Slow Heat In Heaven Quotes
"The outline of his body was as detailed as a silhouette cut out of black construction paper."
"The horizon was as gaudily striped as a sultan's turban."
"Above from where Schyler lay, Spanish moss drooped from the sprawling limbs of the live oak, looking more desolate than usual, mourning the unrelenting humid heat."
"Instinctively she shrank against the massive tree trunk and shut her eyes tightly."
"His first language had been a Cajun dialect."
"In rural Louisiana during the summertime, it was a common sight."
"His eyes reflected it like the motionless waters of a bayou when sunlight strikes it at the right angle."
"I don't repeat gossip, Miss Schyler. I only listen to it."
"The nightly choir of bullfrogs and crickets was warming up."
"Nothing in England smelled like this, like home, like Belle Terre."
"As pure and white as a sugar cube, it stood serenely in the heart of the clearing, dominating it like the center gem in a tiara."
"Personally Schyler had always preferred the open veranda."
"The worst of it for Schyler was that she wasn't sure he even knew she had come home to see him."
"He gnawed his lower lip, his only concession to a guilty conscience."
"She scooted back her chair. 'Excuse me, please. I'm going to freshen up before I go to the hospital.'"
"Schyler whispered the name like a prayer as she pushed herself away from the tree."
"Her greatest fear was that she would never know what had turned him against her, what had changed her from pet to pariah."
"The equipment has the latest technology available. The staff is well paid. We're not doctors and surgeons who couldn't find jobs anywhere else."
"Tears blurred her eyes as Schyler reached out and ran her fingers through it. 'I love you, Daddy.'"
"For the last six years she had fancied herself still in love with him."
"She followed the narrow path that paralleled the road for a few hundred yards before angling off to the left."
"He was ugly, extremely ugly, the most menacing creature Schyler had ever seen."
"Acting on sheer survival instinct, she groped behind her and picked up the first thing she laid her hand on."
"Schyler gasped when he reached out and encircled her wrist, drawing her arm closer to the lantern."
"Cash Boudreaux was gazing down at her curiously."
"She was determined not to scream, but she couldn't hold back the choking sound that escaped."
"The scars that were once open wounds were now just faint lines on the fabric of her memory, a testament to both her fragility and her resilience."
"As soon as I get to Belle Terre, I'm calling the sheriff."
"I'd rather die standing than live on my knees."
"It wasn't easy for me to drop everything and come running tonight."
"Why don't you drop the Miss and call me just plain Schyler?"
"Because I know it annoys the shit out of you."
"I didn't have any choice. That's how Mother and Daddy entered my name on my birth certificate."
"You didn't answer my question. Are you hungry?"
"Belle Terre isn't an ivory castle, you know."
"It's not so much you I dislike. It's what you represent."
"You didn't make a point to get to know me either."
"I thought I knew every road in the parish, but I've never been on this one."
"Gayla's been living with Jigger the last few years."
"No. I guess I don't. Don't take it personally."
"Among Jigger's girls, Gayla shone like a new penny. That's why he took her for his own."
"It wasn't possible. Schyler had known Gayla since she was born to Veda, a late-in-life child."
"You relished telling me all that, didn't you?"
"Filth, Mr. Boudreaux. No, I'm not used to filth."
"You're every bit as unscrupulous as people say."
"Once his scores were settled, the devil could have him."
"The electric chair was humane compared to what could happen to you at the hands of the inmates."
"Fighting only got you hurt and prolonged the inevitable."
"He could endure it. He would endure it. He would endure anything."
"You can't threaten a man who has absolutely nothing to lose."
"The more like a bastard you behave, the more attractive you are."
"That was part of her attraction. This woman couldn't be wounded too deeply."
"She was attractive. When they split, she would find another lover."
"It's unrealistic to hope that I can fill enough contracts to come up with that much cash in such a short time."
"She tried to wet her lips, but her tongue, like the inside of her mouth, was arid."
"If you want my help in saving your company from bankruptcy and Belle Terre from foreclosure, you're going to keep your butt to the ground, your mouth shut, and do things my way, understand?"
"The only person who had treated him in a friendly fashion was Cotton Crandall."
"They wanted to be in the very bosom of Heaven's social circle."
"The atmosphere was redolent with sexuality and she couldn't say why."
"She suspected that he was faking the deep sleeps he lapsed into whenever she was at the hospital."
"She wanted to wipe it off his mouth with the palm of her hand."
"Now, that kind of reward seemed as cheap and insignificant as a plastic trophy."
"Drowning your sorrows in an ocean of bourbon?"
"Her impatience to get away and change her life was so strong that her skin itched from the inside."
"But he knew that having his ticker on the blink was as debasing and emasculating as castration."
"Life was passing them by with the speed of a zephyr, while they had no more forward motion than the waters of the bayou."
"She wanted to kill him for all his crimes against her, chief of which was making her blood run hot every time she came near him."
"The first thing Schyler did when she returned to Belle Terre was take a scalding and soapy shower."
"I don't care if it's a hurricane, I want the loggers out there cutting timber."
"You know better than to argue with her when she assumed that particular tone of voice."
"I've never lied to you in my life. You know that."
"Dammit, Schyler, it was easy to believe her."
"Instead of us being on the outside of Heaven's social circle looking in, these rednecks will be kissing our asses. There won't be anything we can't do and get away with."
"All right. Find a lover who isn't so personally involved with the Crandalls and preferably one who didn't crawl out of a trash can."
"Money hungry, bitch. You can come just talking about money."
"Of all the serious mistakes she had made in her life, going to bed with Cash Boudreaux championed them all."
"The matrix of her spirit had held her together. She hadn't crumbled; she hadn't broken apart."
"God was in his heaven . . . but all was not right with the world."
"But it was going to take more than a couple of grisly dead cats to scare her off."
"People actually went hungry. She had marched and picketed on behalf of the downtrodden and unfortunate, but this was the first time she'd ever experienced human misery firsthand."
"It had been her daily prayer since she had seen Schyler toting the shotgun that her old friend hadn't recognized her before she ducked out of sight."
"I can't help but sleep like a frigging corpse after absorbing that goddamn suppository they shove up my ass every night."
"What's going on here? A frigging holiday? Get to work."
"I've got more years of my life than I like to count invested in this company. It's not going to go bankrupt without a helluva fight from me."
"If you weren't here, if you had to do this alone, if you were responsible for this decision, what would you do?"
"I hate kissing anybody's ass, particularly a guy like that."
"It's like this mole I have on my hip. It's ugly. I don't like it, but it's a part of me."
"I speculate that the original forest was destroyed by fire."
"Everything here is left alone. Nature works out its own problems."
"I'd kill anybody who tried to bother this place."
"Before she died, my mother made me promise never to leave Belle Terre as long as Cotton Crandall was alive."
"I guess I'm supposed to act as his guardian angel."
"Thank God none of us gets what she deserves."
"Having Chateaubriand and asparagus tips for lunch was decadent."
"Let's roll down the windows and drive real fast."
"If you're sober enough to wonder, then you're not too far gone."
"I don't deserve anybody's love, not even God's."
"You don't hate me, Schyler, for what I've done?"
"Mama would turn over in her grave if she knew you were bringing them inside Belle Terre."
"This is a house. It isn't the holy of holies."