“Jill would kill me if she thought anyone fancied me," he said with charming anxiety."No, she wouldn't", Natalie reassured him. "We like our men to be fancied. What we do not like is for them to fancy others. That is when you risk wandering into the realm of sudden and violent death.”

“Don't kiss me", he said, looking into Natalie's eyes. There was a second's silence. "Let me kiss you. I'm old-fashioned that way.”

“There, I've said it, and I said it in front of all these strange and quite scary women and that guy, because I'm less frightened of them than I am of being alone with you and you turning me down.”

“If you are late, you are wasting precious moments of another person's life. Moments they can never get back!”

“We will civilize you yet," she retorted."I don't know," Tristan said abruptly. "I rather like him uncivilized." Then he seemed to realize what he'd said, and went crimson.”

“What is it about her? he wondered hopelessly. What did she offer him that he couldn't find elsewhere? Why did he persist in seeking her out, thinking about her, wanting her, when she was exactly wrong for him in nearly every way?”

“But she had long ago learned that when she wandered into the realm of fancy she must go alone. The way to it was by an enchanted path where not even her dearest might follow her.”