Lisa Kleypas

I have a proposition for you,_ she said, trying for a businesslike tone. __ very sensible one. You see__ She paused to clear her throat. ____e been thinking about your problem._ __hat problem?_ Cam played lightly with the folds of her skirts, watching her face ale

One never knows what fate has in store._ Turning toward Rohan, Amelia discovered he was glancing over her in a slow inventory that spurred her heart into a faster beat. __ don__ believe in fate,_ she said. __eople are in control of their own destinies._ Rohan smiled. __veryone, even the gods, are helpless in the hands of fate._ Amelia regarded him skeptically. __urely you, being employed at a gaming club, know all about probability and odds. Which means you can__ rationally give credence to luck or fate or anything of the sort._ __ know all about probability and odds,_ Rohan agreed. __evertheless, I believe in luck._ He smiled with a quiet smolder in his eyes that caused her breath to catch. __ believe in magic and mystery, and dreams that reveal the future. And I believe some things are written in the stars _ or even in the palm of your hand._ Mesmerized, Amelia was unable to look away from him. He was an extraordinarily beautiful man, his skin as dark as clover honey, his black hair falling over his forehead in a way that made her fingers twitch with the urge to push it back. __o you believe in fate too?_ she asked Merripen. A long hesitation. ____ a Roma,_ he said. Which meant yes. __ood Lord, Merripen. I__e always thought of you as a sensible man._ Rohan laughed. __t__ only sensible to allow for the possibility, Miss Hathaway. Just because you can__ see or feel something doesn__ mean it can__ exist.

His eyes were above hers, and she saw that the golden-hazel irises were rimmed with black. __iss Hathaway _ you__e quite certain fate had no hand in our meeting tonight?_ She couldn__ seem to breathe properly. __u-quite certain._ His head bent low. __nd in all likelihood we__l never meet again?_ __ever._ He was too large, too close. Nervously Amelia tried to marshal her thoughts, but they scattered like spilled matchsticks _ and then he set fire to them as his breath touched her cheek. __ hope you__e right. God help me if I should ever have to face the consequences._ __f what?_ Her voice was faint. __his._ His hand slid to the back of her neck and his mouth covered hers.

You__l have me,_ Cam whispered. __ou__l have me, hummingbird. I__ your fate_ even if you won__ admit it yet.

But I must warn you, Miss Hathaway ... life has a way of fouling up our plans. I speak from experience.

Sometimes life has a cruel sense of humor, giving you the thing you always wanted at the worst time possible.

Fate is the malevolent little jester sitting up in the heavens and pondering over how ridiculous we humans are and he does his best to make fools out of all of us. And sooner or later he succeeds.

... But if I spend [all] my time *reading* about adventures, I won't actually be *having* them.

Tell me, Miss Hathaway _ what would you do if you were invited on a midnight ride across the earth and ocean? Would you choose the adventure, or stay safely at home?_ She couldn__ seem to tear her gaze from his. The topaz eyes were lit by a glint of playfulness, not the innocent mischief of a boy, but something far more dangerous. She could almost believe he might actually change form and appear beneath her window one night, and carry her away on midnight wings _ __ome, of course,_ she managed in a sensible tone. __ don__ want adventure._ __ think you do. I think in a moment of weakness, you might surprise yourself._ __ don__ have moments of weakness. Not that kind, at any rate._ His laughter curled around her like a drift of smoke. __ou will.

I don't want adventure.""I think you do. I think in a moment of weakness, you might surprise yourself.

You seem to think you have a choice," Cam said. "But you have it backwards. Love chooses you. The shadow moves as the sun commands.

All the fires of hell could burn for a thousand years and it wouldn't equal what I feel for you in one minute of the day. I love you so much there is no pleasure in it. Nothing but torment. Because if I could dilute what I feel for you to the mil­lionth part, it would still be enough to kill you. And even if it drives me mad, I would rather see you live in the arms of that cold, soulless bastard than die in mine," Merripen said to Win.

Scorpions are quite ruthless, you know. That is why Artemis bid one of them to kill her foe Orion. And as a reward she set the scorpion on up in the sky. I'm not ruthless. I merely do whatever it takes to achive my goalsThat's not ruthless?

It was the first time she had ever felt the kind of loneliness that couldn't be cured with just any available company.

For some reason Miss Jenner had seen fit to come uninvited to Sebastian__ home at a scandalously late hour. To make the situation even more compromising, she was unaccompanied__nd spending more than a half minute alone with Sebastian was sufficient to ruin any girl. He was debauched, amoral, and perversely proud of it. He excelled at his chosen occupation__hat of degenerate seducer__nd he had set a standard few rakes could aspire to.

Mysteries of attraction could not always be explained through logic. Sometimes the fractures in two separate souls became the very hinges that held them together.

When their chatter died to a contented lull, a small red squirrel ventured out of the oak grove and turned to the side, watching them with one bright black eye."An intruder," Annabelle observed, with a delicate yawn.Evie rolled to her stomach and tossed a bread crust in the squirrel's direction. He froze and stared at the tantalizing offering, but was too timid to advance. Evie tilted her head, her hair glittering in the sun as if it had been overlaid with a net of rubies. "Poor little thing," she said softly, casting another crust at the timid squirrel. This one landed a few inches closer, and his tail twitched eagerly. "Be brave," Evie coaxed. "Go on and take it." Smiling tolerantly, she tossed another crust, which landed a scant few inches from him. "Oh, Mr. Squirrel," Evie reproved. "You're a dreadful coward. Can't you see that no one's going to harm you?"In a sudden burst of initiative, the squirrel seized the tidbit and scampered off with his tail quivering. Looking up with a triumphant smile, Evie saw the other wallflowers staring at her in drop-jawed silence. "Wh-what is it?" she asked, puzzled.Annabelle was the first to speak. "Just now, when you were talking to that squirrel, you didn't stammer.""Oh." Suddenly abashed, Evie lowered her gaze and grimaced. "I never stammer when I'm talking to children or animals. I don't know why.

At first I wasn__ all that tempted by him, but then he killed the spider. Which was a huge point in his favor._ __bsolutely. I love men who kill bugs._ __nd then when I was freaking out and couldn__ breathe, he was so_gentle._ Zoe sighed and colored, remembering. __e was holding me, and talking to me in that voice_you know, sort of low and rough around the edges_ __ll the Nolans sound like that,_ Justine said reflectively. __ike they__e got a mild case of bronchitis. Totally hot.