched her walk away, with her skirts in her hand and the sun on her hair."I love you, too," he said, but only after she was too far away to hear. "I always have.”

“This was why I did what I did," she whispered. "I looked at those men at the ball, and I thought of that night in the carriage when you touched me, and I knew I could never let any of them touch me." She tilted her head back and closed her eyes, pressing his hands to her breasts. "Only you.”

“If Flynn’s as you say, the boy—Simon, you called him?—Simon should be all too happy to come away with us. I’ve no ill will toward him.”“You might remember Simon’s the one who gave you a great clout on the head,” she said.David waved it away. “And why shouldn’t he? He likely thought I was about to maul your unconscious person.”

“Ian!" she cried, afraid to believe it. "I don’t want you to ever regret that you married me."He smiled, and his fingertips caressed her cheeks. "Regret it? How could I?" You are my passionate Italian wife. You are the woman who is going to give me children and whose bed I intend to sleep in every night. You’re the reason I’ll wake up every morning with a smile on my face. I love you, I will be in love with you every day of my life, and the only day I’m leaving you is the day they put me in the ground.”

“You’re killing me," he told her, panting, his palms sliding down over her ribs to explore the rest of her shape—her waist, her hips, her thighs. "Killing me by inches." He lifted his body from hers enough to yank up her skirt. "But it’s a damn fine way for a man to die.”