Romancing Daphne Quotes

“Good evening.”

“And a good evening to you.”

The duke shot them all a look of unfettered annoyance. “I believe we have thoroughly established that the evening is a good one. Let us move past the polite posturing and on to the meaningless conversation.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Romancing Daphne

“I believe it is customary,” the duke said, his tone low and a bit ominous, “for a guardian to spout vague threats to his ward’s new husband should that husband bring any harm to his new wife.”

James nodded, glancing quickly at the duke’s right boot, where he’d learned a dagger was always sheathed.

“I, however, do not make vague threats.” The duke’s eyes narrowed. “Should you show yourself in any way less than worthy of the trust Daphne has placed in you, you will find yourself swinging from the gibbet at Falstone Castle, taken down regularly to be beaten, then locked in irons in the dungeon and placed in the room I refer to as the Rat’s Nest, where the vermin will be delighted to make your better acquaintance. You will next be invited to join me in my vast, dense forest, where I will leave you for the wolves to chew on.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Romancing Daphne

“Life is never entirely painless, Daphne. But you cannot have the happiness without passing through the sorrow, and doing so makes you stronger. Hiding from it only makes you a coward.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Romancing Daphne

“If poverty is the price of integrity,” James said, “I am willing to pay it.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Romancing Daphne

“As my company is very seldom required by anyone, I have always had ample time for reading. It is not intelligence so much as years’ worth of lonely hours in need of filling with something. Anything.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Romancing Daphne

“I cannot abide the sight of newlyweds,” His Grace had said when James had objected. “I am paying you to get out of my sight—a wedding gift to myself. Say another word against the idea, and I’ll toss you off the roof.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Romancing Daphne

“There is a vast difference between a safe haven and a hiding place,” he said. “One brings a person peace, the other unending loneliness. I refuse to watch you dwindle away in fear.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Romancing Daphne

“This is Society. No amount of pain and suffering will ever prove sufficient.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Romancing Daphne

“Miss Artemis’s voice rang through the drawing room. “Are you absolutely certain I cannot pretend to die?” she asked with something akin to desperation. “Or at least swoon? I am particularly adept at feigning a swoon.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Romancing Daphne

“Wish me luck.”

“I’ll do even better,” she said. “I’ll pray.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Romancing Daphne

“But it is your eyes, Daphne, that draw one in. They glow with unmistakable intelligence, especially when you speak of your herbs, and you have the remarkable ability to see the world for what it truly is, even if you do not see yourself quite so clearly.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Romancing Daphne

“Are all of the Lancaster sisters named for goddesses?”

“No, Mother. Daphne, you will recall, was only a nymph.”

That distinction had pained and bewildered Daphne all her life. She had always been the nymph among the goddesses.

“Daphne wasn’t merely a nymph,” James said. “She was the daughter of the river god. Apollo mourned her tragic loss eternally. There was and is nothing ‘mere’ about her.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Romancing Daphne

“Artemis stood in the entryway, her open palm pressed to her heart. The look she gave Persephone dripped with dramatic suffering. “I shall waste away to a mere waif if made to pass another hour in the confines of my dungeon.”

“Your bedchamber is hardly a dungeon,” Persephone said. “And you have not been confined to that room. You have the entire house and the back grounds at your disposal, and you have made any number of excursions out into London.”

“A free spirit must go about in the world without restrictions, Persephone.” At this, Artemis’s eyes turned heavenward, creating the perfect picture of longing and heartbreaking agony. “Walls and gates stifle and suffocate a heart meant to fly beyond the bounds of—”

“I am sorry for your suffocating heart, my dear, but you cannot venture out into Town unaccompanied by your family, no matter its appeal.”

“I wish only to go out into the park. I can see it from my window, calling out to me, just out of reach.” She clutched her hands together before her as though a condemned prisoner at once pleading for mercy and praying for the welfare of her soul. “And I solemnly vow to give any criminals—though you realize meeting an actual criminal would be wonderfully exciting—a very wide berth.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Romancing Daphne

“Her namesake’s myth had ever seemed a tragic one to her: an innocent girl pursued by one whose affections were not entirely honest transformed into a laurel tree to save her from her insincere suitor. What had once struck her as merely sad now seemed painfully fitting. Heavens, she was living her own myth.”
― sarah m. eden, Romancing Daphne

“The milliner told me it was a fashionable bonnet.” Linus obviously wasn’t entirely certain he’d been told correctly.

“Fashionable, yes.” Artemis gave him a look of exasperation. “But is it devastating?”

“Devastating to whom?” The look of utter confusion on Linus’s face brought a smile to Daphne’s lips.

“To simply everyone.” Artemis tipped her head slightly in one direction, then the other. “A bonnet is supposed to turn heads.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Romancing Daphne

“The duke picked up the dagger, casually spinning it about in his hand. “I assume you have come to plead your case. I suggest you do so quickly—that is my least favorite part of these encounters.”

“His most favorite part involves the weaponry,” the lieutenant said. “All of it.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Romancing Daphne

“Likes, however, is a far cry from loves,” Daphne pointed out.

“Not so very far.” Artemis spoke as though from great experience. Still lying on her back, she held her hands up, counting off on her fingers. “‘Notices’ comes first, followed by ‘is interested in.’ Then comes ‘likes.’ Then ‘thoroughly likes.’ Next is ‘desperately likes.’ Then the only step left is ‘loves.’” Artemis clasped her hands together and allowed them to sink back down against her heart. She sighed rather too loudly. “You are only two steps from ‘loves,’ Daphne.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Romancing Daphne

“A future as an elderly, maidenly aunt appealed far more than being paraded about Town in the hope that somebody of reasonable intelligence, conversation, and hygiene took notice of her.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Romancing Daphne

“Something about this still feels wrong.”

Father crossed to the sideboard, unstopping a decanter of sherry. “What the Duke of Kielder has declared right is not for us to deem wrong.”

“Are you certain you are not confusing His Grace with the Almighty?”

“I do know the difference, Tilburn. One possesses endless power, holds the fate of nations in his hand, and is universally feared by saint and sinner alike. The other is—”
― Sarah M. Eden, Romancing Daphne

“That dimple of hers reappeared. “I am happy to be of help.”
― Sarah M. Eden, Romancing Daphne