I agree that _Persuasion_ has some particularly steamy bits, by JA's standards -- I mean in the sense of evoking physicality, or Eros, if you will. The reason is obvious: when the novel begins, we already have this backstory of thwarted youthful passion, which obviously still smolders -- eight years later, mind you -- into burning cheeks at the mere mention of the possibility that "_he_ may be walking here"...