— cr: when he was wicked by julia quinn

ITS HAPPENING!

“In every life there is a turning point. A moment so tremendous[...] and one knows, absolutely knows without the merest hint of a shadow of a doubt that one’s life will never be the same.
For Michael Stirling, that moment came the first time he laid eyes on Francesca Bridgerton.”

“After a lifetime of chasing women, of smiling slyly as they chased him, [...] but never actually allowing his heart to become engaged, he took one look at Francesca Bridgerton and fell so fast and so hard into love it was a wonder he managed to remain standing”

OH MY GOD?!

“And so he laughed, and was very merry, and he continued to seduce women, trying not to notice that he tended to close his eyes when he had them in bed, and he stopped going to church entirely, because there seemed no point now in even contemplating prayer for his soul”

I’M—?!

“He coveted his cousin’s wife.
He coveted John’s wife.”

“Because her presence was all he was ever going to get. There would never be a kiss, never a meaningful glance or touch. There would be no whispered words of love, no moans of passion.
All he could have was her smile and her company,”

i’m crying fuck

do I really have to read about Francesca’s love for John and how amazing they are together? I know I will sound selfish, but I want her to love Michael fiercely...

“Their first meeting hadn’t been one of overwhelming love or passion, but rather filled with the most bizarre sense that she’d finally found the one person with whom she could completely be herself.”

So with Michael, she will have that overwhelming love and passion, right?

“You didn’t have to. Your face is an open book.”
She looked up at him, twisting her lips. “You weren’t even looking at me.”
“Of course I was, and anyway, it wouldn’t matter if I weren’t. I know what you’re about.”

“He turned to her and grinned. It was wicked and devilish, and she understood why half the ton—the female half, that was—fancied themselves in love with him, even with no title or fortune to his name.”

i’m already a whore for him

John died

“Michael leapt from his seat and pinned Lord Winston against the wall. “You will not approach Lady Kilmartin,” he growled. “You will not even breathe the same air. Do I make myself clear?”
“Quite,” the smaller man gurgled.”

I love and want him, your honor

Fuck, she is pregnant?

“And where was Michael? Why couldn’t he comfort her? Why didn’t he realize how very much she needed him? Him, not his mother. Not anyone’s mother.
She needed Michael, the one person who had known John the way she had, the only person who had loved him as fully.”

She just had a miscarriage, fuck this is horrible

“She asked for you,” his mother said.
“Francesca?” he asked, his eyes flying open with surprise.
Helen nodded. “She said she wanted you.”
“I can’t,” he said.
[...]
“You can’t abandon her,” his mother said.
“She was never mine to abandon.”

“He didn’t try to finish the sentence for her. She wished he had; for years she wished he had, because maybe then he would have said the wrong thing, and maybe then she wouldn’t have leaned into him, and maybe then she wouldn’t have allowed him to hold her.”

All I know is pain.

“She wanted him to grieve as she grieved. She wanted him to hurt in every way she hurt. It wasn’t fair, and it wasn’t nice, but she couldn’t help it and she didn’t feel like apologizing for it, either.”

Not her telling him that he would have been the father because John died...

“And when Francesca had turned to him with those bottomless blue eyes and said, “The baby was to have been yours in a way, too,” she’d shattered him to his very soul.”

I can’t, I can’t

HE IS LEAVING FOR INDIA SO HE CAN BE AWAY FROM HER?!

FOUR YEARS LATER?!

She is going to London to find a new husband

“since in the past few years he’d nearly met his demise three times, four if one counted that run-in with the knife-wielding Indian princess (Michael still maintained that he could have disarmed her without injury, but she did, he had to admit, have a rather murderous look [...]”

“Lady Bridgerton,” he said, taking her hand and gracing it with a gallant kiss.
“No one does that like you,” she said approvingly.
“One has to cultivate one’s best maneuvers,” he murmured.”

Even Violet isn’t immune to Michael’s charm, and I’m not surprised at all

He really is the hottest man alive ever

“He smiled stealthily. “The quality of the woman pouring.”
She laughed. “You, my lord, need a wife. Immediately.”
“Oh, really? And why is that?”
“Because in your present state, you are clearly a danger to unmarried women everywhere.”

HE IS! HE IS DANGEROUS!

“Francesca shot him a cross expression. This was so like him, letting his words trail off meaningfully, leaving her imagination feverish with questions. “I take it then,” she muttered, “that you did not share with us all the news from India.”
He just smiled. Devilishly.”

HOT

“Except this time was different. She turned to him, but she hadn’t expected him to have already turned to her. And she hadn’t expected him to be so close that she’d see the charcoal flecks in his eyes.
But most of all, she hadn’t expected her gaze to drop to his lips.”

“But suddenly…But now…
She’d looked at him, and she’d seen something entirely new.
She’d seen a man.
And it scared the very devil out of her.”

