Seduce Me at Sunrise

: Amelia told me once about a suspicion she'd had for a while. It bothered her quite a bit. She said that Win and I had fallen ill with scarlet fever, and you made the deadly nightshade syrup, you'd concocted gar more than was necessary. And you kept a cup on it on Win's nightstand, like some sort of macabre nightcap. Amelia said that if Win had died, she thought you would have taken the rest of that poison. And I've always hated you for that. Because you forced me to stay alive without the woman I loved, while you had no bloody hell intention of doing the same."
Merripen didn't answer, gave no sign that he registered Leo's words.
"Christ, man," Leo said huskily. "If you had the bollocks to die with her, don't you think you could work up the courage to live with her?

: The worst part about loving someone, Merripen, is that there will always be things you can't protect her from. Things beyond your control. You finally realize there is something worse than dying . . . and that is having something hap­pen to her. You have to live with that fear always. But you have to take the bad part, if you want the good part."
Kev looked at him bleakly. "What's the good part?"
A smile touched Cam's lips. "All the rest of it is the good part," he said, and went.

: Win," Leo said, "you'll burn the house down, just after it's been rebuilt. Give me the bloody matchbox."
She shook her head resolutely.
Are we starting a new springtime ritual?" Leo demanded. "The annual burning-of-the-manse?"

: "Come to your senses, Win". A weak but steady throb lay beneath Kev's searching fingertips. Win's heartbeat...the pulse that sustained his universe.

: I am running after you, and life, in desperate pursuit.  My dream is that someday you will both turn and let me catch you.  That dream carries me through every night...

: I have enclosed a hundred kisses in this letter. You must count them out carefully and not lose any.

: 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.

: Glaring at the doctor, Kev spoke in Romany. "Ka xlia ma pe tute." (I'm going to shit on you.)
Which means," Rohan said hastily, " 'Please forgive the misunderstanding; let's part as friends.'"
Te malavel les i menkiva," Kev added for good mea­sure. (May you die of a malignant wasting disease.)
Roughly translated," Rohan said, "that means, 'May your garden be filled with fine, fat hedgehogs.' Which, I may add, is considered quite a blessing among the Rom.

: All the fires of hell could burn for a thousand years and it wouldn't equal what I feel for you in one minute of the day. I love you so much there is no pleasure in it. Nothing but torment. Because if I could dilute what I feel for you to the mil­lionth part, it would still be enough to kill you. And even if it drives me mad, I would rather see you live in the arms of that cold, soulless bastard than die in mine.",

: And it seemed so easy, once he capitulated. It seemed natural and right.

: 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.

: I'm not good enough for you. But no one is. And most men, good or bad, have limits to what they would do, even for someone they love. I have none. No God, no moral code, no faith in anything. Except you. You're my religion. I would do anything you asked. I would fight, steal, kill for you."

: 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.

: "...You're not suited for this Merripen. You can't hold your liquor worth a damn. And unlike people such as me, who become quite amicable when they drink, you turn into a vile-tempered troll."  Leo paused considering how best to provoke him.  "Liquor brings out one's true inner nature, they say.

: 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.

: despite his fear of heights, had often climbed a ladder to wash the second floor window for her. He had wanted her view of the outside world to be clear.
He had said the sky should always be blue for her.

: It's a strange life, isn't it? ...A Rom with no tribe. No matter how hard you look, you can never find a home. Because to us, home is not a building or a tent or a vardo... home is a family.  

Itazura Na Kiss

But, a person’s heart doesn’t always go the way you want it to.

Twilight (The Mediator, #6)

It will hurt. Because deep down, I'll know there was someone.. someone I was supposed to have met. Only I'll never meet him. I'll go through my whole life waiting for him to come along, only he never will. What kind of life is that?

Saiunkoko Monogatari

Make up is a woman’s battle armor. When you are heading into battle, make sure to wear it. If you do, you’ll never cry. If you cry your make up will fall apart. Regardless of how light the make up, the result will be disgraceful. So regardless of how difficult things are, you absolutely will not cry. You are going aren’t you? To fight. 

