The Duke and I (Bridgertons, #1)

by Julia Quinn

Men, she thought with disgust, were interested only in those women who terrified them.

There were rules among friends, commandments, really, and the most important one was Thou Shalt Not Lust After Thy Friend’s Sister.

her mother was impaling her with her deadly I-Am-Your-Mother-Don’t-You-Dare-Defy-Me gaze.

The Duke of Hastings. Daphne decided then and there that she’d be a fool if she didn’t fall in love with him.

Men are sheep. Where one goes, the rest will soon follow.

As she spoke, she turned her face toward his, and in that instant, with the wind catching her hair and painting her cheeks pink, she looked so enchantingly lovely that Simon nearly forgot to breathe. Her lush mouth was caught somewhere between a laugh and a smile, and the sun glinted almost red on her hair. Here on the water, away from stuffy ballrooms, with the fresh air swirling about them, she looked natural and beautiful and just being in her presence made Simon want to grin like an idiot.

“Any man, you’ll soon learn, has an insurmountable need to blame someone else when he is made to look a fool.”

“You need some more?” he asked, wiping off his milk mustache.

All that seemed to matter were those moments when they were not quite alone (they were never alone), but still somehow left to their own devices.

He patted her hand, and smiled, and Daphne noticed with relief that his happiness reached his eyes. Then her relief turned into something a little more precious—joy. Because she had been the one to chase the shadows from his eyes. She wanted to banish them forever, she realized.

The desperation in Simon’s voice told her everything she needed to know. He wanted her. He desired her. He was mad for her.

he burned for her.

“I-I’ve always known that I wasn’t the sort of woman men dream of, but I never thought anyone would prefer death to marriage with me.”

“I think it’s nice. If they’re laughing now, they’ll probably be laughing forever.”

And in that moment, as he slowly closed the distance between them, he became her entire world.

To say that men can be bullheaded would be insulting to the bull.

Simon’s hatred of his father was clearly far stronger than any love he might learn to feel for her.

“And if you say that’s because you lot barged into her home like a herd of mentally deficient sheep, I’m disowning all three of you.”

“The years fly by, and the days are endless.”