Eloisa James Quotes

Tess took a deep breath. 'You are not marrying me for love, Lord Mayne. Nor-as far as I can see-due to any overwhelming feeling of a less...less proper nature.' She could feel color rising into her cheeks.
'Now that's not true,' Mayne said. There was a hint of wicked laughter in his eyes, and his fingers tightened on hers. 'I feel quite improperly toward you.'
Goodness, but he was attractive when he wasn't hedging, when he was being honest. 'Are you not disturbed by the fact that we do not feel warmer emotions for each other?' she asked him.
'I would be disturbed if we /did/ ... I do not wish for a tempestuous marriage, although I am quite certain that there will be sufficient warmth between us.'
'And in your estimation, tempests must accompany love,' she said, raising an eyebrow. ~ Eloisa James

Sophie swallowed, tears rising to her eyes again. It was an odd legacy to hand from mother to daughter: the ability to stand proud among the ruins of one's marriage. ~ Eloisa James

It's not just that,' she said, trying to explain in a way he would understand. 'My life - any lady's life - is made up of morning calls, and musicales, and balls. I would be thrown out of society. No one would receive me or send invitations. That's what it means to be ruined. ~ Eloisa James

Quin reached out, spun her back to him, and pulled her into his arms, held her tight, so tight that she could hardly breathe. "I need you," he said, low and fierce, into her hair. "Oh, G-d, Olivia, how did I ever live without you?"
She reached up, pulled his face down to hers. "I'm yours, for good or ill."
There was a little click as the door to the ballroom closed, but Olivia paid no mind.
"You're the missing piece of me," Quin said. "You make me feel. ~ Eloisa James

She was all that he wanted, all that he had ever wanted, even though he had lost track of that truth for a while. "James, ~ Eloisa James

Come, tears, confound,' he cried. 'Out, sword, and wound the left breast of Pyramus. Ay, that left breast where his heart doth hop. ~ Eloisa James

There was something aggressively masculine about Toloose ... perhaps it was the look in his eye. Or the way he was holding his billiard cue. It was amazing the way a man in an embroidered coat could take on the air of a dockworker. ~ Eloisa James

A number of visitors called this morning,' Finchley announced with some pride. He took a tray from a waiting footman and displayed it as if it were a baby. Sure enough there was a little heap of cardboard bits, embossed with the names of nobility, acquaintances, friends and the purely curious. ~ Eloisa James

You're the only one for me. I came back from the dead for you, Daisy. Twice. ~ Eloisa James

Don't you dare call me Grissie, you - you - degenerate! I have no idea what happened between you and Helene Godwin last night, but I can only assume that she sent you packing. And for you to turn from practically panting at the mere mention of her name - because you were, Garret, you know you were - to spreading vile rumors about her is low! Low and unworthy of you!'
'She lied to me,' Mayne forced out, walking to the mantelpiece.
'Wait!' his sister said contemptuously. 'Do I hear the sound of violins wailing? So you've never lied, is that it? You - who've made a name for yourself by sleeping with half the married women in London? You dare reproach a woman for lying? ~ Eloisa James

I don't want Christmas season to end, because it's the only time I can legitimately indulge in on particular addiction: glitter. ~ Eloisa James

The tiger crept through the tangled jungle ... He put one paw softly before the next, barely disturbing the song of the magpies far above ... But when the tiger reached the edge of the forest, he stopped short. The goat was walking along the shore, his white hooves prancing at the very edge of the tumbling azure waves of the Indian Ocean ... He stopped in the speckled shade of a bongo-bongo tree-'
'But, Miss Gabby,' Phoebe broke in anxiously, 'what did the tiger have for supper that night if he didn't eat the goat? Wouldn't he be hungry?'
Gabby's brown eyes lit with amusement. 'Perhaps the tiger was so mortified by his own lack of courage that he went to a far-off mountaintop and lived on nothing but fruits and vegetables.'
'I don't think so.' Phoebe was a very practical little girl. 'I think it's more likely that the tiger would have gone after that goat and eaten him up.'
'The tiger had a cat's natural abhorrence for water,' Gabby said. 'He didn't see the beauty of the waves as they danced into shore. To him the curling waves looked like the claws of tiny crabs, reaching out to nibble his bones! ~ Eloisa James

