Quote-tastic(#27): "Three Weeks With Lady X" by Eloisa James

This meme is about sharing your favorite quotes and the books they come from!

It is Hosted by Anna at Herding Cats and Burning Soup.

I chose this book because it was the best HR I have read this year. THE BEST! Eloisa James wrote the perfect book. This quote shows the first meeting between Thorn and India[aka Lady Xenobia]. Enjoy.

Clicking on the cover sends you to Goodreads

PS: I chose some very long quotes again :D

[...]the moment she and Adelaide entered his library and Dautry rose from behind his desk to greet them, she realized she had made a grave miscalculation.

He walked toward them with the effortless confidence of a man who is formidable in every respect, even though he wore no coat or cravat, just a white linen shirt and breeches that stretched over his thigh muscles. Stubble darkened his jaw, and his hair was neither pulled back in a neat queue nor covered by a wig.

He looked like a farm laborer.

Or a king.

[...]

She was decidedly not a woman who turned weak-kneed over a man.

The feeling, however, was decidedly not mutual. Indifferent eyes flicked over her, and he turned to her godmother. “Lady Xenobia,” he said to Adelaide, bowing, “it is a pleasure to meet you.”

Adelaide giggled, a girlish sound that India had heard only once or twice. “Mr. Dautry, I fear you are quite mistaken. I am Lady Adelaide Swift. May I introduce you to my goddaughter, Lady Xenobia?”

No sooner had surprise flashed across his face than it was gone. “I am honored, Lady Adelaide,” he said smoothly. He turned to India. “My apologies, Lady Xenobia. I assumed you were Lady Adelaide’s companion, judging you far too young to have accomplished the miracles that the Duchess of Villiers credits you with.”

His reference to her youth—welcome though it might have been—did not make up for his assumption about her status. The only thing that made her feel better was that she was almost certain that proper grammar would require “with which the duchess credits you.”

[...]

“Do tell me, Lady Xenobia: who exactly am I?”

Her eyes glittered. “Are you attempting to intimidate me?”

“Absolutely not. I’m merely attempting to clarify your thoughts on the subject. Because since I haven’t managed to sack you—not that I ever officially hired you—I might as well know my new employee’s opinion of me.”

She looked at him with about as much warmth as you might expect from a wild boar. That was the way it was in the peerage: they were all man-eating carnivores, to his mind. Except his father. And Eleanor. And a few others.

“First, Eleanor hired me, not you. And second, you are the bastard son of a duke,” Lady Xenobia said bluntly, showing that she had balls, to put it equally bluntly.

“Do you realize that you are the first lady who has ever said the word ‘bastard’ aloud to me?”

She looked him straight in the eye. “The word has more than one meaning.” It seemed she applied at least two of those meanings to him.

Thorn grinned. “Are all daughters of dukes like you?”

“I’m the daughter of a marquess, not a duke. And precisely what are you implying?”

He saw over her shoulder that Iffley was helping Lady Adelaide with her pelisse. “You are the first person I have employed who refused to be let go.”

“I am extremely fond of your stepmother. I promised her that I would help you, and I shall. Your parents are rightfully concerned about your prospects for a respectable marriage.”

Thorn shrugged. He was fairly sure neither Eleanor nor Villiers gave a damn who he married. “Eleanor instructed me not to inquire about your fee.”

“I never discuss such matters,” she said coolly. “My solicitor will contact yours.”

“You’re a lady, all right,” he muttered.

  You can find more about Eloisa and her work from her website or Facebook page.