"They (mothers-in-law) never leave when they say they will. When my mother-in-law visits, the mice throw themselves at the cat, begging to be eaten."

"Would it help, he asked gently, "to have a shoulder to cry on? She fought to conceal how much the question unnerved her. "Thank you, but no. Carefully she dropped the herbs into the kettle. "Crying is a waste of time. "' To weep is to make less the depth of grief.' "Is that a Romany saying? "Shakespeare."

"If he was looking for fancy embellishment, or obvious signs of wealth, he was to be disappointed. Amanda couldn't bear pretension or impracticality, and so she had chosen furniture for function rather than for style. If she bought a chair, it must be large and comfortable. If she bought a side table, it must be sturdy enough to hold a stack of books or a big lamp. She did not like gilding and porcelain disks, nor all the carving and hieroglyphics that were certainly fashionable."

"Rohan, one of us is an unmarried man with superior mathematical abilities and no prospects for the evening. The other is a confirmed lecher in an amorous mood, with a willing and nubile young wife waiting at home. Who do you think should do the damned account books?" And, with a nonchalant wave, St. Vincent had left the office."

"A well-read woman is a dangerous creature."

"... I discovered life sometimes has a way of giving you what you need, but not in the form you expect."

"Leo smiled and stroked her hair. 'We'll both be fine, Marks. We've just begun our journey...and there's so much we have yet to do.' He spoke more softly as he heard her breathing turn even and steady. 'Rest against my heart. Let me watch over your dreams. And know that tomorrow morning, and every morning after that, you'll awaken next to someone who loves you.''Dodger?' she mumbled against his chest, and he grinned.'No, your confounded ferret will have to stay in his basket. I was referring to myself.''Yes, I know.' Catherine slid her hand up to his cheek. 'Only you,' she said. 'Always you."

"You must learn to ignore what people say, Sebastian murmured, coming to her. Standing behind her, he rested his fingers lightly on her shoulders, causing her to start a little. "You'll be much happier that way. Suddenly his voice was tipped with amusement. "I've learned that while gossip about others is often true, it's never true when it is about oneself."

"I want you any way I can get you. Not because you're beautiful or clever or kind or adorable, although devil knows you're all those things. I want you because there's no one else like you, and I don't ever want to start a day without seeing you."

"Women. You'll interpret anything as love. You see a man wearing an idiotic expression, and you assume he's been struck by Cupid's arrow when in reality, he's digesting a bad turnip."

"But Harry . . . even if we had met and married three years ago, you'd still say it wasn't enough time."You're right. I can't think of a single day of my life that wouldn't have been improved with you in it."Darling, she whispered, her fingertips coming up to stroke his jaw, "that's lovely. Even more romantic than comparing me to watch parts.Harry nipped at her finger. "Are you mocking me?"Not at all, Poppy said, smiling. "I know how you feel about gears and mechanisms."

"Thunderstorms and rainbows wrapped together in a convenient pocket-sized parcel."

"Marriage would change hardly anything between us, except that we would end our arguments in a much more satisfying way. And of course I would have extensive legal rights over your body, your property, and all your individual freedoms, but I don't see what's so alarming about that."

"The trick was forgetting about what she had lost ...and learning to go on with what she had left."

"Fate is the malevolent little jester sitting up in the heavens and pondering over how ridiculous we humans are and he does his best to make fools out of all of us. And sooner or later he succeeds."

"You're so full of it, darlin'."

"You don't annoy me. Carefully he rebuttoned the placket of her shirt. "I thought you did, at first. But now I realize it was more like the feeling you get when your foot's been asleep. And when you start moving, the blood coming back into it is uncomfortable . . . but also good. Do you understand what I mean?"Yes. I make your feet tingle.A smile came to his lips. "Among other things."

"Derek cuddled his daughter against his shoulder and spoke in a mixture of baby words and cockney, a language only she seemed to understand."

"We men had a meeting a long time ago, and we all decided, 'It's trousers'. And that's what we've worn ever since."

"You think I'd cheat on you?" I demanded with all the innocent outrage I could muster."With another guy, no. With a cheeseburger . . . in a heartbeat."

"Sukey's approving glance swept over Amanda's black evening dress, made of shimmering crinkled silk that had been cut very low across the bosom and fitted tightly to her voluptuous shape. Rows of glittering jet beads adorned the bodice and long sleeves, while her gloves and shoes were of soft chamois leather. It was a sophisticated ensemble, one that made the most of Amanda's looks and generously displayed her bosom."

"Sometimes a woman needs a man for company, no matter how useless he is."

"But the absence of tears wasn't the same as an absence of feeling."

"The span of three or four minutes is pretty insignificant in the scheme of things. People lose hundreds of minutes everyday, squandering them on trivial things. But sometimes in those fragments of time, something can happen you'll remember the rest of your life."

"Hell was not a pit of fire and brimstone. Hell was waking up alone, the sheets wet with your tears and your seed, knowing the woman you had dreamed of would never come back to you."

"Marcus's fear that his wife might succumb to childbed fever receded day by day as Lillian returned to her old self, healthy and slender and vigorous. His relief was vast. He had never known such overwhelming love for one person, nor had he anticipated that Lillian would so quickly become his essential requirement for happiness. Anything that was in his power to do for Lillian would be done."