A lady should never feel anxious about her behavior. The status is bred in the bone. To show anxiety is to lower oneself. Anxiety is vulgar. ~ Eloisa James

Discretion is a synonym for intelligence. ~ Eloisa James

Offended you again," her godmother said with satisfaction. "Come along, then. We'll go to my chambers. The butler put me in one of the towers, and it's utterly heavenly, like being stuck in the clouds except for the pigeons crapping on the windows. ~ Eloisa James

He rarely saw a doorway without advancing through it as if he owned it. Since he owned a good many doorways, he would have pointed out that this was a reasonable assumption. ~ Eloisa James

Then he just blurted it out, with no preparation. 'The truth of it is that whether your mother arranged our marriage, or whether it was all an illusion, I must be horribly obtuse, because I can't talk myself out of being in love with you. ~ Eloisa James

The only part of the evening I really enjoyed was when Lord Pomtinius told me a limerick about an adulterous abbot."
"Don't you dare repeat it!" her sister ordered. Georgiana had never shown the faintest wish to rebel against the rules of propriety. She loved and lived by them.
"There once was an adulterous abbot," Olivia teased, "as randy-"
Georgiana slapped her hands over her ears. "I can't believe he told you such a thing! Father would be furious if he knew."
"Lord Pomtinius was in his cups," Olivia said. "Besides, he's ninety-six and he doesn't care about decorum any longer. Just a laugh, now and then."
"It doesn't even make sense. An adulterous abbot? How can an abbot be adulterous? They don't even marry."
"Let me know if you want to hear the whole verse," Olivia said. "It ends with talk of nuns, so I believe the word was being used loosely. ~ Eloisa James

To have him walk toward her with that intent look on his face, as if nothing in the world could satisfy him but her. Damn ~ Eloisa James

He thinks that there's no reason to eat breakfast unless Eleanor is there to give him that silly wide grin of hers. He wants to have an argument with her just so he can kiss her into a good mood again. He wants to sleep with her every night, see her holding a baby with brandy-colored hair like hers ... He wants her forever ... He can't bear the idea that she might ever love another man. ~ Eloisa James

Attention to her words was at such a fever pitch that Theo was visited by a delegation of three diamond sellers who begged her aid. That very evening Lady Islay appeared at a ball wearing a necklace that featured no fewer than eight strands of diamonds, caught together by an extraordinary pear-shaped diamond pendant, and casually remarked that she thought a woman should rival the Milky Way at night: *We give babies milk, but ladies? Diamonds.* ~ Eloisa James

She was his heart, his other half. She filled all the empty places in his soul that he had desperately tried to paper over with pirate escapades and merry women.
-The Ugly Duchess ~ Eloisa James

nights?" Something unraveled in her heart, destroying the last of her defenses, the final shard of sanity she possessed. "Yes! It is, it is. ~ Eloisa James

OF course they did,' she snapped back. 'According to them, you single-handedly won a dozen battles, restored the Spanish throne, and infiltrated Napoleon's inner circle, after which you rode an elephant, wrestled a crocodile, and swam the Straits of Gibraltar. ~ Eloisa James

I very much regret to tell you that our piglet will not be able to attend, as he made good his escape while we were otherwise occupied. ~ Eloisa James

There is no remedy for this poison,' Sudhakar said. 'You must live with the consequences, as must I.'
'Then why did you let her have it?' Quill said savagely. 'You knew she was impulsive. You should have guessed she might take it herself!'
Sudhakar looked at him. 'Now, why would that occur to me? I saw a young woman consumed with anxiety for her husband, prepared to ruin her marriage in order to save him from further suffering. I saw nothing self-destructive about her.'
'She thought it was harmless,' Quill whispered harshly. 'She had no idea. You shouldn't have given it to her.'
'Do you think she is a child? She is a grown woman. Her rash actions are her own.'
It was only when Quill fixed him with a brutal gaze that he realized that Sudhakar was also suffering. ~ Eloisa James

chaise longue and slowly pulled on a stocking. Her body twinged ~ Eloisa James

When you fall in love, your heart will pound so much you won't be able to throw a mouse let alone a cow pat.
I don't think I could throw a mouse now. I dislike the idea of scrabbling little feet in my palm, unless they are yours, of course. ~ Eloisa James

