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Tessa Dare

Tessa Dare Quotes

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Famous Tessa Dare Quotes

“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.”

Historical RomanceRomance FunnyTessa Dare
Book:Any Duchess Will Do
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“It's my latest recipe." She beamed. "Roast leaf." "It's gone off. That's not like any roast beef sandwich I've ever tasted." "No, no. Not roast beef. Roast leaf." He stared at her. "I'm a vegetarian," she explained. "I don't eat meat. So I create my own substitutions with vegetables. Roast leaf, for example. I start with whatever greens are in the market, boil and mash them with salt, then press them into a roast for the oven. According to the cookery book, it's every bit as satisfying as the real thing." "Your cookery book is a book if lies." To her credit, she took it gamely. "I'm still perfecting the roast leaf. Perhaps it needs more work. Try the others. The ones on brown bread are tuna-ish- brined turnip flakes in place of fish- and the white bread is sham. Sham is everyone's favorite. Doesn't the color look just like ham? The secret is beetroot.”

VegetarianSandwichesPenelope CampionSubstitutions
Book:The Wallflower Wager
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“He had no secrets left. No defenses. He had nothing, except that same vast, dark, empty, infinite ache that had resided in him for as long as he could remember. An endless flight of stairs, leading down and down into the cold, dark pit of his soul. Now, at long last, he'd reached the absolute rock bottom. And there she was, just standing there. She'd been there all along.”

LoveSoulVoidAcheRock BottomNo DefensesNo Secrets
Book:Twice Tempted by a Rogue
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“Men need a purpose?' She sighed, exasperated. 'Can’t you understand women are the same? We crave our own goals and our own accomplishments, our own sisterhood as well. And there are precious few places we can find it, in a world ruled by the opposite sex. Everywhere else we are governed by men’s rules, live at the mercy of male whims. But here, in this one tiny corner of the world, we are free to be our best and truest selves. Spindle Cove is ours, Bram. I will fight to my last breath before I let you destroy it. Women’s needs are important, too.”

PurposeGender Differences
Book:A Night to Surrender
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“Over her years of caring for unwanted animals, Lady Penelope Campion had learned a few things. Dogs barked; rabbits hopped. Hedgehogs curled up into pincushions. Cats plopped in the middle of the drawing room carpet and licked themselves in indelicate places. Confused parrots flew out open windows and settled on ledges just out of reach. And Penny leaned over window sashes in her nightdress to rescue them- even if it meant risking her own neck. She couldn't change her nature, any more than the lost, lonely, wounded, and abandoned creatures filling her house could change theirs.”

Animal LoverPenelope CampionAnimal ShelterAnimal Care
Book:The Wallflower Wager
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“Gabe watched her move to the center of the green. In one gloved hand, she clutched a leash. The other end of the leash was attached to... something furry and brown that rolled. "What is that?" "That would be mongrel with two lamed hind legs. Apparently, Her Ladyship's friend devised a little chariot for his rear half, and the dog careens around the neighborhood like a yapping billiard ball. If you think that's strange, wait until you see the goat." "Hold a moment. There's a goat?" "Oh, yes. She grazes it on the square every afternoon. Doesn't precisely elevate the atmosphere of Bloom Square, now does it?" "I see the problem." "I'm only getting started. Her Ladyship has single-handedly set us back a month on the improvements." Hammond pulled a collection of letters from a folio. He held one aloft and read from it. "'Dear Mr. Hammond, I must request that you delay completion of the parquet flooring. The fumes from the lacquer are dizzying the hens. Sincerely yours, Lady Penelope Campion.'" He withdrew another. "'Dear Mr. Hammond, I'm afraid your improvements to the mews must be temporarily halted. I've located a litter of newborn kittens in the hayloft. Their mother is looking after them, but as their eyes are not yet open, they should not be displaced for another week. Thank you for your cooperation. Gratefully yours, Lady Penelope Campion.'" Gabe sensed a theme. "Oh, and here's my favorite." Hammond shook open a letter and cleared his throat for dramatic effect. "'Dear Mr. Hammond, if it is not too great an imposition, might I ask that your workers refrain from performing heavy labor between nine o'clock in the morning and half-three in the afternoon? Hedgehogs are nocturnal animals, and sensitive to loud noises. My dear Freya is losing quills. I feel certain this will concern you as much as it does me. Neighborly yours, Lady Penelope Campion.'" He tossed the folio of letters onto the table, where they landed with a smack. "Her hedgehog. Really.”

