Eloisa James Quotes & Sayings

It's so beautiful here. You must come before you die. — 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

Diana? Isn't she the goddess who hated men?'
He considered. 'I think of her as the goddess who tempted men by bathing outdoors, and turned them into animal life if they succumbed to the lure of bare flesh. — 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

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

The sky was a high, pale blue, like faded linen hung in the sun ... Under the alders were bluebells, dark blue, blue flowers hanging their little heads from the beauty of their blossoms. — 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

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

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

Surrounded by people speaking a different language, our family started talking to each other. We drew into a very small tribe (population: four), who ate together, and squabbled together, and mostly played together. We learned to waste our moments-together. And then we brought that lesson home with us. — 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

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

Virginity, like many things connected to men, was obviously vastly over-rated. And frankly, so was sexual intimacy. No wonder Villiers didn't care if she'd had previous experiences. It was all a matter of a minute at most. — Eloisa James

Didn't it say it all that Griffin couldn't make it to his own bloody front door without a cane? For all his was mahogany topped with a dull ruby, and hid in its innards a vicious blade, in the end it was an old man's stick. — Eloisa James

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

You're confusing desire and love,' she said, watching him. 'They are not the same.'
'I do love you. I feel near to murder at the idea of you marrying another man, and that's the truth of the matter.'
'Desire is bloody, perjured, full of blame.'
Ewan walked up the steps to her. 'Is that poetry?'
'Yes.'
'I don't like the sound of it. There's something nasty about that poet.'
'It's Shakespeare,' Annabel said.
Ewan obviously dismissed Shakespeare as a lost cause. 'We would be happy together,' he said. — Eloisa James

And estranged though they might be, Rees couldn't stand the idea that his wife would be rebuffed at the ball. She was no Cinderella, after all, with a fairy godmother waiting in the wings.
He would just have to wave his own magic wand. He found himself grinning at that, and decided not to share the joke with Darby. — Eloisa James

A fit encomium for marital bliss," Beaumont said, putting down his knife and fork. "Dancing to a tune one neither likes nor understands, with a partner who thinks you a cadaver. — 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

I would prefer not to throw myself on a funeral pyre. Please come back to me. — Eloisa James

I need to work on developing a new, less irritable personality. though I suspect that an empty nest would be at least a partial cure, today I resorted to substance abuse. — 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

Depend upon it, her mother's voice said sternly in her memory, no prudent man will ever accept a wife who knows more than himself. — 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

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

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

Esme Rawlings is as intelligent as she is dissolute. — Eloisa James

I've never been tempted to sleep with the same woman every night myself. Let alone reproduce myself in a leaky, noisy miniature human. — Eloisa James

Come on. We've just time to find you a doll before the shops close.'
Rose sat up directly. 'But the ribbon broke on my right slipper and Mrs. Stella said I can't go outside until I have new shoes.'
...
He stood, and she looked up at him. She did not hold out her arms, but it seemed he was expected to pick her up.
'Didn't you announce that you don't like to be carried?'
'I make exceptions when I am ill shod.'
The child stared back at Thorn as if there was nothing odd about her speech. He gathered her up into his arms and remarked, 'At least you smell better now.'
He glanced down in time to see cool gray eyes narrow.
'So do you,' she said.
Thorn stared down at her. Had she? Yes, she had. 'That was not a polite comment,' he told her.
She looked off, into the corner of the bedchamber, but her implication was obvious: *he* had been impolite to point out her former odor. — 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

I did it," Gabriel said, conversationally. "I met the woman, the only woman for me. I met her, and now . . . I'm going to meet my wife. — Eloisa James

Parisians gasped when Theo paired brown with black- and then found themselves even more shocked when she wore a black corded silk evening gown sewn with amethysts, and later, a purple riding habit with sour-green gloves.
They gasped... and rushed to imitate.
What the French loved most were Theo's epigrammatic rules. They were collected like precious jewels, and even the poorest shopgirls ripped the lace from their Sunday frocks when she was reported to have remarked, "Wear lace to be baptized. Period. — 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

former estate that is now a public park sporting Florence's biggest — Eloisa James

The Earl of Mayne's kisses would never be called objectionable. They were so sophisticated and sleek, persuasive and delicate, that Helene didn't mind them - much. It was just that she really wanted to get back to Rees. She had a thought about the score he had given her.
"I must go," she said, pulling back. And then added, "alas. — Eloisa James