Even if you climb onto the same stage as men, you are not to become a man. You’re going to do, as a woman, what men can’t do.

The Choice

     How far should a person go in the name of true love?

     He often felt that too many people lived their lives acting and pretending,wearing masks and losing themselves in the process.

     I guess what I'm trying to say is that you two make me believe that true love really exists.  And that even the darkest hours can't take that away.

     He felt as though he were failing in practically every area of his life. Lately, happiness seemed as distant and unattainable to him as space travel. He hadn't always felt this way. There had been a long period of time during which he remembered being very happy. But things change. People change. Change was one of the inevitable laws of nature, exacting its toll on people's lives. Mistakes are made, regrets form, and all that was left were repercussions that made something as simple as rising from the bed seem almost laborious.

     How far would you go to keep the hope of love alive?

     That's the thing about being the product of happily marries parents, You grow up thinking the fairy tale is real, and more than that, you think you're entitled to live it. So far, though, it wasn't working out as planned.

     You gotta know when to be lazy. Done correctly, it's am art form that benefits everyone.

     There were moments when it honestly seemed as if the world were conspiring against her.

     Where do I go from here?

     He'd lived long enough to know that everyone handled grief in different ways, and little by little, they all seemed to accept their new lives.

Simply Unforgettable

- ...but most roads I have learned from past experience lead somewhere eventually.
- We all learn to bury a broken heart beneath layers of dignity
- They were all true today but tomorrow they would be a little less so and next week less so again. It was in the nature of strong emotion that it faded away over time.

Love Rosie

Our life is made up of time; our days are measured in hours, our pay measured by those hours, our knowledge is measured by years.  We grab a few quick minutes in our busy day to have a coffee break.  We rush back to our desks, we watch the clock, we live by appointments.  And yet your time eventually runs out and you wonder in your heart of hearts if those seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years and decades were being spent the best way they possibly could.  In other words, if you could change anything, would you?

Ruby: ...What's so good aboaut being 20? I call them the materialist years. The years we get distracted by all the bullshit. Then we cop on when we hit our 30s and spend those years trying to make up for the 20s. But your 40s? Those years are for enjoying it
Rosie: Hmmm good point. What are the 50s for?
Ruby: Fixing what you fucked up in your 40s.
Rosie: Great. Looking forward to it.

You deserve someone who loves you with every single beat of his heart, someone who thinks about you constantly, someone who spends every minute of every day just wondering what you're doing, where you are, who you're with, and if you're OK. You need someone who can help you reach your dreams and protect you from your fears. You need someone who will treat you with respect, love every part of you, especially your flaws. You should be with someone who could make you happy, really happy, dancing on air happy.

At first we had so much to catch up on we were talking a hundred words a second, barely even listening to the ends of one another's sentences before moving onto the next. And there was laughing. Lots of laughing. Then the laughing stopped and there was this silence. What the hell was it?
It was like the world stopped turning in that instant. Like everyone around us had disappeared. Like everything at home was forgotten about. It was as if those few minutes on this world were created just for us and all we could do was look at each other. It was like he was seeing my face for the first time. He looked confused but kind of amused. Exactly how I felt. Because I was sitting on the grass with my best friend Alex, and that was my best friend Alex's face and nose and eyes and lips, but they seemed different. So I kissed him. I seized the moment and I kissed him.

