“I may not survive," Roderick said, resting his hand on the small of her back,"if I wait any longer to kiss you.”

“Had her ordeal addled her mind? She was on a horse with a wild Highlander going God knew where with men even he did not trust and yet she found it thrilling!”

“No one lacked imagination like the English. Yet he could not dismiss the notion that this lass dressed in breeches could be the seer his grandmother foretold. Finding an English lass lying on a Scottish hillside so many miles from the border was strange enough to have a touch of magic about it.”

“I see this is not the first time you've gotten yourself injured," she said, sounding irritated. "I suppose battle scars are a badge of honor for you Highlanders."He shrugged. "Every scar provides a tale to share around the hearth.""You should be more careful," she scolded."I am careful," he said with a laugh. "That's why I live to tell the tales.”

“I may not survive," Roderick said, resting his hand on the small of her back,"if I wait any longer to kiss you.”

“I knew how you liked long tales," he said, giving her a wink. "There's sure to be plenty of those.""In Gaelic," she said."All the better for learning it.”

“Good God, the lad is a lass!”

“She told me that love has a magic all its own.”

“I was a possession he had a right to use, a woman with no feelings that mattered.” Wedderburn still did not speak. “I don’t want to feel like that again,” she said in a whisper. Wedderburn’s eyes were dark with a violent emotion, but his hands were gentle as he held her face. “You’ll never be just any woman to me,” he said. “I want to know you, Alison Douglas.”

“Loyalty is everything to him,” Robbie said. “He expected ye to trust him, to believe in him, without requiring an explanation.” She had failed David, and he could not forgive her.”

“I should never have expected loyalty from a Douglas,” he spat out. He turned his back on her and went to the window.”