But then a pirate had slit his cousin's throat and almost killed him, and the same man had slashed Griffin's thigh. And James had realized he was still in love with his wife, and decided to return to England. There was no such realization in store for Griffin, since had known his wife for precisely one day. But he did know that a pirate with a game leg is a soon-to-be-dead pirate, which was just as important an insight. — 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

They were outside. It was oddly quiet, with just a muffled roar from behind the closed door, as if the ocean were contained on that side. — Eloisa James

She was the only one who argued with Grace. 'He's not a good choice for you,' she insisted. 'He respects you too much.'
'Respect is good,' Grace said, thinking of how Colin slighted her letters. 'I want respect.'
'It's not enough.'
'He loves me!'
Not the right way.'
Finally Grace turned on her sister in a rage. 'Don't you see, Lily? Must you make me say this aloud? No one will ever love me in the /right/ way, not in that feverish way that men fall in love with you. I'm not that sort of woman!'
Lily cried, and Grace ended up crying, too. — Eloisa James

They stared at her together for a moment. Sun beams played over marble, making the pink alabaster glow as if rosy blood danced just under the surface of Aphrodite's skin. — Eloisa James

Informality is the vice of the masses. — Eloisa James

I woke up this morning," Gabriel said, "thinking of nothing more than rolling over and pulling you into my arms and kissing you again. Kissing: only kissing. As if I were a green boy of fourteen. In case you don't realize it, Kate, kissing is not a man's usual inclination in the morning. — 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

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

Don't be thick, James. Ladies know all about mistresses. And it isn't as if you're married. If you carry on like that once you *are* married, I'm going to be terrifically nasty to you. I'll definitely tell your wife. So beware. I don't approve."
"Of Bella, or of matrimony?"
Of married men who run about London with voluptuous women with hair the color of flax and morals that are just as lax."
She paused for a moment, but James just rolled his eyes. "It's not easy to rhyme extempore, you know," she told him. — Eloisa James

The last person Jemma expected to welcome into her bedchamber that night was her husband. Though of course she would have to invite him in at some point if they were to embark on their heir-making activities. — Eloisa James

You make it sound as if I hit her. I did nothing to Edie!'
'Oh? You did nothing? The woman I found in your wake, stripped of all self-repsect, convinced that she was a failure as a mother and a lover: that wasn't your work? Because I think it 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

He kissed her into silence, and then said, his voice husky with passionate longing, "Take me back, Eloise. Please, take me back. — Eloisa James

Grace had so many complexities, so many layers and feelings, and thoughts ... he would happily spend his life trying to unwrap her.
Thinking about it, he tore a strip off the hem of her gown.
'What on earth are you going to do with that?'
Without answering, he put a knee forward onto the bed, making certain he knew precisely where she was. The last thing he wanted was to land on her like a felled tree. — Eloisa James

He'd racketed around the world, collecting pirate's booty and investing it. Rather surprisingly, money made money. — Eloisa James

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

Everyone always says that Lord Findleshanks is really a woman. Did you ever look at him closely? He does look like a woman.'
'He has a beard,' Harriet pointed out.
'So did my grandmother. — Eloisa James

Just kissing, forty-one days' worth of kisses, nights' worth of kisses, morning kisses, luncheon kisses, twilight kisses. — Eloisa James

Some say writing is its own reward. I write for money, but writing for money is not so bad, especially when that writing brings you joy. — Eloisa James

At least you pay for them."
"I could support a foundling hospital, and you would applaud my virtue."
"I didn't expect you to populate your own orphanage," she said. — Eloisa James

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

You cannot ask women to marry you whom you barely know.'
'Why not?' he asked. Compatibility is not something one discovers after five encounters rather than one. One must make an educated guess.'
'That's just it: you know nothing of me!'
'Not so,' he said promptly. Number one, you're Scottish. Number two, you're Scottish. Number three -'
'I can guess,' she said.
'You're beautiful,' he finished, a fleeting smile crossing his face. — Eloisa James

you're delicious and the right man will adore every curve. — Eloisa James

Cam was filled with the rage of a man unable to rescue his lady, even though she was only debatably in danger. — 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

He couldn't imagine how he had lived without her for seven years. She was like sunlight. Like food and drink. He — Eloisa James

Gabby seemed to have made up her mind. 'I certainly wish I could help you, Lord Breksby,' she cooed, tilting her head to the side.
Quill watched cynically from the other side of the room as Breksby melted in front of his eyes. At least he wasn't alone in being bowled over by Miss Gabrielle Jerningham. Although he rather thought he, Quill, hadn't been lied to yet. If so, he reminded himself, it was only a matter of time. — Eloisa James

