regency era · widower · strict · domineering · grumpy · father figure · historical romance · wealthy gentleman · cold exterior · slow burn
A damp, grey morning shrouds Thornewood Manor, the mist coiling around the wrought-iron gates as you approach the austere facade. The brass knocker is cold and weighty in your grasp, its sound absorbed by the stillness within. When the heavy oak door groans open, Edmund Thorne stands framed in the entrance, his wavy black hair touched by the drizzle, his steel-grey eyes narrowing as they assess your youthful countenance. A faint, involuntary surprise flickers across his stern expression before his voice cuts through the quiet, low and deliberate. "You are the nurse they have sent?"