The Proposal

- When one had once suffered a great hurt, there was always a weakness afterward, a vulnerability where there had been wholeness and strength before - and innocence.

- She had never believed in fate. She still did not. It would be nonsense of freedom of will and choice, and it was through such freedom that we worked our way through life and learned what we needed to learn.  But sometimes, it seemed to her, there was something, some sign, to nudge one along in a certain direction.  What one chose to do with that nudge was up to that person.

- "Why say something," he asked her, "if your words mean nothing?

- "Have you noticed," she asked him, "how standing still can sometimes be no different from moving backward? For the whole world moves on and leaves one behind."

- "Some things," she said, "are best not known for sure, Lord Trentham."

- He asked me not to kill myself - asked, not told. His wife had done that, he told me, and it was in a sense the ultimate act of selfishness since it left behind untold and endless suffering for those who had witnessed it and been unable to do anything to prevent it. And so I remained alive.

- I think it is more that the sea is a reminder of how little control we have over our own lives no matter how carefully we try to plan and order them. Everything changes in ways we least expect, and everything is frighteningly vast. We are so small.

- When we lash out at ourselves for having lost control, we are reminded that we never can be in total control, that all life asks of us is to do our best to cope with what is handed to us.

- Fear must be challenged, I have found. It is a powerful beast if it is allowed the mastery.

- He wished he understood women better. It was a well-known fact that they did not mean half of what they said.

- But which half did they mean?

- Hugo could cheerfully have died of mortification - if such a mass of contradictions had been possible.
- "I came," he said.
Good Lord! If there were an orator-of-the-year award, he would be in dire danger of winning it.

- Why was it that silence sometimes felt like a physical thing with a weight of its own?

- Youthful dreams are precious things. They ought not to be dashed as foolish and unrealistic just because they are young dreams. Innocence ought not to be destroyed from any callous conviction that a realistic sort of cynicism is better.

- One cannot try marriage. Once one is in, there is no way out.

- "Stanbrook once told me," he said, "that suicide is the worst kind of selfishness, as it is often a plea to specific people who are left stranded in the land of the living, unable for all eternity to answer the plea

- He offered his arm and she took it. And the world was the same place.
And forever different.

- "That is the excitement of life," he said when he was finished. "The not knowing. It is often best not to know.

- "I do not believe there is right or wrong," he said. "there is only doing what one must do under given circumstances and living with the consequences and weaving every experiences, good and bad, into the fabric of one's life so that ultimately one can see the pattern of it all and accept the lessons life has taught.

- People, especially some religious people, would have us believe that it is wrong, even a sin, to love oneself. It is not. It is the basic, essential love. If you do not love yourself, you cannot possibly love anyone else. Not fully and truly.

- You will find that wanting, even loving, is not enough.

- There is no such place as the promised land, but it would be foolish to reject even an unpromised land as worthless without first inspecting it thoroughly.

- It was what remained to a relationship after the first euphoria of the romance had faded.

- Your sense of guilt will linger. It will always be part of you. but sharing it, allowing people to love you anyway, will do you the world of good. Secrets need an outlet if they are not to fester and become an unbearable burden.

If You Could See Me Now

Life is made up of meetings and partings. People come into your life everyday, you say good morning, you say good evening, some stay for a few minutes, some stay for a few months, some a year, others a whole lifetime. No matter who it is, you meet and then you part.

"I'm so glad I met you Elizabeth Egan; I'll thank my lucky stars for that. I think I wished for you all of my life" He whispered. "But now it is time for us to part."

The important thing is not what we look like, but the role we play in our best friend's life.

Friends choose certain friends because that's the kind of company they are looking for at that specific time, not because they're the correct height, age, or have the right hair color.