Animal LoverPenelope CampionConcernsCaretaker
Book:The Wallflower Wager
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“Won't you introduce us to your friend?" Thomasina swept an unsubtly flirtatious glance up Gabriel's armored figure. "What a fine figure you must strike at the Round Table." "At any table." Tansy giggled. Penny seethed. "It wouldn't be a masquerade if I gave him away, now would it?" "I suppose we'll have to tease it out of him," Thomasina said. Was it Penny's imagination, or did her gaze linger on his cod-piece? Get your eyes off him, you vulture. She chastened herself for entertaining a thought so mean. It was unkind to vultures.”

Penelope CampionVultures
Book:The Wallflower Wager
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“See? He's softer than he looks." Gabe was less interested in the texture of Angus's hide than he was in the texture of Lady Penelope's skin. Her hand was small and graceful atop his, but it was not the soft, delicate hand he would expect of a fine lady. Her skin was crossed here and there with lines and scars- some faded, some still pink. They were healed bites and scratches, accumulated over years. She had a lifelong habit of extending care to animals too wild or frightened to accept it- which made her the bravest kind of fool. Gabe wanted to kiss each and every one of those healed wounds- which made him just an ordinary fool.”

SkinPenelope CampionCaretaker
Book:The Wallflower Wager
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“Stop being cruel." "The world is cruel. This world is, anyway. Tell me, Your Ladyship, what's it like in your fairy-tale land?" She snatched the shilling from his hand. As he looked on in irritation, she stood, cocked her arm, and winged the coin with all her strength. He pushed to his feet. "You just tossed away a perfectly good shilling. I can't imagine a better example of your pampered existence. That's a day's wages for a workingman." "You have millions of shillings, as you're so fond of telling everyone." "Yes, but I never forget that I came from far less. I couldn't forget that, even if I tried." "I have tried to forget. To forget where I came from, to deny the past. You don't know how I've tried." Her voice crumbled at the edges. "I may not have known poverty, but that doesn't mean I haven't known pain." Gabe pushed a hand through his hair. He recognized the ring of truth in her voice. She was being honest, and he was being an ass. Her character was finally coming into focus. He didn't know who or what had hurt her, but the blade had sunk deep. The world didn't hold enough kittens to fill that wound- but that hadn't stopped her from trying.”

ConfessionOld WoundsPenelope Campion
Book:The Wallflower Wager
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“Outside, Her Ladyship coaxed her dog back toward the house, lifting both dog and cart up the few steps to her door. Gabe turned away from the window, rubbing his temples. "The situation is untenable, and that makes the house unsellable. No one wants to live next to a barnyard. I've tried reasoning with her, but when it comes to those animals, she's surprisingly tenacious." Tenacious, indeed. And sufficiently reckless to trespass in a house after midnight and recover a parrot from a near-naked stranger's shoulder. However, even that degree of tenacity had poor odds against sheer ruthlessness. Lady Penelope Campion had a softness for animals.”

TenaciousAnimal LoverPenelope Campion
Book:The Wallflower Wager
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“He was on his second plate of steaming-hot kidney pie by the time his chewing slowed. And that's when he heard it. The faintest sounds escaping her room, sweeping across the antechamber, and sliding under the door to him. The sounds of bathing. A splash. A trickle. A faint series of drips. It all added up to torture. Pure, liquid torture. He pushed his plate away, propped his elbows on the table, and buried his face in his hands with a groan. Even plugging his ears didn't help. When he closed his eyes, he could picture her. Naked in a shallow tub. Her feet dangling over the lip at one end, and her head reclined against the other. And all that water embracing her with heat, lapping at her nakedness, pouring over her most secret curves and furrows. He was immediately, startlingly hard.”

EroticBathingPenelope CampionAsmr
Book:The Wallflower Wager
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“She pushed the door open further, revealing herself to be clad in nothing but a Grecian-inspired arrangement of draped bed linens. The graceful angles of her bared shoulders and arms stood bright against the darkness. Her knot of steam-dampened hair could be so easily undone. A flick of his wrist would send it spilling free, flowing like molten gold between his fingers. And those bed linens... a single tug, and they'd be a puddle on the floor.”

Penelope CampionHalf Naked
Book:The Wallflower Wager
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“How on earth was this woman a spinster? She was an earl's daughter, surely possessed of a large dowry. If none of the title-hungry, debt-ridden layabouts in Mayfair had seen fit to propose marriage, simple logic dictated there must be something remarkably off-putting about her. An unbearably grating voice, perhaps. A snaggletooth, or poor personal hygiene. But she displayed none of those features. She was young and pretty, with no detectable odor. Her teeth were a string of pearls, and she had a voice like sunshine. There was nothing off-putting about her whatsoever. She was... on-putting, in every way.”

