Home > Work > Her Perfect Match (Mistress Matchmaker, #3)
1 " He laughed, but his face was unreadable as he looked at her titles. “Ah, a collection from Sir Walter Scott. Very nice, I’ve always liked his poetry. Sense and Sensibility, but surely you have read this one.” She nodded after a moment. “Y-Yes. It is one of my favorites. I only rather liked this binding.” He held his gaze on her for a moment and then nodded. "
― Jess Michaels , Her Perfect Match (Mistress Matchmaker, #3)
2 " Benedict, it is true I cannot accept any future you have offered me. We both know why.” Except he didn’t, but he said nothing and she continued. “But I would be lying if I told you that I didn’t still…think of you. Of us.” He stared. Was this happening? Was she truly saying these things after three years of polite distance and pretending to be friends? “You do,” he said, flat and emotionless for he feared revealing too much. She nodded. “It seems there is unfinished business between us. On both sides. And since everything is about to change, I wonder if we should resolve that business, if only so it won’t haunt us.” “What are you saying?” he asked softly. She swallowed and her voice trembled as she whispered, “Be with me again. "
3 " Her knees began to shake, not because he was beautiful, which he had always been, but because coming into this room with him here waiting for her…it was like coming home. "
4 " I keep it for its sentimental value,” he said, his voice harder. “It was the last place we made love before you ended our previous affair. "
5 " Don’t you know, Vivien? You never have to demand from me. Simply ask for what you desire and I would give you anything.” He kissed her. “Anything at all. "
6 " Great God, Vivien…Miss Manning. I didn’t expect to see you here today.” She tilted her head. “Nor I you. When I heard your voice, I thought I was dreaming.” He arched a brow. “Do you often dream of me in bookstores?” She laughed even though the question was a loaded one. “You must know you are dreamed of by dozens of women. I could not say I wasn’t one of them. "
7 " And I see you have not resisted their lure either.” He motioned toward her books. “Might I look at your selections?” She hesitated and clutched her books closer out of habit. She had often felt that the books one read were a peek into the soul of the reader. That was why her personal library was kept in a locked room very separate from the places where her visitors went for her wild parties. Sharing these selections with Benedict felt so very intimate. "
8 " He all but held his breath as he waited for her to force that façade back into place. Or to leave his side just so he would no longer see her girlish delight at the museum and the contents that awaited them. Instead, she slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow and looked up at him with those same shining eyes and wide, real smile. “I cannot wait another moment to see everything—shall we go in?” For a moment, he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t move as he stared into her eyes and saw so much beauty, so much truth…but then he shook his head and led her into the museum. This was a rare opportunity. He refused to miss a moment of it while he pondered what he had done to deserve it. "
9 " What if I had refused your request?” she said with a shake of her head. He laughed. “Then I would have had my carriage turned around, of course.” She folded her arms with a smile she couldn’t help. “You are always so certain of yourself.” His smile faded slightly. “Never with you. You forever set me off my axis.” He inched closer and suddenly there was a tension in the carriage that had nothing to do with teasing flirtation or friendly discussion. He wanted her. And Vivien wanted him equally. "
10 " He shook his head. “Most men have never attempted to look past your exterior show, let alone actually seen past it. And to their detriment, for to know you, even as little as you allow me, is a gift. You are intelligent, focused and as strong as any man I’ve ever known. Those things did not happen from some magical wave of a wand. They must have been built from a foundation of some kind.” She stared at him, surprised that her eyes filled briefly with tears. He loved her, truly loved her. With the kind of depth of feeling she had scoffed at in books or pretended only existed for others as she watched her best friends find love and true happiness with their husbands. It made the fact they could not truly be together all the more unfair. "
11 " Lysandra held her gaze for a long moment. “Benedict is a good man.” She couldn’t smile. It was too painful. “Indeed he is.” “Isn’t there any way to be with him?” Lysandra pressed. Vivien swallowed. She wasn’t even going to deny that was her heart’s desire. “No. Not with my reputation.” “But Lysandra and I each came from similar backgrounds and our husbands—” Mariah began. Vivien lifted a hand to stop her. “You did not come from anything like my background. Lysandra never had a lover beyond her husband and you married a rake with a terrible reputation who could be expected to do something so shocking. Neither of you were ever the most notorious woman in the city. "
12 " He went limp over her, cradling her to him as their panting breaths merged into one over seconds, moments. She clung to him, smoothing her hands over his back, pressing her lips to his flesh and knowing, more than she had ever known anything, that what she felt for him had gone too far. She loved him. That fact was so clear that she couldn’t believe she had ever doubted it. She loved him, just as she had loved him when they parted three years before. Just as she had loved him all throughout the interim of years that separated them. "
13 " In the dying firelight, Benedict’s face was relaxed in sleep. He was so handsome, so perfect. She brushed a lock of hair from his forehead and he did not stir with the motion. She smiled, but the expression faded as a strong desire welled up in her. A desire to do something she had never done before. She touched him again, to be certain he was not awake. When he didn’t move or react, she leaned closer, her hands shaking. “I love you, "
