Seductive Reprise: A Steamy Victorian Second Chance Romance by Antonia Falk

Author:Antonia Falk [Falk, Antonia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Make Your Beds
Published: 2024-01-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

It nettled him, not being allowed to escort her. The yearning washed over him again, as he recalled the feel of her astride him in his lap, the crush of their lips, the silky locks of her gorgeous hair slipping through his fingers. What would it take for her to accept him, and his affection, his ardor, his assistance? It had pained him days ago when he’d dropped her off a few streets away from her rooms, which in his estimation were but a scant step above a doss house.

And it pained him now, as he waited in the Pantheon on Regent Street, staring into the window of a bird stuffer’s shop. The shop was ablaze with an exotic tableau of hummingbirds, parrots, and peacocks, all arrested in eternal poses, their glass eyes pinning Yusef even from behind the modern and pristine plate glass. He recalled that Rickard’s friend, the doctor who’d been so keen for Rose to paint his portrait, had once expressed an interest in such decor.

Yusef found it tasteless and macabre, but even still, he waited there, rather than stroll further down the gallery to survey the other small shops boasting a variety of luxury goods and amusing trinkets. Something about the birds struck him; the proprietors had been careful to select only avians with the grandest displays of plumage. Even the foreign but miniscule hummingbird had an entrancing iridescence to its feathers, though it was easy to overlook amid the scarlet macaws. It reminded him of a species of bird from his youth—small sunbirds with long, curved bills and glossy green plumage, and he was suddenly overwhelmed by an urgent desire to go back to Egypt and take Rose with him. And then when they returned to England, she might see the bird stuffer’s window and remark upon its similarities to the sunbird. His chest tightened.

It was all he’d ever wanted. Her, with him. Ever since that day when intense curiosity had compelled him to visit her father’s coaching inn for the first time. He meant what he’d told the Duke of Marbury. He would marry her. She was made for him, and he for her. Of course, his father was in no position to resist; Yusef was not his heir, and he was a grown man besides. With his own properties and income. So when his father had coughed out a weak “I see” in response to Yusef’s declaration, he had not been deterred. And whether the duke even wanted to deter him, leverage or not, was a mystery best left to the cold, emotionless halls of Marbury House.

Rather, Yusef dared to dream, something he’d never permitted himself before. Too maudlin, too pointless. He had ruined it all once, making her hate him with his cold selfishness. And he’d never known that perhaps he could fix it all, if only he knew how to apologize, how to make things right. If he could, then perhaps this time, Rose Verdier would cleave herself to him,

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