Garrett And Ethan Quotes

“Have you ever heard the expression 'catching a wolf by the ears'?"
"No."
"It means you're in trouble whether you hold on or let go."
Garrett nuzzled her cheek against his hand. "If you're the wolf, then I'll hold on.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Hello Stranger

“Whatever else you may think about me," he said gruffly, "I would never play that kind of game with you. The devil knows how you could doubt my attraction to you after our lesson at Baujart's. Or didn't you notice that being near you made me as randy as a prize bull?"
"I noticed," Garrett whispered sharply. "However, the male erection isn't always caused by sexual desire."
His face went blank. "What are you talking about?"
"Spontaneous priapism can be caused by scrotal chafing, traumatic injury to the perineum, a flare-up of gout, an inflamed prostatic duct-" Her list was interrupted as Ransom hauled her against him, front to front.
She was alarmed to feel his entire body shaking. It wasn't until she heard a ragged chuckle near her ear that she realized he was struggling not to laugh.
"Why is that funny?" she asked, her voice muffled against his chest. He didn't reply, couldn't, only shook his head vehemently and continued to wheeze. Nettled, she said, "As a physician, I can assure you there's nothing humorous about involuntary erections."
That nearly sent him into hysterics.
"Holy God," he begged, "no more doctor-talk. Please."
"It wasn't from scrotal chafing," Ransom eventually said, a last tremor of laughter running through his voice. Letting out an unsteady sigh, he nuzzled against the side of her head. "Since we don't seem to be mincing words, I'll tell you what caused it: holding a woman I'd already dreamed about more than I should. Being near you is all it takes to put me in high blood.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Hello Stranger

“A young woman attending the best medical school in the world," Ransom mused aloud, "far from home, taking classes in a foreign language. You're a determined woman, doctor."
"No medical school here would admit a female," Garret said pragmatically. "I had no choice."
"You could have given up."
"That is never an option," she assured him, and he smiled.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Hello Stranger

“I knew you were too fine for me."
"No," she protested. "I'm not a highborn lady, I'm a commoner."
"There's nothing common about you." Ethan began to play with her hair, sifting his fingers through it, lifting a lock to brush the ends against his lips and cheeks. "Do you want to know why I gave you violets? They're beautiful and small, but tough enough to grow in the cracks of city pavement. More than once, I've been in some dark place and seen them clustered near a broken stoop, or at the base of a brick wall, bright as jewels. Even without sunlight or good soil, they show up to do a flower's job.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Hello Stranger

“Thank you for the improvements you made... the lock and hinges... and the lion's-head knocker. I like it very much."
Ethan's voice was soft. "Did you like the violets?"
She hesitated before shaking her head.
"No?" he asked, more softly still. "Why not?"
"They reminded me that I might never see you again."
"After tonight, you probably won't."
"You say that every time we meet. However, you keep popping up like a jack-in-the-box, which has made me increasingly skeptical." Garrett paused before adding in an abashed tone, "And hopeful."
His gaze caressed her face. "Garrett Gibson... as long as I'm on this earth, I'll want to be wherever you are."
She couldn't help smiling ruefully. "You're the only one who does. I've been in a foul mood for the past two weeks. I've offended nearly everyone I know, and frightened off one or two of my patients."
His voice was dark velvet. "You needed me there to sweeten your temper."
Garrett couldn't bring herself to look at him as she admitted huskily, "Yes.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Hello Stranger

“In case you weren't aware, my good fellow, you are in the company of one of the most skilled and accomplished women in England. In fact, I would say Dr. Gibson has a male brain in a woman's body."
Garrett grinned wryly at his last comment, which she knew had been intended as a compliment. "Thank you, Doctor."
"Despite my short acquaintance with Dr. Gibson," Ethan said, "her brain seems entirely female to me." The remark caused Garrett to stiffen slightly, as she expected a mocking comment to follow. Something about how a woman's mind was changeable, or shallow, the usual clichés. But as Ethan continued, there was no hint of teasing in his tone. "Keen, subtle, and quick, with an intellect strengthened by compassion- yes, she has a woman's mind."
Thrown off guard, Garrett stared at him with a touch of wonder.
In that brief, private moment, Ethan looked as if he really did prefer her to everything else in the world. As if he saw all of her, the good and the bad, and wouldn't change a thing about her.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Hello Stranger

“But you've been distracted for weeks, thinking of nothing but that green-eyed bitch. She's brought you to this."
Garrett.
She wouldn't know he'd been thinking of her at the last moment. She would never know what she'd meant to him. It would make dying so much easier if only he'd told her. But she would do well without him, just as she had before. She was a strong, resilient woman, a force of nature.
He only worried that no one would bring her flowers.
How strange that as his life was spinning down to its end, there was no anger or fear, only soul-scorching love. He was dissolving in it. There was nothing left but the way she'd made him feel.
"Was she worth it?" Gamble jeered.
Gripping the railing behind him, Ethan smiled faintly. "Aye.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Hello Stranger