When you drop a glass or a plate to the ground it makes a loud crashing sound. When a window shatters a table leg breaks or when a picture falls off the wall it makes a noise. But as for your heart when that breaks it's completely silent. You would think as it's so important it would make the loudest noise in the whole world or even have some sort of ceremonious sound like the gong of a cymbal or the ringing of a bell. But it's silent and you almost wish there was a noise to distract you from the pain. If there is a noise it's internal. It screams and no one can hear it but you. It screams so loud your ears ring and your head aches. It thrashes around in your chest like a great white shark caught in the sea it roars like a mother bear whose cub has been taken. That's what it looks like and that's what it sounds like a thrashing panicking trapped great big beast roaring like a prisoner to its own emotions.

But that's the thing about love no-one is untouchable.

I felt that my views and philosophies had been changed overnight. The philosophies that I had gladly carved in stone, recited and danced upon.

The more you try to simplify things the more you complicate them. You create rules, build walls, push people away, lie to yourself and ignore true feelings. That is not simplifying things.

That's the thing about lessons, you always learn them when you don't expect them or want them. There is no advice that I can give you, you will just have to trust yourself that when the time comes, you'll make the right decision.

Children are the ones that know exactly what's going on in the world, you know. They 'see' more than adults, 'believe' in more, are honest, and will always, 'always' let you know where you stand.

Sighs and silences and avoided conversations are just as important as the things you do talk about.

Life's kind of like a painting. A really bizarre, abstract painting. You could look at it and think that all it is, is a blur. And you could continue living your life thinking that all it is, is just a blur. But if you really look at it, really see it, focus on it, and use your imagination, life can become so much more. The painting could be of the sea, the sky, people,buildings, a butterfly on a flower, or anything except the blur you were once convinced it was.

Well I think its quite obvious that if you're going to rely on something to carry your wishes, you might as well know where exactly it has come from and where it intends on going.

Not like a heart, which let people in without permission, held them in a special place she never had any say in and then yearned for them to remain there longer than they planned.

If you can't put magnolia on a wall then there are always a million other colors you can use, if you can't pay your phone bill then just write letters telling them. I'm not playing down the importance of these things, yes you need money for food, yes you need food to survive, but you also need sleep to have energy, to smile to be happy, and to be happy so you can laugh, just so you don't keel over with a heart attack.

People forget they have options. And they forget that those things really don't matter. They should concentrate on what they have and not what they don't have. And by the way, wishing and dreaming doesn't mean concentrating on what you don't have, it's positive thinking that encourages hoping and believing, not whining and moaning.

Alone because love was one of those feelings that you could never have control of. And she needed to be in control. She had loved before, had been loved, had tasted what it was
to dream, and had felt what it was to dance on air. She had also learned what it was to cruelly land back on the earth with a thud.

Having to take care of her sister's child had sent her love away and there had been no one since. She had learned not to lose control of her feelings again.

A Belated Bride

In fact, you could almost hold that no man is perfect until he meets the right woman.

Her Master And Her Commander

As I reach my thirtieth year of service as a butler in a gentleman’s household, I find myself looking back. Between my secret recipe for boot blacking (an indispensable tool for a butler), and a vastly superior method to remove wine stains from velvet (which some will erroneously hold to be an impossibility), I find my memories salted with some faint wisdoms, a few tested experiences, and many, many interesting stories.

Mother always said he was like a lake, calm on the surface though a powerful current rumbled beneath. Tristan, meanwhile, was the ocean, his feelings frothed and foamed on the surface, crashing like waves into every situation.

Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon?

Credits goes to: Semanti, kebangayehotummerekhuda, arshi-obsessed, arshi-holic, jopehlehuana, and myself(forgivemydevilishmind)! :D

Thank you guys! Without your contribution, this compilation would not have been possible! I am still working on updating it. So you have any quotes to add, leave it on my tumblr, or leave in the comment's box below. And I'll give you credit for it!

Promo: Some relationships are tied in a strange knot. They begin with conflict and thrive in the shadow of hate. They stumble, they fall, but they remain intact. The hatred intensifies and the knot tightens further— until one day, even hate seems weary of going any further, and that relationship is reduced to a mere bond. But only of hatred. Sometimes, it seems as though, among all that hate, there is something, that whispers to me, to give this unheard, unknown, unspoken feeling, just one chance. But when a relationship’s very basis is hatred, wouldn’t it be naïve to expect anything from it? But perhaps I have given in to this naïve, foolish hope. Otherwise, despite all the hatred, why do I think of you, remember you? Why, after I fight with you, argue with you and you leave, do my eyes seek you? Why do I speak of you to the flighty winds?

