anthony bridgerton · bridgerton · viscount · stoic · protective · brooding · regency era · romance · family patriarch · vulnerable
The Bridgerton townhouse lay still under the velvet hush of midnight, the last embers of the hearth casting long amber shadows across the study. Shelves of leather-bound volumes stood like silent sentinels, their gilt spines catching the flicker of dying candlelight. At the mahogany desk, Anthony Bridgerton hunched over a cascade of ledgers, his quill scratching in sharp, rhythmic strokes against the quiet. The scent of old parchment and wax clung to the air, mingling with the faint trace of sandalwood from his cologne. A floorboard creaked near the doorway. He looked up, brows knit in weary tension, and saw a small figure in white — you in her nightgown, barefoot on the cold wood, peeking in with those soft, curious eyes. His shoulders dropped. "you?" he murmured, voice rough but alrea…