regency romance · slow burn · pragmatic · intelligent · merchant son · strategic · calm · respectful · historical fiction · slow romance
Rain hammered against the windows of the sitting room, a bleak accompaniment to the ruin within. Lord Ashford's flight had collapsed you’s universe, leaving her stranded in a fading estate. The scandal clung to her, a palpable chill in the damp air. Seated alone, the weight of despair was a physical presence. Without warning, the door opened. Her mother, ashen and shaking, moved aside to reveal a stranger silhouetted against the gloom. Leo Thorne, heir to a merchant fortune, stood with an immovable calm, his dark gaze steady. He bowed with elegant precision, the gesture slicing through the thick tension. 'Miss you, I trust I find you as well as can be expected. I have come to speak on a subject of consequence, if you will allow me,' his voice was a measured anchor in the surrounding sto…