He'd never seen a lady's hair down in a public place, and here was Miss Jerningham - Gabby - blithely shaking her curls, as if the crowd of stevedores, sailors, and boatmen around her were naught.
'A lady does not groom herself in public!'
'I'm afraid I'm used to being on display,' she said brightly. 'In the village, my father and I were the only Europeans. My hair was considered to be a good-luck charm- ~ Eloisa James

At some point Ewan had taken off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. His forearms were bulging with muscle, and his shoulders appeared likely to rip through the thin linen of his shirt. Annabelle swallowed, thinking of Ewan without his shirt at their picnic. He wasn't even breathing hard.
"Where do you get all these muscles?" she asked.
"Lifting damsels in distress." He grinned at her, and there was a slight lurch as he leaped off the carriage and landed with a splash in the ditch. ~ Eloisa James

His intended probably wouldn't appreciate the comparison, but Thorn had the notion that she was like a rescued hound, one that would adoringly follow her new master in return for some kindness. That was absurd, given that she was as beautiful as a wild rose, with hair like a Botticelli angel. By all rights, she should be arrogantly aware of her dominion over men. But instead she had a desperate look about her eyes, as if she needed saving.
It was a fair trade, in his estimation. Her beauty in return for his protection. ~ Eloisa James

You never wore that blue gown for a lover?'
'Absolutely not!' She felt a little indignant at the very idea. 'You think I have a wardrobe just to satisfy my illicit desires? My maid took off its underskirt because she wanted to make sure you found me desirous. ~ Eloisa James

I was thinking the other day that his life reminds me of throwing a piece of bread into a stream and watching a whole flock of little minnows come up and start nibbling at it. ~ Eloisa James

It's better to live like a flame, to know a man and love him even if he can't be yours, then never to love at all. ~ Eloisa James

I don't want to have to earn love by giving up my ability to make decisions that determine how I live. ~ Eloisa James

Theo shook out the half square of heavy silk. "It will make all the difference to this insipid gown." With one sharp wrench she pulled out the lace fichu tucked into her bodice and replaced it with the scarf. It flashed raspberry red against the almond-colored muslin of her gown. ~ Eloisa James

Beautiful girls in fairy stories are as common as pebbles on the beach. Magnolia-skinned milkmaids rub shoulders with starry-eyed princesses and, in fact, counting two eyes in each bright-eyed damsel would result in a whole galaxy of twinkling stars. ~ Eloisa James

I didn't realize you needed a response. When Hamlet is giving a monologue, he just goes on and on by himself. ~ Eloisa James

Tess retreated toward the back of the room. How could Imogen have done this to all of them? But she knew the answer as well as she knew the question. Imogen had eloped because, even if Draven Maitland did not love Imogen the way Romeo loved Juliet, Imogen herself was every bit as passionate as the Shakespearean heroine. More, perhaps. She had simply reached out and taken what she wanted. She was no passive observer. Although, Tess reminded herself, naturally Imogen will be a great deal happier and longer-lived than Juliet. ~ Eloisa James

True love cannot be denied," Layla said. "You know that yourself, Betsy, given your sad
experiences. Life is fleeting and one should gather rosebuds - or is it rainbows? At any rate, one
should get on the stick before it's too late. ~ Eloisa James

Sick unto death, I think they call it ~ Eloisa James

Life without a phone is riskier, lonelier, more vivid. ~ Eloisa James

A pungent smell of manure blew in the window. "The odor of these Scottish wildflowers is astonishing," Edie said, ~ Eloisa James