"I beg your pardon? Catherine interrupted. "Are you implying that women have poor judgment?"In these matters, yes. Leo gestured to Christopher. "Just look at the fellow, standing there like a bloody Greek god. Do you think she chose him because of his intellect?"I graduated from Cambridge, Christopher said acidly. "Should I have brought my diploma?"In this family, Cam interrupted, "there is no requirement of a university degree to prove one's intelligence. Lord Ramsay is a perfect example of how one has nothing to do with the other."

"Seduction is merely encouraging a man to do something he already wants to do."

"Her chances of a decent marriage were about to be dashed-and all because of a ferret."

"I no longer believed in the idea of soul mates, or love at first sight. But I was beginning to believe that a very few times in your life, if you were lucky, you might meet someone who was exactly right for you. Not because he was perfect, or because you were, but because your combined flaws were arranged in a way that allowed two separate beings to hinge together."

"I love you, he thought, looking at Win. I love every part of you, every thought and word... the entire complex, fascinating bundle of all the things you are. I want you with ten different kinds of need at once. I love all the seasons of you, the way you are now, the thought of how much more beautiful you'll be in the decades to come. I love you for being the answer to every question my heart could ask."

"I've missed you, Sebastian.""Have you, love?" He unfastened the buttons of her robe, the light eyes glittering with heat as her skin was revealed. "What part did you miss the most?""Your mind," she said, and smiled at his expression."I was hoping for a far more depraved answer than that.""Your mind is depraved," she told him solemnly.He gave a husky laugh. "True."

"Sometimes life has a cruel sense of humor, giving you the thing you always wanted at the worst time possible."

"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."

"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."

"A man's vanity is more fragile that you might think. It's easy for us to mistake shyness for coldness, and silence for indifference."

"Kev wasn't certain if he was surrendering to Win or to his own passion for her. Only that there was no more holding back. He would take her. And he would give her everything he had, every part of his soul, even the broken pieces."

"You are not a perfect woman.You have an evil temper, you're as blind as a mole, you're a deplorable poet, and frankly, your French accent could use some work. Supporting himself on his elbows, Leo took her face in his hands. "But when I put those things together with the rest of you, it makes you into the most perfectly imperfect woman I've ever known."

"There is nothing on earth more beautiful to me than your smile...no sound sweeter than your laughter...no pleasure greater than holding you in my arms. I realized today that I could never live without you, stubborn little hellion that you are. In this life and the next, you're my only hope of happiness. Tell me, Lillian, dearest love...how can you have reached so far inside my heart?"

"... He didn't know how to say good-bye. His throat ached from the strain of holding back his emotions. "I don't want to leave you, he said humbly, reaching for her cold, stiff hands.Emma lowered her head, her tears falling freely. "I'll never see you again, will I?He shook his head. "Not in this lifetime, he said hoarsely.She pulled her hands away and wrapped her arms around his neck. He felt her wet lashes brush his cheek. "Then I'll wait a hundred years, she whispered. "Or a thousand, if I must. Remember that, Nikki. I'll be waiting for you to come to me."

"It was the first time she had ever felt the kind of loneliness that couldn't be cured with just any available company."

"Sam was waiting for her,his gaze sweeping over her. "Looks great." "I look like a geek," Lucy said. "I smell like a brewery. And I need a bra.""My dream date."

"Beatrix, do you know what happens to girls who ask such naughty questions?"They're ravished in haylofts? she inquired hopefully."

"I don't really like this song," Emma had said."You told me it was your favourite.""It's beautiful. But it always makes me sad.""Why, love?" he'd asked gently. "It's about finding each other again. About someone coming home."Emma had lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him earnestly. "It's about losing someone, and having to wait until you're together in heaven.""There's nothing in the lyrics about heaven," he'd said."But that's what it means. I can't bear the idea of being separated from you, for a lifetime or a year or even a day. So you mustn't go to heaven without me.""Of course not," he had whispered. "It wouldn't be heaven without you."

"I didn't want to give you the one last part of myself that I couldn't take back. And then you were gone... And I realized it was already yours. It had been since the beginning. Except that I hadn't told you. It drove me mad, the thought that you would never know."

"But no one can predict of a certainty what will happen. And none of it will change how I intend to spend the rest of my life. I will live it on my terms. And you... you can have all of me or nothing. I won't be an invalid any longer. Not even if it means losing you."

"...whether he stayed or left, whether they walked the same path or not. They could live on opposite sides of the world, and she would still be his."

"Damn it. What are we exactly calling a 'masculine problem'? Did he have trouble running the flag up? Or did it fall to half staff?"Do we have to speak about this metaphorically or-""Yes," Leo said firmly."All right. He..." Poppy frowned in concentration as she searched for the right words, "... left me while the flag was still flying."

"Honesty is overrated. As someone once said, 'Secrecy is the first essential in affairs of the heart.'""It was the Duc de Richelieu," said Lillian, who had read the same book of philosophy during their schoolroom lessons. "And the accurate quote is, 'Secrecy is the first essential in affairs of the State.'""He was French, though," Daisy argued. "I'm sure he meant the heart as well."Lillian laughed and glanced at her sister affectionately. "Perhaps he did. But I don't want to keep secrets from Lord Westcliff.""Oh, very well. But heed my words- it wouldn't be a true love affair if you didn't have a few little secrets."

"St. Vincent and I didn't expect to fall in love. It caught us both unaware.""Yes, but how did you know?""It was the moment I realized he was willing to die for me. I don't think anyone, including St. Vincent, believed he was capable of self-sacrifice. It taught me that you can assume you know a person quite well- but that person can s-surprise you. Everything seemed to change from one moment to the next- suddenly he became the most important thing in the world to me."