“Mr. St. Maur will help me make a most excellent match. Perhaps you should retain him as well."Minerva shook her head at the pair of them. "A man will have to fall out of the sky and into my bedroom before I marry him.”

“Right now I would welcome the most wicked baron who ever lived if he could save me from my aunt and her plans," Minerva declared.”

“She started to rise, for she feared Dash might become angry, lose his temper as he had before with Finn, but this Dash, this man who was struggling to find his footing, planted his feet solidly on the deck."She married someone else, Finn," he said quietly. "There was no battle to fight once she'd done that. I'd lost, and sometimes when you lose, there is nothing you can do but move on."Finn sighed and shook his head, the arguments and problems of adults far beyond his ken, but he still persisted, struggling to understand. "Did you?""Did I what?""Move on? After you lost her?"Again, Dash shook his head. "Nay, I didn't. Not at all.""'Cause you loved her?"Dash looked away. "Aye. Without her, I lost my course and sailed about the seas rather like the Dutchman.”

“She liked to scatter hope," Minerva said, taking his offering."Pardon?""Snowdrops. They represent hope. The first flowers in the spring. Hope for a new beginning." She took a sniff of the delicate blossoms and then shyly glanced over at him. "Perhaps you were meant to be here today. To find your hope.”

“What an excellent idea, Parkerton," Miranda agreed. "For then you can continue on with your life without a single inconvenience. You can just shake off the dustcovers and everything will be perfectly ordered once again.""And what is wrong with that?" he asked, his ire finally getting the better of him.Miranda came to stand before him. "Because you'll never know the most important thing about marriage."He crossed his arms over his chest. "Which would be?""Why she married you.”

“Enough, Aunt Josephine," Jack said, cutting her off, ignoring the stubborn light in her eyes. Oh, she was a Tremont all right, and one of the "mad" Tremonts at that, but she was no longer in charge of this house.He was. And it was about time he took the reins of this manor and ran it as he saw fit."There will be no next time," he told her."But Jack, my dear boy--"He rose from Miranda's side. "There will be no next time. For any of you. I have had enough of seeing my friends, my family, let alone the woman I love risk life, limb, and for what?" He paced the room. "There will never be an end to this if something isn't done, so I am ending it. Here and now.""But Jack--" Miranda protested.He swung around on her. "And not a word from you. Do you think I want my wife risking her life on such an improper fashion?""You love me?" she whispered."Yes," he barked at her.She grinned up at him. "You want to marry me?""Should have years ago." He paced back and forth. "I lost you once, Miranda, I shall not lose you again." He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at everyone in the room, daring them to defy him.”

“Sometimes there is naught you can do for a man, save stand quietly beside him and believe. (Advice to Felicity Langley from her Nanny Rana)”