In the realm of historical romance novels, Elizabeth Hoyt stands out as a masterful storyteller, weaving tales of passion, intrigue, and timeless love. Her words have not only captivated readers with their rich narratives but have also resonated on a deeper level, offering wisdom and inspiration. In this blog post, we've curated a collection of the top 61 inspiring quotes by Elizabeth Hoyt, each selected for its ability to uplift, motivate, and provoke reflection. Whether you're a longtime fan or new to her work, these quotes are sure to spark your imagination and touch your heart. Join us as we explore the profound insights and eloquent expressions that make Elizabeth Hoyt's writing so enduringly powerful.
1. “A smile flickered across Coral’s face. “Have you ever noticed that once you have had a taste of certain sweets—raspberry trifle is my own despair—it is quite impossible not to think, not to want, not to crave until you have taken another bite?” “Lord Swartingham is not a raspberry trifle.” “No, more of a dark chocolate mousse, I should think,” Coral murmured. “And,” Anna continued as if she hadn’t heard the interruption, “I don’t need another bite, uh,night of him.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
2. “He looked up. “Is it time already?” She nodded. He rose and waited as she gathered her things. The dog followed them out the door, but then he bounded down the stairs to the drive. The animal sniffed intently at something on the ground and then rolled, happily rubbing his head and neck in whatever it was. Lord Swartingham sighed. “I’ll have one of the stable boys wash him before he enters the Abbey again.” “Mmm,” Anna murmured thoughtfully. “What do you think of ‘Adonis’?” He gave her a look so full of incredulous horror that she was hard-pressed not to laugh. “No, I suppose not,” she murmured.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
3. “Excuse me, but I believe you have my lady,” one of them said in a quiet, deep voice that sent veritable chills down George’s spine.Harry.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
4. “He grinned, but a bead of sweat ran down his temple. “Then with your permission.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
5. “Shhh,” he murmured against her mouth. “Don’t talk. Don’t think. Just feel.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
6. “You are different." She lifted a hand to delicately trace his hairline.He closed his eyes, feeling her fingers tremble against his skin."For whatever reason," she said softly, "when you are with me, you aresimply Isaac and I am Coral.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
7. “She caught his wrist, stilling the hand on her thigh. Her eyes were alittle desperate. "What do you mean to do?""I'd like to show you my way of making love," he said gently.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
8. “She heard him close the door. “I was going to impress you with my romantic eloquence, of course. I’d thought to wax philosophical about the beauty of your brow.”Lucy blinked. “My brow?”“Mmm. Have I told you that your brow intimidates me?” She felt his warmth at her back as he moved behind her, but he didn’t touch her. “It’s so smooth and white and broad, and ends with your straight, knowing eyebrows, like a statue of Athena pronouncing judgment. If the warrior goddess had a brow like yours, it is no wonder the ancients worshiped and feared her.”“Blather,” she murmured.“Blather, indeed. Blather is all I am, after all.”She frowned and turned to contradict him, but he moved with her so that she couldn’t quite catch sight of his face.“I am the duke of nonsense,” he whispered in her ear. “The king of farce, the emperor of emptiness.”Did he really see himself so? “But—”“Blathering is what I do best,” he said, still unseen. “I’d like to blather about your golden eyes and ruby lips.”“Simon—”“The perfect curve of your cheek,” he murmured close.She gasped as his breath stirred the hair at her neck. He was distracting her with lovemaking. And it was working. “What a lot of talk.”“I do talk too much. It’s a weakness you’ll have to bear in your husband.” His voice was next to her ear. “But I’d have to spend quite a bit of time outlining the shape of your mouth, itssoftness and the warmth within.-Simon to Lucy on their wedding night.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
9. “My darling Lucy.” He panted against her ear, and then his teeth scraped her earlobe. “I love you,” he whispered. “Don’t ever leave me.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