Feminine BeautyPenelope Campion
Book:The Wallflower Wager
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“Penny smoothed her gloved hands along the sheer silk netting that overlaid an underdress of ivory satin. The gauzy fabric was patterned with tiny pink roses connected by curling tendrils of green. The cap sleeves were fashioned from satin petals layered over creamy lace. A wide band of green velvet cinched her waist, and the daring neckline revealed the perfect amount of cleavage. "Emma works miracles," she said. "The beauty is all in the wearer," Emma said graciously.”

DressPenelope Campion
Book:The Wallflower Wager
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“Penny wasn't unused to men, but there was a difference between friendly acquaintance and a close-range confrontation with sheer masculine physicality. It felt like someone had taken a mallet to a gong of femininity hidden deep in her belly, and now the vibrations traveled through her bones, summoning an ancient, primal force. Penny could think of only one name for it: lust. It made no sense. She'd always been a romantic. She cheered on her friends' unlikely matches. She believed in destiny, soul mates, love at first sight. Penny didn't want any of those things from Gabriel Duke. She wanted to tear off his clothes and look at him- all of him- the way she had last night.”

LustPenelope Campion
Book:The Wallflower Wager
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“It isna flouncing," he said. "It's pacing." "If you say so, Captain MacFlouncy." "Or prowling." "Prowling." She arched one eyebrow. "Like a kitten?" He gave an exasperated sigh. "Call me a kitten once more, and I'll..." "You'll what?" "I'll pounce on you and lick you like a dish of cream." Maddie smiled to herself. That didn't sound like such a terrible punishment.”

ProwlingMaddie And LoganFlouncing
Book:When a Scot Ties the Knot
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“For the first time since they'd left the inn, his eyes stopped roaming the hills and crags of the countryside and roamed her body's curves instead. Slowly, with a raw, possessive hunger. A low, simmering heat sparked and built inside her, feeding off that desire in his eyes the same way a flame fed off coal. He'd once called her uncommonly pretty in conversation, and at the time she had been tempted to argue back. But tonight, for the first time in her life, she felt irresistible. Ravishing. Truly beautiful. In his eyes, if no one else's. Oh, this was dangerous.”

Maddie And Logan
Book:When a Scot Ties the Knot
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“She took him by the sleeve and tried tugging him toward the door. Unsuccessfully. Then she gave up on the tugging and started pushing at him instead. That wasn't any help, either. Except, perhaps, as an aid to Logan's amusement. He was a lot of man, and she was a mere slip of a lass. He couldn't help but laugh. But her efforts weren't entirely ineffectual. The press of her tiny hands on his arms and chest stirred him in dangerous places. He'd gone a long time without a woman's touch. Far too long.”

Maddie And Logan
Book:When a Scot Ties the Knot
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“When their bodies met, she gave a startled gasp. And then he moved against her, and her gasp became a low, sweet sigh. 'Yes.' "That's it." He rocked his hips against her. "Do you feel it? It's only the beginning, mo chridhe." She shut her eyes. Her dark lashes fluttered against her cheeks. "You truly must kiss me when you do that." Logan obliged her, this time pressing his lips to hers. As he sank into the lush heat of her kiss, a wildness gathered and growled within him. He wanted her. All of her. Under him. Surrounding him. Taking him into her softness and heat.”

Maddie And Logan
Book:When a Scot Ties the Knot
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“We need to talk about that comment you just made. Something about how you won't attract notice?" "Yes. Well, what of it?" He put his hands on the dressing table, one on either side of her hips. His blue eyes pinned her, as surely as if she'd been a butterfly pinned to a board. "Like hell you won't attract notice," he said. "You have my notice." Maddie squirmed, trying to escape. "Really, we'll be late. We should be leaving." He didn't budge. "Not just yet." "But I thought you were in a hurry." "I have time for this." The words were a low growl that sank to her belly and simmered there. He leaned close enough that she could breathe in the scent of his clean hair and skin, along with the faint aromas of soap and starched linen. She'd never drawn a more arousing breath. "You may say you dinna want to attract notice. Well, I notice all of you." He tipped his head, letting his gaze saunter down her body. "In fact, I'm starting to fancy myself a sort of naturalist. One with verra particular interests. I'm becoming quite the expert in Madeline Eloise Gracechurch." "Logan..." "And lass, you canna stop me.”

Maddie And Logan
Book:When a Scot Ties the Knot
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“He gave her hand a little squeeze, and she drew in a gasp. Color flooded her cheeks. There, that was better. To be truthful, Logan needed a moment to locate his own composure. She'd knocked the breath from him, too. He'd spent a great deal of time wondering how she looked. Too much time over the years. Of course she'd sent him sketches of every blessed mushroom, moth, and blossom in existence- but never any likenesses of herself. By the gods, she was bonny. Far prettier than her letters had led him to imagine. Also smaller, more delicate.”

