Lisa Kleypas

“What if you could meet your soul mate?" the ghost asked. "You 'd want to avoid that?""Hell, yes. The idea that there's one soul out there, waiting to merge with mine like some data-sharing program, depresses the hell out of me.""It's not like that. It's not about losing yourself.""Then what is it?" Alex was only half listening, still occupied with the viselike tightness of his chest."It's like your whole life you 've been falling toward the earth, until the moment someone catches you. And you realise that somehow you 've caught her at the same time. And together, instead of falling, you might be able to fly.”

“I hate you for all the years I 'll have to live without you. How can a heart hurt this much and still go on beating? How can I feel this bad without dying from it?I 've bruised my knees with praying to have you back. None of my prayers have been answered. I tried to send them up to heaven but they 're trapped here on earth, like bobwhites beneath the snow. I try to sleep and it's like I 'm suffocating.Where have you gone?Once you said that if I wasn't with you, it wouldn't be heaven.I can't let go of you. Come back and haunt me. Come back.”

“Zoe gave him a look that was difficult to interpret. Eventually she asked, "What makes you sure I couldn't handle you?"She didn't know what she was asking for, from a man who couldn't remember what it was like to be innocent. Lightly gripping her hair, Alex forced her face close to his. The blond curls danced around his fingers and tickled the backs of his hands. " I 'm a bastard in bed, Zoe," he said quietly. " I 'm selfish and mean as the devil. I have to have all the control. And I 'm...not nice”

“Upon seeing Evie, her friends rushed toward her with unladylike squeals, and Evie let out her own laughing shriek as they collided in a circle of tightly hugging arms and exuberant kisses. In their shared excitement, the three young women continued to exclaim and scream, until someone burst into the room.It was Cam, his eyes wide, his breathing fast, as if he had come at a dead run. His alert gaze flashed across the room, taking in the situation. Slowly his lean frame relaxed. "Damn," he muttered. "I thought something was wrong.""Everything is fine, Cam," Evie said with a smile, while Annabelle kept an arm around her shoulders. "My friends are here, that's all."Glancing at Sebastian, Cam remarked sourly, "I've heard less noise form the hogs at slaughter time."There was a sudden suspicious tension around Sebastian's jaw, as if he were fighting to suppress a grin. "Mrs. Hunt, Miss Bowman, this is Mr. Rohan. You must pardon his lack of tact, as he is...""A ruffian?" Daisy suggested innocently.This time Sebastian could not prevent a smile. "I was going to say 'unused to the presence of ladies at the club.'""Is that what the are?" Cam asked, casting a dubious glance at the visitors, his attention lingering for a moment on Daisy's small face.Pointedly ignoring Cam, Daisy spoke to Annabelle. "I've always heard that Gypsies are known for their charm. An unfounded myth, it seems."Cam's golden eyes narrowed into tigerish slits.”

“I can't see why you should want to dance with me now, when you never have before." The statement was more revealing than she had intended it to be. She cursed her own wayward tongue, while his speculative gaze wandered over her face."I wanted to," he surprised her by murmuring. "However, there always seemed to be good reasons not to.""Why--""Besides," Westcliff interrupted, reaching out to take her gloved hand, "there was hardly a point in asking when your refusal was a forgone conclusion." Deftly he pressed her hand to his arm and led her toward the mass of couples in the center of the room."It was not a forgone conclusion."Westcliff glanced at her skeptically. "You're saying that you would have accepted me?""I might have.""I doubt it.""I did just now, didn't I?""You had to. It was a debt of honor."She couldn't help but laugh. "For what, my lord?""The calf's head," he reminded her succinctly."Well, if you hadn't served such a nasty object in the first place, I wouldn't have needed to be rescued!""You wouldn't have need to be rescued if you didn't have such a weak stomach.""You're not supposed to mention body parts in front of a lady," she said virtuously. "Your mother said so."Westcliff grinned. "I stand corrected.”

“Love will break your heart,[...] but love can also mend it. Not many things in life are both the cause and the cure.”

