"You're serious about this marriage business?" Charles asked as he, Jonathan and Ashton lifted yet another charred beam away from the foundations where the Higgins farmhouse had once been. They set the beam in the back of a large cart. Several other men from the village and surrounding lands were busy assisting in the clearing away of the destroyed houses.

"Yes, I am." Ashton paused to wipe his sleeve across his brow. It was too damned hot for this sort of work. If anything, ...