““Perhaps he’d recently lost some bulk. But there was plenty of him remaining, and all of it was lean and hard. His body was much like this great hall around them. Suffering from a bit of neglect, but impressively made and strong to the bones. And that voice. Oh, it was dangerous. She didn’t know which upset her more: That this shadowy, handsome stranger had made so free with her person—carrying her in his arms, unlacing her stays, taking down her hair, and stripping her to her thinnest undergarments? Or that she’d somehow slept through the whole thing? She snuck another glance at him, silhouetted by orange firelight. The latter. Definitely the latter. The most exciting quarter hour of her life, and she’d spent it completely insensible.””
