That Scandalous Summer Quotes

“And really, was there anything so demoralizing as meeting a former lover? Never did a woman have more cause to doubt her judgment than when confronted with the pathetic evidence of what she had once somehow found appealing.”
― Meredith Duran, That Scandalous Summer

“He sneers so regularly that I suspect he shaves his mustache only to spare his nose the whisker burn.”
― Meredith Duran, That Scandalous Summer

“She let herself be had. With two women in the room behind her and her staff wandering the halls, she relaxed into his hold and returned his kiss. He tasted of the tea, of the sweetness of sugar; he tasted like a very bad idea that she would soon regret, but not now. Never now, while he kissed her yet.
His hand skimmed down her body, shaping her breast. She opened her eyes and discovered him watching her, so blue his eyes were, and his palm over her stiffening nipple suddenly seemed to carry a message, too. The audacity of his touch, paired with the frank boldness of his look, made her laugh from sheer delight.
She felt him grin against her mouth. His hand slipped farther yet, seizing her by the waist and pulling her more solidly against him. Her joints felt like melting waxworks, incapable of supporting her. She flung her arms around him and let him have all of her weight—and hit the wall harder yet as he stepped straight into her. Now she was doubly pinned, the tight, taut planes of his body as unyielding as the plaster behind her.
Again he kissed her, harder yet, as though trying to convince her of something. What? What was the aim of his persuasion? She kissed him back eagerly, for did he not see? She was already convinced. She found his hair, soft and a touch too long, where it brushed against his collar. The skin beneath was hot and smooth. Her palm wrapped around his nape, and as she gripped him, she shuddered. This need felt elemental. Like hunger or thirst.
From the entry hall far below came the sound of voices. They froze. Her eyes snapped open. His were so very, very blue.
Someone would see them. They stood in plain view.
His face turned into her neck. She heard, felt, the great breath he drew. Very low, against her skin, the roughness of his jaw abrading her, he spoke.
“Friendship is not what I want.”
Her hands broke free of her caution. They found his back, gathering in handfuls the soft wool of his jacket. Think. There were reasons, very good reasons, to discourage him. Money: he had none. Power: he had too much over her. He simply didn’t realize it.”
― Meredith Duran, That Scandalous Summer

“Why did she think she had the right to speak to him in this manner? Why did he constantly invite it?”
― Meredith Duran, That Scandalous Summer

“That said, he also knows how to put his tongue to purposes more varied and rewarding than speech. 4.”
― Meredith Duran, That Scandalous Summer

“A woman must guard her mysteries.” “Perhaps true,” he said, “if her mysteries are few in number. But I feel certain that a man could study you at his leisure and never find himself short on the most . . . pleasant brands of speculation.”
― Meredith Duran, That Scandalous Summer

“The new doctor, you say?” “Here to tend to your scratches,” he confirmed with a bow so slight as to be insulting. His low, smooth voice made the task sound distinctly . . . unchaste. Her bewilderment increased. Such a raw, animal presence did not generally belong to doctors. Now she was awake to it, she could feel its effect, thrumming through the air between them like curling tendrils of electricity, reaching for her. This one . . . this one would say very nasty things in bed, and laugh at her when she protested, and make her like it anyway.”
― Meredith Duran, That Scandalous Summer

“You are thirty years old. It is time you overcame your objections to marriage.” Michael could no longer follow even the smallest bit of this conversation. “What objections? I have no objections. I’ve simply never met a woman to inspire the thought.”
― Meredith Duran, That Scandalous Summer

“Time, he thought, was a privilege, and in a just world this would be their bed, and this night not worth counting, it being the first of innumerable shared nights to come. But now he knew why men married, for then time was theirs, a privilege and a claim; your time is all mine, he would tell her.”
― Meredith Duran, That Scandalous Summer

“You will never forget?” He exhaled against her mouth. “I would wear you like a suit,” he said hoarsely. “I would never let you go.”
― Meredith Duran, That Scandalous Summer

“History repeats because we do not learn from it,”
― Meredith Duran, That Scandalous Summer

“Wisdom told him that one did not share secrets until one was willing to hear them broadcasted.”
― Meredith Duran, That Scandalous Summer

“He reached out to cup her elbow. Best to move slowly, to communicate that she could refuse him. The choice was hers. Her luminous eyes remained fixed on his. Her lips parted as he trailed his hand from the point of her elbow to her wrist. God. Her bare skin, that small, vulnerable patch exposed between cuff and glove, was indescribably soft. His thumb rubbed her pulse once, twice. A small noise came from her, the loosening of her breath, a sound as meaningful as the shushing of silk as a dress fell to the floor. This was how it began: how a woman came undone.”
― Meredith Duran, That Scandalous Summer

“The faint freckle on her throat sent another thrill through him. He wanted to touch it, to whisper against it, I’ve found you. For that matter, the slope of her neck begged to be brushed with a hand. His hand, before he cupped her nape and guided her gently backward onto a bed . ”
― Meredith Duran, That Scandalous Summer

“And the smile that lingered on his mouth now! Slow to spread, it assumed a mocking edge that—to her amazement—made her breath catch.”
― Meredith Duran, That Scandalous Summer