Any Duchess Will Do Quotes

“Dedication: For librarians and booksellers everywhere, who gather books and build shelters for tender souls.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“Cleverness is like rouge - liberal application makes a woman look common and desperate. Wit is knowing how to apply it.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“Her,” he said. “I’ll take her.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“I know how mirrors work. They're all in league with the cosmetics trade. They tell a woman lies. Drawing her gaze from one imagined flaw to another, until all she sees is a constellation of imperfections. If you could get outside yourself, borrow my eyes for just an instant... There is only beauty.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“You're an intensely attractive woman. You do know that, don't you?" To her silence, he replied, "You'd believe me if you could see yourself."

"I have seen myself. That's the snag, you see."

He shook his head. "No, no. Not in a mirror. I know how mirrors work. They're all in league with the cosmetics trade. They tell a woman lies. Drawing her gaze from one imagined flaw to another, until all she sees is a constellation of imperfections. If you could get outside yourself, borrow my eyes for just an instant...There's only beauty.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“I need a penny,” Pauline said. “Quickly, give me a penny.” He fished in his pocket and produced a coin, then dropped it in her outstretched hand. She peered at it. “This isn’t a penny. It’s a sovereign.” “I don’t have anything smaller.” She rolled her eyes. “Dukes and their problems. I’ll be along in a moment.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“Don’t. Don’t play that game.” His brow pressed to hers. “When I heard you cry out . . . it was like a saber to the gut. I wanted to die.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“This was now officially the most inane conversation in which Griff had ever been a participant—and that included a drunken debate with Del over ostrich racing.

“The color isn’t too awful?” She twisted a fold of the skirt. “The draper called it ‘dewy petal,’ but your mother said the shade was more of a ‘frosted berry.’ What do you say?”

“I’m a man, Simms. Unless we’re discussing nipples, I don’t see the value in these distinctions.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“Griff had never been the fanciful sort, even as a boy. When he was with Pauline, the world was different. She forced him to see things through fresh eyes. Suddenly his library was the eighth wonder of the world, and Corinthian columns merited blasphemy. A ferry across the Thames was an epic journey, and a kiss . . . a kiss was everything.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“He'd never thought he would feel that way again. Ready to brave any sorrow just to keep her at his side. Perhaps the impulse wasn't logical or reasoned, but it was real and true. It was choosing hope rather than despair. Seizing the one sparkling possibility in a roomful of someones.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“You're right,' he told her. 'Kissing is the one thing that would undoubtedly make this moment worse.'
'Oh, Lord.' She leaned forward until her brow met his chest. Then she lifted her head slightly. Then let it fall forward again. After a few more repetitions, he understood the meaning behind this strange gesture.
His chest was the brick wall, and she was bashing her head against it.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“This?” the duchess asked.
“Yes. That.”
“I will tell you exactly what this is.” She lifted her chin, then turned to Pauline. “It’s exceedingly poor handiwork. Very bad indeed, Miss Simms. I expected better of you.” She cast the entire mess of yarn into the coal grate.
Pauline rolled her eyes at the Bible. “Hypocrite,” she pronounced softly, with perfect diction.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“My,” Miss Simms said, wide-eyed. “I do hope dukes aren’t held to the same standard. Can’t be healthy for a man, always stifling his ejaculations.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“Oh. I see. So your grace never curses.” “I do not.” “Words like cor . . . bollocks . . . damn . . . devil . . . blast . . . bloody hell . . .” She pronounced the words with relish, warming to her task. “They don’t cross a duchess’s lips?” “No.” “Never?” “Never.” Miss Simms’s fair brow creased in thought. “What if a duchess steps on a tack? What if a gust of wind steals a duchess’s best powdered wig? Not even then?” “Not even when an impertinent farm girl provokes a duchess to a simmering rage,” she replied evenly. “A duchess might contemplate all manner of cutting remarks and frustrated oaths. But even in the face of extreme annoyance, she stifles any such ejaculations.” “My,” Miss Simms said, wide-eyed. “I do hope dukes aren’t held to the same standard. Can’t be healthy for a man, always stifling his ejaculations.” Griff promptly broke the prohibition against elbows on the table, smothering a burst of laughter with his palm and disguising it as a coughing”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“What is it?'
'Something is about to happen, and I want you to see it. I want to be with you when you see it.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“You're a powerful man,' she went on. 'And it's not only to do with your money or your title. You have the ability to make people feel valued, when you're not making them feel like rubbish.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“Is that what he was initiating, then? Playing roles? The libertine duke and the naughty serving girl? Well... After about two seconds' pause, Pauline decided she could get inspired for that.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“Squabbling over too little is just human nature. But it says a great deal about a person, what they do with abundance.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“Why did men have to ruin everything? The answer was simple, she supposed—because foolish women gave them the chance”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“He’d always loved this: a woman’s elemental effect on him, as a man. He used to live for these moments of raw, instinctual attraction. When a source of celestial-grade femininity wandered into the room, and his internal compass recalibrated. It was a sublime shift from internal chaos to single-minded determination. The difference between Ye gods, what next? and . . .
Her. I’ll take her.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“Dukes and their problems.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“Griff held out his empty hand. "Pauline, I'm here asking you--begging you, if it comes to that--to take my hand. Just take my hand, and promise before God you will never let it go. I will vow the same. Can we arrange for that to happen, someday soon? In a church?" After a moment, he added in a quiet voice, "Please?”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“It was only a matter of time. She would love him before the week was out and it would be gloriously terrible, wonderfully hopeless.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“It seemed any young woman at odds with her place in life--be she a genteel lady or a serving girl--might find a happier home within the pages of a book.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“Ripples of hushed laughter moved through the room. The look of aristocratic discomfort on the duchess’s face was immensely satisfying. Whatever stubborn, unfeeling game this duke and his mother were playing, they were gaining a third player in Pauline. What’s more, Pauline was going to win. Turning her gaze to the duke, she gave him a bold, unashamed inspection. No chore there. The man truly was a fine specimen of masculinity, from broad shoulders to sculpted thighs. If he could ogle her, why couldn’t she look right back? “Cor.” She unleashed her broadest country accent as she tipped her head to admire the lower curve of his tight, aristocratic arse. “I’ll have great fun with you on the wedding night.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“Until this evening, then' Delacre gathered his things and sketched a quick bow. 'I must be going. I like to wear out at least three welcomes before teatime. Otherwise, the day feels wasted.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“You’ll be five-and-thirty this year, Griffy.” “Yes. Which makes me much too old to be called ‘Griffy.’ ” “More to the point, I am fifty-eight. I need grandchildren before my decline. It’s not right for two generations of the family to be drooling at the same time.” “Your decline?” He laughed. “Tell me, Mother, how can I hasten that happy process? Other than offering a firm push.” Her eyebrow arched in amusement. “Just try it.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“Griff gripped his friend’s lapel, pulled him away from Pauline and lowered his voice to a growl. “I said, she’s mine.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“That’s because there are no simple answers. Can it be divine bliss? Yes. Can it be a dismal trial? Yes. It’s like conversation. With the wrong person, it can feel forced, perfunctory. Boring as hell. But sometimes you find someone with whom the discussion just flows. You never run out of ideas. There’s no awkwardness in honesty. You surprise each other and yourselves.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do

“I’ve just noticed something,” Pauline said. “I always feel most in love with you when we’re surrounded by books.”
“Well, then. I must speak with the architect designing our new house. I’ll instruct him to install floor-to-ceiling bookcases on every wall of our bedchamber.”
― Tessa Dare, Any Duchess Will Do