Lisa Kleypas quotes:

I will admit, I once launched myself at Julie Garwood for a hug, hoping some of her magic would rub off on me... and I have fangirl crushes on Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Linda Howard, and Kresley Cole, among many others.

Love is always a leap into the unknown. You can try to control as many variables, and understand a situation as you can, but you're still jumping off a cliff and hoping that someone catches you.

We all know that being able to express deep emotion can literally save a person's life, and suppressing emotion can kill you both spiritually and physically.

Opening up to the wrong person is like putting ammo in their hands.

I'd gone to Wellesley College, an amazing women's college where the students were encouraged to follow our dreams. However, after I graduated and had a historical romance published, more than a few people indicated that, in some way, my career choice was a 'waste' of so much education.

No matter what your profession is, it's good to scare yourself a little from time to time! It's crucial to keep challenging yourself and to learn from people who are more accomplished than you are.

We are hidiously rich Annabelle-- and I've got three older brothers, all unmarried. Would you consider one of them? If you like, I'll have one shipped across the Atlantic for your inspection." -Lillian Bowman

I have always been an obsessive reader - I remember going back and forth to the local library with stacks of books taller than I was.

It's the perfect solution. We argue all the time. We can't stand each other. It's like we're already married.

This is not Tolstoy. I don't want to know what critics and professors think of what I'm writing. It might hurt my feelings.

It was finally becoming clear to her that love wasn't about finding someone perfect to marry. Love was about seeing through to the truth of a person, and accepting all their shades of light and dark. Love was an ability.

I spent most of my youth hauling sides of beef and pork to my father's shop. Carrying you is far more enjoyable." "How sweet," Annabelle mumbled sickly, her eyes closed. "Every woman dreams of being told that she's preferable to a dead cow.

He wasn't mine anywhere except in my heart.

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.

Christopher heard a pair of women gossiping nearby, whispering in disapproving undertones. Ramsey was found flirting in a corner with a woman. They had to drag him away from her. Who was it? His own wife. Oh, dear.

Daisy," Westcliff said gently,"most lives are not distinguished by great achievements. They are measured by an infinite number of small ones. Each time you do a kindness for someone or bring a smile to his face, it gives your life meaning. Never doubt your value, little friend. The world would be a dismal place without Daisy Bowman in it."

Most lives are not distinguished by great achievements. They are measured by an infinite number of small ones. Each time you do a kindness for someone or bring a smile to his face, it gives your life meaning. Never doubt your value, little friend. The world would be a dismal place without you in it. (tweaked version of a passage from Scandal in Spring)"

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."

Thomas Bowman's toupee, alas, was never found. He was somewhat mollified by the gift of a very fine hat from Westcliff on Christmas day."

Most men don't seem to get that telling a pissed-off woman to calm down is like throwing gunpowder on a fire." ~ Liberty Jones"

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

One glance and I knew exactly who and what he was. The classic alpha male, the kind who had spurred evolution forward about five million years ago by nailing every female in sight. They charmed, seduced, and behaved like bastards, and yet women were biologically incapable of resisting their magic DNA.

No marriage stays in the same pattern forever. It is both the best feature of marriage and the worst, that it inevitably changes.

What kind of wedding would you like? he asked, and stole another kiss before she could reply.The kind that turns you into my husband. She touched the firm line of his mouth with her fingers. What kind would you like?He smiled ruefully. A fast one.

I'm not the marrying kind -St. Vincent snorted. No man is. Marriage is a female invention.

What do you mean, 'afterglow'?""God help me, I want to show you.""Then do," she said provocatively"Show me what an afterglow is, and when it's gone, we'll see if my feelings extend beyond physical desire.""That could be the worst idea I've ever heard.""One little afterglow," she coaxed"It shouldn't take too much effort. I already feel as if a thousand fireflies are dancing in my stomach.

Amberley never did that, at the end," she told him, her fingers playing in the hair on his chest.Gideon grinned suddenly at the reference to his last-second withdrawal"It's the coffeehouse method of contraception.""Coffeehouse?""You go in and out without ever spending anything," he explained, and she pushed against him with a muffled laugh...

It's just . . . I'd like you to find some nice guy with no weird fuckin' baggage."I had to laugh. My irritation vanished, and I reached over to pat his handIf you ever meet one," I said, "let me know."

