“If you set out to fail and you succeed, what have you done?”

“What happened to you? Did you finally annoy someone enough to have them beat the shit out of you?”

“Who shot you?"For a moment he looked annoyed. "I fail to see what that's got to do with anything. Reading assures me that anyone who's ever met me would have reason to shoot me, so I mustadmit with all candor that I have no idea. Was it you?""If I'd shot you I wouldn't have missed," she said."Was that wishful thinking or are you in fact a practiced shot?""Desire would have made up for lack of expertise.”

“What have you done with Hetty?" he demanded."Listened to her incessant prattle, complaints, tears, demands, artless conversation and recriminations for more than twenty-four hours. You will be pleased to know I didn't touch her—if I had I would have throttled her. Take her away, if you please. I'd rather spend the rest of my life a pauper than have to spend even another day with the divine Miss Chippie.”

“You can't choose where you belong, and where you don't. But what if the place you don't belong is the only place you have left?”

“And telling you I care about you is a waste of time. I wouldn't have crossed the ocean, come out of hiding, tracked you down, if you didn't matter to me.”

“I never set out to be a one-night-stand kinda woman. I want to be sure, if I have sex with you, that it's because you want to be around for a while and because you like me for who I am, not what I am.Maybe a million women had made approximately the same speech. I meant it as sincerely as any one of those million.”