To the most inconsiderate asshole of a friend,
I'm writing you this letter because I know that if I say what I have to say to your face I will probably punch you. I don't know you anymore. I don't see you anymore. All I get is a quick text or a rushed e-mail from you every few days. I know you are busy and I know you have Bethany, but hello? I'm supposed to be your best friend. You have no idea what this summer has been like. Ever since we were kids we pushed away every single person that could possibly have been our friend. We blocked people until there was only me and you. You probably ;haven't noticed, because you have never been in the position I am in now. You have always had someone. You always had me. I always had you. Now ;you have Bethany and I have no one. Now I feel like those other people that used to try to become our friend, that tried to push their way into our circle but were met by turned backs. I know you're probably not doing it deliberately just as we never did it deliberately.It's not that we didn't want anyone else, it's just that we didn't need them. Sadly now it looks like you don't need me anymore. Anyway I'm not moaning on about how much I hate her, I'm just trying to tell you that I miss you. And that well . . . I'm lonely. Whenever you cancel nights out I end up staying home with Mum and Dad watching TV. It's so depressing. This was supposed to be our summer of fun. What happened? Can't you be friends with two people at once? I know you have found someone who is extra special, and I know you both have a special "bond," or whatever, that you and I will never have. But we have another bond, we're best friends. Or does the best friend bond disappear as soon as you meet somebody else? Maybe it does, maybe I just don't understand that because I haven't met that "somebody special." I'm not in any hurry to, either. I liked things the way they were. ;So maybe Bethany is now your best friend and I have been relegated to just being your "friend." At least be that to me, Alex. In a few years time if my name ever comes up you will probably say, "Rosie, now there's a name I haven't heard in years. We used to be best friends. I wonder what she's doing now; I haven't seen or thought of her in years!" You will sound like my mum and dad when they have dinner parties with friends and talk about old times. They always mention people I've never even heard of when they're talking about some of the most important days of their lives. Yet where are those people now? How could someone who was your bridesmaid 20 years ago no even be someone who you are on talking terms with now? Or in Dad's case, how could he not know where his own best friend from college lives? He studied with the man for five years! Anyway, my point is (I know, I know, there is one), I don't want to be one of those easily forgotten people, so important at the time, so special, so influential, and so treasured, yet years later just a vague face and a distant memory. I want us to be best friends forever, Alex. I'm happy you're happy, really I am, but I feel like I've been left behind. Maybe our time has come and gone. Maybe your time is now meant to be spent with Bethany. And if that's the case I won't bother sending you this letter. And if I'm not sending this letter then what am I doing still writing it? OK I'm going now and I'm ripping these muddled thoughts up.
Your friend,
Rosie

I wake up in the morning and I feel like I'm missing something. I know that there's something not right, and it takes me a while to remember what it is . . . then I remember. My best friend is gone. My only friend. It was silly of me to rely so much on one person.

Aim for something Rosie, I know you don't want to hear it, but it will help. Aim for what you want and the year will all make sense. Go to Boston if that will make you happy. Study hotel management like you've always wanted.

You're only young Rosie, and I know that you absolutely hate to hear that but it's true. What seems tragic now won't even be an issue in a few years time. You're only 17. You and Alex have the rest of your lives to catch up together . . . After all, soul mates always end up together. Silly Bethany won't even be remembered in a few years time. Ex-girlfriends are easily forgotten. Best friends stay with you forever.

Life is funny isn't it? Just when you think you've got it all figured out, just when you finally begin to plan something, get excited about something, and feel like you know what direction you're heading in, the paths change, the signs change, the wind blows the other way, north is suddenly south, and east is west, and you're lost. It is so easy to lose your way, to lose direction. And that's with following all the signposts

There aren't many sure things in life, but one thing I know for sure is that you have to deal with the consequences of your actions. You have to follow through on some things.

I love it here in Boston and I love studying medicine. But it's not home. Dublin is home. Being back with you felt like home. I miss my best friend. I've met some great guys here, but I didn't grow up with any of them playing cops and robbers in my back garden. I don't feel like they are real friends. I haven't kicked them in the shins, stayed up all night on Santa watch with them, hung from trees pretending to be monkeys, played hotel, or laughed my heart out as their stomachs were pumped. It's kind of hard to beat that.

It's hard for everyone isn't it? Anyone who says it's easy is a liar.

There's this huge divide between me and Alex right now because I feel like we're living in such different worlds, I don't know what to talk about with him anymore. And we used to be able to talk all night. He phones once a week and I listen to what he's been up to during the week and try to bite my tongue every time I go into another Katie story. Truth is I have nothing other to talk about but her and I know it bores people. I think I used to be interesting once upon a time.

