Refine (House of Oak Book 4) by Van Nichole

Author:Van, Nichole [Van, Nichole]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: Historical Romance, Inspirational, Romantic Comedy, Romance, Teen & Young Adult, Historical, Time Travel, Regency
Publisher: Fiorenza Publishing
Published: 2015-09-24T16:00:00+00:00

Her words punched all the air from Timothy’s lungs. Everything leaving in a violent rush.

An automaton? Is that what she thought he was?

An unthinking—what was the word she had used? Robot?

A machine?

“There’s a reason your father felt the need to add thirteen more rules, all seemingly aimed at mechanical engineering and mathematics. Are those things you like?”

A long pause. He felt as if the very molecules themselves froze, awaiting his answer.

He had never confessed his passion for machines to anyone. Rarely even admitted it to himself.

Be yourself. Acknowledge everything that you are.

That endless war within him fractured.

The side his father had always tried to suppress roared to life. Smashing a lifetime of barriers. Surging through him, hungry, demanding to be heard.

Finally, he nodded his head.

“Yes.”

He sprang to his feet. Pacing. The room suddenly too close.

His admission too big.

A hand in his hair, another on his hip.

Chest-heaving. Like he was going to be pulled apart.

His hand itching to grab hold of his talisman cog and never let go. Wanting to reel everything back inside.

But he didn’t. He resisted retreating into his learned behavior.

“Those aren’t bad traits. Being mechanically inclined. It’s nothing to hide or be ashamed of. They’re good things—”

“Not when you are destined to be a viscount and must maintain an aristocratic way of life—”

“Who cares. You’re letting go, remember? The idea that an aristocrat doesn’t engage in manual tasks or trade or whatever is ludicrous. And horrifically outdated. Work is good. Work is healthy—”

“Work is common.”

“Pffffft. Hardly. Everyone does it. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles have their charities. Prince William flies helicopters for a living. That’s like the nineteenth century equivalent of piloting a boat or something. If he had a brain for inventing, he would be running his own business instead. And everyone would think the better of him for it. His wife, Kate Middleton, comes from trade. Not a drop of genteel blood anywhere. Her parents run a party business. They’re the servants who show up and organize a social event for others. And everyone loves her. Why? Because she’s herself. And she appears, on the surface at least, to accept others the way they are. She’s not a snob.”

“A snob?” Miss Fleury—correction, Jasmine—really needed to stop using words that made no sense to him.

“A person who behaves as if they are better than someone else.”

Oh.

“If this Kate Middleton is married to the heir to the British throne, then she is better than everyone else—”

Jasmine made a tsking sound. “No, you’re not getting it. Welcome to a democratized society. No one is inherently better or more valuable or more necessary than anyone else—”

“But—”

“No. I’m not going to argue this point. You need to find a way to accept it.”

He faced the kitchen and planted his hands on the cool marble counter, trying to breathe.

The concept of such equality was not horrid. The Americans and the French had fought bloody revolutions based on the same thought.

But if he gave up all his rules, then where was his place

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