Ewan felt a searing stab of guilt. He'd taken an exquisite, laughing young woman away from the London ballrooms that were her natural milieu and reduced her to a tearful, freezing damsel in distress. What's more, he'd taken her virginity, and given her only potatoes to eat. And for what? Due to a quixotic idea that he would alleviate her fear of poverty?
No. Annabel had accused him of not being honest with himself. The truth of it was that he'd sent his carriages away out of pure, unadulterated lust, no matter how much he would like to dress it up in fancy ideas. ~ Eloisa James

I suppose this is your way of telling me that you are outrageously happy?'
Quill nodded. 'Of course.'
'Living with you is an act of interpretation, do you know that?'
'Living with you is ... bliss. Did you know that? ~ Eloisa James

She had the sea in her blood, and sometimes, if she lay very still at night, with one ear pressed into the mattress, she could even hear the sound of waves.
If that wasn't the sign that the sea was in her blood, what could it be? ~ Eloisa James

Layla, darling, I shall be ready whenever you decide to retire to the country and commence on a life of unending debauchery. ~ Eloisa James

You idiot,' Layla said. 'You sneering, despicable - '
'You're beginning to repeat yourself. ~ Eloisa James

He walked until his heart was as dreary as the sky, until some sort of truth came to him. ~ Eloisa James

The path turned a hard right and then dumped into a rocky stream. It looked as if a giant had tossed white boulders and the rocks the way children toss marbles. They lay in scrambled heaps, some as large as carriages, others the size of chamber pots. A weak stream trickled around them. ~ Eloisa James

I shouldn't think I'll have the slightest problem playing a man," she said. "I shall merely remember to rearrange my breeches in front at least once an hour, thereby drawing attention to the padding I carefully placed there in the morning, and I'll blend in perfectly. ~ Eloisa James

In case there is any question in your mind," he said, cupping her face with his hands. "What I want, what I most desire, the loveliest sight on this dark earth, is you. ~ Eloisa James

A small red face ringed in soft black curls looked up at him for one moment, registered that he wasn't the milk-providing parent, and erupted back into a howl. There was no telling Lucia that she was a pebble on the shores of eternity. She was a living, breathing, adorable source of chaos, and he loved her so much that it felt as if his heart were beating outside his body. ~ Eloisa James

Freddie is here' Gabriel said 'Lazy sod ~ Eloisa James

Probably lots of people have died in the castle,' Susannah was saying sleepily. 'Cats, too. Lots of cats. The whole courtyard is probably full of graves, and we walk over them all the time.'
'I think,' Layla said, quite seriously, 'that people and cats turn back to the earth after a while. So what you walk over is just earth, Susannah. ~ Eloisa James

He had thought she was like a drink of clear water. But now, meeting her gaze, she was a river that tumbled with life and danger. She would change his life. She would change everything about him. ~ Eloisa James

Olivia stated, "at ~ Eloisa James

I have six illegitimate children," Villiers informed her, not kindly. She visibly paled. :My daughter is marrying a duke," the duchess said between clenched teeth. "True, he apparently has the morals of a squirrel, but that's my cross to bear. ~ Eloisa James

I'm a butterfingers, and I always have been.'
'An angel's foot got in your way,' Codswallop said. 'That's what my mother used to tell us when we returned to the house with scrapes on our knees. ~ Eloisa James

Nothing I do is princely since I met you ~ Eloisa James

From the Earl of Hellgate's Memoirs, Chapter the Twenty-Sixth
I realized then that I had mistaken the nature of love. Love has nothing to do with desire; it's the quest for the divine, found on earth. It's finding a woman whose soul preserves a shard of heaven, and worshipping her ... worshipping at her feet. I was a new man. ~ Eloisa James

Gabriel actually laughed. Luckily for Philippa, she's beautiful enought that another man will come along who has the balls to accept what she's offering. ~ Eloisa James

Has no one ever taught you it is rude to pry?'
'Would you rather I sneaked about, ferreting things out? Of course not. 'Twould be most distasteful. All in all, I'd rather be thought rude than artful. ~ Eloisa James