I think I need to face what I could have been in order to understand and accept what I am.

Rosie: What the hell was that silence?
Steph: It sounds like something I'd like. It sounded nice.
Rosie: It was.

Alex: Rosie, I wanted you to be the first person to no that I've decided to become a heart surgeon!
Rosie: Cool, does it pay well?
Alex: Rosie, it's not about the money.
Rosie: Where I come from, it's all about the money. Probably because I don't have any.

Rosie: Sorry about that, Randy Andy here would't let me leave the office.
Ruby: Oh he is such a slave driver! You should complain to head office, get the asshole fired.
Rosie: He is head office.
Ruby: Oh yeah.
Rosie: Well in all fairness Ruby, he may be a prick but we did just take a break an hour ago . . . and it was our third one in less than three hours . . .
Ruby: You are turning into one of THEM!
Rosie: I have a child to feed.
Ruby: As do I.
Rosie: That child feeds himself, Ruby.
Ruby: Ah leave my little fatso alone. He's my baby and I love him regardless.
Rosie: He's 17.

My "Best Woman" speech
Good evening everyone, my name is Rosie and as you can see Alex has decided to go down the non-traditional route of asking me to be his best woman for the day. Except we all know that today that title does not belong to me. It belongs to Sally, for she is clearly his best woman. I could call myself the "best friend" but I think we all know that today that title no longer refers to me either. That title too belongs to Sally. But what doesn't belong to Sally is a lifetime of memories of Alex the child, Alex the teenager, and Alex the almost-a-man that I'm sure he would rather forget but that I will now fill you all in on. (Hopefully they all will laugh.) I have known Alex since he was five years old. I arrived on my first day of school teary-eyed and red-nosed and a half an hour late. (I am almost sure Alex will shout out "What's new?") I was ordered to sit down at the back of the class beside a smelly, snotty-nosed, messy-haired little boy who had the biggest sulk on his face and who refused to look at me or talk to me. I hated this little boy. I know that he hated me too, him kicking me in the shins under the table and telling the teacher that I was copying his schoolwork was a telltale sign. We sat beside each other every day for twelve years moaning about school, moaning about girlfriends and boyfriends, wishing we were older and wiser and out of school, dreaming for a life where we wouldn't have double maths on a Monday morning. Now Alex has that life and I'm so proud of him. I'm so happy that he's found his best woman and his best friend in perfect little brainy and annoying Sally. I ask you all to raise your glasses and toast my best friend Alex and his new best friend, best woman, and wife, Sally, and to wish them luck and happiness and divorce in the future.
To Alex and Sally!

Things change so quickly. Just when you get used to something, zap! It changes. Just when you begin to understand someone, zap! They grow up. The same is happening with Katie. She changes every day; her face just becomes so much more grown-up every time I look at her. Sometimes I have to stop pretending I'm interested in what she's saying in order to realize that I actually am interested. We go shopping for clothes together and I take her advice, we eat out for lunch and giggle over silly things. I just can't cast my mind back to the time when my child stopped being a child and became a person.

Twice we stood beside each other at the altar, Rosie. Twice. And twice we got it wrong. I needed you to be there for my wedding day but I was too stupid to see that I needed you to be the reason for my wedding day. But we got it all wrong. I should never have let your lips leave mine all those years ago in Boston. I should never have pulled away. I should never have panicked. I should never have wasted all those years without you. Give me a chance to make them up to you. I love you, Rosie, and I want to be with you and Katie and Josh. Always. Please think about it. Don't waste your time on Greg, this is our opportunity. Let's stop being afraid and take the chance. I promise I'll make you happy.

Deep down, underneath all his layers of stupidity, he's a really good man. He may act out far too many selfish thoughts, says all the wrong things at all the wrong times, but behind closed doors he's a best friend. I understand that he has idiotic tendencies and I can still love him for it. He may not be someone that you feel comfortable sitting next to at a dinner party but for me he's someone that I feel comfortable sharing my life with. We have a long way to go to being the perfect couple, we certainly don't live the fairy tale marriage, he doesn't shower me with rose petals and fly me to Paris on weekends but when I get my hair cut, he notices. When I dress up to go out at night, he compliments me. When I cry, he wipes my tears. When I feel lonely, he makes me feel loved. And who needs Paris, when you can get a hug?

