Happy Valentine’s Day! Cynicism about this holiday has become common, and many see February 14 as just another excuse to empty the pockets of consumers, who will spend more than $16 billion on cards, flowers, chocolates, and other gifts. I’m still enough of a romantic to find the day a charming tradition. Ever since I read a particular romance novel a few weeks ago, I’ve been thinking about osculation in fiction. What better day to consider kisses than a holiday that celebrates love and lovers?

A kiss, of course, can mean many things from simple affection to bitter betrayal, but it is the romantic/erotic kiss that most fascinates. The ancients believed that in mouth-to-mouth kisses, lovers exchanged the breath of life and mingled souls. The Roman poet Catullus (84BC?- 54BC) inspired poets such as Robert Herrick, William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and Lord Byron with his explicit demand: “Kiss me now a thousand times and still a hundred more and then a hundred and a thousand more again till with so many hundred thousand kisses you and I lose count.” Herrick’s “To Anthea (III)” utilizes Catullus’s math and adds a challenge:

[Ooh, and who doesn’t love a good challenge?...]

In romance, the dominating and powerful Alpha Male Hero is as beloved to readers as the misogynist and abusive Cave Man Hero is despised. The Alpha Male is overprotective, take-charge, and possessive. The Cave Man hero is, well, also overprotective, take-charge, and possessive.

There’s a surprisingly thin line between the Alpha Male and the Cave Man, since they possess, at heart, the same general qualities. So what makes the possessiveness of an Alpha Male endearing and romantic, but the possessiveness of a Cave Man intimidating and controlling? Why do readers love the Alpha Male who throws the heroine over his shoulder while carrying her from a burning building, but will throw a book at the wall when the Cave Man does the same thing? Where does the line start? What is the ultimate difference between them?

[Tell me!...]

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Loretta Chase’s Lord of Scoundrels is on everybody’s list of favorite Historical Romances. In an All About Romance interview, Ms. Chase professed surprise at its long-term popularity. “I asked my husband why it’s so popular, and he said, ’The glove scene.’ ”

[Mr. Chase is a smart man . . . ]

Neanderthals. Forehead-sloping, knuckle-dragging, grunt-expelling Neanderthals. We were taught in school that they died out 25,000 years ago (Women know that Neanderthals are still with us today, but that is a blog for another time).

Let's talk instead about Historical Romance Neanderthals. Their brows may be elegant rather than protruding, their hands holding a quizzing glass rather than scraping the ground, they may be able to form multi-syllabic words, but we are not fooled. Underneath the pristine evening clothes lies the soul of a caveman. They are inherently self-centered, they speak before thinking, and their manners are atrocious, if they have any at all. They just don't care what others think of them.

And yet . . . some of my favorite books have Neanderthal heroes. These Neanderthals are favorites because they do something early on in the romance that just charms the socks off of me. Something that makes me go, “awww… isn't that cute?” Though in real life I would run far, far away from these men, in a romance that small sign of vulnerability keeps me hanging around to see how our heroine will make him fit for civilized company.

[Talk about a challenge!...]