10. “Who are you?” Her eyes snapped open, and her voice held a hysterical edge. “Do I even know who you are?”He stepped over Walker’s battered corpse and grabbed her by the shoulders, leaned downso that his no-doubt foul breath washed over her face. “I am your husband, my lady.”She turned her face away from him.He shook her. “The one you promised to obey always.”“Simon—”“The one you said you’d cleave to, forsaking all others.”“I—”“The one you make love to at night.”“I don’t know if I can live with you anymore.” The words were a whisper, but they rang in his head like a death knell.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
11. “I’m leaving.” Her cold lips barely moved as she mouthed the words.Horror fisted around his vitals. “No.”For the first time she met his eyes. Hers were red-rimmed but dry. “I have to leave,Simon.”“No.” He was a little boy denied a sweet. He felt like falling down and screaming.“Let me go.”“I can’t let you go.” He half laughed here in the too-bright, cold London sun before his ownhouse. “I’ll die if I do.”She closed her eyes. “No, you won’t. I can’t stay and watch you tear yourself apart.”“Lucy.”“Let me go, Simon. Please.” She opened her eyes, and he saw infinite pain in her gaze.Had he done this to his angel? Oh, God. He unclasped his hands.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
12. “It might’ve been my fichu."-Patricia to Lucy about her engagement to vicar Penweeble.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
13. “... You are the closest I will ever come to heaven, either here on Earth or in the afterlife, and I will not regret it, not even at the cost of your tears.So I go to my grave an unrepentant sinner, I’m afraid. There is no use in mourning one such as I, dearest...-Simon to Lucy in a letter before the last duel.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
14. “Lucy swayed in shock. A gust of wind moaned through the conservatory and blew out all but one of her candles. Simon must have done this. He’d destroyed his fairyland conservatory. Why? She sank to her knees, huddled on the cold floor, her one remainingflame cradled in her numb palms. She’d seen how tenderly Simon had cared for his plants. Remembered the look of pride when she’d first discovered the dome and fountain. For him to have smashed all this . . .He must have lost hope. All hope.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
15. “I watched you for years,” she whispered. The tears were drying on her cheeks, and heat was building within her. If he would just touch her. Touch her there. “I watched you and you never saw me.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
16. “Sophia looked down her long nose at the girl. “Who are you?”“I’m Abigail, ma’am,” she said, curtsying. “This is my brother, Jamie. I apologize for him.”Sophia arched an eyebrow. “I’ll wager you do that quite a lot.”Abigail sighed, sounding world-weary. “Yes, I do.”“Good girl.” Sophia almost smiled. “Younger brothers can be a chore sometimes, but one must persevere.”“Yes, ma’am,” Abigail said solemnly.“Come on, Jamie,” Alistair said. “Let’s go into dinner before they form a Society for Bossy Older Sisters.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
17. “She leaned forward, her gaze so intense that Helen wanted to look away. “And I love him more for it. Do you hear me? He was a good man when he went away to the Colonies. He came back an extraordinary man. So many think that bravery is a single act of valor in a field of battle—no forethought, no contemplation of the consequences. An act over in a second or a minute or two at most. What my brother has done, is doing now, is to live with his burden for years. He knows that he will spend the rest of his life with it. And he soldiers on.” She sat back in her chair, her gaze still locked with Helen’s. “That to my mind is what real bravery is.”-Sophia to Helen about Alistair.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
18. “He doesn’t like making others uncomfortable.”-Helen to Sophia about Alistair” - Elizabeth Hoyt
19. “And how closely related to you is Cousin Beatrice?”Reynaud gave him a look. “Not that close.“Glad to hear it.” Vale dropped into a cushioned chair. “I hope she recovers fully so that you can then propose to her. Because I tell you now, matrimony truly is a blessed state, enjoyed by all men of good sense and halfway adequate bedroom skills.”“Thank you for that edifying thought,” Reynaud growled.Vale waved his glass. “Think nothing of it. I say, you haven’t forgotten how to treat a lady in the bedroom, have you?”“Oh, for God’s sake!”“You’ve been out of refined society for years and years now. I could give you some pointers, should you need them.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
