Secrets of a Summer Night Quotes

“Having regrets is the only sign that you’ve done anything interesting with your life.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“Annabelle’s eyes stung as she stared at him, while need and inexhaustible tenderness gathered like an ache in her body. “I realized something,” she said huskily, “when I was standing outside the foundry, watching it burn and knowing you were inside.” She swallowed hard against the thickness in her throat. “I would rather have died in your arms, Simon, than face a lifetime without you. All those endless years… all those winters, summers… a hundred seasons of wanting you and never having you. Growing old, while you stayed eternally young in my memories.” She bit her lip and shook her head, while her eyes flooded. “I was wrong when I told you that I didn’t know where I belonged. I do. With you, Simon. Nothing matters except being with you. You’re stuck with me forever, and I’ll never listen when you tell me to go.” She managed a tremulous smile. “So you may as well stop complaining and resign yourself to it.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“I spent most of my youth hauling sides of beef and pork to my father's shop. Carrying you is far more enjoyable."

"How sweet," Annabelle mumbled sickly, her eyes closed. "Every woman dreams of being told that she's preferable to a dead cow.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“I'm not short," Daisy muttered. "Short women are never mysterious, or elegant, or pursued by handsome men. And they're always treated like children. I refuse to be short.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“Where are we going?” Annabelle asked, resisting his hold on her wrist.
“To the house. If they’re not willing to be witnesses, then it seems I’ll have to debauch you in front of someone else.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“The earl shook his head, exhibiting a degree of frosty offense that could only be achieved by an aristocrat whose wishes had just been gainsaid. “I’ve never heard of a man being so eager to confess to the parent of a girl he’s just ruined,” he said sourly.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“I'm coming to believe that there are two kinds of people... those who choose to be masters of their own fate and those who wait in chairs while other dance. I would rather be one of the former than the latter.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“Annabelle gave him a chiding smile. “If you’re implying that I’m spoiled, I assure you that I am not.”

“You should be.” His warm gaze slid over her pink-tinted face and slender upper body, then sought hers again. There was a note in his voice that gently robbed her of breath. “You could do with a bit of spoiling.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“It seemed as if some subtle current of recognition had passed between them... not as if they had met before... but as if they had come close several times until finally an impatient Fate had forced their paths to intersect.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“I love you dammit,"she brushed her lips teasingly against his.

"How much?" He made a slight sound, as if the soft kiss had affected him intensely.

"Without limit. Beyond forever.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“The truth is, you can never really know a man until you've loaned him money. And you can never know a woman until you've slept in her bed.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“We are hidiously rich Annabelle-- and I've got three older brothers, all unmarried. Would you consider one of them? If you like, I'll have one shipped across the Atlantic for your inspection." -Lillian Bowman”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“I’ve never heard of a man being so eager to confess to the parent of a girl he’s just ruined”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“My peer would have to be dark-haired and handsome, a wonderful dancer... and he would never ask permission before he kissed me." -Lillian Bowman”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“Evie," Lillian interupted impatiently, "men expect to be deceived in these matters. They're happiest that way. If one were straightforward with them the whole prospect of marriage would be too alarming, and none of them would ever do it.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“Oh, all right,” she said balefully, beginning to shake all over. “I’ll admit it—I want you. There, are you satisfied? I want you.”

“In what capacity? Lover, or husband?”

Annabelle stared at him in shock. “What?” His arms slid around her, holding her quivering frame securely against his. He said nothing, only watched her intently as she tried to grasp the implications of the question.

“But you’re not the marrying kind,” she managed to say weakly. He touched her ear, his fingertip tracing the fragile outer curve. “I’ve discovered that I am when it comes to you.” The subtle caress set fire to her blood, making it difficult to think.

“We would probably kill each other within the first month.” “Probably,” Hunt conceded, his smiling mouth brushing over her temple. The warmth of his lips sent a rush of dizzying pleasure through her.

“But marry me anyway, Annabelle. As I see things, it would solve most of your problems …and more than a few of mine.” His big hand slid gently down her spine, calming her tremors.

“Let me spoil you,” he whispered. “Let me take care of you. You’ve never had anyone to lean on, have you? I’ve got strong shoulders, Annabelle.” A deep laugh rumbled in his chest. “And I may possibly be the only man of your acquaintance who’ll be able to afford you.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“Although Annabelle couldn’t see his face, she heard the note of quiet warning in his voice as he spoke to Westcliff. “We’ll continue our discussion later. Right now I intend to escort Miss Peyton to her room.”

“That is not a wise idea, in my opinion,” the earl said.