Somewhere along the way, without me even noticing, I grew up Alex. For once, I couldn't take advice from anyone around me about what I should or shouldn't do. I couldn't go running to mum and dad and I can't compare my marriage to anybody else's, we all follow our own rules.

You all looked so happy together in the photograph. You looked like the perfect family. Is there such a thing anymore because if there is, my happy little unit was definitely not in the queue when they were handing out the titles.

All I need is backup. He's the little angel that sits on my shoulder whispering in my ear, "You can do it!"It's funny. I'm thirty years old now and I still feel like a little girl. I'm still looking around to check and see what other people are doing to make sure I'm not completely different; I'm still looking around for help, hoping for a quick nudge and a whisper of advice. But I can't seem to be able to catch anybody's eye. Nobody else around me seems to be looking around and wondering what to do. Why is it that I feel like I'm the only person who is confused and concerned about the choices I've made and where I'm headed? Everywhere I look, I see people just getting on with it. Maybe I should just follow suit and get on with it.

Ruby: How nice for you all. How is the wonderfully helpful Ursula?
Rosie: Wonderfully helpful. Yesterday she told me I had problems discussing my feelings.
Ruby: And?
Rosie: And I told her that made me feel angry and that she could go fuck herself.
Ruby: Well expressed.
Rosie: Thank you. I don't see where there was a problem, I successfully explained how I felt and she clearly understood what I meant. No problems.

Children need close friends to help them grow up, to discover things about themselves and about life. They also need close friends to keep them sane.

I can't even think about what life "could have been" like in Boston, without crying. It's like deja-vu, I don't think me and Boston were ever meant to be.

When I started school I thought that people in sixth class were so old and knowledgeable even though they were no older than twelve. When I reached twelve I reckoned the people in sixth year, at eighteen years of age, must have known it all. When I reached eighteen I thought that once I finished college then I would really be mature. At twenty-five I still hadn't made it to college, was still clueless and had a seven-year-old daughter. I was convinced that when I reached my thirties I was going to have at least some clue as to what was going on. Nope, hasn't happened yet. So I'm beginning to think that when I'm fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety years old I still won't be any closer to being wise and knowledgeable. Perhaps people on their deathbed, who have had long, long lives, seen it all, traveled the world, have had kids, been through their own personal traumas, beaten their demons, and learned the harsh lessons of life will be thinking, "God, people in heaven must really know it all." But I bet that when they finally do die they'll join the rest of the crowds up there, sit around, spying on the loved ones they left behind and still be thinking that in their next lifetime, they'll have it all sussed. But I think I have it sussed Steph, I've sat around for years thinking about it and I've discovered that no one, not even the big man upstairs has the slightest clue as to what's going on.

Well isn't that one thing you're all the more wise for? Age has taught you something. It seems to me that you know the big secret. That nobody knows what's going on

Once again, I don't quite know where I'm headed Steph. It seems that every few years I'm shoveling up the pieces of my life and starting from scratch all over. No matter what I do or how hard I try I can't seem to reach the dizzy heights of happiness, success, and security, like so many people do. And I'm not talking about becoming a millionaire and living happily ever after. I just mean reaching a point in my life that I can stop what I'm doing, take a look around me, breathe a sigh of relief, and think "I'm where I want to be now."

Katie is like my calendar, watching her grow and change. She is growing up so fast, learning to have opinions of her own, learning that I don't have the answers to everything. And the moment a child begins to understand that, you know you're in trouble.

I've learned that home isn't a place, it's a feeling.

There's something completely unnerving about seeing your parents upset. I suppose it's because they're supposed to be the strong ones, but that's not just it. Ever since people are kids they use their parents as some sort of measurement for how bad a situation is. When you fall on the ground really hard and you can't figure out whether it hurts or not you look to your parents. If they look worried and rush toward you, you cry. If they laugh and smack the ground saying "Bold ground," then you pick yourself up and get on with it.

