Okay, so, *** fanning self *** --> that's what does it for me! I don't care about ripped abs or spectacular bods. Give me a man who can use words. Swoon.
In honor of Valentine's Day, I give you Captain Wentworth's written declaration of love to Anne Elliot in Jane Austen's Persuasion (1816).
If there's anything sexier in literature, I do not know it:
"I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating, in
F. W."
And the 1995 film with Amanda Root and Ciarán Hinds, pictured above? It's really good. I own it. I may need to watch it this week, just to honor Valentine's Day. ;)