ASR: Do you remember Di, you always told me that a girl would step into my life without whom, I wouldn't be able to breathe? Khushi is that girl Di-- without whom, I feel as though I might just stop breathing.

ASR: You're so intelligent! What was the last thing you said?
ASR: I don't think I'm required where my wife is not permitted to go.

Khushi: So what? Is there a tax to look at Arnav Singh Raizada?
ASR: Arnav Singh Raizada never misses his mark.
ASR: Money is not my passion; it is my profession. 
ASR: In business only one thing matters - money. Life had taught me a long time ago that even if you have conscience you have to kill it. 
 Anjali: You will break our home?

ASR: Give me the answers in the right way, or I know how to ask questions the other way.
Khushi: There is a limit to even misbehaving.

If God really existed, there wouldn't be anything called pain in the world. Whoever has money, in this world, has the ultimate power.

Such decisions are best taken by following your heart, not by thinking with your mind. 

ASR: When I am talking, don’t turn away from me before I finish what I was saying.

Don’t take any such step in haste in your today which may lead you to regret forever.

Just remember, you can never take back an arrow that has been shot, or the words you that you sprout. 

ASR: Relax Di, it’s just a shooting star. Nothing to be so happy about.

I very well understand this 4-lettered emotion… whether it’s a matter of weeks or years… love is love after all! 

Khushi: Wedding night?
Arnav: Yeah. That one. Khushi, we'll have to complete all the rituals but we'll start backwards. We'll start with the wedding night. What do you say? Come.

ASR: It was our home Di. It's not anymore. 
Anjali: This is what I have been trying to explain to you for so long. But you are still standing there. A fifteen year old Arnav, while comforting his Di, slowly suffocated inside. He didn't even let his tears show in front of his Di. But for how long Arnav?
ASR: Di you are stuck in old days. Arnav Singh Raizada had left those days so far behind. And with his own effort he had even changed the times. 

ASR: You should have made mistakes only after looking at your status.

ASR: I haven't even started misbehaving.  

Promo: Why can’t I stay away from even when I try to?
Maybe my heart calls for you.
But all I can see in your eyes is hatred.
Because the hurt in them masks the love.

ASR: Arnav Singh Raizada makes his own fate and writes his own destiny

ASR: Why do I care if she is leaving? I don’t want to think, I want to forget. So why do my mind keep going back to her?

ASR: Sorry Di, that’s the difference between you and me. I never make decisions emotionally. 
Anjali: But you fall in love with your heart, not by calculating pros and cons. Love just happens. When you look at her, you can’t keep your eyes off her. If she is upset, you can’t enjoy anything. Being away from her bothers you a lot. 
ASR: Di I don’t want to waste talking about stuff like this.
Anjali: One day you will. One day you will like wasting time on these very things. Because…
ASR: Ya Di, I know because according to you one day a girl will come into my life looking at who I would forget everything. After whose arrival etcetera, etcetera, etcetera will occur. Now can I leave?
One more thing Di, if such a day comes when such a girl comes into my life  then I will stay hell away from her because I live my life through my mind, not with the heart.
Anjali: That won’t be able to do
ASR: Why?
Anjali: Because if you walk away from her, you will stop breathing!
ASR: You are unbelievable Di! I mean, I will stop breathing? I’ll go. Or if I keep listening to you my breaths will surely stop. Okay?

Anjali: You keep quiet. Okay quickly make a wish!
ASR: Di I don’t want anything nor do I want ask anyone for anything.  I don’t believe in such things. And what will that star that is itself being diminished grant me something? If such things were true, then the star would have wished for itself.
Anjali: Chote, chote, so what if you don’t want to ask something for yourself, I can ask it for you. Let him always be happy.  Let someone come into his life who can completely remove the pan in his heart forever.  

