He laughed softly. "My dearest Mistress Ashbrooke, while I will admit to a certain misguided attraction to your more earthly charms, I would not now, or ever, consider them worth relinquishing my freedom. I would not relinquish that for you or, indeed, any other woman."

The candor heightened the flush in her cheeks. "You have an aversion to marriage, sir?"

"Distinct and everlasting, madam. But aside from that, do I honestly strike you as the type of man who would take an unwilling wife to hearth and home?"

"I suppose ... if I thought about it ..."

He laughed again. "If women thought about a tenth of the things they should think about, I warrant the world would be a far less complicated place to live in.

Autore: Marsha Canham