The fist of Miles, Earl of Langley, smashed down, overturning the crystal decanter and causing Olivia to jump at her brother in laws sudden fury. "How dare you sermonize about my character as a husband and father! Confound your damned spinsterish meddling!" Before Olivia could recover, Miles had seized a handful of her curls and forced her to face him. "What you need," her brother in law growled, "is a man, a husband, who'd handle you as a wench should be handled, like this!" In a flash, the world was different. His lips pressed to hers, she seemed to be living through a storm or a tidal wave. In the instant before she gave herself to the surging of her blood, she thought: "Does one, could one, survive?"