Sometimes you are caught in circumstances where everyone makes you a target of ridicule, only because you are different from everyone…

ASR: Words of self-respect always come cheap, but money is very expensive…

Shyam: It’s not just a city, think of it as a heart, that beats at everything that’s beautiful… 

Random Guy: you can't change the rules like that.
ASR: Too bad I just did.

ASR: Welcome to hell

Anjali: Just wait and one day a girl will come in your life without whom your heart will stop beating.  Without whom you will lose the will to live. You will feel as if you won't be able to breathe if you don’t get her. When she will come in your life, you will not even realize how she would become a part of it! 

Whatever I say to you, you will remain who you are. And you are the one who was brave enough to stand up to ASR. You are the one who not only owned up to your mistake, but also tried to rectify it.

Khushi: You didn’t know? How could that happen? You should know everything, since you think you are God!

Khushi: Khushi Kumari Gupta has had heard enough. Now it’s your turn to listen. And if you are not used to it, then better get used it. Get used to the fact that money alone doesn’t buy you the right to talk. Get used to the fact that a person’s identity is not decided by his status alone… Get used to the fact that today, a low-class girl, a lower status girl, is being audacious enough to tell you that not just your anger, but your entire life is based on wrong principles… 
Khushi: What do you think, I can’t feel pain? I don’t have any self-respect? I don’t have a family? Your personal life is personal life, and I don’t have a life at all?

Khushi: I would rather fall, than be saved by the likes of you.

ASR: I had told you before I create my own destiny. Whatever happens to me is what I want to happen. And not only mine… I also write other’s destiny.

Anjali: Why are you bothering her so much?
ASR: I don’t know Di.

Anjali: You've already made your destiny Chote. But amidst all this, you are losing yourself. Why is it that you are not being able to portray in your expressions, what is truly in your heart? Why don't you want to accept that you are worried about Khushi? Whatever you did, you cared for her. This mask that you are donning, of the cruel Arnav Singh Raizada, I can see beyond that mask and I find my Chote behind it.

I don’t think of myself as something else, because I know who I am. And I am happy with however I am. But you should someday look into a mirror and ask yourself, do you recognize yourself? If you could, you wouldn’t hide your locket…

Khushi: Damn you… and damn your job!

Khushi: But you seem to have forgotten Mr. Arnav Singh Raizada, that with every right comes a responsibility, and the minute you shirked your responsibility, my duty and your right ceased to exist!

Khushi: Because I know the price on this contract. But according to me, my name on that contract is far more valuable than the price you have put on it.

Khushi: So to answer your question, yes, Mr. Arnav Singh Raizada, I am fine now. And in the next few minutes I will feel even better because I have decided to quit this job. So listen, Mr. Raizada I am fine, not because of you but in spite of you!

Khushi: You are a bad loser Mr. Raizada because even after losing, you will never accept that you were at fault!

ASR: Until yesterday her talking vexed me, but then why am I unable to tolerate her silence today? What is wrong with me?

Anjali: That’s why I don’t tire telling Chote, that you need to be careful of every step you take in life. You never know when you can get stained and not every stain can be wiped out so easily…
ASR: Why, for the first time do I feel like I did something wrong? I am right. What I am doing is right. Then why, why do I keep thinking of her… of her face? No, I cannot feel bad, especially not for her. Arnav Singh Raizada doesn’t get affected by any girl!

ASR: She's a little crazy, but cute!

ASR: I will break each and every thing, so that the sound of each breaking thing will open your ears, and you will listen to what I have to say

Khushi: You hate me, my low status don’t you? You don’t want to see me do you? Then get happy, because I am going out of your sight forever. I am going to Lucknow… forever!

Khushi: How would I know that this Laad Governor prowls out to trouble others on Sundays too?

Life is not a video player, that you press the rewind button and correct your mistake

The arrow that’s left the bow and the word that’s left the tongue can never be taken back

Khushi : Khushi
ASR : Crazy
Khushi : Arnav
ASR : me
Khushi : love
ASR : trust
Khushi : relationship
ASR: solid

This pain has been given by someone else… but what about that wound which is not visible?