20. “Lazarus had never thought of himself as lovable. Therefore it should come as no shock at all that Temperance did not, in fact, love him. No, not a shock... but it would have been nice had she had some small feeling for him.Lazarus pondered his own sickening craving as he guided his black gelding through the London morning throng the day after he'd walked out on Temperance. It appeared that his own nascent emotions had provoked a new desire as well: the urge to be loved. How banal. And yet, banal or not, he could not change the way his heart felt.A corner of his mouth quirked up humorlessly. It seemed he must be like other men after all.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
21. “You've used me to punish yourself, haven't you?"He watched dawning realization spread over her face, a confirmation more positive than anything she could ever say, and that arrow twisted deep in hischest. Yet still he had to ask the last question."Am I anything to you but a punishment?” - Elizabeth Hoyt
22. “I love you," she sobbed, rubbing her hands over his face, his hair, his chest, making sure he was solid and real. "I love you, and I thought you were dead. I couldn't bear it. I thought I would die too.""I'd walk through fire for you," he rasped, his voice hoarse and broken. "I have walked through fire for you.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
23. “Griffin leaned across the desk, his arms braced on the now-clear top, and stared into Wakefield’s outraged eyes. “We seem to be under a confusion of communication. I did not come here to ask for your sister’s hand. I came to tell you I will marry Hero, with or without your permission, Your Grace. She has lain with me more than once. She may well be carrying my child. And if you think that I’ll give up either her or our babe, you have not done nearly enough research into my character or history.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
24. “He lowered his head and beat, fists balled, teeth clenched, the roaring in his ears loud and total. He saw only Thomas’s bloody face, his brother’s mouth moving, saying something, perhaps pleading, and Griffin’s heart swelled with gleeful rage.He’d touched her. He’d hurt her. And for that he deserved to walk upon crippled legs.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
25. “Griffin, please,” she whispered.“Do you want me?” he asked.“Yes!” She tossed her head restlessly. She’d explode if he didn’t give her release soon.“Do you need me?” He kissed her nipple too gently.“Please, please, please.”“Do you love me?”And somehow, despite her extremis, she saw the gaping hole of the trap. She peered up at him blindly in the dark. She couldn’t see his face, his expression.“Griffin,” she sighed hopelessly.“You can’t say it, can you?” he whispered. “Can’t admit it either.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
26. “She swallowed and looked down at the artichoke petals piled neatly on the side of her plate. Her center certainly felt like it was melting, growing soft and wet just from the rasp of Mr. O’Connor’s voice. Why should a man already devilishly handsome also have a voice that could charm birds from the sky? It simply wasn’t fair.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
27. “What,” Mick said softly, “is Lad doin’ in me bed?”Hearing his name, Lad opened small, piggish, upside-down eyes, gazing with idiotic adoration as his whip-thin tail thumped the covers.“Ah.” Harry scratched behind one ear. “Well, see, ’e was lookin’ so forlorn, like, out in the courtyard by ’imself. Seemed an awful shame to leave ’im there all alone.”“Off!” Mick roared at the dog.Lad’s transformation was instantaneous. His tiny triangle ears folded back, his eyes narrowed worriedly, and he rolled so that he could crawl toward the edge of the bed on his belly.“Is that mud on his paws?” Mick asked in outrage.Harry glanced at the dog. “I do believe it is,” he said as if making a discovery.“Christ!” Mick watched disgustedly as Lad made the edge of the bed and slithered off, thumping to the floor. The dog seemed to think that his apology was done—or perhaps he’d already forgotten that Mick was mad at him—for he gamboled over as frisky as a lamb.“He’s not even me dog,” Mick muttered.Lad sat, one back leg sprawled out to the side, tongue hanging from his mouth, and grinned up at him. He completely ignored Harry, his supposed master.“The dog ’as a wonderful affection for ye,” Harry said brightly.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
28. “He watched her retreat, his eyes lazy, and his body unmoving. A trickle of blood seeped slowly from the corner of his mouth. He let her get nearly out of the room before he spoke, “I may not have the right, Silence, me love,” he drawled so soft she nearly didn’t catch the words. “But I would’ve listened to ye. I would’ve believed ye.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
