Say Yes to the Marquess Quotes

“At some point, while you were roaming the globe, making treaties and dividing the spoils of war, I quietly declared my own independence. I am the sovereign nation of Clio now. And there will be no terms of surrender.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“I love you. I wish I had better ways to show it. All I have is this brash, reckless heart. But it's yours.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“If Rafe had drawn up a list of tasks at Phoebe’s age, he could only imagine it would have looked thusly: 1. Skip lessons. 2. Chase girls. 3. Any excuse for a fistfight. 4. Is that a squirrel? End of list.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“Just because they're family doesn't mean they won't hurt you. It means they know how to cut deep.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“I'm not going to touch her," he said "She's not mine.She never will be."
"Indeed." Bruiser rolled his eyes and dusted off his hat. "Definitely no years of pent-up lusting there. Glad we have that sorted.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“People toss around the words ‘loyal’ and ‘kindhearted’ as though they’re common qualities. But they aren’t. They’re so rare.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“All this talk of folds and rods and buttons. Are we copulating or sewing draperies?”
― Tessa Dare , Say Yes to the Marquess

“This was her body. She had learned to take pleasure in it, even if no man had ever done the same. It was curved and generous and womanly and strong, and it was formed to do more than decorate a drawing room, or transfer wealth from one gentleman to another.
She was made to tempt, labor, inspire, create, sustain.
Despite the way Rafe held her bound in his grasp, a sense of power moved through her. For once, she could revel in her femininity and feel it as something other than a disadvantage to be overcome. A quality to be respected, worshiped. Even feared.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“It’s only wasted time if you don’t learn from it.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“It’s so curious, isn’t it? How if you’re denied something again and again, eventually you start telling yourself you didn’t want it in the first place.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“Even so, Miss Whitmore . . . We should have a signal.” “A signal?” “A word to shout if you’re in distress. Like ‘Tangiers,’ or . . . or perhaps ‘muscadine.’ ” Clio gave her an amused look. “Is something wrong with the word ‘help’?” “I . . . well, I suppose not.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“There was rock-hard, there was hard-as-steel, and then there was the solidity of Rafe’s current erection—which so thoroughly surpassed all his previous experience, he suspected it might be of interest to science.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“Then he took that mental image and filed it away under Pleasant-Sounding Impossibilities. Right between “flying carriage” and “beer fountain.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“Women are allowed to do one-tenth of what men may do, and yet we are scrutinized for it ten times as closely.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“To her, I’m a coarse, barely literate brute with few redeeming qualities. As for her . . . She’s so innocent and tightly laced, she probably bathes in her shift and dresses in the dark. What would I do with a woman like that?” Everything. He’d do everything with a woman like that. Twice. “I’m not going to touch her,” he said. “She’s not mine. She never will be.” “Indeed.” Bruiser rolled his eyes and dusted off his hat. “Definitely no years of pent-up lusting there. Glad we have that sorted.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“You heard her the other night,” Bruiser said. “She wants love. And devotion and compromise. Funny, isn’t it, how women seem to want those things, when they’re saying words like ‘Till death do us part.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“What the hell are you going here?" He clutched the bedsheet, holding it level with his neck.
"Isn't it obvious?"
"I hope not."
"I'm here to see the lavender nightshirt.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“Ah." He paused. "I see where this is going. You want to know my secret pain."
"Secret pain?"
"Oh, yes. My inner demons. The dark current of torment washing away little grains of my soul. That's what you're after. You think that if you keep me here in your pretty castle and cosset me with sixteen pillows, I'll learn to love myself and cease submitting my body to such horrific abuse."
Clio bit her lip, grateful it was too dark for him to see her blush. If she'd been flamingo pink the other day, she must be fuchsia now. "I don't know where you get these ideas."
He chuckled. "From every woman I've ever met. You're not the first to try it, and you won't be the last.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“You don’t want to ruin the surprise.” “If the surprise is a spike through the chest, I do.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“And before we begin, I should like one thing noted. I knew you had Secret Pain.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“Sometimes the devil you knew was easier to face than the devil who'd pressed you to a bedpost and rolled your nipple under his thumb.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“If Rafe had drawn up a list of tasks at Phoebe’s age, he could only imagine it would have looked thusly: 1. Skip lessons. 2. Chase girls. 3. Any excuse for a fistfight. 4. Is that a squirrel? End of list. As”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“Just because they’re family doesn’t mean they won’t hurt you. It means they know how to cut deep.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“Go on, then. Give it a pull.” Uncertainty drew his brows together. “What happens when I pull it?” “You don’t want to ruin the surprise.” “If the surprise is a spike through the chest, I do.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“Was it possible that he she'd entered his dream now?
If so, she couldn't help but wonder what they were doing in there.
His fingers flexed, squeezing her backside backside "Clio," he groaned.
Something good it would seem.
With a low moan, he snaked his arm around her waist, and a small contraction of his muscles drew her close. "Clio."
"Yes, Rafe?"
Green eyes snapped open. "Clio?"
In a heartbeat, he was on the far side of the bed--as close as he could get to the edge of the mattress without falling off.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“A condition?" Her eyebrows crinkled together, and Rafe could all but see little cogs turning behind them. "Is it..." She lowered her voice. "Is it serious?"
"Sadly, yes. Possibly fatal."
She covered her gasp with both hands. Because, apparently, one hand wouldn't have been dramatic enough. "No. But surely something can be done. What is it?"
"I don't know. I was unconscious when the doctor saw me. Lord Rafe can explain it better." Bruiser nudged him in the ribs. "Go on, then. Tell her the whole story of my malady. In detail. With all the particulars. What did that German doctor call it?"
Rafe gave her a single, unembroidered word. "Syphilis."
The lady's maid turned a pale shade of green. She began backing away in small steps. "I just came to say Miss Whitmore is looking for you, my lord."
With that, she dropped a frantic curtsy and fled.
The moment she was out of sight, Bruiser tweaked his ear. "You bloody jackass."
"What are you complaining about? I lied. She believed me.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“I was able to locate a few books in French. They were illustrated. [...]
"Yes, but they weren't very helpful. And the words they use are ridiculous. All this talk of folds and rods and buttons. Are we copulating or sewing draperies?”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“As though it made perfect sense. As if all the talking and not-talking and arguing and ignoring they’d done over the past eight years—no, so much longer than that—had all been entries on one long list of “Things We Do to Avoid Kissing.” And now that they’d reached the end of it, they had a great deal of lost time to make up. They”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“I can start by telling you you’re stubborn and impulsive and prideful. And generous and protective and passionate. In public, you ride like the devil and fill out a pair of buckskin breeches like pure liquid sin, but in private, you behave as though you’ve joined a monastic order. You’re kind to ugly dogs, and you’re patient with awkward sisters. Your kisses are sweet. And your life is worth something.” She fought back the emotion rising in her throat. “I’ll tell you who you are, Rafe. Anytime you find yourself in doubt. And I won’t even leave you bleeding.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess

“Because I’m good at it,” he said, sounding agitated now. “I am bloody great at it. And I was never good at anything. Because it’s the one place where I know that my success is mine, and my failure, too. In the ring, I might be facing an Irish dock laborer or an English tanner or an American freedman. When the bell rings, none of it matters worth a damn. It’s only me. My strength, my heart, my wits, my fists. Nothing I was given, nothing I took. I fight because it tells me who I am.”
― Tessa Dare, Say Yes to the Marquess