“One couldn't spend one's entire life waiting for life to start.”

“Viola started for the door, but turned in the doorway to look at her one more time. “By the way, Daphne, beauty does not mean a thing, you know.”Daphne watched as her new friend vanished through the doorway, and she smiled a bit ruefully. “Beautiful women always say that,” she murmured to the empty doorway.”

“Marry me and make an honest man of me in my butler’seyes.” He kissed her. “Marry me and save me from having to chase loose women for the rest of my life.”He kissed her again. “Marry me, darling,” he said once more against her lips. “Because I adore you.”

“No one judging her by her appearance would dream that Miss Daphne Wade had a rather salacious habit of staring at her employer's naked chest whenever she had the chance, although most women would have agreed that Anthony Courtland, Duke of Tremore, had a chest worth looking at.”

“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.”

“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.”