29. “Women were something best bought, he’d found. Pay them, f*ck them, and send them away in the morning. That way avoided tears, recriminations, and feminine disappointment. Oh, and small things like being slapped across the face. Mick rubbed his jaw. But Silence wasn’t one of his whores, as Harry had pointed out. Mick couldn’t send her away. And he couldn’t let her starve herself—he wouldn’t let anyone hurt her, including herself.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
30. “Ye know as well as I that I lost whatever heart I once had long ago,” Mick replied without emotion, a simple statement of fact. “If the babe lives, or if she dies, it makes no difference to me. I’ll still eat sweetmeats on the morrow and taste the sugar on me tongue, still f*ck women and feel the pleasure in me bollocks. And, Charlie—mark me well, now—I’ll still kill ye and laugh in yer ugly face as I do it.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
31. “Silence cleared her throat, fearful her voice would come out a croak. “Is she asleep?”He blinked as if he, too, were waking from a dream, and glanced down at Mary Darling. “Aye, I’m a-thinkin’ she is—she’s stopped fussin’ at me.”Silence felt a huge smile of relief spread over her face. “She was fussing? Oh, how wonderful!”He shot her a look, one eyebrow arching. “Ye’ve taught the child to bully me, too, now?”“Oh, no,” she said hastily, embarrassed. Did he really think she bullied him? What a silly notion!” - Elizabeth Hoyt
32. “Mickey cursed under his breath, letting his head fall back against the wall. His c*ck still beat angrily against his clothing. Once he would’ve simply sent for a whore. Now that thought was oddly unsatisfying. He could have a willing woman, a woman who would do anything he might request of her, even the most exotic acts of sex, but instead his flesh wanted just one woman.A woman who was as fierce in her maternal love as he had been as a boy in his will to survive.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
33. “She swallowed and licked her lips. “It’s rather good.”He laughed breathlessly. Have care, part of his brain whispered. This way only leads to pain. But his c*ck was pressing hard against the placket of his breeches and he wanted to take her hand and draw her away to his rooms and keep her there until she learned to scream in pleasure.Until she screamed his name and no other.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
34. “Silence rose and crossed to the connecting door and knocked.The door was opened almost at once.Michael leaned a shoulder against the doorjamb, a wicked smile playing about his sensuous lips. He was so very big this close—every time it surprised her and made her breathless. “Well, now, and when did ye decide to start knockin’ at me door?”Silence fought to keep her face from flaming as she remembered the last time she’d peeked through Michael’s door.She swallowed. “We’re bored.”“Is that so?” Michael glanced down.Silence followed his gaze and saw that Mary had crawled over to investigate. The baby grabbed a handful of her skirt and stood up. She kept one hand on Silence’s skirt and popped two fingers from the other into her mouth as she stared solemnly at Michael.“She looks a rare treat,” Michael said softly, watching the toddler.Silence smiled down at Mary. “She does indeed.”She glanced up and her heart squeezed at the gentle look on Michael’s face.As if she understood she was the subject of conversation, Mary lifted her arms—to Michael. “Up!”Michael arched an eyebrow. “Mouthy little thing, ain’t she?”But he bent and lifted the toddler.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
35. “Goggie!” she exclaimed, holding both hands out urgently to Lad, who’d been dozing by the fire.“By all means,” Michael replied amicably, as if he and Mary were having a conversation. “Let’s bring the mutt with us, as well. He’s almost presentable now that he stinks o’ roses.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
36. “As I said, I don’t expect you to understand—”“And I don’t,” he cut in. “Ye ask how I can live a life that I know will end with the hangman’s noose. Well, at least I am alive. Ye might as well have climbed inside yer husband’s coffin and let yerself be buried with his corpse.”Her hand flashed out before she’d thought about it, the smack against his cheek loud in the little courtyard.Silence had her eyes locked with Michael’s, her chest rising and falling swiftly, but she was aware that Bert and Harry had looked up. Even Mary and Lad had paused in their play.Without taking his gaze from hers, Michael reached out and grasped her hand. He raised her hand to his lips and softly kissed the center of her palm.He looked at her, her hand still at his lips. “Don’t take to yer grave afore yer time, Silence, m’love.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
