欧宝娱乐

“Women do not think with logic and discretion but with emotions of the heart”
― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Prince

“What were we talking before I was so rudely interrupted by a flying citrus ?”
― Joss Stirling, Finding Sky

“Yeah, well, not many boys take their girls out on a duck shoot with them as target for a first date. You have to give me points for style.”
― Joss Stirling, Finding Sky

“You have half our gifts. I the other. Together we make a whole. Together we are much more powerful.”
― Joss Stirling, Finding Sky

“So, Zed, isn鈥檛 this a killer outfit?鈥�
鈥淐ertainly a killer, baby.鈥�
鈥淕ood, because I鈥檝e bought another five just like it.鈥�
鈥淵ou horrible, teasing fairy. If you really have more of those fashion disasters in your bags, I鈥檓 gonna hang you on top of the family Christmas tree in December.”
― Joss Stirling, Stealing Phoenix

“So you got Phoenix back,鈥� declared Karla, clapping her hands in delight. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 lovely.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檓 more on loan,鈥� I muttered.
鈥淵eah, my little library book.”
― Joss Stirling, Stealing Phoenix

“I've just had a really evil idea."
"My favourite kind”
― Joss Stirling, Seeking Crystal

“You pushed it too far. You shouldn't take the same risk again."
"Says the guy who got shot.”
― Joss Stirling, Seeking Crystal

“Trace is cooking Nonna's lasagna."
"Wow. I must see this."
"He was wearing her little apron and everything."
"Got a camera?”
― Joss Stirling, Seeking Crystal

“I wasn鈥檛 sure, but I thought it kind of suited me. With the right shoes and everything.鈥� I displayed the new blue pumps. 鈥淚 wanted to look, you know, pretty.鈥�
Yves gaped. I felt a little bit sorry for him. 鈥淯m鈥hee, I don鈥檛 know what to say.鈥�
I let my bright expression dim. 鈥淵ou鈥� you think I look horrible in it?鈥� My voice rose in a convincing squeak of distress.
He put his hands on my soulders. 鈥淣o, you look great. You always look great, no matter what you鈥檙e wearing.鈥�
Zed laughed. 鈥淥uch. Wrong thing to say.”
― Joss Stirling, Stealing Phoenix

“Oh my gosh, don鈥檛 you both look pretty!鈥� We looked like rejects from the auditions for The Sound of Music.
鈥淚 will have to buy them 鈥� they are meant to be yours!鈥� Karla waved her credit card around like a wand.
鈥淲hat a shame they didn鈥檛 have one in green for me. But then, it is a young girl鈥檚 style. I would鈥檝e looked foolish.”
― Joss Stirling, Stealing Phoenix

“Nicholas Benedict did have an exceptional gift for knowing things (more exceptional, in fact, than most adults would have thought possible), and yet not even he could know that this next chapter was to be the most unusual-and most important-of his entire childhood. Indeed, the strange days that lay ahead would change him forever, though for now they had less substance than the mist through which he ran.”
― Trenton Lee Stewart, The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict

“He said he needed to unwind. He was furious we all let you go so far. That boy would stop you so much as breaking a nail if he could.”
― Joss Stirling, Seeking Crystal

“Zed and Sky had stayed behind and were chatting with Will, Sky sitting on Zed's knee as if nothing was going to get them apart again in a hurry. Victor and Uriel were playing cards at the kitchen table. Trace looked cute in an apron, chopping vegetables with a surgeon's precision.”
― Joss Stirling, Seeking Crystal

“Saul tapped his wife's obstinate chin. "Mrs. Benedict, you certainly are. You promised to obey."
"That was thirty years ago! Before the wedding ceremony caught up with the modern age."
"Well, I for one am holding you to that. Gondola for two, in the moonlight, with champagne and roses.”
― Joss Stirling, Seeking Crystal

“Let me drive," she said, reaching for the reins.
He turned to her in disbelief. "This is a phaeton, not a single-horse wagon."
Sophie fought the urge to throttle him. His nose was running, his eyes were red, he couldn't stop coughing, and still he found the energy to act like an arrogant peacock. "I assure you," she said slowly, "that I know how to drive a team of horses.”
― Julia Quinn, An Offer From a Gentleman

“He wasn鈥檛 certain how this woman had come to mean so much to him. It seemed that one day she was a stranger, and the next she was as indispensable as air. And yet it hadn鈥檛 happened in a blinding flash. It had been a slow, sneaky process, quietly coloring his emotions until he realized that without her, his life lacked all meaning.

