Longing for Home Quotes

“You’re a tough one, Katie Macauley. But I mean to talk you round to enduring me at the least. Take a ride with me. I’ll be a perfect gentleman, my word of honor.” An afternoon away from her endless list of chores would be nice. But only if Tavish behaved himself. “A perfect gentleman?” The devilishly handsome grin he produced was not terribly reassuring, yet there was sincerity in his eyes. “You’ll hardly recognize me I’ll be so well behaved.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“Are you telling me when you first saw me sitting up in my brother’s wagon that your very first thought was, ‘That fine-looking Irishman over there is most definitely a rascal’?”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“He grabbed his lantern and shotgun. “Shall we?” Katie nodded. “But this doesn’t mean I like you.” “Yet,” he added as he opened the barn door. She stopped in the doorway. “I didn’t say yet.” “Ah, but you meant it.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“Don’t you listen to a single word falling out of his mouth, Sweet Katie. Ian isn’t the brightest of us all. ’Tis not his fault, I suppose. He was such an ugly baby, Ma was startled every time she picked him up, and she dropped him on his head a great deal.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“A third voice jumped in. “Seems to me a lad ought to kiss a lass when she looks at him that way.” Tavish nearly laughed out loud. Leave it to Granny Claire to say just that. Katie smiled despite the color creeping across her face.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“He didn’t release her, didn’t pull his eyes away from her face. “Have I not earned even the smallest bit of your trust, Katie?” To her surprise, he sounded hurt. To her even greater surprise, she felt bad for it. Katie never opened her life to anyone. Not anyone.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“You wish to take me on a tour?” Katie didn’t mean to become attached to the place, but finding a few reasons to like the town would be nice. “A small tour,” Tavish said. “And maybe a wee bit of gazing into each other’s eyes and whispering sweet nothings.” She skewered him with a look of scolding rebuke, one he couldn’t possibly mistake for encouragement. “Absolutely not.” He didn’t look the least surprised. Indeed, he looked even more amused than before. “Perhaps we’ll just keep to the tour for now,” he said. “What say you?”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“But pride is only friend to a fool.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“Anything else you’re needing, Sweet Katie? The moon, perhaps? A few stars? Just ask, and they’re yours.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“Something you found blowing about in the storm?” “Aye. The heavens blew her right to me, they did.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“There was nothing that irritated an arrogant man more than a woman who showed no interest in him.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“I fight my own battles.”
“Might I say, just because you can doesn’t mean you have to.”
“A woman alone always has to. It’s the way of things.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“Then ’tis little wonder your family despairs of ever seeing you married off. Sounds to me as though you haven’t time at all to be courting.” “Hmm.” Tavish leaned in so close he could smell the flowery scent he’d come to associate with her since their picnic by the river. Could she hear how hard his heart had begun pounding? “Is that a complaint or an invitation, Sweet Katie?” he whispered.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“A man who will give up something precious to himself for the sake of a woman most certainly loves her.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“But I didn’t tell you the whole of it. I’m falling in love with two men. At the same time, Biddy.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“Could it be you’ve missed me, Sweet Katie?” “Not at all.” “Not at all?” She shook her head. He matched the movement precisely. After a moment, Katie was fighting a smile. “Perhaps a wee little bit.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“Tavish could tell he was being sized up. And by the narrowing of Joseph’s eyes, he recognized Tavish’s intent as well. They stood, eyeing one another for several long and silent moments. Tavish had not intended to pursue Katie in the least. Now, it seemed, he had a rival. Joseph Archer was infuriatingly difficult to read. Was it confidence that kept him so at ease? Joseph did have the advantage. Katie lived in his house. He could see her, talk to her every day. Joseph was wealthy, with the air of class and money about him. Tavish had none of those things. And though Katie had warmed to him a bit, he didn’t yet feel she’d entirely shed her wariness of him.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“Aye, the second finest view in town. I have to save something to build up to.” “You mean to spend another afternoon with me?” She liked the idea very much indeed. He tipped her a crooked smile and wiggled his eyebrows, a sight that made her smile in spite of her general tendency not to. “There’s that smile I’ve been waiting for,” he said.