Cold-Hearted Rake Quotes

“Time is what I'm giving you," he said, staring down at her. His hand curved beneath her chin, compelling her to look at him. "There's only one way for me to prove that I will love you and be faithful to you for the rest of my life. And that's by loving you and being faithful to you for the rest of my life. Even if you don't want me. Even if you choose not to be with me. I'm giving you all the time I have left. I vow to you that from this moment on, I will never touch another woman, or give my heart to anyone but you. If I have to wait sixty years, not a minute will have been wasted- because I'll have spent all of them loving you.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“The right words can bind someone more effectively than chains.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“I know many scientific facts about the human heart- not the least of which is that it's far easier to make a heart stop beating entirely than to keep it from loving the wrong person.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“Never apologize to women. It only confirms that you were wrong, and incenses them further.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“Pandora, you promised to abide by the rules.”

“I do,” Pandora protested, looking chagrined. “I follow all the rules that I can remember.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“I’ve heard that hat making drives people mad,” Pandora remarked. “Which I don’t understand, because it doesn’t seem tedious enough to do that.” “It isn’t the job that drives them mad,” West said. “It’s the mercury solution they use to smooth the felt. After repeated exposure, it addles the brain. Hence the term ‘mad as a hatter.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“West stood and strode to the door. “Is this what it’s like to have a family?” he asked irritably. “Endless arguing, and talking about feelings from dawn to dusk? When the devil can I do as I please and not have to account to a half-dozen people for it?”


“When you live alone on an island with a single palm tree and a coconut,” Kathleen snapped. “And even then, I’m sure you would find the coconut far too demanding.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“Just because you don’t understand or agree with something doesn’t mean that it lacks merit.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“When I die," he continued, "you're next in line."
"Do you actually believe I'll outlive you?" West asked. "With my vices?"
"I have just as many."
"Yes, but I'm far more enthusiastic about mine.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“Helen spent three days in Rhys Winterborne's room babbling incessantly while he lay there feverish and mostly silent. She became heartily tired of the sound of her own voice, and said something to that effect near the end of the second day.
"I'm not," he said shortly. "Keep talking.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“The purpose of society is to prevent natural behavior.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“West paused. “My God, I can feel sincerity rising in my chest like a digestive disorder. I have to stop.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“Has anyone been corrupted or defiled?"
"Since the age of twelve," West said.
"I wasn't asking you, I was asking the girls."
"Not yet," Cassandra replied cheerfully.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“What do ladies wear beneath their riding trousers?"
"I would think an infamous rake would already know."
"I was never infamous. In fact, I'm fairly standard as far as rakes go."
"The ones who deny it are the worst.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“Although she was not conventionally beautiful, she was so original that it rendered the question of beauty inconsequential.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“Devon glanced at him with mild surprise. “For a man who’s seldom more than half sober, you’ve noticed a great deal.”

“Have I?” West looked perturbed. “Forgive me – I seem to have become accidentally lucid.” He reached for his wineglass.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“Those aren't my favorite," Helen admitted. "But I hope to love them someday. Sometimes one must love something before it becomes lovable.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“How careful she always was with books: they had been her companions, her entertainment, and her only window to the outside world.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“Do you think a commoner should dare to dress like a blue blood?” Rhys asked as Quincy pulled the hem of the robe over his legs.

“I believe every man ought to dress as well as he is able.”

Rhys’s eyes narrowed. “Do you think it’s right for people to judge a man for what he wears?”

“It is not for me to decide whether it is right, sir. The fact is, they do.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“I suppose you'd have ten wives if you could."

"I'd be sufficiently miserable with one. The other nine would be redundant.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“No, he keeps the schedule of a cat. Long hours of slumber interrupted by brief periods of self-grooming.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“It’s nothing for you to worry about.”
“Whenever someone says that,” Pandora said, “it always means the opposite. Along with ‘It’s only a scratch’ or ‘Worse things happen at sea.’ ”
“Or,” Clara added glumly, ‘I’m only going out for a pint.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“What are you going to say if she tells you that she had a row with Winterborne?” Cassandra asked. “I’ll tell her to have more of them,” Kathleen said. “One can’t allow a man to have his way all the time.” She paused reflectively. “Once Lord Berwick told me that when a horse pulls at the reins, one should never pull back. Instead, loosen them. But never more than an inch.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“Let me kiss you here,” he coaxed. “Just once.”

“Oh, God… no.” She reached down and weakly pushed his hand away. “It’s a sin.”

“How do you know?”

“Because it feels like one,” she managed to say.

He laughed quietly and pulled her hips farther toward him with a decisiveness that drew a little yelp from her. “In that case… I never sin by half measures.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“Hard work often produces better results than talent.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“You play with great skill," he said.
"Thank you."
"Is that your favorite piece?"
"It's my most difficult," Helen said, "but not my favorite."
"What do you play when there's no one to hear?"
The gentle question, spoken in that accent with vowels as broad as his shoulders, caused Helen's stomach to tighten pleasurably. Perturbed by the sensation, she was slow to reply. "I don't remember the name of it. A piano tutor taught it to me long ago. For years I've tried to find out what it is, but no one has ever recognized the melody."
"Play it for me."
Calling it up from memory, she played the sweetly haunting chords, her hands gentle on the keys. The mournful chords never failed to stir her, making her heart ache for things she couldn't name. At the conclusion, Helen looked up from the keys and found Winterborne staring at her as if transfixed. He masked his expression, but not before she saw a mixture of puzzlement, fascination, and a hint of something hot and unsettling.
"It's Welsh," he said.
Helen shook her head with a laugh of wondering disbelief. "You know it?"
"'A Ei Di'r Deryn Do.' Every Welshman is born knowing it."
"What is it about?"
"A lover who asks a blackbird to carry a message to his sweetheart."
"Why can't he go to her himself?" Helen realized they were both speaking in hushed tones, as if they were exchanging secrets.
"He can't find her. He's too deep in love- it keeps him from seeing clearly."
"Does the blackbird find her?"
"The song doesn't say," he said with a shrug.
"But I must know the ending to the story," Helen protested.
Winterborne laughed. It was an irresistible sound, rough-soft and sly. When he replied, his accent had thickened. "That's what comes o' reading novels, it is. The story needs no ending. That's not what matters."
"What matters, then?" she dared to ask.
His dark gaze held hers. "That he loves. That he's searching. Like the rest of us poor devils, he has no way of knowing if he'll ever have his heart's desire.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“If it helps you to understand Kathleen a little better,” she said uncertainly, “perhaps I should explain something. Will you swear on your honor to keep it in confidence?"

“Of course,” Devon said readily. Having no honor, he never hesitated to promise something on it.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“All it takes is six cuts,” he said near her ear. She nodded, relaxing against him as he guided her hands with precision. One deep stroke of the blade neatly removed an angled section of wood. They rotated the pencil and made another cut, and then a third, creating a precise triangular prism. “Now trim the sharp edges.” They concentrated on the task with his hands still bracketed over hers, using the blade to chamfer each corner of wood until they had created a clean, satisfying point. Done.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“i've had enough of this. if you'll excuse me, i'm going to find a tavern where i can pay an underdressed woman to sit it my lap and look very pleased with me while i drink heavily”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake

“it’s far easier to make a heart stop beating entirely than to keep it from loving the wrong person.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Cold-Hearted Rake