"I could shake it out of you."
"You could, but you won't. You see. Ash, I know you very well."
"You just met me yesterday."
"Yes, I know," she said, "but I've studied you for all of twenty years."
He laughed. "You haven't thought of me, at all. You just…"
"And Ash."
"Yes?"
"I think you're wonderful."
He shot a quick glance at her. She was still in her corner of the seat and the wind had blown one strand of copper hair across her face…and her body was soft and her face was shining. And yet, he thought, and yet…
"That's a nice thing for you to say," he told her. "I could kiss you for it."