“He had been willing to hold on to hope even when it looked like all hope was lost. She owed him no less.”

“She had fooled herself into believing she was living the life she’d always dreamed of living when all she had been doing was hiding from it.”

“I hope you don’t mind the intrusion,” she said. “I thought we’d air out your chambers while you weredownstairs at breakfast.”“We?” he repeated ominously, wondering just how many witnesses there were going to be to hermurder.”

“Abby_Donovan: Heathcliff was a misogynistic asshole.MarkBaynard: Could you explain that to my Lit 101 class? I hate to see all those impressionable young females swoowing over him like he's Edward Cullen.Abby_Donovan: I've always been Team Jacob myself. And Team Mr Rochester.”

“He would not kiss her mouth or allow her to caress him in tenderness. He broke his fierce silence only to whisper what wicked magic he was going to work until it took little more than the husky rasp of his voice in her ear to bring her to the brink of fulfillment. Had there been even a hint of brutality in his attentions, Holly might have brought herself to hate him, but his accomplished hands cherished her flesh as if it were his own private altar. She’d never known such unbridled ecstasy. Or such misery.”

“Their gazes met. His eyes swept her in a velvet caress, uncertainty stamped on his features. The night loomed between them, as dark and impenetrable as his eyes. Rowena had to look away. She forced herself to remember how he had used his body and her need as weapons to weave a punishing net of pleasure.”

“How could Mark be halfway across the world when she would have sworn he'd been in this room with her only seconds ago?”