Maddie And Logan
Book:When a Scot Ties the Knot
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“—Porque yo estoy aquí, con ganas de darte un elogio apropiado, pero mi vocabulario miserable me lo impide. Creo que lo que necesitamos es una excursión científica. Tengo que aventurarme en una selva donde la belleza ocupe el lugar de la lluvia. Donde la misma hermosura caiga del cielo a intervalos regulares. Salpique cada superficie, sature el suelo, flote como vapor en el aire. Porque la forma en que te ves en estos momentos... —Su mirada atrapó la de ella en el reflejo—. Allí tendrían una palabra para eso.”

AmorHermosoTierno
Book:A Week to Be Wicked
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“As they strode through the meadow, she had the eerie sensation of walking atop waves. Except this was a sea of petals, not saltwater. Her toe caught on a fallen branch, and she stumbled a bit. "Are you all right?" Colin asked. She nodded. "I was just distracted. Wondering how much loam is in this soil." "What?" He set down his side of the trunk. Minerva did the same. "You know," she said. "Loam. A mix of clay and sand. In order for he soil to support this many bluebells, it would-" "You're standing in the middle of this," -he spread his arms wide to indicate Nature's splendor- " and you're thinking about loam in the soil? You spend far too much time staring at the ground." Rounding the trunk, Colin plucked her off her feet. With gentle strength, he tumbled her into the bluebells. She lay flat on her back, breathless and dizzy from the sudden inversion. From the sudden nearness of him. He lay down next to her. "There. Have a rest. Look up at the sky for a change." Minerva stared up from the uneven ground. Her heartbeat drummed in her ears, and a crushed green scent engulfed her senses. The grasses and bluebells towered over her, swaying in the gentle breeze and dripping loveliness. Above everything, the sky hovered brilliantly and blue. Nearly cloudless, save for a few wispy, changing puffs of white that were apparently too proud to mimic rabbits or dragons or sailing ships.”

Nature S BeautyBluebellsLoamy SoilCloudless SkyMinerva And Colin
Book:A Week to Be Wicked
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“But didn't everyone have a shell? Hard, external armor protecting the soft, vulnerable creature beneath? Perhaps, she thought, people were more like ammonites than one would suppose. Perhaps they too built shells on a consistent, unchanging factor- some quality or circumstance established in your youth. Each chamber in the shell just an enlargement of the previous. Growing year after year, until they spiraled around and locked themselves in place.”

Out Of Your ShellAmmoniteMinerva Highwood
Book:A Week to Be Wicked
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“I have my mind,’ she whispered. ‘That’s the worst part. It’s my mind that fills the darkness with horrid things. I have too much imagination.’ ‘Shut the door to it, then. No stories or wild tales. Concentrate only on the things you can sense. What’s in front of you?’ Her hands flattened on the linen of his shirt, light and chilled. ‘You are.’ ‘What’s to either side of you?’ ‘Your arms.’ ‘What’s behind you?’ She inhaled slowly. ‘Your hands. Your hands are on my back.’ He rubbed his hands up and down, warming her. ‘Then that’s all you need to know. I have you. If there are beasties in the dark, they have to get through me.”

RomanceDarkness
Book:Romancing the Duke
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“The further he raided, the closer he came to the other rooms. Those unused, cobwebbed chambers of her heart. Would he dare to venture there? She doubted. Jumping off a cliff was a flashy sort of courage, but a man would need true strength and valor to break through those padlocked doors. There were dark, uncharted spaces within her that had been built to house love, and even she was afraid to explore them. Terrified to learn just how vast and how achingly empty they truly were.”

MenLoveNeedsHeartAgeHouseDarkSpaceRoomsBreakDoorsBuiltEmptyDareVentureTerrifiedJumpingChamberCliffsDoubtedValorBreak ThroughUnchartedFlashyJumping OffTrue StrengthJumping Off A Cliff
Author:Tessa Dare
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“I never thought Greek philosophy could make a damn bit of sense to me. And most of it didn't, but those words just seemed right. 'Love is composed of a single soul, inhabiting two bodies.'" He took her by the shoulders drawing her close. "It rang true for me, in a way nothing else did. Whatever soul I had, Katie, I think I placed it in your keeping twenty years ago. And now, it's as if...every time we kiss, you give a little piece of it back.”

IfsThinkingWayGivingYearsLittlesTwoSoulPhilosophyBodyBitsLove IsPiecesLove YouKissingYears AgoTwentiesDrawingShouldersGreekDamnI Love YouKatieGreek Philosophy
Author:Tessa Dare
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