“I’m glad I didn’t ask for it, then,” Simon returned pleasantly.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“Simon,” she whispered, vaguely surprised that she had just used his first name, for she had never used it even in the privacy of her thoughts. Moistening her dry lips, she tried once more, and to her astonishment, she did it again. “Simon…”

“Yes?” A new tension had entered his long, hard body, and at the same time, his hand moved over the shape of her skull in the softest caress possible.

“Please… take me to my room.”

Hunt tilted her head back gently and regarded her with a sudden faint smile playing on his lips. “Sweetheart, I would take you to Timbuktu if you asked.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“Miss Peyton,” Lillian Bowman asked, “what kind of man would be the ideal husband for you?”

“Oh,” Annabelle said with irreverent lightness, “any peer will do.”

“Any peer?” Lillian asked skeptically. “What about good looks?”

Annabelle shrugged. “Welcome, but not necessary.”

“What about passion?” Daisy inquired.

“Decidedly unwelcome.”

“Intelligence?” Evangeline suggested.

Annabelle shrugged. “Negotiable.”

“Charm?” Lillian asked.

“Also negotiable.”

“You don’t want much,” Lillian remarked dryly. “As for me, I would have to add a few conditions. My peer would have to be dark-haired and handsome, a wonderful dancer…and he would never ask permission before he kissed me.”

“I want to marry a man who has read the entire collected works of Shakespeare,” Daisy said. “Someone quiet and romantic—better yet if he wears spectacles— and he should like poetry and nature, and I shouldn’t like him to be too experienced with women.”

Her older sister lifted her eyes heavenward. “We won’t be competing for the same men, apparently.”

Annabelle looked at Evangeline Jenner. “What kind of husband would suit you, Miss Jenner?”

“Evie,” the girl murmured, her blush deepening until it clashed with her fiery hair. She struggled with her reply, extreme bashfulness warring with a strong instinct for privacy. “I suppose…I would like s-s-someone who was kind and…” Stopping, she shook her head with a self-deprecating smile. “I don’t know. Just someone who would l-love me. Really love me.”

The words touched Annabelle, and filled her with sudden melancholy. Love was a luxury she had never allowed herself to hope for—a distinctly superfluous issue when her very survival was so much in question. However, she reached out and touched the girl’s gloved hand with her own. “I hope you find him,” she said sincerely. “Perhaps you won’t have to wait for long.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“I never lie for the sake of kindness,” he murmured, smiling. “One of my many flaws.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“Here's your hat, and by the way, I'm a virgin”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“Hunt looked like a man who had visited many woman's beds and knew exactly what to do in them.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“Because I realized during the past few days that I can’t leave doubt in anyone’s mind about to whom you belong. Especially not yours.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“Annabelle stared straight ahead at the canvas, neither seeing nor caring about the fluctuations of light and color that conveyed impressions of approaching nightfall…the dusk of the Roman Empire. Hunt seemed similarly indifferent to the show, his head inclined toward hers, his gaze locked on her face. Though his breathing remained soft and disciplined, it seemed to her that its rhythm had changed ever so slightly.

Annabelle moistened her dry lips. “You…you mustn’t stare at me like that.”

Soft as the murmur was, he caught it. “With you here, nothing else is worth looking at.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“Hunt and Annabelle stared at each other in silent bemusement, as if someone had posed a question that neither of them knew how to answer.

The moment lengthened uncomfortably, until Simon Hunt finally spoke. “A pretty sound, that,” he said softly.

Annabelle struggled to find her voice. “What is?” she asked.

“Your laughter.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“Good God-is there nothing you won't stoop to?"

"If there is," Lillian replied smartly, "I haven't discovered it yet.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“True friends never mind holding your hair back while you cast up your crumpets.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“I would rather have died in your arms, Simon, than face a lifetime without you. All those endless years…all those winters, summers…a hundred seasons of wanting you and never having you. Growing old, while you stayed eternally young in my memories.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“Gradually his mouth shifted away from hers, and he bit softly at the delicate silk of her throat. He murmured things that shocked her, expressing himself not in flowery phrases, but with the raw simplicity of a man whose lust for her knew no limits. “I have no self-control where you’re concerned. Every minute that I’m not with you, all I can think about is being inside you. I hate everything that keeps you separate from me.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night

“That is the queen—the most powerful piece on the board. She can move in any direction, and go as far as she wishes.” There was nothing overtly suggestive in his manner of speaking …but when he spoke softly, as he was doing at that moment, there was a husky depth in his voice that made her toes curl inside her slippers. “More powerful than the king?” she asked.

“Yes. The king can only move one square at a time. But the king is the most important piece.”

“Why is he more important than the queen if he’s not the most powerful?”

“Because once he is captured, the game is over.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night