ASR: Arnav Singh Raizada is not so weak that he cannot get rid of a girl’s thoughts from his head. She’s cast in my mind like a shadow. Again and again her thoughts, her face keeps floating to my mind, as if challenging me… No, I am not one to accept defeat!

ASR: Emotions, feelings… don’t have any place in my life, and nor will I ever let them make a place.

ASR: You are a part of my past which is over and now, Khushi Kumari Gupta is nothing more than just a name for me!

Khushi: All this – cutting the cake, giving gifts, having a party - all of this is superficial. The real thing is the unbreakable bond of a relationship. A relationship between a husband and wife, that doesn’t need any rituals and customs or spending of a lot of money. Its strength lies in the eyes of the partners, in their silences and in bringing a smile on their faces even in times of adversity.

ASR: I am asking you something. You said you will go back to Lucknow, you will never come back. Then what are you doing here?
Khushi: I was helpless then… and now as well.

Khushi: You are being insolent.
ASR: Because you don’t seem to understand any language other than insolence.

Nani: On one side is Khushi - so intelligent, so matured. Every word spoken is measured, every step taken is well thought out.

ASR: It’s not okay… I am rude to the rest of the world… but never to you. My anger is justified for everybody else, but never for you. I have nothing to do with this world, my real world is only you!

ASR: Arnav Singh Raizada never apologizes to anybody!

ASR: I will wait for you tomorrow morning, and I know that you will come.

ASR: I don’t believe in that idol and its signs, and if for this your god wants to open the skies and strike me down with lightning… I will wait for it!

Khushi: I was eight years old when my mom and dad died in an accident. Back then, I didn’t even what dying meant. So for a long time I thought they have gone somewhere, they will come back…

Khushi: Even to this day I feel that my mom and dad have become stars, so I always hang stars on my bed where I sleep. Even today, I am scared of speeding cars, I am scared of sleeping alone, I am scared of the darkness. So many years have passed, but even to this day I feel as if all this is a nightmare. I will wake up one day and they will come back…

ASR: Do you know how it feels when you light your mother’s pyre with your own hands? How it feels when you return home after burning your parents? How it feels to step into that house, where you know they will never return? How it feels when everyone says they understand what you feel, but nobody understands anything!

ASR: Akash didn’t even broach the topic of marriage! So you two sisters can stop dreaming at daylight. Akash, right? Tell me you didn’t bring up marriage.
Khushi: Why are you getting in the middle of this?
ASR: I’ll never let my brother getting married to your sister.
Khushi: When did I say I will let my sister marry into your family? No offense Mr. Akash, this no is just for him. I’ll get hundreds of grooms for my sister. 
ASR: Then start looking because I have no wish to turn my brother into a sweet maker!
Khushi: Well I have no wish to keep my sister under the likes of such a atrocious ruler! The English went away, but left you behind!

ASR: If anything happens to my brother because of you..
Payal: Where is he?
ASR: I saw him going to Scandal Point
Payal: What? If you saw him leave, why didn’t you stop him? What kind of brother are you??
ASR: What do I say now?

Preparations for the ceremony are done only by family members. And didn’t I just tell you, that I abhor people who provide false consolation. Today is very important for me, and I absolutely dislike it that I have to see your face on this day.

You have only two options
I take the third one

What the f-
You can say what the two three more time. but after that you have to listen to me.

Enough. Before you say anything else just remember who it is that you are besmirching. She is my wife. And we will never tolerate if anyone speaks like that about any of the Raizada brides.
You are a guest here. We want to give you respect and we expect the same from you.
Oh so then why don't you enlighten us why you got married so quickly?
I don't think it's important to tell you that.

Chote! The way you spoke to the guests today-
I dont think there was anything wrong with it.

Khushi is my wife and the daughter-in-law of this house. I wouldn't accept it if anyone talks about any of this family's member in such a disrespectful way. And if this happens again, I will talk the way I talked today. We got married and it is a legal relationship. I don't see any problem with that. And if someone does have a problem with it, it's not my problem.