“If it weren’t for public transportation,” Sam said, “my brother wouldn’t be getting married today. He and Maggie fell in love along the ferry routefrom Bellingham to Anacortes … which brings to mind the old saying that life is a journey. Some people have a natural sense of direction. You couldput them in the middle of a foreign country and they could find their way around. My brother is not one of those people.” Sam paused as some of theguests started laughing, and his older brother gave him a mock-warning glance. “So when Mark by some miracle manages to end up where he wassupposed to be, it’s a nice surprise for everyone, including Mark.” More laughter from the crowd. “Somehow, even with all the roadblocks anddetours and one-way streets, Mark managed to find his way to Maggie.” Sam raised his glass. “To Mark and Maggie’s journey together. And toHolly, who is loved more than any girl in the whole wide world.”

“Westcliff thinks that St. Vincent is in love with you.”Evie choked a little and didn’t dare look up from her tea. “Wh-why does he think that?”“He’s known St. Vincent from childhood, and can read him fairly well. And Westcliff sees an odd sort of logic in why you would finally be the one to win St. Vincent’s heart. He says a girl like you would appeal to…hmm, how did he put it?…I can’t remember the exact words, but it was something like… you would appeal to St. Vincent’s deepest, most secret fantasy.” Evie felt her cheeks flushing while a skirmish of pain and hope took place in the tired confines of her chest. She tried to respond sardonically. “I should think his fantasy is to consort with as many women as possible.”A grin crossed Lillian’s lips. “Dear, that is not St. Vincent’s fantasy, it’s his reality. And you’re probably the first sweet, decent girl he’s ever had anything to do with.”

“Who should I send for now?”Using the last of his strength, Sebastian managed to drag her hand up to his mouth. “You,” he whispered, holding her fingers to his lips. “Just you.”

“The problem with chasing after happiness was that it wasn't a destination you could reach. It was something that happened along the way.”

“A butterfly symbolized acceptance of each new phase in life. To keep faith as everything around you changed.”

“What did you do with memories, feelings, needs, that didn’t belong anywhere?”

“Given the choice between eating this cupcake or watching Ryan Gosling and Jon Hamm wrestle each other for the privilege of having sex with me, I’d choose the cupcake.”

“Here's your hat, and by the way, I'm a virgin”

“...one can't avoid the storms and calamities of life, but one can at least find the right partner to face them with.”

“¿Ov yilo isi? —Le preguntó suavemente.—Sí —dijo Kev, contestando en inglés—. Hay corazón aquí.Y Win sonrió mientras él se sentaba para besarla.”

“Es mucho más fácil ser malo —dijo el—. Especialmente si uno no tiene ninguna razón para ser bueno.”

“—Es mi prometida ahora. Y la llevaré de vuelta cuando me plazca.—Entendido. —Los labios de Cam se retorcieron—. ¿Tienes intención de casarte con ella pronto, espero?—Pronto no —dijo Kev—. Inmediatamente.”

“You won't kiss me for diamonds," he said, his voice slightly raspy, "but you will for chocolates?"Poppy nodded.”

“Harry's blood quickened as lurid images filled his mind...her against him, beneath him. That smiling mouth, his alone, her whispers curling into his ear. Her skin, soft and ivory pale in the darkness. Skin heated by skin, sensation emerging as he touched her.She was worth anything, he thought, even giving up the last remnants of his soul.”

“With all due respect," Christopher muttered, "this conversation is leading nowhere. At least one of you should point out that Beatrix deserves a better man.""That's what I said about my wife," Leo remarked. "Which is why I married her before she could find one.”

“I love you," Sam said, and set his mouth against hers, and broke off the kiss because he had to say it again. "I love you."Lucy's trembling fingers came to his lips, caressing them gently, "Are you sure? How do you know it's not just about sex?""It is about sex...sex with your mind, sex with your soul, sex with the color of your eyes, the smell of your skin. I want to sleep in your bed. I want you to be the first thing I see every morning and the last thing I see at night. I love you the way I never thought I could love anyone.”

“In defense of geeks," Justine said, "they're great in bed. They fantasize a lot, so they're really creative. And they love to play with gadgets.”

“There was some kind of commotion going on in the suite, which shouldn't have been a surprise considering it was his family's suite. The air was filled with cursing, exclamations, and grunts of physical combat."Leo?" Beatrix appeared from the main receiving room and hurried over to them."Beatrix, darling!" Leo was amazed by the difference the past two and a half years had made in his youngest sister. "How you've grown--""Yes, never mind that," she said impatiently, snatching the ferret from him. "Go in there and help Mr. Rohan!""Help him with what?""He's trying to stop Merripen from killing Dr. Harrow.""Already?" Leo asked blankly, and rushed into the receiving room.”

