Hunt looked like a man who had visited many woman's beds and knew exactly what to do in them.

You’re far too prickly tempered to be a mistress. You’re far better suited as a wife.

The feelings cut too deep for them to be put on display.

The trick was forgetting about what she had lost ...and learning to go on with what she had left.

Why was love so easy for some people and so hard for others?

I think you'll have to marry me, Miss Fielding." "To save your reputation?" Derek grinned, bending to kiss the flash of pale throat revealed by the robe. "Someone has to make a respectable man of me.

As we talked, I had the sense of uncovering something precious and long-buried, fully formed. Our conversation was a process of removing layers, some of them easily dusted away. Other layers, requiring chisels or axes, were left alone for now. We revealed as much as we dared about what had happened during the years that separated us. But it wasn't what I had expected, being with Hardy again. There was something in me that remained stubbornly locked away, as if I were afraid to let out the emotion I had harbored for so long.