Erin

“This Author has come to the conclusion that there are rakes, and there are Rakes.
Anthony Bridgerton is a Rake.
A rake (lower-case) is youthful and immature. He flaunts his exploits, behaves with utmost idiocy, and thinks himself dangerous to women.
A Rake (upper-case) knows he is dangerous to women.
He doesn’t flaunt his exploits because he doesn’t need to. He knows he will be whispered about by men and women alike, and in fact, he’d rather they didn’t whisper about him at all. He knows who he is and what he has done; further recountings are, to him, redundant.
He doesn’t behave like an idiot for the simple reason that he isn’t an idiot”
― Julia Quinn, The Viscount Who Loved Me

“You are the contrariest woman I have ever met." Hester snorted. "Contrariest. What kind of word is contrariest. French?" He grinned. "Be careful baby girl, I bite. I'll give you more French than you'll know what to do with.”
― Beverly Jenkins, Indigo

“You should know I’m not going to save this as a memento,” she said, waving the handkerchief defiantly in his face.
. “What?”
"You know, like in the movies when the gentleman hands the distraught lady a handkerchief and he finds out at the end of the movie that she’s saved it for like decades as a keepsake?”
"What movie is that? It sounds awful.”
― Lauren Layne, Only with You

“I know ladies don’t sweat, but something was running down my face in great rivulets.”
― Rhys Bowen, Royal Flush