" The lengths to which you’re prepared to go to please a housekeeper make me wonder about the servant situation in Scotland. Good help must be thin on the ground.” Vale widened his eyes and took a drink.

“She’s more to me than a housekeeper,” Alistair growled.

“Wonderful!” Vale slapped him on the back. “And about time, too. I was beginning to worry that all your important bits might’ve atrophied and fallen off from disuse.”

He felt unaccustomed heat climb his throat. “Vale… "

― Elizabeth Hoyt , To Beguile a Beast (Legend of the Four Soldiers, #3)