I had a million plans. I knew what I was going to do. I had the next few years of my life all figured out. But what I didn't know was that within a few hours all those plans would change. Ms. Know-it-all didn't quite know it all so much then.

FatherMichael: OK we should get on with this; I don't want to be late for my 2 o’clock. First I have to ask, is there anyone in here who thinks there is any reason why these two should not be married?
LonelyLady: Yes.
SureOne: I could give more than one reason.
Buttercup: Hell yes.
SoOverHim: DON'T DO IT!
FatherMichael: Well I'm afraid this has put me in a very tricky predicament.
Divorced_1: Father we are in a divorced chat room, of course they all object to marriage. Can we get on with it?

There were hundreds of them spread across the floor, each telling its own tale of triumph or sadness, each letter representing a phase in her life. She had kept them all. Her life in ink.

Sometimes, people can go missing right before our very eyes.Sometimes, people can discover you, even though they've been looking at you the entire time. Sometimes, we lose sight of ourselves when we're not paying enough attention.

There's no limit to what you can dream. You expect the unexpected, you believe in magic, in fairy tales, and in possibilities. Then you grow older and that innocence is shattered and somewhere along the way the reality of life gets in the way and you're hit by the realization that you can't be all you wanted to be, you just might have to settle for a little bit less.

Often when we realize how precious those seconds are, it's too late for them to be captured because the moment has passed. We realize too late.

She was tired of hugging pillows, counting on blankets for warmth, and reliving romantic moments only in her dreams. She was tired of hoping that every day would hurry so she could get on to the next. Hoping that it would be a better day, an easier day. But it never was. Worked, paid the bills, and went to bed but never slept. Each morning the weight on her shoulders got heavier and heavier and each morning she wished for night to fall quickly so she could return to her bed to hug her pillows and wrap herself in the warmth of her blankets.

Mistakes are the portals of discovery.

When something tragic has happened, you'll find that you, the tragicee, become the person that has to make everything comfortable for everyone else.... As a tragicee and future divorcee, you'll also find that people will question you on the biggest decisions you've ever made in your life as though you hadn't thought about them at all before as though, through their twenty questions and dubious faces, they're going to shine light on something that you missed the hundredth time around during your darkest hours.

I know that. I just don't feel it sometimes. Over there I felt like I hadn't a care in the world. Things felt so good and it was almost as if every muscle in my body relaxed the moment I landed there. I haven't laughed so much in years. I felt like a 23-year-old, Steph. I haven't felt like that much lately. I know this probably sounds weird but I felt like the me that I could have been. I liked that I didn't have to look out for somebody else while I walked down the street. I didn't have the fifty near heart attacks per day that I usually get when Katie goes missing or puts something in her mouth that she shouldn't. I didn't have to dive onto the road and hold her back just in time from being hit by a car. I liked that I didn't have to give out, correct people on their pronunciation or make threats. I liked laughing at a joke without my sleeve being tugged at and being asked to explain. I liked having adult conversations without being interrupted to cheer and applaud a silly dance or the learning of a new word. I liked that I was just me, Rosie, not mummy, thinking just about me, talking about things I liked, going places I liked to go without having to worry about nappy changes, bottle feeding or sleepy-head tantrums. Isn't that awful?

I'm trying to make some sense out of the phrase "Everything happens for a reason," and I think I've figured out what the reason is - to pissed me off.

Conspiracy Game

He pulled away abruptly - self-preservation required it - and pressed his brow to hers, breathing deep. "You remember one thing. You decide you want to get married, it's going to be me."
Briony watched him stalk outside, slamming the kitchen door behind him. Both eyebrows raised, she turned to Ken.
"Close your mouth, honey. That's just Jack trying to be romantic and failing miserably. Don't let him get away with that shit either. If he's going to ask you, make him do it all they way. You know - down on one knee, looking stupid."
Briony nearly choked. "That's just mean, Ken."
He leaned close to her. "If you do it, Briony, tell me first so I can videotape it. I could blackmail him for the rest of his life."

