She had wanted him, in that first instant, wanted him as simply and unreasoningly as she wanted food to eat, horses to ride and a soft bed on which to lay herself. (2.26)

Scarlett's love for Ashley is compared here to wanting food or a soft bed; it's self-indulgence or simple desire, not some sort of deep, timeless emotion. It's probably important here that she's only sixteen—she's not so much in love as she's crushing out. Ashley is her boy band.

Margaret Mitchell wrote the bestselling 1936 novel Gone With the Wind, which was made into an enduring film classic.
The film version, also lauded far and wide, came out just three years later. More than 30 million copies of Mitchell’s Civil War masterpiece have been sold worldwide, and it has been translated into 27 languages. Mitchell was struck by a car and died in 1949, leaving behind Gone With the Wind as her only novel.

If you get it easily, you won’t cherish it. Only those who have worked hard to get it will be extraordinarily cherished. Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth.