“Oh, go to hell." But there wasn't any heat in the response."You're not supposed to smile when you say that.”

“It might be fun.""Love's supposed to be." Laura smiled. "When it's not hell.”

“What the hell are you tryng to do?"She gave him an innocent stare. "Why, have a conversation. I suppose you're out of practice."He glared,narrow-eyed, then turned away. "I'm going for a walk," he muttered."Lovely." Gennie slipped her arm through his. "I'll go with you.""I didn't ask you," Grant said flatly, stopping again."Oh." Gennie batted her eyes. "You're trying to charm me by being rude again. It's so difficult to resist.”

“Why do I find it irresistible when you tell me to go to hell so politely?”

“I'll be sure to pass your comments along to the manager-after I fire him for letting you in.""Don't be cranky,Josh." She slanted her most persuasive smile his way, only slightly annoyed when she saw it didn't make a dent. "I'm sorry I woke you up.I wasn't thinking about the time.""Not thinking is one of your most highly honed skills.""I'm not going to fight with you, and I'm not going to apologize for not sleeping with you just because your ego's bruised."His smile was thin and sharp as a scalpel. "Duchess, if I'd gotten your clothes off,you not only wouldn't have to apologize,you'd be thanking me.""Oh,I see I'm mistaken.Your ego's not bruised, it's just painfully swollen.”

“Oh,and the hunk wasn't hard on the eyes, either." Grinning, she gave an obvious and deliberate shudder. "The real physical type.I thought he was going to punch that idiot Tarmack right in the face. Was kinda hoping he would. Anyway,the pair of you made a great team.""I suppose.""So,what about those smoldering looks?""What smoldering looks?""Get out." Mo cheerfully wiggled her eyebrows. "I got singed and I was only an innocent bystander. The guy looks at you like you were the last candy bar on the shelf and he'd die without a chocolate fix.""That's a ridiculous analogy, and you're imagining things.""He was going to pound Tarmack into dust for dissing you.Man, I just wanted to melt when he hauled the guy up by the collar.Too romantic.”

“I can't say I cared much for you when I first came back. There's that crappy attitude of yours, and you're ugly, but you kind of grow on a guy."Immensely cheered, Seth snickered. "You're uglier.""I'm bigger, I'm entitled. So I guess I'll hang around to see if you get any prettier as time goes on.""I didn't really want you to go," Seth said under his breath after a long moment. It was the closest he could get to speaking his heart."I know.”