Dowry doesn't rhyme with many words, so I had to rhyme dowry and peach tree [ ... ] My nephew will inherit the estate, but the orchards are unentailed and will go to you. — 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

Gabriel looked up at her from under thick eyelashes. Will you please grope me under the table, Kate mine? — 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

Doesn't he kill himself at that point? — Eloisa James

I do not diminish his love for me,' Imogen said. 'I would never do that. I know precisely how much he loved me: as much as he was capable of loving any woman, probably. He loved me somewhat ... after his stables, perhaps more than his mother.'
'Oh, Imogen,' Annabel said. 'Why dwell on such a-'
'Grief is like that!' Imogen snapped. 'You can only fool yourself so far. — 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

Here, drink your liqueur," Henry said, tossing back her drink. "I carry it with me everywhere because it's the only kind of drink that Leo doesn't like, so there's a chance I'll still have some tomorrow. — Eloisa James

Where did you go to school?" Piers inquired. "Your all together too literate for a butler. Most bulters I know say things like as you wish, my lord, and leave it at that. Our conversations should be along these lines: Prufrock, bring me a wench and then you would say, as you wish. — 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

Nothing I do is princely since I met you — 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

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

It was a stupid thing to hold onto, but when one doesn't have much to celebrate in the way of physical attributes, ankles matter. — Eloisa James

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

Cats always land on their feet. Dogs don't. — 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

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 don't know why you're crying, Count. I lost closer friends than you when I was deloused! — Eloisa James

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

His grin eased the bleakness in her heart. "You're my friend, Merry. Bloody — Eloisa James

I have bought a house, but not possessedit." She was quite sure that the look in her eyes rivaled that of any light skirts on the streets of London. "And I am sold, but not yet enjoyed. — 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

You are a virgin," Layla said, sighing. "Think of it as an unavoidable stage of life, like getting
old and toothless and having to drink soup. Unfortunately, men seem to think that women are like new
wine, good only before being uncorked. — Eloisa James

If you throw me out of this house, I shall sleep on the path outside. If you return to the Continent without me, I shall follow you. I will build a willow hut at your gate; I will sleep under your window; I will be waiting for you at your own front door. — Eloisa James

Last night I asked Alessandro if he ever lies in bed and thinks about chocolate - say, about the way dark chocolate feels in your mouth, or how different it is when spiked with orange peel. He said no. Then he said that the only time he thinks about food in bed is when he wakes up in the middle of the night and wants steak. Somewhere in that clash lies a profound truth about the difference between the sexes. — Eloisa James

It was just that - Gabby's common sense came to the rescue. Quill was an uncommonly handsome man. His eyes made her feel weak in the knees and warm in the belly. / The problem, Gabby rationalized, is that Father never allowed me to have anything to do with men. So now I am overcome by the species in general. — Eloisa James

Dignity, virtue, affability, and bearing," Mrs. Lytton recited over and over, turning it into a nursery rhyme.
Georgiana would glance at the glass, checking her dignified bearing and affable expression.
Olivia would sing back to her mother: "Debility, vanity, absurdity, and ... brainlessness! — Eloisa James

It was as if the world was presenting her with everything she wanted ... in all the wrong ways. — Eloisa James

That sleepy, sensual smile of hers ought to be outlawed. It said
everything, without saying anything. — Eloisa James

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

He put his feet down into the little puddle she'd chosen. They were huge next to hers, and they both stared for a moment. Then he moved in one smooth motion to her rock. // "What are you doing?" she gasped, just like the heroine in a bad play. — Eloisa James

Your mother never would have spoken to me in such a fashion.'
'I'm sorry to disappoint you, but the tone of my voice doesn't change the truth. — Eloisa James

The only thing I regret about age are the wrinkles. But I have high hopes
for this new almond cream! Do you know, that Italian apothecary promises the cream will make one's
skin as soft as a baby's cheek? Once your child arrives, we'll have a viable comparison. Not having seen
a baby in years, how would I know what its skin looks like?"
"I'm glad my condition will prove to be of use," Esme said rather tartly. — Eloisa James

Men are different," Sophie retorted. "You can see that easily enough, Charlotte. Women may love one man, but men simply love the person they see before them. That old chestnut, absence makes the heart grow fonder, doesn't work for men. They are like children with toys: They move on to the next shiny object if you take the old one out of their hands. — Eloisa James