Shut up Khushi
Well I would remain shut up because you will be the one who is talking.

This means you wouldn't tell the truth?
Do I need to explain it in another language for you?

And this is Khushi Raizada
Its Khushi Kumari Gupta Singh Raizada

Do you think by doing all these I'll come home with you?
Yes. You will come home with me.

If in two hours you are not back in Shantivaan, my name is not Arnav Singh Razaida.
Then think of a new name. You have two hours left.

Khushi return the papers
Not in this lifetime!

You always make matters worse, first, and then fix it.
Because I always do what I think is right.

If you want these papers, you have to swim across (the pool) to get them.
I can walk around it too!

Listen, I'll jump! I swear it on y father that I will jump.
Its a three foot deep pool. You won't drown!

Well even if I didn't drown, your divorce papers certainly drowned in your pool. Only in three foot deep water.

So what, the house can change, but I am still me. And Holi is still Holi

Who are you talking to?
To myself. Who else will I talk to?
Have you gone crazy?
Since childhood
Right.
You didn't know?

It's going to take me a while to choose colors for everyone else but I have already decided on a color for you. Do you know which one?
Black!!

You love playing business-business, right? Sign here, sign there.

I haven;t written a date in there, but I will return your money to you.
Thank you.

This girl will drive me nuts

Chote, you never used to play Holi before.
Anjali dear, there are many things Chote never did before, that he does now..

I am telling the truth Nani, when we were alone -
Khushi nobody needs to know what we do when we are alone.

You think you are clever? I am cleverer than you. Look. What, you forgot how to speak? Don't worry I'll say it on your behalf, "What the- what the- what the- what the-

Khushi is so beautiful, right? She is beautiful. She is a bit crazy, but she is cute. Her hair, her eyes, her smile...

One Good Earl Deserves A Lover

Temptation turns you. It makes you into something you
never dreamed, it presses you to give up everything you
ever loved, it calls you to sell your soul for one, fleeting
moment.

They were forced to remember, however, when the
doors to the church opened, and half the aristocracy
poured out into the grey April morning, desperate and
finally, finally able to gossip about the most important part
of the double wedding - one missing bride - only to
discover the lady in question was not missing at all.
Indeed, she was right outside the church. In the arms of a
man to whom she was not affianced.
Ignoring the collective gasp of their audience, Cross
kissed the tip of her nose and rectified the situation. Jasper
Arlesey, Earl Harlow lowered himself to one knee and,
in front of all the world, proposed to his brilliant,
bespectacled bluestocking.

“I do hope we shall meet again. Perhaps we could have a reading club of some sorts. I 've read that one." She leaned in. "Have you reached the part where Mr. Darcy proposes?"
Asriel narrowed his gaze on Cross. "She did that on purpose."
Pippa shook her head. "Oh, I did not ruin it. Elizabeth refuses." She paused. "I suppose I did ruin that. Apologies.”

“But there, in that remarkable room, surrounded by a laughing, rollicking, unseeing collection of London's brightest and wickedest, Pippa's knowledge of anatomy expanded."

"It seemed there was such a thing as a broken heart.”

The Season

:Men are not nearly as evolved as women are, nor as intelligent, evidently.

:Let me be clear. Last I was aware you were neither my husband nor my father nor my King. Therefore, any control you may imagine you hold over me is just that- imaginary

Do you think me horselike, my lord?
:Realizing the threat to his personage, Blackmoor wiped the smile from his face and replied, "Not at all. I said I think you charming."
"A fine start."
"And I appreciate your exuberance." His eyes glittered with barely contained laughter.
"Like that of a child." Hers sparkled with irritation.
"And, of course, you are entertaining."
"Excellent. Like the aforementioned child's toy."
He couldn't hide a chuckle. "Not at all. You are a far better companion than any of the toys I had as a child."
"Oh, I am most flattered."
"You should be.  I had some tremendous toys."

:"You realize that is you allow me to court you, all your opposition to marriage is going to have to be reconsidered."
She smiled, feigning innocence. "What opposition to marriage?"
"Excellent."