-Benedict's thoughts about Sophie”
― Julia Quinn, An Offer From a Gentleman

“How did you know?鈥� Benedict finally asked.
One corner of Colin鈥檚 mouth tilted up into a crooked smile. 鈥淎bout Sophie? It鈥檚 rather obvious.鈥�
鈥淐olin, she鈥檚鈥斺€�
鈥淎 maid? Who cares? What is going to happen to you if you marry her?鈥� Colin asked with a devil-may-care shrug of his shoulders. 鈥淧eople you couldn鈥檛 care less about will ostracize you? Hell, I wouldn鈥檛 mind being ostracized by some of the people with whom I鈥檓 forced to socialize.鈥�
Benedict shrugged dismissively. 鈥淚鈥檇 already decided I didn鈥檛 care about all that,鈥� he said.
鈥淭hen what in bloody hell is the problem?鈥� Colin demanded.
鈥淚t鈥檚 complicated.鈥�
鈥淣othing is ever as complicated as it is in one鈥檚 mind.”
― Julia Quinn, An Offer From a Gentleman

“Hospitality is a prized virtue of monastic communities. Benedict's rule says: 'All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, for he himself will say, "I was a stranger and you welcomed me."' Brother Alphonsus served as a doorkeeper in the seventeenth century at a Jesuit college in Majorca, Spain. Each time someone knocked at the door he would reply, 'I am coming, Lord!' This practice reminded him to treat each person with as much respect as if it were Jesus himself at the door.”
― Ken Shigematsu, God in My Everything: How an Ancient Rhythm Helps Busy People Enjoy God

“She was here, with him, and she felt like heaven. The soft scent of her hair, the slight taste of salt on her skin鈥� she was, he thought, born to rest in the shelter of his arms. And he was born to hold her.

-Benedict's thoughts about Sophie”
― Julia Quinn, An Offer From a Gentleman

“You can鈥檛 marry her,鈥� Araminta insisted.
Benedict turned to his mother. 鈥淚s there any reason I need to consult Lady Penwood about this?鈥�
鈥淣one that I can think of,鈥� Lady Bridgerton replied.
鈥淪he is nothing but a whore,鈥� Araminta hissed. 鈥淗er mother was a whore, and blood runs鈥� urp!鈥�
Benedict had her by the throat before anyone was even aware that he had moved. 鈥淒on鈥檛,鈥� he warned, 鈥渕ake me hit you.鈥�
The magistrate tapped Benedict on the shoulder. 鈥淵ou really ought to let her go.鈥�
鈥淢ight I muzzle her?鈥�
The magistrate looked torn, but eventually he shook his head.”
― Julia Quinn, An Offer From a Gentleman

“What are you smiling about?鈥� she asked.
He drew back a few inches, cupping her face with both hands. 鈥淗ow did you know I was smiling?鈥�
鈥淚 could feel it on my lips.鈥�
He brought a finger to those lips, tracing the outline, then running the edge of his fingernail along the plump skin. 鈥淵ou make me smile,鈥� he whispered. 鈥淲hen you don鈥檛 make me want to scream, you make me smile.鈥�

-Sophie & Benedict”
― Julia Quinn, An Offer From a Gentleman

“If a man do not erect in this age his own tomb ere he dies, he shall live no longer in monument than the bell rings and the widow weeps”
― William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing

“Oh, for the love of God,鈥� Benedict snarled. 鈥淲ill you let go of her or will I have to shoot your damned hand off?鈥�
Benedict wasn鈥檛 even holding a gun, but the tone of his voice was such that the man let go instantly.
鈥淕ood,鈥� Benedict said, holding his arm out toward the maid. She stepped forward, and with trembling fingers placed her hand on his elbow.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 just take her!鈥� Phillip yelled. Benedict gave him a supercilious look. 鈥淚 just did.鈥�
鈥淵ou鈥檒l be sorry you did this,鈥� Phillip said.
鈥淚 doubt it. Now get out of my sight.鈥�
Phillip made a huffy sound, then turned his friends and said, 鈥淟et鈥檚 get out of here.鈥� Then he turned to Benedict and added, 鈥淒on鈥檛 think you shall ever receive another invitation to one of my parties.鈥�
鈥淢y heart is breaking,鈥� Benedict drawled.”
― Julia Quinn, An Offer From a Gentleman

“Benedict sets up a community, a family. And families, the honest among us will admit, are risky places to be if perfection is what you are expecting in life.”
― Joan D. Chittister

“Oh, my dear, love isn't always the coup de foudre--the lightning strike. Sometimes it happens quietly, so quitely you may not even notice.”
― Julia Justiss, Convenient Proposal to the Lady

“She was here, with him, and she felt like heaven. The soft scent of her hair, the slight taste of salt on her skin鈥� she was, he thought, born to rest in the shelter of his arms. And he was born to hold her.

-Benedict's thoughts”
― Julia Quinn

“It was remarkable, but every time he kissed her, her lips seemed to grow sweeter, her scent more beguiling. And his need grew, too. His blood was racing with desire, and it was taking his every last shred of restraint not to push her back onto the sofa and tear her clothes from her body.
That would come later, he thought with a secret smile. But this鈥� surely her first time鈥� would be slow and tender and everything a young girl dreamed.
Well, maybe not. His smile turned into an outright grin. Half the things he was going to do to her, she wouldn鈥檛 have even thought to dream about.”
― Julia Quinn, An Offer From a Gentleman

“One of the functions of leadership is to lead, and weak managers may simply check and check and check with others because they are not capable of leading when it is required of them to lead. Benedict says that in matters of importance the abbot or prioress is to ask everyone in the community, 'starting with the youngest,' and then the abbot or prioress is to 'do what seems best.”
― Joan D. Chittister

“She was, he thought, born to rest in the shelter of his arms. And he was born to hold her.”
― Julia Quinn, An Offer From a Gentleman