Emma V. Leech > Quotes

“It’s worth it. She’s worth it. I don’t care what I have to do, how much idiocy and insult I must bear. So long as she never regrets her choice, it’s worth it.”
― Emma V. Leech, Dare to Be Brazen

“Perfection should only exist for fleeting moments. In the face of a newborn, or a perfect summer’s evening; a moment in time you captured in your heart and your memories, to be treasured and taken out again when things were less than flawless.”
― Emma V. Leech, The Corinthian Duke

“Nic felt a wave of sorrow for this scrawny child with her wild dark hair and her big blue eyes. He remembered the night he’d found Louis, seen the look in his brother’s eyes that told him Louis would follow him to the ends of the earth if only he was shown a little bit of kindness. It was the way Aggie looked at his brother. He met Louis’s eyes and smiled his approval.”
― Emma V. Leech, Dare to Be Brazen

“How could you! How could you run away and leave me?” “Aggie!” Louis said reproachfully. “I did not run away for good, you foolish creature. As if I would leave you behind. Surely you know me better than that? If you had only waited, you would have received my letter explaining.” Aggie sniffed and wiped angrily at her eyes. “I w-was so worried about you. Everyone was saying such h-horrid things and I couldn’t stand it. I knew it wasn’t true, so I came after you. I was so f-frightened you were in trouble.” Louis pulled her back into a hug. “Aggie, ma puce. Don’t upset yourself so. And here was I thinking you were safe at school with your friends, or I too would have been out of my mind.”
― Emma V. Leech, To Dare the Darkness

“He wanted the dream of her here with him, wanting to be with him. If he couldn’t have that he didn’t want any part of it, for he knew now it had the power to destroy him.”
― Emma V. Leech, Dare to Be Wild

“You’ve no need to be jealous,” he said, meaning it. “They were lovely and fun, and we enjoyed ourselves together but… but it wasn’t… it wasn’t you, Lottie, it didn’t mean….” He hesitated and then blurted the words out. “I love you. I think I must have done for a long time, but I didn’t know it. How did I not know it?”
― Emma V. Leech, Dare to Be Wicked

“Never again would she run herself ragged, trying her utmost to collect any tiny scraps of affection her father showed her and knit them together into proof of love.”
― Emma V. Leech, A Wicked Business

“I cannot tell Mama, or she will tell Papa and he’ll be disappointed in me and that is worse than any other fate imaginable, even the villain’s.”
― Emma V. Leech, Dare It All for Love

“Another,” she demanded. “No.” “Please.” “One day, Eliza, you’ll discover this fine coat gives me the illusion of a gentleman, and what lies beneath is not quite so civilised.” “I can’t wait,” she said breathlessly. “Wicked girl,” he said, sounding quite as though he was finding it hard to breathe too.”
― Emma V. Leech, Dare to Be Brazen

“I didn’t mean what I said. At least, I meant the part about not being a fortune hunter. I’m not. I don’t give a damn for your blasted money, and I know I’m not good enough for you, and I do want to know what you’re hiding, and… and I swear you can trust me, even if I’m just your friend, Aisling, but… oh, to hell with it.” He kissed her.”
― Emma V. Leech, An Enchanting Dare

“Oh! lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud! I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed! - Shelley”
― Emma V. Leech, Dying for a Duke

“If anything happens to Arabella, grandmother, you may be sure that you’ll have no heirs from me, for I give you my solemn vow that I’ll not marry again. You’ll have to look to Hugo for the succession.” “You damned fool!” the duke exploded. “That… that popinjay!” the dowager shrieked in disgust. “He couldn’t sire a mooncalf let alone the next duke! You’ll do your duty, boy.” “No,” Bainbridge said, quiet but resolute. “The days when either of you could command me are long gone. I’m no boy, and I love my wife. I tell you both now, if either of you speak ill of her again, I shall leave this God forsaken place and not come back before the two of you are in the ground. The lot of you can go to the devil for all I care, I’ll have nothing more to do with you.”
― Emma V. Leech, Dare to Cause a Scandal

“This was why he’d not died in that alley, he realised now. It hadn’t been the act of a merciful God, but a vengeful one. Dying would have been simple. This… This was retribution. It hurt worse than the knife had, he thought, a hand going to the scar on his side as though that might help ease the wound. But that wound had healed. This was fresh and raw, and it felt fatal, though he knew he’d not be that lucky.”
― Emma V. Leech, To Dare the Devil

“Only a weak man would use his fists, or his strength, against someone who has no means of defending themselves. Only the worst kind of villain would take what has not been offered freely.”
― Emma V. Leech, To Dare a Duke

