Grayson's Vow Quotes
"Never fret, my love, the universe always balances the scales. Her ways may be mysterious, but they are always just."
"She'd taught me the true value of money—it was meant to be shared, used to help others, but also represented a type of freedom."
"Today may be a very bad day, but tomorrow may be the best day of your life. You just have to hang on until you get there."
"Watch what people do when they think no one's watching, love. That's how you'll know who they really are."
"I hardly needed another reason to despise myself."
"I'd sold almost everything of any value in my family home to raise the money to plant those grapes."
"Sometimes, I supposed, a girl just had to be her own hero."
"Trusting you in any respect would be an act of faith on my part."
"I need you at my disposal. Has nothing changed since you left the country? I had hoped . . . just call me."
"It's heartwarming. I can't tell you how comfortable you've made me feel."
"I understand vows, Grayson. I've made them, too. I've vowed never again to depend upon my father."
"Privilege isn't only defined by material wealth, Kira."
"I can't abide by that," Charlotte said, shaking her head.
"I'd rather marry a stranger for money before going to her for a loan."
"This seems like my best option at the moment."
"I understand what you're saying, Charlotte, and I appreciate the advice, but—"
"I've been working here since Gray was first dropped off . . ."
"To help a friend build a hospital of a sort."
"I don't like this idea of you and Gray getting married, but I won't see you living in a dirty, spider-dwelling shack."
"It will help so many women and children. I'll tell you all about it sometime."
"My mama says it's not what a person has, but how he treats others."
"In any case, I wouldn't worry about what either of them knows."
"Your grandmother believed that if age and maturity didn't make a person more aware of the needs of others, or at least one other, marriage certainly would. It's why she put the conditions on the trust money. She wanted it to be used well, and ideally in partnership with someone you chose to share a life with."
"I won't let you down," I vowed for the hundredth time, addressing my father. "I'll make you proud of me, I swear it."
"Marriage is much like wine. They both mature slowly and grow deeper and more complex with time."
"My mother used to say that marriage is much like wine. They both mature slowly and grow deeper and more complex with time."
"I believe because his father treated him so terribly before that. To Grayson, redeeming this vineyard means redeeming his own value."
"Forget the prince and princess. I always imagined the real story was between the witch and the dragon."
"It was a long time ago." So why did my chest still ache as I recalled it? "I stood on the side of the pool crying and screaming as that puppy drowned, Kira. My father eventually scooped him out, but it was too late." And the guilt of that still tore at my soul. I'd been a coward. "I just wish I had it to do over again . . . I'd save him this time. I'd drown myself if I had to. But I'd save him."
"It wasn't your fault," she said softly, seeming to know what I was thinking. "What your father did to you was an evil, awful thing to do to a little boy. Oh, Grayson, I'm so sorry you experienced that."
"Maybe. But I like to think not. At least in most cases anyway."
"I'm sure all your other girls don't complain."
"You're supposed to be helping me organize my books to stay out of trouble."
"Go ahead. I can assure you I don't have any social plans on the calendar."
"Why had I shared that story with her? She had this way of drawing out honest confessions from me."
"I'd never experienced a kiss like this one. It confused me almost as much as it aroused me."
"That's how us women are built, my dear. When we give our bodies, we give our hearts. When men give their bodies, well, they give their bodies."
"I had married this man, and yet I'd never intended on letting Grayson Hawthorn into my private life, my private pain."
"She's the best. She's more like a sister, really."
"A Dallaire does not belong in such low company."
"My father dismissed her years ago. It was awkward, and painful since he'd been having a relationship with her, and essentially traded her in for a newer, younger model to serve as both his new housekeeper and new bed partner."
"You have to feel the pain if you're going to feel the joy. It's just the way it works."
"But people triumph all over the world every day, too."
"You can't shut off one emotion without shutting off all your emotions."
"Because of my gram, and because of you, I can do anything."
"She won't get a dime from me, so you're both out of luck."
"I assure you, we couldn't have, nor will we ever, for reasons far beyond my marriage to Grayson."
"I shudder to imagine what happens when you don't hold back."
"I've made a concerted effort to curtail the follow-through of my 'ideas' since I've been living with you."
"I want you to be able to rise above, as well."
"I wanted him with an aching desperation that scared me witless and excited me senseless."
"What was life without a few exciting adventures? Wasn't it worth a little heartache to know a touch like Grayson Hawthorn's?"
"You don't get a virus from dusty air or cold showers."
"He won't answer letters, won't take phone calls."
"What was sexier on a man than great abs and a heart full of hidden torment?"
"Nice to meet you, Grayson. Harley's told me a lot about you. I can see he might have left out some."
"It's understandable. No apologies. This place, though, wow, I know you said it was beautiful here, but I didn't imagine this."
"Let's just get cleaned up, Grayson," she said quietly, not meeting my eyes, not allowing me to attempt to read her expression.
"I remembered you were in Napa Valley and I looked you up and knew this had to be the place. Man, I can't believe it's been so long."
"Sharp, yes, piercing yes. But not always painful. It's meant to strip you bare in order to heal. Be brave enough not to fight it. Surrender, my boy. Let go."
"God, what in the hell had come over us? What was that?"
"I think it's obvious after today we require some space from one another—and you need time to work things out with Shane and Vanessa without me in the way."
"For the love of all things holy, you're both so stubborn. You two probably deserve no less than to be shackled to each other for life."
"Love is not always smooth and easy. Love can be piercing. Love means exposing yourself—all of yourself, every tender part—to being hurt. Because true love is not only the flower, true love is also the thorns."
"I did one thing just by luck—you had my back for the next five years," I said, something catching in my throat.
"Funny how one life can affect another, and then that life affects the one after it and on and on."
"We should all be children when it comes to love—open and vulnerable."
"I think a good place to start," Charlotte said as if reading my mind, "is to talk to your brother and Vanessa. And listen to them, not with your hurt, but with your heart."
"If you let it, pain makes more space for love within you. And the love we carry inside makes us strong when nothing else can."
"You can't avoid pain. And sometimes the pain is so great, it feels as if it carves out the very essence of who you are. But it doesn't, not if you don't allow it to."
"Let that be the legacy your father leaves you. That's the perfect vengeance."
"Everything will be okay. Grayson and I will work this out together."
"It's all a game—a game of perceptions and manipulating 'facts'. The players don't matter, the individual lives don't matter—anything can be twisted if you come at it from the right angle."
"I kept thinking, please don't let me leave this world without telling that boy how I feel about him."
"You don't love me. I was bought and paid for, nothing more."
"I'm not like my father. I'm not like your father."
"This has nothing to do with my father. This has to do with you and the fact that I'll never trust you again."
"I know it must seem like you can't believe in anything anymore. But you can believe in me."
"What we have together—I can get down at the corner bar any day of the week."
"Love? You know what love has gotten me in my life?"
"There's my beautiful girl. You take care of everyone here, okay? And know I love you and that you're a good girl, such a good girl."
"Misery. It was the only emotion I seemed capable of feeling."
"What good is that going to do them when it comes time to feed their families?"
"I think you'll find, that where there is real love, there is always real hope."