Lisa Kleypas

He wasn't mine anywhere except in my heart.

Ah, Evie,_ she heard him say softly, __ must have a heart, after all_because right now it aches like the devil.___nly your heart?_ she asked ingenuously, making him laugh.He lowered her to the bed, his eyes sparkling wickedly. __lso a few other things,_ he conceded. __nd as my wife, it__ your duty to ease all my aches.

I had hooked up my iPod to the speakers. The air was filled with the raw, sexy purr of Etta James. "The thing that's great about the blues," I told Luke, pausing to sip from my glass of wine, "is that it's about feeling, loving, wanting without the brakes on. No one's brave enough to live that way. Except maybe musicians.

Any man,_ she muttered, __ho wanted to marry into the Hathaway family after this should be shut away in an institution._ __arriage is an institution,_ he said reasonably, retrieving her gown from the floor.

Be that as it may, I think someday you'll meet a man worth giving up your independence for.

In this regard, Daisy reflected, her marriage to Matthew would not be unlike Lillian's with Westcliff. As two strong-willed people with very different sensibilities, Lillian and Westcliff often argued and negotiated... and yet this didn't seem to weaken their marriage. Quite the opposite, in fact- their union seemed all the better for it.She considered her friends' marriages... Annabelle and Mr. Hunt as a harmony of similar dispositions... Evie and Lord St. Vincent with their opposite natures, as necessary to each other's existence as day and night. It was impossible to say that any of these pairings was superior to the others.Perhaps, in spite of all she had heard about the ideal of a perfect marriage, there was no such thing. Perhaps every marriage was a unique creation.

I__e won his heart, but it__ like owning a house in which most of the doors are permanently locked. He wants to shield me from all unpleasantness. And it__ not really marriage__ot like the marriage you have with Cam__ntil he__ willing to share the worst of himself as well as the best of himself.

I'm not the marrying kind -"St. Vincent snorted. "No man is. Marriage is a female invention.

Her chances of a decent marriage were about to be dashed-and all because of a ferret.

What kind of wedding would you like?" he asked, and stole another kiss before she could reply."The kind that turns you into my husband." She touched the firm line of his mouth with her fingers. "What kind would you like?"He smiled ruefully. "A fast one.

Annabelle, what happened to you?_ Lillian asked the next morning. __ou look dreadful. Why aren__ you wearing your riding habit? I thought you were going to try out the jumping course this morning. And why did you disappearso suddenly last night? It__ not like you to simply vanish without saying____ didn__ have a choice in the matter,_ Annabelle said testily, folding her fingers around the delicate bowl of a porcelain teacup. Looking pale and exhausted, her blue eyes ringed with dark shadows, she swallowed a mouthful of heavily sweetened tea before continuing. __t was that blasted perfume of yours__s soon as he caught one whiff of it, he went berserk.__hocked, Lillian tried to take in the information, her stomach plummeting. __t_ it had an effect on Westcliff, then?_ she managed to ask.__ood Lord, not Lord Westcliff._ Annabelle rubbed her weary eyes. __e couldn__ have cared less what I smelled like. It was my husband who went completely mad. After he caught the scent of that stuff, he dragged me up to our room and_well, suffice it to say, Mr. Hunt kept me awake all night. All night ,_ she repeated in sullen emphasis, and drank deeply of the tea.__oing what?_ Daisy asked blankly.Lillian, who was feeling a rush of relief that Lord Westcliff had not been attracted to Annabelle while shewas wearing the perfume, gave her younger sister a derisive glance. __hat do you think they were doing? Playing a few hands of Find-the-Lady?

The chef turned back to the housekeeper. __hy is there doubt about the relations between Monsieur and Madame Rutledge?__he sheets,_ she said succinctly.Jake nearly choked on his pastry. __ou have the housemaids spying on them?_ he asked around a mouthful of custard and cream.Not at all,_ the housekeeper said defensively. __t__ only that we have vigilant maids who tell me everything. And even if they didn__, one hardly needs great powers of observation to see that they do not behave like a married couple.__he chef looked deeply concerned. __ou think there__ a problem with his carrot?__atercress, carrot__s everything food to you?_ Jake demanded.The chef shrugged. __ui.__ell,_ Jake said testily, __here is a string of Rutledge__ past mistresses who would undoubtedly testify there is nothing wrong with his carrot.__lors, he is a virile man . . . she is a beautiful woman . . . why are they not making salad together?

After a universal silence, Leo was the first to speak. __id anyone else notice____es,_ Catherine said. __hat do you make of it?___ haven__ decided yet._ Leo frowned and took a sip of port. __e__ not someone I would pair Bea with.___hom would you pair her with?___anged if I know,_ Leo said. __omeone with similar interests. The local veterinarian, perhaps?___e__ eighty-three years old and deaf,_ Catherine said.__hey would never argue,_ Leo pointed out.

Christopher heard a pair of women gossiping nearby, whispering in disapproving undertones. "... Ramsey was found flirting in a corner with a woman. They had to drag him away from her." "Who was it?" "His own wife." "Oh, dear.

Of all the Hathaway sisters,_ Cam said equably, __eatrix is the one most suited to choose her own husband. I trust her judgment.__eatrix gave him a brilliant smile. __hank you, Cam.___hat are you thinking?_ Leo demanded of his brother-in-law. __ou can__ trust Beatrix__ judgment.___hy not?___he__ too young,_ Leo said.____ twenty-three,_ Beatrix protested. __n dog years I__ be dead.

And then another letter had come from Christopher, so devastating that Amelia wondered how mere scratches of ink on paper could rip someone's soul to shreds. She had wondered how she could feel so much pain and still survive.

Nature had squandered an unreasonable quantity of male beauty on this undeserving creature.

Poppy took a deep, appreciative breath. __ow bracing,_ she said. __ wonder what makes the country air smell so different?_ __t could be the pig farm we just passed,_ Leo muttered. Beatrix, who had been reading from a pamphlet describing the south of England, said cheerfully, __ampshire is known for its exceptional pigs. They__e fed on acorns and beechnut mast from the forest, and it makes the bacon quite lovely. And there__ an annual sausage competition!_ He gave her a sour look. __plendid. I certainly hope we haven__ missed it._ Win, who had been reading from a thick tome about Hampshire and its environs, volunteered, __he history of Ramsay House is impressive._ __ur house is in a history book?_ Beatrix asked in delight. __t__ only a small paragraph,_ Win said from behind the book, __ut yes, Ramsay House is mentioned. Of course, it__ nothing compared to our neighbor, the Earl of Westcliff, whose estate features one of the finest country homes in England. It dwarfs ours by comparison. And the earl__ family has been in residence for nearly five hundred years._ __e must be awfully old, then,_ Poppy commented, straight-faced. Beatrix snickered. __o on, Win._ ___amsay House,__ Win read aloud, ___tands in a small park populated with stately oaks and beeches, coverts of bracken, and surrounds of deer-cropped turf. Originally an Elizabethan manor house completed in 1594, the building boasts of many long galleries representative of the period. Alterations and additions to the house have resulted in the grafting of a Jacobean ballroom and a Georgian wing.__ __e have a ballroom!_ Poppy exclaimed. __e have deer!_ Beatrix said gleefully. Leo settled deeper into his corner. __od, I hope we have a privy.