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“Joseph?” His heart clenched at the sound of his name on Katie’s lips. She’d never called him simply “Joseph” before. It echoed around in his mind, settling as warmth in his chest. He hoped his reaction didn’t show on his face when he looked over at her.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“Aren’t you going to eat?” At the moment Katie would gladly skip a meal to get a moment to herself. “Aye, after I’ve brought in the wash and a couple other things.” He shook his head. “Sit down and eat, Katie.” “In here?” She’d never in all her life eaten with the families she served. “Would that be so awful?” Mr. Archer seemed surprised at her insistence. “Not awful, simply . . . odd.” “I think you would adjust.” He motioned to an empty seat on the other side of Ivy. “Join us.” “Truly, I’ll have a bite later in the kitchen when I’ve a moment.” The man looked entirely unmoved. “Sit. And eat.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“I tell myself no heart flutters and no attachments, and still my mind runs away thinking of the blue-eyed devil. Except Tavish didn’t truly seem like a devil. A tease and a flirt, yes, but not a bad man underneath it all.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“You’ll be forgiving me, Reverend, but I’ve never taken kindly to being told where I belong.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“You’ve a taste for sharp-witted and determined women, Tavish. Bridget, for all her sweetness of temper, could give you such a tongue thrashing at times. And we could all see you loved it. Teased her mercilessly you did, something you didn’t stop doing the entire time you spent with Miss Katie.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“You’ll not be convincing me you’re only eighteen years old.” “Are you calling me old, Tavish?” She speared him with a look. He held up his hands in a show of innocence. “I said nothing of the sort.” “I am twenty-six. I can take perfectly good care of myself, thank you very much. So you can just wrap your mind around leaving me be.” “Twenty-six, are you?” No response to her declaration of sovereignty? “That’s a perfect age.” She felt a tiny skip in her heart but firmly ignored it. “Perfect for what?” “For you, Sweet Katie. The age suits you. Or it would, at least, if you didn’t wear such a sour expression all the time.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“I can lend her my clothes,” Tavish said, his tone thoughtful to the point of drama. “Of course, I’d have nothing to wear then, myself.” Katie refused to blush at that comment. Indeed, she set herself quite firmly on ignoring it. Mrs. O’Connor rolled her eyes, something Katie had rarely seen a grown person do. The childlike gesture made Katie smile inside despite the awful day she was having. “Miss Macauley’s been through enough tonight without being subjected to that,” Mrs. O’Connor said. “You leave your clothes on and quit trying to embarrass the poor thing.” “Trying to make her smile was all I was hoping for.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“Something you found blowing about in the storm?” “Aye. The heavens blew her right to me, they did.” “Sounds like a sign from above to me.” The woman tapped her wooden spoon on the edge of the iron pot she tended before replacing the lid. “I’ll send Ian out for the preacher. We’ll have the two of you married before the stew’s done cooking.” Married? Katie eyed the woman, relieved to see a glint of teasing in her eyes. “I’d be much obliged to you, Biddy.” Tavish’s tone of gratitude was far too overdone. “Though Miss Macauley, here, might object.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“Sit up nice and tall, Sweet Katie. We’re about to parade you through the center of town.” Her mouth tightened in an annoyed line. “I’ve asked you not to call me that.” “Too late, I’m afraid,” he answered. “The name fits, and I suspect it’ll stick.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“You wouldn’t really knock my teeth out, now would you, Sweet Katie?” “Sweet Katie?” She repeated the name he’d thought up for her as though it were a rotten potato. He shrugged. “I think it suits you, despite the fine show you’re making of being all prickles and thorns.” Truth be told, he wasn’t sure if she was anything but prickles and thorns, but he was intrigued enough to find out. “My prickles and thorns are no concern of yours. And I’ll thank you to call me Katie, plain Katie, as that be my name.” He shook his head slowly. “I don’t think I could do that. The Katie part suits you, but you’re not the least bit plain.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“Better than that, even. She’s an Irish lass, her brogue so wide and deep that I’m certain she’s only just been tossed off the boat. She likely tripped on a shamrock and landed on American soil.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home

“A great pleasure to be making your acquaintance, Miss Macauley.” He tipped his hat. “And I’ll wager you’ll most particularly like me before too long.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Longing for Home