The Secret Mistress Quotes

“He knew he was alive when he was with her, whatever the devil that meant.
Whatever the devil it did mean, it made all the difference.
And he was not even sure what that meant.”
― Mary Balogh, The Secret Mistress

“(Edward describing Angeline's bonnet)
"Then it is overbright and those colors should never been seen togther upon the same person, not to mention the same garment ." he said. "And it actually suits you perfectly. It suits your character.”
― Mary Balogh, The Secret Mistress

“Tell me, Lady Angeline, is there a color not represented in your rather splendid riding hat? It would be a shame if there were. It would be sitting all alone on a palette somewhere, feeling rejected and dejected.”
― Mary Balogh, The Secret Mistress

“May intelligent, bookish ladies sometimes be reformed?" he asked her.
She thought about it.
"I suppose it may be within the bounds of possibility," she said, "even if not of probability.”
― Mary Balogh, The Secret Mistress

“Eunice Goddard," he said, all pretense of sleepiness gone from his eyes, "will you marry me? I have no flowery speech prepared and would feel remarkably idiotic delivering it even if I had. Will you just simply marry me, my love? Because I love you? Will you take the risk? I am fully aware that there is a risk. I can only urge you to take a chance on me while I promise to do my very best to love and cherish you for the rest of my days and even perhaps beyond them.”
― Mary Balogh, The Secret Mistress

“You still do not quite understand, do you?" she said softly. "I do not want you to change. I fell head over ears in love with you the first time I saw you just because you are who you are.”
― Mary Balogh, The Secret Mistress

“But really there was no hurry. It is time to love, he had said downstairs. And time was not always just one second long or even one minute or one hour. Those were artificial divisions, imposed by humankind. Time was infinite. And it was time to love...

...Even infinity had an end. They had loved. And somehow having loved was quite as beautiful as loving. For of course there was no real end to it. Infinity might have an end, but love did not.”
― Mary Balogh, The Secret Mistress

“Was something worth having, though, if it didn't present a challenge?”
― Mary Balogh, The Secret Mistress

“This was it. This was what she had longed for throughout the lonely years of her girlhood.
Suddenly she felt lonelier than she had ever felt.
And so excited she could barely breathe,
Tresham stepped up beside her, drew her arm through his again, set his free hand lightly over hers, and said not a word.
She had never loved him more.”
― Mary Balogh, The Secret Mistress

“ Why , instead of teaching her poetry and drama and needlework, had her governesses not taught the most important lesson anyone could learn - that life was really not going to be easy after one was free of the schoolroom?”
― Mary Balogh, The Secret Mistress

“You just have not...oh, learned who yo are yet.”
― Mary Balogh, The Secret Mistress

“I would not wish to deny you your dreams. But have a care. They can be dashed in one impulsive moment.”
― Mary Balogh, The Secret Mistress

“Why would I wish to marry you? Perhaps it is your looks, which utterly charm me. Or your wit, which seduces me. Or your mind, for which I feel a powerful, unbridled lust. Or perhaps it is the simple fact that I like you, that I enjoy talking with you and being with you, that I enjoy kissing you and would love nothing better than to do a great deal more than kiss you. Or perhaps it is that I have a hankering to see what you will look like and to know what you will be like at the age of thirty and forty and fifty and on upward until death do us part. Or perhaps I am curious to discover what sort of babies we may create together. Or perhaps it is that I have never, ever entertained these thoughts before in connection with any woman or even not in connection with any specific woman. I believe I must be in love with you, Eunice. Head over ears. Is that the correct expression?”
― Mary Balogh, The Secret Mistress

“I fully intend to cherish any lady I marry, to cultivate a friendship with her, to grow fond of her, to protect and defend her, to give her my time and attention whenever I am able, to remain faithful to the vows I make to her. Is that not what love is?”
― Mary Balogh, The Secret Mistress

“They talked about books. Angeline and her friends favored novels, but only if they had happy endings. They were all agreed upon that. "I can tolerate soaking a dozen handkerchiefs while I am reading a book," Maria said on behalf of them all,"but I absolutely cannot abide weeping at the end unless it is with happiness. What is the point of sad stories? They ought not to be allowed. Or there ought at least to be a warning on the covers, and then no one would bother reading them and getting depressed by them.”
― Mary Balogh, The Secret Mistress

“I think she is the most beautiful creature I have ever set eyes upon”
― Mary Balogh, The Secret Mistress

“Besides," he said, "I had another reason for coming, one that will delight you, I believe, as you have been pestering me for years. I wanted you to meet Miss Goddard, the lady I plan one day soon, when the setting and the atmosphere are quite perfect, to ask to marry me. It is time, you see, to do that most dreaded of all things to men, though suddenly it does not seem so dreadful after all. Indeed, it seems infinitely desirable. It is time to settle down."
He smiled sleepily at Eunice, who gazed briefly and reproachfully back at him, eyebrows raised, her cheeks pink, before wishing his mother a happy birthday.”
― Mary Balogh, The Secret Mistress

“Had she read any good books lately? At all? She could tell him that she was going to take out a subscription at the library tomorrow because she was feeling starved of good reading material and could he recommend anything that she might not already have read?”
― Mary Balogh, The Secret Mistress

“But there really was no hurry. It is time to love, he had said downstairs. And time was not always just one second long or even one minute or one hour. Those were artificial divisions, imposed by humankind. Time was infinite. And it was time to love.”
― Mary Balogh, The Secret Mistress