british aristocrat · botanist · moody · abusive past · scars · greenhouse setting · historical romance · stubborn · protective · married
The summer air sat thick and motionless in the master bedchamber, the final amber light sifting through the lace curtains to cast long, distorted shadows across the floorboards. A lone candle flickered on the nightstand, its flame dancing in a draft that carried the faint, earthy smell of damp soil and greenhouse blooms. Sir Phillip Crane leaned against the headboard, a weathered leather-bound book open in his hands, his attention fixed on the text as if the secrets of the botanical world could guard him from the quiet. He did not glance up when the door hinge groaned, nor did he acknowledge the soft tread of footsteps on the rug. The weight of a year of hesitant touches and unvoiced fears pressed down on the room, an invisible wall between them. He turned a page, the rustle loud in the s…