The Touch

He owe his wife a debt he couldn't hope to pay with any coin save one: open the cage and let the bird fly.

He hadn't wooed her, but had simply claimed her. A gold mine ready to dig. There should have been a period of quiet dinners together, of flowers rather than diamonds, of kisses given after permission to kiss, of a slow awakening that predisposed her to greater intimacies. But no, not the great Alexander Kinross! He had met her, he had married her the next day, and climbed into her bed after one kiss in the church. There to prove himself an animal in her eyes. One mistake after another, that was the story of his relationship with Elizabeth. And Ruby had always meant more.

went to the cross eight months before His

We are not here together just to make children, Elizabeth. What we're going to do is sanctified by marriage. It's an act of love - of love. Not merely of the flesh, but of the mind and even the soul. There's nothing about it you shouldn't welcome.

Do you realize that you've been married to me for just about half of your entire life?" Her head came down, her eyes opened wide to stare at him. "Is that all?" she asked. "It seems an eternity". "Did I say a quiet lion?" Alexander pulled a face. "An eternity with me has turned you into a bitch, my dear".

He was, he admitted, a man who liked to have his cake and eat it too.

father could hope for in a son.To have