15 Quotes by Lynn Messina

It was baffling to her that anyone would seek out a condition that consumed so much of one’s reading time.

Like all bores, he preferred his own thoughts and opinions to the exclusion of others.

I mean no offense,” he added, “but you have appalling taste in archnemeses.

Rather, she feared her distress had its roots in the unexpected amiability of the enterprise, the sense of camaraderie that had sprung up between them as they sat quietly by the fire in her room discussing suspects in Mr. Otley’s murder. In those moments, she’d felt known by the duke in a way she hadn’t been by anyone else, and it made her sad and unsettled to realize how quickly he would cease to know her.

Yet even as Beatrice tried to convince herself that her anguish varied greatly from the disappointments the beautiful widow had endured, she recognized the act as a futile attempt to elevate her own suffering to something greater. She wanted to believe her sorrow transcended ordinary misery, that it was in some way hallowed, but in reality it was just sadness, as common as dirt and as familiar as the sky.

A man of his circumstance – handsome demeanor, elevated status, inordinately fat purse – was allowed any trespass, and Bea had little doubt that if he suddenly ran his host through with a sword, Skeffington would promptly apologize for bloodying the blade.