Marrying Winterborne Quotes

“Helen,
You ask if I regret our engagement.
No. I regret every minute that you're out of my sight. I regret every step that doesn't bring me closer to you.
My last thought each night is that you should be in my arms. There is no peace or pleasure in my empty bed, where I sleep with you only in dreams and wake to curse the dawn.
If I had the right, I would forbid you to go anywhere without me. Not out of selfishness, but because being apart from you is like trying to live without breathing.
Think on that. You've stolen my very breath, cariad. And now I'm left to count the days until I take it back from you, kiss by kiss.
Winterborne”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“Every time you look at me, you'll remember that I'm half his."
"No." His hand came to the side of her face, his thumb wiping her tears. "You're all mine." His voice was deep and shaken. "Every hair on your head. Every part of you was made to be loved by me.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“A man is not entitled to be called a father merely because he once had a well-timed spasm of the loins.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“Heart of my heart, you need no man to give you away. Just come to me of your own free will. Love me for who I am... just as I love you for who you are... and our bond will last until the stars lose their shining.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“Rhys absorbed that with chagrin. "No one has ever accused me of being a romantic," he said ruefully.
"If you were, how would you propose?"
He thought for a moment. "I would begin by teaching you a Welsh word. Hiraeth There's no equivalent in English."
"Hiraeth," she repeated, trying to pronounce it with a tapped R, as he had.
"Aye. It's a longing for something that was lost, or never existed. You feel it for a person or a place, or a time in your life...it's a sadness of the soul. Hiraeth calls to a Welshman even when he's closest to happiness, reminding him that he's incomplete."
Her brow knit with concern. "Do you feel that way?"
"Since the day I was born." He looked down into her small, lovely face. "But not when I'm with you. That's why I want to marry you.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“Try to leave me, and see what happens. Go to France, go anywhere, and see how long it takes for me to reach you. Not five fucking minutes.” He took a few vehement breaths, his gaze locked on hers. “I love you. I don’t give a damn if your father is the devil himself. I’d let you stab a knife in my heart if it pleased you, and I’d lie there loving you until my last breath.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“That was my fault," Helen said hastily. "I went uninvited to the store yesterday and demanded to see Mr. Winterborne. I told him that I still wanted to marry him, and I made him exchange my ring for a new one, and then I-I had my way with him." She paused, realizing how that sounded. "Not in the store, of course."

Straight-faced, Kathleen said, "Dear me. I hope he didn't put up a struggle.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“Cariad, nothing about this is casual to me. But if you want a long, sensitive discussion about my feelings, I can't help you. I'm from North Wales, where we express ourselves by throwing rocks at trees. I've had more feelings in the past half-hour that I have in my entire life, and I'm at my limit."
"That still doesn't -"
"I love whatever it is you're made of. All of it.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“My heart only beats as an echo of yours.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“Obviously he’s courting the entire family,” West told her. “I can’t speak for everyone else, but I for one feel thoroughly wooed.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“No one ever thinks their own behavior is immoral, only other people’s.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“I’m going to take Charity to France. I can look after her there. You can go on with your life here, and I won’t be here to … to bother anyone.”
He muttered two quiet words.
“What?” she asked in bewilderment, inching forward to hear him.
“I said, try it.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“No young woman wants to marry after reading Tolstoy”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“Helen, don’t.”
“I thought it was only a misunderstanding. I thought if I spoke to you directly, everything would be s-sorted out, and—” Another sob choked her. She was so consumed by emotion that she was only vaguely aware of Rhys hovering around her, reaching for her and snatching his hands back.
“No. Don’t cry. For God’s sake, Helen—”
“I didn’t mean to push you away. I didn’t know what to do. How can I make you want me again?”
She expected a jeering reply, or perhaps even a pitying one. The last thing she expected was his shaken murmur.
“I do want you, cariad. I want you too damned much.”
She blinked at him through a bewildered blur, breathing in mortifying hiccups, like a child. In the next moment, he had hauled her firmly against him.
“Hush, now.” His voice dropped to a deeper octave, a brush of dark velvet against her ears. “Hush, bychan, little one, my dove. Nothing is worth your tears.”
“You are.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“Helen likes Brussels sprouts. How can anyone trust her opinion?”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“Helen if you continue to fondle the bastard right in front of me, I'll have to dislocate his other shoulder.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“Pausing with the teacup near her lips, Helen said, "I would rather marry you. It will be an adventure."

Somewhat mollified , Rhys picked up a light chair with one hand and moved it close to her. "I wouldn't count on much adventuring if I were you. I'm going to look after you and keep you safe."

She glanced at him over the rim of the cup, her eyes smiling. "What I meant was, you are the adventure.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“I like that word,” Pandora mused. “Strumpet. It sounds like a saucy musical instrument.” “It”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“I realized this morning that there’s no one to give me away.” Rhys lowered his face until their foreheads were touching, and he was lost in the moonstone glow of her eyes. “Heart of my heart, you need no man to give you away. Just come to me of your own free will. Love me for who I am . . . just as I love you for who you are . . . and our bond will last until the stars lose their shining.” “I can do that,” Helen whispered.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“I've spent my entire life reading about the lives other people are having. My world has been... very small. No one believes I would thrive if I weren't kept secluded and protected. Like a flower in a glasshouse. If I marry one of my kind, as you put it, no one will ever see me as I am. Only what I'm supposed to be.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“So you dared to walk into the lion's den."

She smiled up into his intent dark eyes. "As it turned out, there was no danger."

"No?" His voice held gently mocking note. "Look where it's led. You're in my bedroom with your dress undone.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“I'm from North Wales, where we express ourselves by throwing rocks at trees.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“There is no greater enemy of virtue than a charming Welshman.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“This takes a bit of getting used to,” he said. “All this smiling and good spirits. You’ve never been one of those lighthearted fellows.” “I’m not lighthearted, I’m . . . wholehearted.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“If I had the right, I would forbid you to go anywhere without me. Not out of selfishness, but because being apart from you is like trying to live without breathing.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“Say as little as possible," Lady Berwick told the girls severely. "Remember that silence is golden." Glancing at Pandora, she added, in your case, it's platinum.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“As she had once told Kathleen, sometimes one had to love something before it became lovable”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“I have to listen to my heart," Helen said quietly.
That elicited a bitter scrape of laughter, "The downfall of every woman since Eve has begun with those exact words.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“Oh don’t concern yourself about that,” Cassandra said earnestly. “Pandora’s not going to marry at all. And I certainly wouldn’t want a man who would scorn me just because my sister was a strumpet.”
“I like that word,” Pandora mused. “Strumpet. It sounds like a saucy musical instrument.”
“It would liven up an orchestra,” Cassandra said. “Wouldn’t you like to hear the Vivaldi Double Strumpet Concerto in C?”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne

“Hiraeth,” she repeated, trying to pronounce it with a tapped R, as he had.
“Aye. There's no equivalent in English. It's a longing for something that was lost, or never existed. You feel it for a person or a place, or a time in your life... it's a sadness of the soul. Hiraeth calls to a Welshman even when he's closest to happiness, reminding him that he's incomplete.”
Her brow knit with concern. “Do you feel that way?”
“Since the day I was born. But not when I'm with you. That's why I want to marry you.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Marrying Winterborne