A groundswell of silence moved between us.Trouble on the surface and even deeper currents beneath."

It's drugs, isn't it"? Tara was so innocent. She got pulled into that glamorous lifestyle with all her rich friends...all that cocaine dust floating around, she probably inhaled some by accident, and then -''There's no such thing as secondhand cocaine snorting, Mom."

I want you," he muttered. "Get rid of him and take me. The only risk is losing someone you don't have anyway. He's not what you need, Ella. I am" "Unbelievable," I said in disgust. "What's unbelievable?" "Your ego. It's surrounded by its own cloud of antimatter. You're a black hole of...of hubris!

If I were an opera singer, I"d have sung you an aria. If I were an artist, I would have painted your portrait. But cooking is what I'm best at.

Dad," I said hesitantly, "I wish you could be there for me even when I'm doing the wrong thing. I wish you could love me even when I'm screwing up.

I don't share my body heat indiscriminately.

I grew up being very shy, very much a bookworm, and I remember desperately wondering how to be accepted by the popular kids.

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.

Weddings are never about the bride and groom, weddings are public platforms for dysfunctional families.

I realized I wasn't going to find a man until I was willing to expose myself to possible harm, to assume the risks of rejection and betrayal and heartbreak that came along with caring about someone. Someday, I promised myself, I would be ready for that kind of risk.

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.

Getting to a higher spiritual level is like increasing your credit score. You get a lot more points for sinning and repenting than if you have no credit history at all.

Hardy was every loose-limbed cowboy in warn denim, every pair of blue eyes, every battered pickup, every hot cloudless day." -Liberty

And it occurred to me that friendship was a lot more dependable, not to mention long-lasting, than love.

Most lives are not distinguished by great achievements. They are measured by an infinite number of small ones. Each time you do a kindness for someone or bring a smile to his face, it gives your life meaning. Never doubt your value, little friend. The world would be a dismal place without you in it. (tweaked version of a passage from Scandal in Spring)

I lacked some essential skill for attracting people, for giving and receiving love easily. It meant too much to me. I seemed to be driving away the people I most wanted. Finally I had realized that getting someone to love you was like trying to coax a bird to perch on your finger . . . it wouldn't happen unless you stopped trying so hard.

Girlfriend, if you're waiting for a fairy godmother to show up with a dress and a ride, you're not going to make it to the party.

Falling hard and fast. And there didn't seem to be a thing I could do about it.

He liked cheap women, fast cars, late nights, and hard liquor, especially all together. In Jack's view, you are obliged to sin on Saturday night so you'd have something to atone for Sunday morning. Otherwise, you'd be putting the preacher out of business.

I've always thought it was about finding the right person. But it's about choosing the right person, isn't it?

You're surrounded by it wherever you go, you walk through it, breathe it...it's in your lungs and under your tongue and between your fingers and toes.

The situation was extraordinary. How someone like Evangeline Jenner could have wrought such a change in St. Vincent, the most worldly of men, was difficult to understand. However, Westcliff had learned that the mysteries of attraction could not always be explained through logic. Sometimes the fractures in two separate souls became the very hinges that held them together.

A good conversation always involves a certain amount of complaining. I like to bond over mutual hatreds and petty grievances.

My theory about meeting people,' he said,'is that it's better not to make a really good first impression. Because it's all downhill from there. You're always having to live up to that first impression, which was just an illusion.

I want to fill every part of you, breathe the air from your lungs and leave my handprints on your soul. I want to give you more pleasure than you can bear.

The look of experience suited him, especially because somewhere deep in those eyes, there still lurked a dangerous invitation to play. He had a quality of masculine confidence that was a thousand times more potent than mere handsomeness. Perfect goodlooks could leave you cold, but this kind of sexy charisma went straight to your knees. -Haven Travis

Because handsomeness is always accompanied by vanity.And I suppose ugliness is accompanied by a wealth of virtues?

She smiled at him, though her hazel-green eyes were wary beneath the brim of a sodden hat. Right at that moment, staring at her across the hall, Gideon Shaw, cynic, hedonist, drunkard, libertine, fell hopelessly in love.

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.

When I fell in love with you... It was nothing like I'd ever known before. It was nearly instant. I think I started falling for you, the moment you shook my hand... It was so powerful. I knew it was wrong, but it was addicting." - Jack Travis

There are some experiences in life they haven't invented the right words for.

