Harriet Peabody Quotes

“Harriet smiled. "My name is Harriet."
"Do your friends call you Harry?"
"Not if they want to remain my friends."
"Harriet it is, then, and since we have to convince everyone we're... attached, you must call me Oliver."
She tilted her head. "Do your friends call you Ollie?"
"Not if they want to remain my friends.”
― Jen Turano, After a Fashion

“I'm waiting with bated breath to hear what you'll say next." "Ah, sarcasm, how refreshing," he said pleasantly.”
― Jen Turano, After a Fashion

“Kind is my middle name."
"I don't think I'd go that far.”
― Jen Turano, After a Fashion

“The elderly gentleman somehow managed to look down his nose at her,even though they were of a similar height.
"From what I just witnessed, you were about to assault Mr. Addleshaw."
"Just because I was thinking about it, doesn't mean I was planning on seeing it through to fruition."
"A lady should never contemplate slapping a gentleman, especially not one of Mr. Addleshaw's social standing."
"I wasn't thinking about slapping him," Harriet muttered. "He deserved much more than a simple slap for being under the misguided belief that, simply because he has deep pockets, everyone should cater to his ridiculous whims.”
― Jen Turano, After a Fashion

“I'm twenty-two."
"Are you really? I thought you were closer to my age, and I'm thirty-one, which goes..."
The next thing Oliver knew, he was standing by himself, Harriet having shaken out of his hold and taken off down the sidewalk again.”
― Jen Turano, After a Fashion

“May I have a glass of water? For some reason, my throat suddenly feels incredibly parched."
Harriet nodded but before she could take so much as a single step toward the kitchen, Lucetta brushed past her.
"I'll get it." She grabbed Millie's hand and began tugging her out of the room. "You can help."
"But it doesn't take two people to fetch a ... ouch ... Did you just pinch me? Because that felt remarkably like a pinch, and ... " Millie's voice faded away as Lucetta hauled her into the hallway and toward the kitchen, shutting the door firmly behind them.”
― Jen Turano, After a Fashion

“She stalked down the short hallway, reached the door, pushed aside the bolt that secured it, twisted the lock, and then wrenched it open, her temper steadily rising when she looked at Oliver and found him smiling back at her, although his eyes held a distinct trace of temper.
"What?"
"Is that anyway to greet your fiance?”
― Jen Turano, After a Fashion

“You're glowering again," Abigail whispered, stepping to his side and giving him a sharp rap with the fan she was clutching.
"Can you blame me?"
Abigail shot a look to Harriet who was having her hand accosted by an earnest young gentleman by the name of Mr. Richmond Sprout. "Not int he least, dear, but you really should try to control that temper of yours. The last thing we need this evening is for you to punch someone."
"That thought never entered my head."
"Of course it did, but I find it rather sweet.”
― Jen Turano, After a Fashion

“...he summoned up what he'd been told by numerous ladies was his most charming of smiles."But then we would never have met."
Harriet muttered something that sounded very much like, "Unbelievable" under her breath, and then began marching down the alley toward the main street, apparently not moved in the least by his charm.”
― Jen Turano

“Pulling his attention away from the bottom lip he still found fascinating, Oliver felt his lips twitch. "You really were in a circus?"
"With everything I've just disclosed to you, you're most interested in the idea I was once in a circus?”
― Jen Turano, After a Fashion

“Seeing absolutely no point in arguing further with the man, Harriet tried her hand at releasing a sniff, just like Mrs. Birmingham had done numerous times during their ridiculous exchange. To her acute embarrassment, though, it turned out that sniffing was not actually advisable when it was pouring down rain, because water tended to immediately be sucked up one's nose. She sneezed, snorted, sneezed again, and finally managed a halfhearted wave in his direction. "Continue if you please.”
― Jen Turano, After a Fashion

“Forgive me, Mr. Addleshaw, but I don't think Miss Peabody is exactly keen about going to Arnold Constable & Company."
"Why would you say that?"
"She's dashing away in the opposite direction."
Oliver turned, and sure enough, Harriet was quickly disappearing into the crowd, her huge hat once again bobbing in the breeze.”
― Jen Turano, After a Fashion

“I found unconventional and it exactly explains your upbringing." Millie's lips curved into a grin. "Unconstitutional doesn't explain you at all, unless you've been participating in something that goes against our country's constitution.”
― Jen Turano, After a Fashion

“See, I did finally practice that adoring look you demanded, and I'm now going to suggest you try your hand at looking adoringly back at me," she muttered out of the side of her mouth even as she kept her smile firmly in place. "The guests will get suspicious if I'm the only one doing the whole adoring business."
His lips curved into a returning smile. She was so beautiful and so different from anyone he'd ever known that he decided there and then that, although this was to be the last night they were together, he was going to make the most out of it.”
― Jen Turano, After a Fashion

“Harriet's mouth dropped open. In her world, urgent meant someone died, the rent was overdue, or dinner could not be served due to lack of funds. It never meant one was anxious for a delivery of hats.”
― Jen Turano