I SCREAMED

“And then of course there was the small matter of his skin crawling, which was his general reaction to the thought of Francesca with another man.”

I love boy obsessed trope so much

“She reached out and took his hand. “We will get through this,” she said.
He nodded, and then he closed his eyes.
But just when she thought he was asleep, he whispered, “It’s better with you here.”

He is sick and she is staying with him

“she’d been so busy caring for him and keeping him well that she’d managed to avoid thinking about that jolting moment in the park, when she’d looked at him and something had sparked to life within her.
Something she had been quite certain had died inside of her 4 years earlier.”

“Tell me something wicked,” he said using his best trying-to-sound-as-if-he’d-just-thought-of-it voice, when of course he never forgot anything she said to him. “Tell me something wicked,” he said again, more slowly this time. “That was it. You rather liked me when I was wicked.”

“He could never remain faithful to one woman,” Francesca said, “and I doubt you’d be willing to put up with infidelities.”

if he married you, Fannie... he would never want anyone else

“He smiled at one of his companions then, a slow, liquid grin that caused even the Bridgerton women to sigh.
“Haven’t we something better to do besides spy on Michael?” Francesca asked, disgusted.
Kate, Sophie, and Eloise looked at each other, blinking.
“No.”
“No.”

“Michael had spotted Francesca the moment he’d entered the ballroom. She was standing at the far side of the room, chatting with her sisters, wearing a blue gown and new hairstyle.

And he noticed the instant she left as well, exiting through the door in the northwest wall,”

“and as she walked to him, his breath caught.

It shouldn’t have surprised him. And yet it did. Every time he thought he knew everything about her, had unwillingly memorized every last detail, something inside her flickered and changed, and he felt himself falling anew.”

Half of the elegible men in the ton are sending flowers to Frannie and want to court her and Michael is close to losing his mind

Michael is five seconds away from being arrested for murder, and you know what? GOOD! That’s my unhinged man!

Yeah, Michael is definitely killing someone tonight

MICHAEL LOST HIS MIND AND JUMPED SOMEONE’S ASS BECAUSE THE GUY KEPT TALKING ABOUT HOW FRANCESCA WOULD BE IN BED

“And then Colin said, “You should just marry her, you know.”
Michael nearly choked. “I beg your pardon?”
“Marry her,” Colin said with a shrug. “It seems simple enough.”

COLIN IS IN THE CLUB, HEARD AND SAW EVERYTHING AND NOW KNOWS MICHAEL IS IN LOVE WITH FRANNIE

This conversation between Colin and Michael, oh my god... Colin truly saw behind Michael’s façade and right to his heart

I fainted, sorry

That was the hottest first kiss ever and she felt so much that she ran away to her mom’s house and then left for Scotland

Colin Bridgerton strikes again, not even Cupid is on his level

“And he, who had slept with countless women, suddenly realized that he’d been nothing but a green boy.
Because it had never been like this.
That had been his body. This was his soul.”

“For the first time in days, she slept deeply and truly.
And she never knew that he laid awake the whole time, his lips at her temple, his hand against her hair.
Whispering her name.
Whispering other words as well”

he is the most perfect man ever

“But the truth was, she was terrified to think. Because what would she learn? [...] That she had felt a primitive thrill with this man, a soaring, scandalous sensation that had never been there with her husband, whom she’d loved with every inch of her heart?”

A WIN FOR ME

“Michael hadn’t asked to be placed in this position. He had never looked up to the heavens and wished himself the earldom. He had never even truly wished for Francesca, just accepted that she could never be his.
But John had died. He had died.
And it was nobody’s fault.”

“And never did see him, watching her from under the curved staircase, his face touched with the smallest, and truest, of smiles.”

rip me

He gave her flowers

I CANT BREATHE

“And then, once the bed had stopped shaking with her mirth, his mouth would find hers, a smile embedded on his lips. “I love your laughter,” he would murmur, and his hands would curl her to him. She’d sigh, still giggling, and they’d begin their passion anew.”

MICHAEL OMG?!

“I dreamed of you,” he said hoarsely, his hands pushing her skirt up to her waist. “Every night you came to me in dreams.”

“With a vicious curse, he turned away. “Leave,” he ordered. “Now. I want you out of the house.”
“Wh–what?”[...]
He didn’t look at her as he said, “If you can’t be with me, if you can’t give all of yourself to me, then I want you gone.”

“Why?” he asked again, [...]“Why? It’s because I love you, damn me to hell. Because I’ve always loved you. Because I loved you when you were with John, and I loved you when I was in India, and God only knows I don’t deserve you, but I love you, anyway.”

“If I want to tie you to the bed, and keep you there until you’re heavy with child, I’ll do it,” he vowed.
“Yes,” she gasped.
“And you won’t complain.”