The Ugly Duchess Quotes

“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, The Ugly Duchess

“He wanted to grow old with her, or not grow old at all.”
― Eloisa James, The Ugly Duchess

“Discretion is a synonym for intelligence.”
― Eloisa James, The Ugly Duchess

“You’re the only one for me. I came back from the dead for you, Daisy. Twice.”
― Eloisa James, The Ugly Duchess

“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, The Ugly Duchess

“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, The Ugly Duchess

“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, The Ugly Duchess

“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, The Ugly Duchess

“How can I not think of you as Daisy when your hair is all about your face like the petals of a flower?" He crouched down on his heels before her chair and picked up a thick curl. "It's glossy, like sunshine.”
― Eloisa James, The Ugly Duchess

“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, The Ugly Duchess

“He couldn’t imagine how he had lived without her for seven years. She was like sunlight. Like food and drink.”
― Eloisa James, The Ugly Duchess

“She sent Amelie to inform Maydrop that she donned an evening dress made of a heavy, supple olive green silk that gleamed under candlelight. It fell from the bodice, but rather than belling out, the silk was cut on the bias and hugged every curve of her body.
The bodice was gathered under her breasts and trimmed with dark copper lace that glimmered with shiny black beads. and widened into short sleeves. Her hair was pulled straight back from her forehead without even a wisp floating at her ears, and she waved away the ruby necklace Amelie offered. She wanted no distraction from her face.
She did, however, slide a sparkling ruby onto her right hand, a present she had given to herself when Ryburn Weavers made its first thousand guineas in profit.
How better to remember that milestone than to wear a sizable percentage it on one's finger?
Finally, Amelie drew out a small brush and skillfully applied a few strategic dabs of face paint. The last thing Theo wanted was to try to look conventionally feminine, but she'd discovered that a thin line of kohl made her eyes look deep and mysterious.”
― Eloisa James, The Ugly Duchess

“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, The Ugly Duchess

“The fabric of Lady Islay's gown certainly cost as much as Claribel's entire quarterly allowance. It was a pearly silk taffeta shot with threads of silver. Her breasts were scarcely covered, and from there the gown fell straight to the ground in a hauntingly beautiful sweep of cloth.
The pink brought out the color of her hair- burnt amber enticed with brandy and buttercup. If only she had left it free around her face and perhaps created some charming curls! Claribel made up her mind to tell her privately about the newest curling irons. She herself had lovely corkscrew curls bobbing next to her ears.”
― Eloisa James, The Ugly Duchess

“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 Ugly Duchess

“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, The Ugly Duchess

“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 Ugly Duchess

“She loathed her profile almost as much as she loathed the dress. If she didn't have to worry about people mistaking her for a boy--- not that they really did, but they couldn't stop remarking on the resemblance; at any rate, if she didn't have to worry about that--- she would never again wear pink. Or pearls. There was something dreadfully banal about the way the pearls shimmered.
For a moment she distracted herself by mentally ripping her dress apart, stripping it of its ruffles and pearls and tiny sleeves. Given a choice, she would dress in plum-colored silk and sleek her hair away from her face without a single flyaway curl. Her only hair adornment would be an enormous feather--- a black one--- arching backward so it brushed her shoulder. If her sleeves were elbow-length, she could trim them with a narrow edging of black fur. Or perhaps swansdown, with the same at the neck. Or she could put a feather trim at the neck; the white would look shocking against the plum velvet.
That led to the idea that she could put a ruff at the neck and trim that with a narrow strip of swansdown,. It would be even better if the sleeves weren't opaque fabric but nearly transparent, like that new Indian silk her friend Lucinda had been wearing the previous night, and she would have them quite wide, so they billowed and gathered tight at the elbow. Or perhaps the wrist would be more dramatic....”
― Eloisa James, The Ugly Duchess

“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, The Ugly Duchess

“A gentleman probably would have risen to help, but James didn’t feel like a gentleman. He felt like a bloodthirsty ex-pirate with blue balls.”
― Eloisa James, The Ugly Duchess

“For a moment, she remembered the pain of being called ugly, and then it melted away like soap washing down a drain. She had told herself a hundred times that she could be humiliated only if she allowed it: now she needed to believe it.”
― Eloisa James, The Ugly Duchess

“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 Ugly Duchess

“Theo is like the huntress Diana," Cecil said, rocking a little on his heels. He was thoroughly enjoying the burst of popularity his cousin-by-marriage was experiencing. "Beautiful and yet slightly deadly, ready to to whip out a bow and arrow, or turn a man into a squealing swine. Sensual, and yet with just a snowy touch of the virginal about her.”
― Eloisa James, The Ugly Duchess