“Ethan filled his gaze with her, so feminine and fine, with glimmers dancing across her dress and little crystal things sparkling in her hair.
Despite her outward delicacy, there was something remarkably sturdy about her, an unyielding toughness he admired more than she would have believed. The life she'd chosen had come with the never-ending obligation to demonstrate what a woman was and was not, and what a woman could be. People would allow her no room for mistakes or ordinary human frailty. God knew she endured it all far better than Ethan would have.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Hello Stranger

“It's the most devastating target on a man. The pain shoots through all your innards."
"I've no doubt it would," Garrett mused. "There's a nerve in the scrotum called the spermatic plexus that extends into the abdomen." Noticing the way he averted his face, she said apologetically, "Have I made you uncomfortable? I beg your pardon."
Ransom lifted his head to reveal eyes glinting with laughter. "Not at all. It's just that I've never heard a lady talk as you do."
"As I told you... I'm not a lady.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Hello Stranger

“They were interrupted as a young girl walked along the pavement in front of the sessions house, calling, "Flowers! Fresh-cut flowers!" She stopped in front of them. "Posy for the lady, sir?"
Ransom turned to the girl, who wore a colorful scarf over her long dark hair and a patchwork apron over her black dress. She carried a flat basket filled with posyes, their stems wrapped with bits of colored ribbon.
"There's no need-" Garrett began, but Ransom ignored her, browsing over the tiny bouquets of roses, narcissus, violets, forget-me-nots, and dianthus.
"How much?" he asked the flower girl.
"A farthing, sir."
He glanced at Garrett over his shoulder. "Do you like violets?"
"I do," she said hesitantly.
Ransom gave the flower-girl a sixpence and picked out one of the posyes.
"Thank you, sir!" The girl scurried away as if fearing he might change his mind.
Ransom turned to Garrett with the cluster of purple blossoms. Reaching for the lapel of her walking jacket, he deftly tucked the ribbon-wrapped stem of the posy into a buttonhole.
"Violets make an excellent blood-purifying tonic," Garrett said awkwardly, feeling the need to fill the silence. "And they're good for treating cough or fever."
The elusive dimple appeared in his cheek. "They're also becoming to green-eyed women.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Hello Stranger

“The variety of wares was staggering: stacks of brown haddock fried in batter, pea soup crowded with chunks of salt pork, smoking-hot potatoes split and doused with butter, oysters roasted in the shell, pickled whelks, and egg-sized suet dumplings heaped in wide shallow bowls. Meat pasties had been made in half-circle shapes convenient for hand carrying. Dried red saveloy and polony sausages, cured tongue, and cuts of ham seared with white fat were made into sandwiches called trotters.
Farther along the rows, there was an abundance of sweets: puddings, pastries, buns crossed with fat white lines of sugar, citron cakes, chewy gingerbread nuts dabbed with crackled icing, and tarts made with currants, gooseberries, rhubarbs, or cherries.
Ransom guided Garrett from one stand to the next, buying whatever caught her interest: a paper cone filled with hot green peas and bacon, and a nugget of plum dough. He coaxed her to taste a spicy Italian veal stew called stuffata, which was so delicious that she ate an entire cup of it.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Hello Stranger

“Garrett regarded the scene with amazement. "It looks like a Saturday-night market."
"It's to celebrate the new underground London Ironstone line. The railway owner, Tom Severin, is paying out of his own pocket for fairs and concerts across the city."
"Mr. Severin my be taking credit for the celebrations," Garrett said wryly, "but I can assure you, not a shilling of it has come from his own pocket."
Ransom's gaze flashed to her. "You know Severin?"
"I'm acquainted with him," she said. "He's a friend of Mr. Winterborne's."
"But not yours?"
"I would call him a friendly acquaintance." A ripple of delight ran through her as she saw the notch between his brows. Was it possible he was jealous? "Mr. Severin is a schemer," she said. "An opportunist. He contrives everything for his own advantage, even at the expense of his friends."
"A businessman, then," Ransom said flatly.
Garrett laughed. "He certainly is that.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Hello Stranger

“Every man likes to think there's a part of his nature that remains untamed and unsubdued."
"You know all about men, do you?" he asked with an edge of mockery.
"Mr. Ransom, the male sex has ceased to be a mystery ever since my first course in practical anatomy, which included the dissection of a cadaver.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Hello Stranger

“After Sims and the footmen had departed, Ethan sat with his back against the tree trunk and watched as Garrett unearthed a feast from the hampers. There were boiled eggs, plump olives, stalks of crisp green celery, jars of pickled carrots and cucumbers, sandwiches wrapped in paraffin paper, cold fried oyster-patties and wafer crackers, jars of finely chopped salads, a weighty round of white cheese, muslin-lined baskets filled with finger cakes and pastry biscuits, a steamed cabinet pudding left in its fluted stoneware mold, and a wide-mouthed glass bottle filled with stewed fruit.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Hello Stranger