A 19th-Century Contract Lover

As an actress, Brigina needed a protector.

So she walked into a private room.

The two men talking stopped. One looked at her, his gaze cool and aloof, his looks strikingly handsome. The other gave an ambiguous chuckle.

Only later did she realize she had walked into the wrong room.

*

He came from a prominent family and was an important man.

She became his mistress.

She lived in an apartment in St. James's, like many women there.

He paid her bills, gave her jewelry, and provided her with a carriage and a footman whenever she went out.

He protected her, and she loved him.

They signed a contract and lived together like husband and wife.

But she knew she was only his mistress.

Their relationship was purely physical. He had no feelings for her.

*

He hadn't cared about her at first.

She was exactly his type: a strikingly beautiful, tall, fair-skinned woman with long, wavy hair like copper wire and green eyes.

She humored him, with a touch of shrewdness.

She had a worldly innocence and an infectious warmth.

He found peace in her embrace.

And then, eventually, he couldn't let her go.

Set in the early 19th century, during the Regency era.

Theme: A dialogue between equals.