Eleanor Howlett Quotes

“Eleanor's sisters all murmured their assent, making her heart swell with love. She was so lucky to have these people in her life, people who could be annoying (Olivia), pedantic (Ida), and quiet (Pearl), but who ultimately loved her and wanted her to be happy, no matter how it might affect them.”
― Megan Frampton, Lady Be Bad

“I will be making my own choices in life. I know you say you want the best for us, but the best isn't whether or not we are able to afford clothing that suits our position. The best is when you find someone you love, who loves you back, and you decide you want to spend your lives together.”
― Megan Frampton, Lady Be Bad

“What would you do if you were a goddess, Cotswold?"
Her maid, who had been pulling Eleanor's covers up the bed, stilled her motion. Her expression drew together, as though she were considering it.
"I suppose I would find the most handsome man in the world and make him my... my..." She waved her hand to indicate the word she shouldn't be saying.
"Cotswold!" Eleanor exclaimed, delightedly. "That sounds scandalous!"
"Wouldn't it be what you did?"
Eleanor shrugged. "I was thinking more along the lines of being able to have and read all the books I wanted to."
Cotswold returned to her task. "Choosing a book over a handsome man." She shook her head, mock ruefully. "And here you were wanting to do something scandalous."
The honest part was, it would be scandalous.
If it were possible to not be a duke's daughter and be someone else, she would choose to work in a bookshop. Not one that sold the material it seemed Lord Alexander wanted to purchase; one with fairy tales and mythological books and any kind of literature where it was just as likely a dragon would drag you off somewhere as a viscount.
"I just might," Eleanor said in a defiant tone, making her maid snort.”
― Megan Frampton, Lady Be Bad

“Do you like flowers, Lady Eleanor?"
It was him speaking. Lord Blunt. Asking her opinion on something, of all things.
It was unexpected.
And everyone was waiting for her answer. Or so it seemed.
"I do, thank you." Why did his simple question make her want to shout, or scream, or say something in Italian?
A language that she'd learned that seemed to hold all the emotion she wasn't allowed to have. So she loved it all the more.
"They are... bellissimi fiori," she said, feeling daring as she spoke.
"Speak so that everyone can understand, Eleanor," her mother said reprovingly.
"Of course, Mother," Eleanor replied, lowering her eyes so nobody would see the spark of defiance she knew was there.”
― Megan Frampton, Lady Be Bad

“And so I would ask you if you would do me the honor of becoming my wife?" As he spoke, she saw him glance over her shoulder, looking at the clock that stood in the corner. As though he had another appointment after this one. The one where he decided her fate.
Unless she decided it for herself. The emotion she'd felt on recognizing Lord Alexander in that ballroom rushed over her, the unfamiliar feelings of want and dissatisfaction and wishing she could just be herself, just do something that wasn't related to who she was- she wanted to stand up and demand that Lord Carson, that anyone see her as Eleanor, the pun-loving, adventurous woman who adored Italian.
Not a female to be bartered from one family to another.”
― Megan Frampton, Lady Be Bad

“This is- cricket?" she said, sounding skeptical.
"What did you imagine it was? Unless you thought the actual insects were wandering about playing some sort of organized entertainment," he said, raising an eyebrow at her as he spoke.
She looked at him, her blue eyes wide, and then they narrowed and her words emerged before, he would guess, she had time to consider what she was saying. And the lady from the bookstore reappeared.
"You seem to think I am so idiotic that I would possibly imagine that insects would be engaged in a sporting activity." Her tone dripped with icy disdain, and he felt himself heat at the sight of her enraged. "I assure you, my lord, that simply because I have not yet had experience with things that I am not entirely stupid." She glared at him, her eyes narrowing even more. "That is what you believe, isn't it? That I am unintelligent?" She focused her attention on a small purse she'd brought along with her, opening it with shaking fingers. "I am many things, or not many things, depending on what your perspective is, but I am not stupid." She withdrew a pair of spectacles from her purse and placed them on her face, settling the wires behind her ears. "As it happens, I am poorly sighted. That much is true." And she resumed glaring at him from across the seat. "Likely you have misjudged my expression because I have a lack of vision. But since you don't seem to think very highly of me in the first place, I might as well wear my spectacles so I can see your disdain."
He wanted to both applaud and kiss her all at the same time.”
― Megan Frampton, Lady Be Bad

“I am not certain that Lord Carson and I will suit one another."
Mostly because she knew she was falling in love with his brother. But that she wouldn't share.
She couldn't believe she was speaking so boldly to her mother. To anyone, honestly.
Neither, at least according to their expressions, could her mother and Olivia.
"What do you mean?"
For once, her mother was actually asking her a question that didn't presuppose the answer.
"I mean," Eleanor said slowly, feeling how her chest was tightening at even the thought of saying something so undebutante-like, "that I do not wish to go driving with Lord Carson this afternoon. I mean that I would like to be unhampered by an engagement for just a bit more. That how you all are bearing down on me makes it feel as though I am a thing to be manipulated, not a person who could live her own life."
Her mother's mouth dropped open, while Olivia looked as though she didn't know whether to cheer or to slap her sister.
"Live your own life?" her mother said, her voice rising into a screech. Eleanor winced at the sound. "Your sister made it impossible for any of the rest of you to live your own lives, unless you plan on living your lives in penury and disgrace."
"It isn't that horrible," Olivia pointed out in a reasonable tone. "The worst that could happen is that we settle for gentlemen we actually like rather than gentlemen you and Father decide on for us."
Now Eleanor wished she could cheer for her sister.”
― Megan Frampton, Lady Be Bad

“You say you want these things to happen for the family's respectability, so that the girls and I can marry well. But that's not what it is about, is it? It's all about you. You can't bear the thought of being less than the highly venerated Duchess of Marymount. God forbid one of your daughters makes a mistake, runs off with the wrong man.”
― Megan Frampton, Lady Be Bad