" You weren't always so...appreciative. When I said that men enjoyed my company, you said you found that hard to believe."

What?" he retorted with a scowl. "I never said any such thing."

"Yes, you did, the day that I asked you to investigate my suitors. I remember it clearly."

"Theres no way in hell I ever..." The conversation came back to him suddenly, and he shook his head. "You're remembering only part, sweeting. You said that men enjoyed your company and considered you easy to talk to. It was the last part I found hard to believe."

"Oh." She eyed him askance. "Why? You never seem to have trouble talking to me. Or rather, lecturing me."

"It's either lecture you or stop up your mouth with kisses," he said dryly. "Talking to you isn't easy, because every time I'm near you I burn to carry you off to some secluded spot and do any number of wicked things to you."

She blinked, then gazed at him with such softness that it made his chest hurt. "Then why don't you?"

-Celia and Jackson "

― Sabrina Jeffries , A Lady Never Surrenders (Hellions of Halstead Hall, #5)