“I don’t think it’s as bad as all that.” Bill pressed against the duke’s chest and Greystone sucked in air through his clenched teeth. “Did that hurt, Your Grace?”The duke glared at him.“Yes, I suppose it did. Silly of me to ask.”

“I want to see you again,” Greystone said quietly.“I’m not certain that’s wise. We are of different worlds, Your Grace. Inyours, I am but one night and in mine you are destined to be merely amemory.”

“Dodger knelt beside Sterling. “Greystone, you have to understand we come from the streets. When Frannie was a young girl, we weren’t able to stop someone from hurting her very badly. The four of us swore an oath that we’d die before we let anyone harm her again. It’s a vow we will keep.”Sterling lay where he was long after Dodger left. He had been correct about one thing: they did love her.”

“I was proud of you today, handling William Long the way you did." Her fingers stilled. "What did you think of him the first time you met him?" she asked quietly. "That he was the kind of man you should have married." "And now you don't think that anymore?" "Now, it doesn't matter. You're married to me." "I was the night you met him." Jake's eyes met and held hers in the moonlight. "No, you weren't. Not really." His arm tightened around her. "But you are now.”

“It hurts to cry," she said, her voice raspy."It hurts worse not to.""Did you cry?""For four days straight.""Is that how long it took you to bury them?""Yes, ma'am," he said in a voice that sounded like stone grating against stone.”

“She laid her palm against his bristled cheek. “You’re safe,” she whispered.“What the hell did you think you were doing?” he growled, his heart pounding wildly in his chest.“I was going to save you.”He threaded his fingers through her tangled hair. She’d lost her bonnet. She was damn lucky she hadn’t lost her life. “You little fool,” he rasped in a voice rift with emotion. “You brave little fool.”

“Meg forgot about cautioning him to be quiet. She forgot about everything but watching the care with which he wrapped a blanket around Mama Warner before gingerly lifting her into his arms and cradling her against his chest."Comfortable?" he asked."You know how to hold a woman so she feels precious. Makes me wish I was sixty years younger.”