“Did it fall out?" Leo asked. "Is she bald?""No, not at all. It's just that her hair is...green."To look at Leo's face, one would think it was Christmas morning. "What shade of green?""Leo, hush," Win said urgently. "You are not to torment her. It's been a very trying experience. We mixed a peroxide paste to take the green out, and I don't know if it worked or not. Amelia was helping her to wash it a little while ago. And no matter what the result is, you are to say nothing.""You're telling me that tonight, Marks will be sitting at the supper table with hair that matches the asparagus, and I'm not supposed to remark on it?" He snorted. "I'm not that strong.""Please, Leo," Poppy murmured, touching his arm. "If it were one of your sisters, you wouldn't mock.""Do you think that little shrew would have any mercy on me, were the situations reversed?" He rolled his eyes as he saw their expressions. "Very well, I'll try no to jeer. But I make no promises."Leo sauntered toward the house in no apparent hurry. He didn't deceive either of his sisters. "How long do you think it will take him to find her?" Poppy asked Win."Two, perhaps three minutes," Win replied, and they both sighed.”

“Thank you," Catherine said, the smile still hovering on her lips. "That is very kind of you, my lord. But I will never dance with you."Which, of course, made it the goal of Leo's life.”

“You're my woman, and no man or God or ghost will ever take you from me.”

“As Marcus considered various ways to open the subject of Daisy, Swift surprised him with a blunt statement. “My lord, there is something I would like to discuss with you.”Marcus adopted a pleasantly encouraging expression. “Very well.”“It turns out that Miss Bowman and I have reached an…understanding. After considering the logical advantages on both sides, I have made a sensible and pragmatic decision that we should—”“How long have you been in love with her?” Marcus interrupted, inwardly amused.Swift let out a tense sigh. “Years,” he admitted.”

“There were times in life when you had to take a risk that might end in failure. Because otherwise you would be haunted by what you hadn’t done... the paths you hadn’t taken, the things you hadn’t experienced.”

“I figured I couldn't love you as much as I do, without you feeling something for me too.”

“I'm a public sinner with a ton of money. Any church would want me.”

“There's nothing worse than breaking a promise to someone who cares about you.”

“The only thing keeping two people together should be love. Not legalities.”

“Although most advice should be distrusted, particularly when it comes from myself . . . keep an open mind, Miss Hathaway. One should never look a rich husband in the mouth." - St. Vincent”

“Friends are the support bras of life. We don't let each other down.”

“I have come to realize you can never be truly happy unless you've known some sorrow.”

“You'd be surprised what people say across the manicure table.”

“Lord, it was expensive to die”

“Thankyou,"Catherine said, the smile still hovering on her lips. "That is kind of you my lord. But i will never dance with you." Which, ofcourse, made it the goal of leo's life.”

“Dane touched my chin and lifted my face upward, and kissed me gently. Only then did I understand that Dane had always been a friend I had slept with, and how entirely different that was from having a lover who could be a friend.”

“As I sit here writing to you, I have propped my stocking feet much too close to the hearth. I’ve actually singed my stockings on occasion, and once I had to stomp out my feet when they started smoking. Even after that I can’t seem to rid myself of the habit. There, now you could pick me out of a crowd blindfolded. Simply follow the scent of scorched stockings.”

“I love you," she said wretchedly. “And if I were well, no power on earth could keep me away from you. If I were well, I would take you to my bed, and I would show you as much passion as any woman could.”

“She could love him, if she let it happen. Deeply, passionately, ruinously.”

“You think you've found the perfect mate and you head for him, blinking as fast as you can, and then you find out he's a Bic lighter.”

“My theory about meeting people,' he said,'is that it's better not to make a really good first impression. Because it's all downhill from there. You're always having to live up to that first impression, which was just an illusion.”

“If your concern is that I may be overcome with manly ardor and ravish you in a moment of weakness… I may. If you ask nicely.”

“Friends are the support bras of life.”

“Jesus, you get sentimental when you're high on paint fumes.”

“I love you dammit,"she brushed her lips teasingly against his."How much?" He made a slight sound, as if the soft kiss had affected him intensely."Without limit. Beyond forever.”

“The guy who broke up with me... he was exactly like you, in the beginning. Charming, and nice. They're all like you in the beginning. But I always end up like this. And I can't do it anymore.”