He was unbelievably hard. Everywhere. He was in control, infinitely stronger, and he wanted me to know it. -Ella

I'm a big believer in putting things off, In fact, I even put off procrastinating. -Ella Varner

Asking an eight-year-old girl if something is a little over-the-top is like asking a Texan if there are too many jalapenos in the salsa. The answer is always no." -Liberty Jones

Love is always a leap into the unknown. You can try to control as many variables, and understand a situation as you can, but youre still jumping off a cliff and hoping that someone catches you.

The next time you face a room full of strangers . . . you might tell yourself that some of them are just friends waiting to be found.

Justine," Zoe said, "I don't want to curse anyone." "Of course you don't, you're much too nice. But I don't have that problem.

I've always started every day by going to the window for a glimpse of the sky. But now I won't have to." "Why not?" She asked softly. "Because I'll see the blue of your eyes instead." "How romantic you are," she murmured with a grin, kissing him gently. "But don't worry. I won't tell anyone.

Dating is like trying to make a meal out of leftovers. Some leftovers actually get better when they've had a little time to mature. But others should be thrown out right away, No matter how you try to warm them up, they're never as good as when they were new.

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.

I closed my eyes, thinking, Let me love you, Hardy, just let me.

Perhaps only those who had loved and lost could appreciate this magic.

Daisy has a unique spirit. A warm and romantic nature. If she is forced into a loveless marriage, she will be devastated. She deserves a husband who will cherish her for everything she is, and who will protect her from the harsher realities of the world. A husband who will allow her to dream." -Westcliff

She was aware of the movement of his lips as he pressed soundless words in her palm. He released her, and the look he gave her seemed to reveal the depths of his lustful, longing, bitter soul. "Good-bye, Miss Fielding," he said hoarsely.

I've needed someone like you for a long time. Now that I have you, no one is going to take you from me. Logan to Madeline

Nature had squandered an unreasonable quantity of male beauty on this undeserving creature.

He looked like a fallen angel, replete with all the dangerous male beauty that Lucifer could devise.

For God's sake, Marks, do you think anyone really wants a glance at those dried-up matchsticks you call legs?

...just a little touches her and there. He puts his hands on your arms or back, he stands close to you, getting you used to him... it's a mating ritual. Like March of the Penguins.

The sight of a sullen teenager is common no matter where you go. Teenagers want things so powerfully and can never seen to get them, and to add insult to injury, people make light of your feelings because you are a teenager. They say time will mend a broken heart and they're often right. But not where my feelings for Hardy were concerned.

I want you to admit just once what you feel for me. I want to know if you'll miss me even a little. If you'll remember me. If you're sorry for anything.

I think in a moment of weakness, you might surprise yourself.

I want morning and noon and nightfall with you. I want your tears, your smiles, your kisses...the smell of your hair, the taste of your skin, the touch of your breath on my face. I want to see you in the final hour of my life...to lie in your arms as I take my last breath.

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.

Because you need me," he said, drawing in his breath as she squirmed against him. "Just as I need you." He crushed his mouth to hers. "I've needed you for years." Another kiss, this one deep and drugging, his tongue searching her intimately

Scorpions are quite ruthless, you know. That is why Artemis bid one of them to kill her foe Orion. And as a reward she set the scorpion on up in the sky. I'm not ruthless. I merely do whatever it takes to achive my goals That's not ruthless?

The way glass can be molded or blown or cut into any kind of shape made me think about how we as people - our characters or souls - can be shaped or changed by outside influences.

God, it was good. Comforting and stimulating at the same time. Absolute world-class pheromones. I wished I could take his jacket home with me. Not him, just the jacket.

It's a mistake, you know. You have no idea what you'll be exposed to...the obscenities and lewd comments, the lecherous gazes, the groping and pinching...and that's just my house. Imagine what it would be like here.

Oh, I have a very pure soul. It's only my private parts that have gotten me into trouble".

Haven, don't ask me to define the boundaries of normal. You know how I was raised. My father once struck strands of his own pubic hair onto a painting and sold it for a million dollars.

I always counsel aspiring novelists that passion is the most important quality for a writer to possess - technique can be taught, but that relentless desire to write has to come from within.

The feeling of relinquishing responsibility to someone else, letting him take control, was a relief beyond words.