37. “There, there, sweetin’,” he murmured into her hair.“He loved me, he truly did,” she gasped.“I know he did,” Michael said.“And I loved him.”“Mm-hmm.”She raised her head, glaring angrily. “You don’t even believe in love. Why are you agreeing with me?”He laughed.“Because”—he leaned down and licked at the tears on her cheeks, his lips brushing softly against her sensitive skin as he spoke, “ye’ve bewitched and bespelled me, my sweet Silence, didn’t ye know? I’ll agree that the sky is pink, that the moon is made o’ marzipan and sugared raisins, and that mermaids swim the muddy waters o’ the Thames, if ye’ll only stop weepin’. Me chest breaks apart and gapes wide open when I see tears in yer pretty eyes. Me lungs, me liver, and me heart cannot stand to be thus exposed.”She stopped breathing. She simply inhaled and stopped, looking at him in wonder. His lips were quirked in a mocking smile, but his eyes—his fathomless black eyes—seemed to hold a great pain as if his strong chest really had been split open.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
38. “Will ye come with me?” he whispered.And she answered without hesitation. “Yes, please.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
39. “The butterfly startled at Mary’s gesture and floated up, drifting on the breeze, its wings sparkling blue and bright in the late afternoon sunshine.Silence watched it, enthralled, and then her eyes met Michael’s.A corner of his mouth cocked up. “Welcome home, m’love.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
40. “He sat and looked at her. “How is Mary Darling?”“Fast asleep after playing and having a bath,” she said. “The nursery is lovely.”“I’m glad you like it.”“Rose and Annie are obviously practiced nursemaids, and what is even better, they seem to like Mary, and she them.”He grunted. “It would take a hard heart to turn away from my Mary Darling.”A smile curved the corners of her lips. “You didn’t seem too enamored of her when you first met.”“She has a forceful personality, as do I. We just took a bit to get to know one another.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
41. “He grinned, though his face was strained. “That’s it, love. Use me to make yerself feel good.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
42. “He treasured her, treasured her tears, treasured her love for others. Her heart might even be big enough to fill that empty space in his own chest. Perhaps she could be his heart as well.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
43. “She opened her mouth wide in a silent scream and his release caught him, hard and fast as he kissed her openmouthed. He tore his mouth from hers and shouted his triumph. She was his, now and forevermore, until the end of time, until the seas ran dry and man no longer roamed the earth, amen.His and only his.She slumped against him, the scent of their passion musky in the night air.“Sleep,” he murmured to her, and held her against himself, his cock still buried deep.She was caught and he had no intention of ever letting her go.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
44. “He grunted and stirred, withdrawing from her. She only had a moment to be disappointed and then he flipped her to her back and rose over her, powerful and male. He casually parted her legs with his knees and thrust into her again, hot and hard.She gasped at the swift invasion, the lovely feeling, and then his face was next to hers, his big palms cradling her cheeks.“What I want,” he drawled, “is ye. Nothin’ else.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
45. “Why?” he whispered as he leaned over her, supported on one arm. “Why must ye be the one that haunts me dreams? I’ve seen ye weepin’ night after bloody night since the day I sent ye from me palace with yer dress half undone. If I had it to do over again, I’d cut me own right hand off rather than hurt ye so. Will ye never be able to forgive me, Silence love?”“I already have,” she replied, cradling his cheek in her hand. “Long, long ago.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
46. “Will ye be wantin’ this now, madam?”“Yes, please,” she whispered. She wanted to engrave the sight of him thus, about to make love to her, in her mind.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
47. “It hardly mattered. She was tired of waiting for him to acknowledge who he was. Tired of donning a false mask of gaiety when she was so much more—felt so much more—beneath. No one had ever noticed her mask. No one but him. If he couldn’t or wouldn’t make the first move, then damn it, she would.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
48. “This was madness; this was delirium.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