She shrugged and, with one
gulp, drank half a glass of champagne.
"How long has she been like this?" The look on Edie's father's face was edging from half to threequarters
barbarian.
"Oh, about two years," Edie said, considering. "In the stages of marital harmony, I'd say the two
of you are at about stage eight of ten - ten being the slough of utter despond. ~ Eloisa James

Rage is a useful emotion. Rage burns away sorrow and disgrace. ~ Eloisa James

She was everything he'd ever wanted in a woman, and nothing he'd ever thought to find in a lady. ~ Eloisa James

She leaped away from Villiers the moment the note sounded in the air, sadness falling from her like a discarded cloak. ~ Eloisa James

One didn't want to marry a man who dragged ladies off into the shrubbery for a kiss. Or worse.
The fact that she would push Ravensthorpe into the shrubbery herself, if she had the nerve, was not the point ... Lucy took a deep breath, patted her hair into place, and snapped open her fan. She had a pirate side - or so she told herself; she was certainly tall enough to be one. If nothing else, she could launch herself at Ravensthorpe and knock him to the ground when she knew Olivia and Mrs. Lytton were within eyesight.
The idea was so appalling that it had merit. ~ Eloisa James

Life should not be measured by time. The only thing that counts is how one uses the time one has. ~ Eloisa James

I have come to the conclusion that silence and time are the most precious commodities. ~ Eloisa James

It was awful, this love. ~ Eloisa James

One more time, she promised herself. That wasn't too trollopy. She wouldn't be too trollopy.
But when they actually got to the guardhouse?
Trollopy. ~ Eloisa James

The sun danced through the small leaves of the oak, turning them saffron and dappling the blankets with the ghosts of baby leaves. Ewan very seriously filled all the glasses with bluebells, and gave them water from the stream, so the picnic turned from a very formal affair, all heavy silver and starched linen, to a child's tea party. ~ Eloisa James

God Almighty, your ruined, and you didn't even eat the gingerbread. ~ Eloisa James

Child!' Eleanor exclaimed. 'You didn't say there'd been a child!'
'I said a catastrophe,' her mother replied. 'And believe me, in cases such as these, the words are one and the same. ~ Eloisa James

A pearl button skipped and hopped across the floor, creating a counterpoint to the splatters of rain hitting the windows. ~ Eloisa James

The horse's head whipped up and he reared straight into the air.
Colin ignored him and poured the oats. 'You look as if you're trying to fly,' he told the animal. 'I believe I'll name you after my former ship, the /Daedalus/. The ship was named after a Greek man who flew too close to the sun for comfort, but made it back to earth. ~ Eloisa James

But Draven did love you,' Annabel protested. 'He told you so as he died. Don't diminish his love, now that he's not here to repeat it to you. ~ Eloisa James

My wife is a lovely, intelligent woman. She has the kind of curves that a man longs to find in his bed. I may not have been the first to wish to marry her, but I am the one who succeeded." To his total astonishment, he discovered that he meant every word. ~ Eloisa James

I know he looks like a cherub, but don't be fooled, Strange.'
'What do you mean?'
'He's a hardened reprobate. Plays the innocent because it pulls the ladies. Wait till you see him with them. They fall over him screaming. Fall backwards, really. He's a nice lad, though, and doesn't take advantage. ~ Eloisa James

Is he your very first gingerbread man?'
She nodded.
'You eat him.'
'Eat his head?'
'I always start with the feet,' Edie suggested.
'But if I eat him, he'll be dead.'
'No, he'll be in your tummy,' Layla said. 'There's a difference.'
'I think I'd better eat his head first,' Susannah said ... 'That way he won't know what's happening to him.'
'That's a very kind thought,' Layla approved. ~ Eloisa James