I think you'll have to marry me, Miss Fielding." "To save your reputation?" Derek grinned, bending to kiss the flash of pale throat revealed by the robe. "Someone has to make a respectable man of me.

It was a good hald minute before I looked over at Todd. his eyes were slightly foggy, like he was waking up- reluctantly- from a lascivious dream. "I didn't know they still made them like that," he said.... "Cool, tough, retro-manly. The kind who only cries if someone just ran over their dog. The big chested guy we can indulge our pathetic Daddy complexes with.

She shook her head as she confessed, "I want it so much, I'm afraid to hope." "Never be afraid to hope," Rohan said gently. "It's the only way to begin." -Rohan to Win

It was a good hald minute before I looked over at Todd. his eyes were slightly foggy, like he was waking up- reluctantly- from a lascivious dreamI didn't know they still made them like that, he said....Cool, tough, retro-manly. The kind who only cries if someone just ran over their dog. The big chested guy we can indulge our pathetic Daddy complexes with.

So are you bisexual? I had asked, and Todd had laughed at my insistence on labelI guess I'm bipossible, he had said.

Todd? Are you still there? Yeah. I'm just trying to think of a good reason to continue our friendship.I grinnedJealousy is so unattractive Todd.It would help if you could tell me one thing that's wrong. One flaw. Bad breath? Warts? Some condition that requires anti fungal spray?Would chest hair be a flaw?Oh, yeah. Todd sounded relieved. I can't stand a chest rug. You can't see the chest cut.

I, cruel to Marks? I'm the one you should worry about. After a conversation with her, I usually walk away with my entrails dragging behind me.

What kind of wedding would you like? he asked, and stole another kiss before she could reply.The kind that turns you into my husband. She touched the firm line of his mouth with her fingersWhat kind would you like?He smiled ruefullyA fast one.

...it was better to answer, no matter how ineptly, thank to withhold a reply. Because sometimes silence could wound someone nearly as badly as a bullet.

Coming to stand by her husband's side, Lara touched his arm tentatively.My lord, she said gratefullyThank you for protecting my sister. Thank you.He shot her a gaze of hot black intensityThank me in bed, he said, barely audible.Lara stared at him, startledNow? she whispered, feeling her cheeks prickle with heat. Hunter didn't reply, only continued to stare at her in that alarming way.

Annabelle was at the next table, seeming oblivious to the multitude of admiring masculine stares fastened on her. The men on either side of her were positively beaming at their good fortune at being seated next to such a ravishing companion, while Simon Hunt, located a few places away, regarded them with the baleful gaze of a very territorial male.

His thumb caressed the scarlet surface of her cheekFrom now on, Hannah, no matter what you say or do, I'm going to look at your mouth and remember how sweet you taste. A self-mocking smile curved his lips as he added quietly, Damn it.

A woman could do that to you - reach that place in your soul where the best and worst of you was kept. And once she was there, she owned that place and never left.

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.

Virtue in a woman is like pepper in the soup. A little makes for a nice seasoning. Butoverdo it, and no one wants very much of you.

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.

Most people don't have facades," Natalie said drily. "Oh everyone thinks they do, but when you dig below the facade, there is only more facade.

What kind of wedding would you like?" he asked, and stole another kiss before she could reply."The kind that turns you into my husband." She touched the firm line of his mouth with her fingers. "What kind would you like?"He smiled ruefully. "A fast one.

You're so full of it, darlin'.

The question, love, is whether you want me enough to take the risk.

A couple of times in your life, it happens like that. You meet a stranger, and all you know is that you need to know everything about him.

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.

If loneliness was a choice, what was the other option? To settle for second-best and try to be happy with that? And was that fair to the person you settled for?

My mistakes are usually so enjoyable that I tend torepeat them.

I tried to curl around him, holding him with my arching body. His mouth was slow and searching, the kisses hard at first, then loosening as if unraveling from their own heat. The pleasure thickened, hard flushes rising through me, bringing the desire to full-slip ripeness.

I love you, Marks. My heart is completely and utterly yours. And unfortunately for you, the rest of me comes with it.

I respect you," he murmured. "and your views. I think of you as an equal. I respect your brains, and all those big words you like to use. But I also want to rip your clothes off and have sex with you until you scream and cry and see God." -Jack Travis (Smooth Talking Stranger)

Who are you?""For you, Honey...I'm trouble.

Don't ever trust men with good intentions. They'll always disappoint you."Leo