"Just trying to help," he protested softly.

Then a reasonable person would also be compelled to believe that Phil truly did die for nothing," she protested softly.

"I'm a doctor, not a rodeo cowboy," McCoy protested softly, more to himself than to anyone else, as they mounted and the creatures rose.

"I don't have the money," I protested softly.

"She's a woman like us," a third voice protested softly, her tone unmistakably that of Mary Elizabeth, Bronwyn's favorite.

Miss Wilson," Nina protested softly, "This gets me too excited.

"That was over two hundred years ago," she protested softly.

"This can't be . . ." he started to protest softly.

"We can't do this," she protested softly.

"They just ended a war," she protested softly to no one.