A Holiday by Gaslight Quotes

“Not very romantic, is it? But I don't want you to feel powerless with me. I value your intelligence and your strength. I'd rather you stood at my side than in my shadow.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“I don't know if I can let you dance with anyone else. Not without kissing you first.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“If hardship came, she wouldn’t shatter into a million useless pieces. To the lucky gentleman who won her, she’d be a friend. A partner.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“I don't think Id have enjoyed it if you'd simply grabbed me and kissed me. A lady likes to prepare herself for such an event."

"Fair enough. Are the next nine days enough time to prepare yourself? Because, unless you very strenuously object, I intend to kiss you this Christmas.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“I value your intelligence and your strength. I’d rather you stood at my side than in my shadow.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“Because it didn’t matter to you. You weren’t cringing with shame. You weren’t putting on airs. You were simply…you. A lady through and through. And one I very much wished to know better.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“No, it hadn’t been love, but it had been…something. Something warm and filled with promise. Something that was gone now, irrevocably, leaving him empty and alone.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“But Sophie was driven to continue, her words tumbling out in an impassioned rush. “I think I fell a little bit in love with you the night I came to your office in Fleet Street. And I’ve grown to love you more each day. So, if you have any feelings for me at all—if you have any inclination—I’d like very much for you to marry me and take me back to London. Because I do love you, Ned. And though I have no dowry, I would try very hard to be a good wife to you. To make up for any shortcomings”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“I already know how I feel. I admire you, Sophie. I want you for my own. If I have to modernize your father’s estate into the next millennium, it would be a small price to pay for the privilege of having you.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“He reached for her, his hand coming to cradle her cheek in that way of his. He regarded her steadily, his blue gaze as solemn as it was tender. “And yes, my darling girl. I really do love you.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“It hadn’t been love at first sight. That was too trite. Too simplistic. But something within him had recognized something in her. Had understood that she would be important to him.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“mustn’t be so judgmental. And we must never say things behind a person’s back that we wouldn’t say to their face.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“Every day there’s a new idea, a new invention. We can no longer be content to stay in the same place, doing the same things as generations before us. We must alter our behavior. We must adapt ourselves to the times or risk being left behind.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“The family beauty, you say.” Ned’s voice was deep and warm. “Yet she can’t hold a candle to you.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“Good Lord, had she really believed he’d deny her? If so, she’d vastly underrated her charms.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“I don’t suppose you’ve ever lost your wits over anyone.” He gave her a wry look. “I’m at a baronet’s Christmas house party in the wilds of Derbyshire. Frozen solid most nights and obliged to listen to Mrs. Lanyon lament the passing of Prince Albert most days. I think I’ve lost more than my wits.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“That’s the truth of it, then? Why you asked leave to pay your addresses? Because I was so obviously in reduced circumstances?” He gave a low growl of frustration. “No. No, that wasn’t it at all.” “Then why?” “Because it didn’t matter to you. You weren’t cringing with shame. You weren’t putting on airs. You were simply…you. A lady through and through. And one I very much wished to know better.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“Sophie made an effort to gentle her voice. “Flirtation is not a game, dear. Not when you’re an eligible young lady and he’s an eligible man. You mustn’t raise his expectations.” Emily gave a scornful laugh. “As if I would lower myself! He’s a tradesman, Sophie. A rough fellow of absolutely no account except for money. Besides, just because Papa said you must marry beneath you, it doesn’t follow that I must. My prospects aren’t so grim as yours.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“Did you love her?” Walter asked. “No.” It was the truth. He hadn’t loved Sophia Appersett. How could he? He hardly knew her. Their relationship had never progressed beyond the veriest commonplace discussions about current events or the weather. Even then, Miss Appersett had done most of the talking. And yet, seeing her had been the brightest spot in his day. No, it hadn’t been love, but it had been…something. Something warm and filled with promise. Something that was gone now, irrevocably, leaving him empty and alone.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“The cavernous room, two floors high, was filled to bursting with leather-bound books from generations past. It smelled of beeswax and lemon polish, a fragrance that always reminded Sophie of the long winter days she’d spent as a girl, nestled in one of the oxblood leather chairs by the fire, reading”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“And yet, seeing her had been the brightest spot in his day.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“But I don’t want you to feel powerless with me. I value your intelligence and your strength. I’d rather you stood at my side than in my shadow.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“She looked out across the choppy waters of the Serpentine. “I don’t know. I suppose I thought…” That he would warm to her. That he would come to care for her. Even to love her a little. She’d been ready to love him. It would have taken so little encouragement. A fond glance. A kind word. An affectionate touch.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“The night sky was lit with stars. They twinkled like diamonds nestled on a bed of black velvet. She inhaled a soft breath at the perfect beauty of it.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“She met his eyes, fully conscious of the heat sweeping up her neck. It was impossible to remain composed under such circumstances. Not when he was looking at her so intently. Not when the butterflies in her stomach were unfurling their wings and soaring into flight. Good gracious. Was it possible to swoon from the mere mention of kissing?”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“Under the mistletoe. Under the gaslight. Under the stars.” Ned bent his head close to hers. “Perhaps all three.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“Ned didn’t answer right away. When he did, he spoke with a greater than usual degree of care. “I’m not a man given to great expressions of emotion. It’s not how I was raised. It’s not how I’ve lived my life. But I do feel things deeply. I may not always show it, but I do.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“She raised her head to look at the trees. The branches were frosted with snow. It sparkled like sugar in the morning sunlight. “It’s beautiful when it’s new, isn’t it? So clean and white and perfect.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“She was a beautiful girl, possessed of an elegant bearing and a sweet expression. A classic English rose. Indeed, her perfect oval face might well have been set on a cameo. But the spark of sharp intelligence in the soft velvet of her gaze and the stubborn set to her dimpled chin spoke of a female who was much more than the sum of her face and her figure.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight

“He’d been besotted with Sophia Appersett since almost the first moment he laid eyes on her.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Holiday by Gaslight