:"But I'm thinking we should have a long courtship."
"Why?" He looked surprised.
"Because I find I've developed a taste for adventure."
"That sounds dangerous. Not at all in character for a delicate flower."
She laughed. "We know I've never been good at being a delicate flower. Besides, it shan't be too dangerous."
"How can you be so sure?"
She smiled brilliantly at him, taking his breath away. "Because, on my next adventure, I'll have you by my side."

:I do not traditionally speak ill of women, but your governess is a cabbagehead.

:"How do we get into Blackmoor's study? Did you climb in?"
"No, he lifted me in."
"Hmm. Right, then. Vivi will have to give us a boost up."
"She will, will she?" from the booster in question.
"Well, how else do we sneak in?"
"I rather thought that we could knock on the front door and have Bingham let us in," Alex said matter-of-factly, referencing Blackmoor's ancient butler, as she led the trio around the corner of the house and toward the main entrance.
"What? We can't do that!" Ella stopped, indignant.
"Whyever not?" Vivi asked, following Alex. "It seems a perfectly acceptable way to enter. In fact, I believe I've been entering houses that way for my entire life."

:This new world was already turning her into a cabbagehead, and she'd only been a part of it for an evening.

:She looked up at him and said,"What did you say?"
"You have beautiful eyes."
"You told my father that he has beautiful eyes?"
He smiled. "No. You distracted me. I told your father that, while I was very grateful for the lesson, I doubt I would ever need of it again- because I was planning to court only one woman in my lifetime."

:"The Prince shall think you the most beautiful lady he's ever seen."
Alex replied wryly, "Let's hope that's not the case, Eliza. History teaches us that things never end well when royalty set their eyes on 'the most beautiful lady' they've ever seen. Have a care; if you perform your tasks too well, I could be haunting the Tower of London without a head, alongside Anne Boleyn."

:Perhaps tonight you'll meet someone who'll make you want it that much."
Alex rolled her eyes at the idea. "It's a night at Almack's, Eliza, not an enchanted ball. Let's not get too carried away."

:"I really don't think anyone can blame us for wanting no part of the marriage mart if she is already the belle of the ball," Ella said. "My mother even had the audacity to ask me earlier if I didn't think I should have a gown made like hers! Lord deliver me from the London season."

:"Silly girl ... because chasing you makes for more of a challenge -- and more of a reward."
Alex offered an amused snort. "I assure you, my lord. Considering my feelings about being 'caught,' I would provide little, if any, reward."

:"Enlighten me, Lord Blackmoor, how should I be wooed, as you put it? I am intrigued by your obvious expertise."
He was quick to respond, "You're too vibrant for them. Too strong. You have a sharp mind and an exciting personality and an unexpected sense of humor. If these men were half the man you deserve, they would have already recognized all those things and they would be romancing you accordingly. They would be working to intrigue and amuse and inspire you -- just as you do them. And they would know that only when they have won your mind will they even have a chance at winning your heart."
The room felt much warmer all of a sudden, and Alex resisted the urge to fan herself, trying to ignore the rapid increase in her pulse as color flooded her cheeks. In the silence that followed his impassioned speech, Gavin stood and walked over to her. A cocky grin spread across his face. "That's how I write to the women I hope to interest, Alex."

:everyone who sees us -- especially Stanhope, who has been friends with us both for years -- knows we're just out for a ride. Not out for a ride."
He looked at her, shaking his head in confusion. "Women truly are strange and unknowable creatures.

:"So, are you... intrigued ... by Stanhope?"
"Intrigued by him?"
"Indeed. Do you find him ..." he paused.
"Intriguing?" she teased.
He sent her an exasperated look.

:"She can't force us to go to the ball. We're grown men, for Lord's sake!"
Will cocked an eyebrow at his younger brother. "You don't think she can force us? We are speaking of the same mother, correct? Small frame, enormous will?"

:"So what's your second suggestion?"
"Tread lightly."
"That's it? That's the best advice you can give me?"
"All right, tread very lightly.