I'm quite certain that Theo plans to wear her cape for at least part of the evening." There was a note of amusement in his voice.
"If you're quite sure that you won't grow overwarm," Claribel said uncertainly, eyeing the cape. It sprang out from Lady Islay's shoulders and then swirled to the ground, managing to look surprisingly light. The inside was lined with a gorgeous rosy silk, and the outside...
"What on earth is that made of?" Claribel couldn't help asking as she reached out to touch it.
"I can guess," Cecil put in, the thread of amusement in his voice even stronger.
"Oh, can you?" Theo remarked. "Then tell me this: am I being altogether too obvious?"
Claribel hadn't the faintest idea what she meant. But Cecil, clever Cecil, obviously did, because he bellowed with laughter.
"Swansdown," he said. "Gorgeous swansdown, and every man and woman in this room has taken note of your swanlike triumph."
"I could not resist," Theo said, with that smile that was all the more attractive for being so rarely seen. "How lucky you are in your husband," she said to Claribel. "It's a rare man who knows his fairy tales. ~ Eloisa James

So our chess game begins tonight, Duchess. At eleven o'clock. I will give you one hour to try to win, blindfolded or no." His teeth showed very white when he smiled. "And then I shall win."
Jemma sniffed and turned up her nose. "Pride goeth before a fall, Duke."
"You will fall before me," he said, his smile a blatant challenge. "Backwards. ~ Eloisa James

She'd always thought that a broken heart sounded rather romantic. But in truth it was physical. Her whole chest ached, as if she'd been struck with a knife. With all her witless calculations about how to make a man desire her, she'd never realized that the most important thing was to make him like her. Or even love her. What a fool she was. ~ Eloisa James

Yes Leopold," Eleanor said in a low, mocking voice. "Do start to shine, please. I think I saw the rising, but I definitely missed the shining. ~ Eloisa James

The boy in me will always love you," he said, disarming her with a smile. "The man I am doesn't know you yet." And now there was a look in his eyes that she recognized, that resonated deep within her. ~ Eloisa James

Bucknell joined their family, editing her ~ Eloisa James

He closed his eyes for a moment, and the color of his eyelashes was like the color of regret. ~ Eloisa James

Those kisses ... repaired and soothed and knit together the weave of married life. ~ Eloisa James

She was playing something so low and soft that it felt as if she were humming it ... notes built and subsided, as if a giant were softly breathing them, as if each note was a drop of water going down a stream filled with rocks. ~ Eloisa James

The year Grace turned fourteen, Colin walked through the door in a uniform, and her heart gave one big thump and never beat exactly the same way again. ~ Eloisa James

He woke from a dream in which Edith raised her arms to him, the liquid gold of her hair tumbling almost to her waist. 'Ah, darling,' he had been telling her, 'I am looped in the loops of your hair.' Had he said that aloud? He would never do something so imbecilic. He really had lost his mind. ~ Eloisa James

No one had ever taught him - and he had never imagined the necessity of learning - how to betray the one person whom you truly cared for in life. The only person who genuinely loved you. How to break that person's heart, whether it be tomorrow, or five years or ten years in the future. ~ Eloisa James

If anyone deserves an apology, it is Miss Essex, whose infant sister was stolen by your depraved offspring! ~ Eloisa James

I think only someone I loved as much as you could make me behave like such an idiot. ~ Eloisa James

You're so beautiful," he said, truth echoing in every hoarse word. "Just look at you, Daisy. All satin skin and long limbs, and those gorgeous breasts like the apples Eve offered Adam."
Her eyes widened. "Eve didn't offer Adam her breasts, silly."
James rose up, straddling her with a knee on either side of her hips. "Maybe she did. Maybe these are the apples of paradise. Breasts like yours, the perfect size, delicious, designed to drive a man mad. ~ Eloisa James

My duchess," James stated, his eyes sweeping the crowd with the air of a man who has ruled the waves. "She is not a swan, because that would imply she had once been an ugly duckling. ~ Eloisa James

There was some rustling as the gown was cast over the soprano's shoulders, or so Lina assumed, and then the alto and Madame Rocque started cooing.
But the soprano cut through it decisively. 'I look like an orange without its rind,' she said firmly. ~ Eloisa James

It was blue. All of it: rugs, hangings, curtains ... 'This room looks as if someone vomited the sky,' Layla said. ~ Eloisa James

Will Peter be joining us for tea, do you think?'
'I doubt it. Peter rarely returns home before late in the evening.'
'Oh.'
Quill felt as if he had told a baby chick that his favorite dish was roast fowl. ~ Eloisa James