“Yes! Yes, I’ve upset me. I’m such a fool, Laurie, for I never told you. I never told you how truly glad I am that you trapped me and hauled me off to that dreadful great house with all your awful relatives. I love every inch of that over gilded monstrosity and I love every one of your dreadful relatives, especially your wicked father who is really a very bad man, but most of all... oh, most of all, Laurie, I love you. I love you with all my heart and I never, never want to be apart from you or to make you unhappy. I’ve never been in love before though, you see, so I’ve made an awful mull of things, but I promise to do better. I will do better, Laurie, and you’ll see, you need never doubt it. Not ever again.”
― Emma V. Leech, Dare to Cause a Scandal

“Louis’s heart clenched. He’d never been sick a day in his life before, but the influenza had made him as weak and wretched as a starved kitten himself. He’d been barely conscious for the first few days and when he was well enough to realise how ill Aggie was he’d been beside himself. He’d very much feared he would lose her, and the pain of that loss had staggered him.”
― Emma V. Leech, Dare to Be Wild

“A new life with a husband… that’s rather terrifying, to be honest. I’m not sure I’m ready for it. I suppose I would need to trust any potential husband a great deal to commit my future to him.” “I suppose you would, but any husband worth a damn would move heaven and earth to ensure your happiness.”
― Emma V. Leech, The Mistletoe Dare

“Her eyes never left him and as he returned to meet her gaze he felt his wits and his tongue tie themselves in a pretty bow.”
― Emma V. Leech, The Dark Prince

“I’m not giving up on you. Even if you’ve given up on yourself.”
― Emma V. Leech, An Enchanting Dare

“Just you,” she said at length, grinning at him. “You are all I need.”
― Emma V. Leech, Dare to Be Wicked

“You will talk to him about what has happened, about the loss of your baby, and you will ask him how he feels, what he wants, and then… if that fails… well, I shall bang your heads together and see if that can’t get me better results.”
― Emma V. Leech, To Dance with a Devil

“I think you’re perfect too, just a different kind of perfect.”
― Emma V. Leech, Dare to Be Wicked

“Down the side streets, old ladies lined the buildings in rows, shelling peas and gossiping as they sat on upturned baskets. From the apothecary shops drifted both the strange and familiar smells of herbs and spices and concoctions for gout, pastilles for putrid sore throats, creams and ointments, and possets and infusions. The coppery tang of meat and the stench of livestock reeked in the poultry market where fowl of every variety hung with their heads arrowing down. Glassy eyed ducks and geese swung gently in the breeze as it ruffled feathers no longer fit for flight. Here and there, dogs snuffled and snarled, growling over a discarded scrap and scenting the air with hopeful noses.”
― Emma V. Leech, To Steal a Kiss

“If I marry, I want it to be because my husband can’t live without me, not because he’s tumbled me once or twice and feels he ought to. For once in my life I want to belong somewhere, and if I can’t”
― Emma V. Leech, To Dance with a Devil

“I’m not the least bit good,” he said, and there was something hard and angry in his voice that made her look up. His dark blue eyes were fierce, burning with intensity. “But I see you, Miss Hunt, I see your worth, and I know there’s not a woman alive who could match you.”
― Emma V. Leech, Dare to Cause a Scandal

“Love is like the wind, no one knows where it comes from.”
― Emma V. Leech, Dare to Cause a Scandal

“This,” he murmured, nuzzling her inner thigh, “is the sweetest thing I have ever tasted.” “Better than cake?” she asked, a dreamy note to her voice that pleased him immensely. “Better than cake,” he agreed, unable to keep the smile from his face. “Better than strawberry jam or anything else you might have packed in that basket you keep filling for me. This is my feast, the thing I hunger for.”
― Emma V. Leech, To Experiment with Desire

“There is nothing but honesty in your heart, and it makes its way to your mouth with very little to moderate it.”
― Emma V. Leech, Dare to Be Wicked

“Never knowing what it was to be loved and belong somewhere was one thing, but having a taste of it before it was taken away again was quite another.”
― Emma V. Leech, Dare to Be Wild

“Rochford reached out and his cold fingers traced the line of her jaw. “I could be nothing but gentle with you, love. You need never fear me. I’ve never raised a hand to a woman in anger, and I do not mean to start now. I would be kind to you, too, and though I am not so blind to my own failings that I can promise I won’t ever rant or give into a temper tantrum, you are at liberty to rant right back. Tell me I’m an obnoxious arse when you need to. I’ll not punish you for it, God, I want to hear you scold me. I’d give anything to hear you telling me what a pompous idiot I am. Tell me every day. Please. I’ll be the better for it, I swear.”
― Emma V. Leech, The Mistletoe Dare