"You just like to piss me off," Jack said.
"Well, there's that. On the other hand, we'll find out really fast just how much of a bastard you're going to be to live with your woman around. You get out of line, and I'll have to take you out behind the barn."
"We don't have a barn."
"I told you we needed a barn, damn it," Ken said. "You had to have a shop. It doesn't sound the same saying I'm taking you out behind the shop."

"I should have known you'd side with them. It's some sort of of male bonding thing to think women aren't capable of running their own lives."
He nuzzled the top of her head with his chin. "It's ego and sheer desperation. We have to keep you thinking we're the superior species."
"News flash, Jack - no women on the face of earth believes that anymore."
He trailed kisses down her cheek. "But men don't know women know that. We still live in our fantasy world, so don't muck  it up for us."

He glanced at Ken. "Why the hell does a women complete a family?"
Ken shrugged and exchanged a small smile with him. "I don't know, but let's keep her. She's mellowed you out, and I didn't think that was possible."
"I've always been mellow."

And of course I'm a chauvinist, but it isn't my fault."
"It isn't?"
"No, Jack was born first and I share his genes. I can't help it if he infected me inside the womb."
Briony burst out laughing. "I should have known that would be your excuse."

And Ken said I can't marry you."
Jack felt his heart jump in his chest. He glanced at his sleeping brother. "Did he say why?"
"Yes." She kept her voice sober. "He said you have to ask me properly."
Relief made him weak. His pulse beat at his temples, throbbed in his neck. For one moment his fingers closed in her hair in a tight fist. "Properly? If I ask, you might say no, so I'm thinking we'll just start off right and I'll tell you and we'll get the thing done."
"Get the thing done?" Briony echoed.
Ken snorted aloud. "Jack, I'll take over watch and you get some sleep. I think you fried your brain up there on the roof."
"Pipe down over there." Jack said. "You're already stirring up trouble."
"Get the thing done?" Briony repeated slowly. "The thing being what exactly?"
"The ceremony. The paperwork. Whatever the hell it takes to make it legal."
Briony sat up and glared at him. "Take your 'it' and shove it, Jack."
"There's no need to be getting upset, Briony. We can't exactly go around with a bunch of kids and not do whatever the hell it is one does to make it legal."
"Whatever the hell it takes to make what legal?"
He shrugged. "How the hell would I know? I've never done this before. Sleeping together I guess."
"So you are going to marry me so it's legal to sleep with me?"
"This isn't coming out right."
"You think?"
"Don't get upset, baby,. I don't understand why you're getting upset."

"I absolutely love you, Briony, and I am on my knees. So we're getting married - right? But say it fast before we get shot."
Only Jack would ask - if you could call it asking - in the middle of a battlefield, with a man lying dead at his feet.

Always a Scoundrel

Perhaps his next task should be to concoct an eighth deadly sin. Or he could work toward finding even a dozen. The devil knew he'd worn out the original seven.

"I don't want a well-ordered life.... I would die from boredom in a fortnight."
"So you intend to spend the remainder of your life whoring, drinking, wagering, and being as outrageous as you can manage?"
Bram shook himself. He made it a point to be serious as little as possible, and neither did he want to argue with two newly married men about the meruts of being leg-shackled."Please Phin," he said aloud. "I would never think so small. You know my ultimate goal is to lower the standards of morality enough that everything I do becomes acceptable.

Don't Tempt Me

He cleared his throat, "Zoe, I think you said you love me."
"I did say it. I do love you with all my heart."
"I see." There was a long pause, then he said, "For how long has this been going on?"
"I don't know," she said, "Sometimes I think it started a long, long time ago."
"You might have mentioned it."
"I didn't want to encourage it," she said, "I thought it was a bad idea."

Remember Me?

Our finger prints don’t fade from the lives we’ve touched

Slightly Wicked

     Sometimes she felt that her heart would ssurely break. But she knew that hearts did not literally break because their owners were unhappy - and foolish. How dreadfully foolish she had been. Yet she clung to the memories as to a lifeline.