49. “She gasped again and opened blue eyes lit with erotic mischief. “Are you trying to steal the reins from me?”Even with his penis buried deep within her, even moments from climax, he arched an eyebrow. “You have them only by my permission.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
50. “I love you,” he whispered as he thrust again. And again. Each movement controlled. Each small movement devastating in its effect. “I love you.”She lost all concept of time. She lost her place and surroundings. She couldn’t remember who he was—who she was. She lost her mind.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
51. “She threw one leg over his and straddled his lap, then reached under herself and found him again.He tore his mouth from hers. “Wait.”“No.” She looked him frankly in the eyes. “I don’t care if you spill at once. I need you inside me now.”His beautiful eyes widened and then narrowed. “You’ll not always hold the reins, my lady.”She smiled sweetly. “Naturally not, but I do now.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
52. “She smiled as she poured tea into his cup. “I hope you find your rooms comfortable?”“Quite.” He took a too-hasty sip of tea and scalded his tongue.“The view is to your liking?”He had a view of a brick wall. “Indeed.”She fluttered her eyelashes at him over the rim of her teacup. “And the bed. Is it soft and… yielding?”He nearly choked on the bite of cake he’d just taken.“Or do you prefer a firmer bed?” she asked sweetly. “One that refuses to yield too soon?”“I think”—he narrowed his eyes at her—“whatever mattress I have on the bed you gave me is perfect. But tell me, my lady, what sort of mattress do you prefer? All soft goose down or one that’s a bit… harder?”It was very fast, but he saw it: Her gaze flashed down to the juncture of his thighs and then up again. If there hadn’t been anything to see there before, there certainly was now.“Oh, I like a nice stiff mattress,” she purred. “Well warmed and ready for a long ride.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
53. “I would do violence for one glimpse of your naked breasts. Bleed for one taste of your nipple on my tongue. (Winter Makepeace)” - Elizabeth Hoyt
54. “But you must be awash in a sea of compliments, my lady. Every gentleman you meet must voice his admiration, his wish to make love to you. And those are only the ones who may voice such thoughts. All about you are men who cannot speak their admiration, who must remain mute from lack of social standing or fear of offending you. Only their thoughts light the air about you, following you like a trail of perfume, heady but invisible. (Winter Makepeace)” - Elizabeth Hoyt
55. “Still, it was a sad state of the world that people judged others not by the best that they could be but by the worst thought in their own hearts.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
56. “Shhh.” He put a finger to her lips. “Hear me out. I cannot deny that I would've liked to have made babies with you. A little girl with your hair and eyes would've been the delight of my life. But it is you that I want primarily, not mythical children. I can survive the loss of something I've never had. I cannot survive losing you. (Winter Makepeace)” - Elizabeth Hoyt
57. “But he place a gentle palm under her chin and turned her face back to him. “I'm privileged to see you like this,” he said, his eyes fierce. “Wear you social mask at your balls and parties and when you visit your friends out there, but when we are alone, just the two of us in here, promise me this: that you'll show me only your real face, no matter how ugly you might think it. That's our true intimacy, not sex, but the ability to be ourselves when we are together. (Winter Makepeace)” - Elizabeth Hoyt
58. “No one could hear them over the carriage wheels, yet somehow it felt right to whisper. His eyes dropped to her gaping bodice. One nipple was reddened and still moist. He averted his eyes, swallowing. His erection, silly thing, didn’t know the show was over.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
59. “She took his length gently between her hands, her arms resting on his thighs, and looked up into his face. “I’m very, very angry with you.”And she opened her mouth over him.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
60. “He looked down at her as he eased from the bed. Why such a creature of light and love and life should have come to him, he could not fathom. But he was grateful. Very grateful.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
61. “That thought—that she was carrying his babe—steadied him enough to start off again. It was a strange but not unwelcome feeling to know that she carried his child. That someday she would hold a babe against her pretty white breast and that the child would be part of him as well.For the first time in a very long while, he yearned to see tomorrow.” - Elizabeth Hoyt
