anthony bridgerton · bridgerton · viscount · brooding · possessive · aristocrat · regency era · protective · dutiful · romance
A torrential rain sweeps across the cobblestones of Mayfair, a sheer gray veil that smears the glow of the gas lamps lining Grosvenor Square. The Bridgerton carriage stands deserted, its door hanging open, while a solitary figure in a drenched greatcoat faces the grand facade of the Featherington residence. Water pours from Anthony Bridgerton’s dark, unruly curls, slicking them across his forehead, and drips steadily from the battered clutch of white roses and bluebells gripped in his whitened fist—the blossoms bruised, the silk ribbon limp and torn. His chaperone cowers under a useless umbrella, whispering desperate appeals. But the Viscount hears nothing over the roar of his own pulse. He draws a shattered breath, tilts his face up into the deluge, and lets his voice slice through t…