"You are planning to marry Miss Law?" his brother asked.
"I am." Rannulf looked at him warily.
"She is," Wulfric said, "despite the plainness of her dress and severity of her hair, quiet extraordinarily beautiful. You have always had an eye for such women."
"There is no one to compare to Judith Law," Rannulf said. "But if you think I see nothing but her physical beauty, Wulf, you are wrong."
"She has been something of a damsel in distress," Wufric said, "in more ways than one. The gallant urge to ride to the rescue can sometimes be mistaken for love, I believe."
"She has never behaved like a victim," Rannulf assured him. "And I am not mistaken. If you are about to recite all the ways in which she is not an eligible bride for me, Wulf, you may save your breath. I know them all and they make no difference whatsoever to my feelings for her. I have position, money, and prospects enough that I do not need a wealthy bride."
His brother did not comment.
"I take it, then," Rannulf said after some moments of silence, "that I will not have your blessing, Wulf?"
"Is it important to you?"
Rannulf thought for a moment. "Yes," he said at last, "It is. You frequently infuriate me, Wulf, and I will never allow myself to be dominated by you, but I respect you perhaps more than I respect anyone else I know. You have always done your duty, and sometimes you go the extra mile for one of us even when it must be distasteful or tedious for you to do it. Like the time a month or two ago, when you went to Oxfordshire to help Eve and Aidan regain custody of her foster children - the orphans of a lowly shopkeeper. And like what you have done for me today. Yes your blessing is important to me. But I will marry Judith with or without it."
"You have it," Wulf said softly.

But parents, she supposed, were not the pinnacle of perfection their children thought or expected them to be. They were humans who usually did the best they could but often made the wrong choices.

Safe Harbor

"Son of a bitch, you're scary," he informed Jackson. "Where the hell did you get that look? Practicing in the mirror every day?"

"He worked at stealing her heart to replace the one she'd taken from him."

"Just remember who you belong to, Hannah. I wouldn't want to have to shoot anyone - or strangle you."
She leaned over to kiss his shoulder. "Why am I the one to be strangled?"
"It's a much more personal death."

"Sarah looked at Jonas. Instinctively she knew, if anyone was going to get Hannah through this, it would be Jonas - but who was going to get him through it?"

"Jonas. Their rock. Shattered into so many shards. Holding himself together through the sheer force of will."

"The house is made up of the spirits of our ancestors. Did you think they would lie idly by while we were under attack?"
"Cuz, yeah, didn't everybody's ancestors rise up and destroy enemies."

"I'm not going to say I can at least collect DNA samples," he muttered, "because every time I open my mouth, the evidence disappears."
With a little sigh, he watched te droplets of blood absorb into the wood and the window reform. "I have to tell you, I've seen some freaky shit around you girls, but nothing like this. I have just one question. Have you told your fiancees about this? Because quiet frankly it scares the hell out of me."
"You never have to be afraid, Jonas," Hannah assured. "The house judges intent."
"Hannah. Honey. Half the time my intent is to strangle you. And I don't doubt whoever ends up with Joley or Elle will want to do worse than that."

"Do you suppose we can take that as evidence? We could cut out the sections."
Jonas snorted, "You can try taking a saw to that house, but personally, I'm not about to get anywhere near it with anything resembling a weapon."

"Do you have a camera?" Jackson asked. "We could get some pictures and may be take a print or two if we're lucky."
Jonas shook his head. "We'd probably get a bunch of ghosts and that would just freak me out."

"Today's my wedding day, Mom," he said softly aloud. "I'm marrying the woman I always told you I would someday."

"It happened. It was frightening and horrible and we both wish it hadn't happened, but it did."

"She was temptation wrapped in casual elegance."

"Joley likes to be scared, and she can't watch them alone."
"I don't know how you can make that sound perfectly logical."

Slightly Scandalous

There had to be a reason why they were not going to marry. They had both been so adamant about it.
What the devil was the reason?