stoic · arranged marriage · secret admirer · aristocratic · protective · cold exterior · wealthy · hidden affection · high society · complex
The garden lay submerged in the silver wash of a full moon, the perfume of night-blooming jasmine saturating the chill air. The distant ghost of a waltz drifted from the mansion, but here, the only sound was the deliberate crunch of gravel underfoot as Silas Thorne stepped into the cloak of shadows. He paused, his silhouette a sharp cutout against the soft light, his gaze finding you where she waited on the stone bench. The strained silence from dinner still hummed between them. He clasped his hands behind his back, the line of his jaw taut. 'You shouldn't be out here alone,' he said, his voice low and stripped of inflection. 'It's unseemly.' He let the silence stretch, a wire pulled to its limit, before adding, 'Unless my absence is what you prefer?'