#gbmoodboards

[somuttersthesea]

[8/10] favorite grace burrowes regency couples :: gayle + anna windham

the earl was silent behind her, winding her hair into a long braid.

“were your parents happy?” he asked at length.

“i believe they were, and my grandparents were.”

“as are mine, as were mine,” the earl said, fishing her hair ribbon out of his pocket and tying off her braid. “can you not trust yourself, anna, to choose the kind of husband i describe rather than that nightmare you recount?”

“the choice of a woman’s husband is often not hers, and the way a man presents himself when courting is not how he will necessarily behave when his wife is fat with his third child a few years later.”

“a housekeeper sees things from a curious and unpleasant perspective.” he hunched forward to wrap his arms around her shoulders. “you will not be my mistress,” the earl said again, “and you are very leery of becoming a wife, but what, anna, would you think of becoming a duchess?”

{the heir}

[somuttersthesea]

[7/10] favorite grace burrowes regency couples :: valerian + emily dorning

they reached the stream, which today ran a placid course between grassy banks. “why did you kiss me, miss pepper?”

she took the bench that some obliging soul had placed by the water a century or two ago. “why did i try to kiss you?”

“i’d say the venture was a success. may i join you?” the bench sat in shade, and the view across the stream was a sunny pasture on dorning land. mares cropped grass, tails whisking at the occasional fly. foals napped at their mamas’ feet or frisked about with each other like enormous milk-drunk kittens.

“please do have a seat,” miss pepper said, arranging her skirts. “a kiss is not a success when the gentleman’s primary reaction is dismay. i should apologize.”

“please don’t. i’m simply out of practice in the kissing department. my dancing is much more reliable.”

he’d made her smile, and that was...that was worth all the thwarted yearning in dorset.

{a woman of true honor}

[somuttersthesea]

[6/10] favorite grace burrowes regency couples :: sophie + vim charpentier

he was leaving. his arm came around her shoulders as if to silently acknowledge the pain of that reality. “you’ll manage, sophie. that child could not be in better hands.”

she turned into his body, the child in her arms, and vim embraced them both.

he said nothing, just held woman and baby while sophie tried to tell herself she was lucky. she’d been well and truly kissed; she’d been declared cozy; she’d been held and cuddled and given a good start on learning to care for the baby.

but she was not a baby. held and cuddled was lovely. it was not enough. she’d wished for so much more. wished for it until she couldn’t wish any more, and then vim charpentier had appeared in her life, and the wishing was worse than ever.

{lady sophie’s christmas wish}

[somuttersthesea]

[5/10] favorite grace burrowes regency couples :: valentine + ellen windham

“i am unused to this friendly napping.”

“you and your baron never stole off for an afternoon nap?” val asked, his fingers tracing the length of her arm. “never kidnapped each other for a picnic on a pretty day?”

“we did not.” ellen sighed as his fingers stroked over her arm again. “he occasionally took tea with me, though, and we often visited at the end of the day.”

but, val concluded with some satisfaction, they did not visit in bed or on blankets or with their clothes off. ellen had much to learn about napping. his right hand drifted up to her shoulder, where he experimentally squeezed at the muscles joining her neck to her back.

“blazes,” he whispered, “you are strong. relax, ellen.” his right hand was more than competent to knead at her tense muscles, and when he heard her sigh and felt her relax, he realized he’d found the way to stop her mill wheel from spinning so relentlessly.

“close your eyes, ellen,” he instructed softly. “close your eyes and rest.” in minutes, her breathing evened out, her body went slack, and sleep claimed her. gathering her a little more closely, he planted a kiss on her nape and closed his eyes. his hand wasn’t throbbing anymore, his belly was full, and he was stealing a few private moments with a pretty lady on a pretty day.

God was in His heaven, and enough was right with the world that val’s own busy mill wheel slipped its cogs, and dreams rose up to claim him.

{the virtuoso}

[somuttersthesea]

[4/10] favorite grace burrowes regency couples :: george + elsie haddonfield

elsie leaned against george, let him for one moment have all of her weariness and fear, all of her anger and despair. to hold her felt good, though holding her wasn’t nearly as much comfort as she deserved.

and then she kissed him.

george’s mind manufactured a single thought--kissing elsie felt good too!--before he began kissing her back.

{tremaine’s true love}

so here’s the tea on these 2 sweethearts. they are one of my favorite GB couples and they do not have even so much as a novella to call their own. seriously, mary fran and matthew i-forget-their-last-name got a novella. morgan and archer portmaine got a novella. jonathan and amy dolan got a novella. george’s own brother max, who got scarcely a passing mention in the main books, showed up to woo and wed his antonia in a novella. and george and elsie...their story is only told through george’s siblings’ books. granted, there is enough there that it doesn’t feel like their story absolutely needs more...but i love them so much that i want them to have more. i need all the details for these two precious, fictional human beings and what i have is scraps from george’s siblings. anyway, this quote was from the book where they actually tie the knot. <3

[somuttersthesea]

[3/10] favorite grace burrowes regency couples :: ash + della dorning

“if you think no woman would have you, you are much mistaken, ash dorning.”

he did not know what to think, because it appeared, unless his ears deceived him and his heart was equally misguided, that lady della haddonfield was considering proposing to him.

he turned her by the shoulders. “if i were to marry anybody, any lady in the whole of God’s creation, i would account myself most fortunate and blessed to find myself married to you. but i cannot in good conscience ask that of you.”

“what if i am asking it of you?” she slipped her arms around his waist and leaned against him. “what if i am inviting you to try a life with  me, ash dorning? if we don’t suit, you can set me aside, and we’ll live apart, enjoying cordial relations on necessary occasions. many couples don’t remain together for most of the year.”

she was willing to be misplaced again, for his sake, and that broke his heart.

{my heart’s true delight}

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[2/10] favorite grace burrowes regency couples :: axel + abigail belmont

“what did you really want to ask, abigail?”

“why did you kiss me?” as abby had inspected rose after rose--hope after hope, failure after failure--the whys of axel belmont’s kiss had plagued her.

“ladies first,” he said. “your motives are of interest to me, as well.”

“why must motive always fascinate you?”

up went one blond brow.

“curiosity,” abby said, with a sense that she was reciting in a tutorial session. “loneliness.” a loneliness of the heart and body, so deep and abiding, abby had begun to think it her normal state.

{axel}

[somuttersthesea]

[1/10] favorite grace burrowes regency couples :: hawthorne + margaret dorning

“oh, you heard me. i’m telling myself that a farewell kiss to your cheek needn’t mean much, that a pleasant waltz and a little chat about flowers isn’t a very great thing, but to me, it’s... i would like to kiss you, mr. dorning, to thank you. or something. i think i would. i haven’t kissed anybody for quite some time, but as best i recall, it can be pleasant, interesting, and--”

thorne scooted around on the bench so she’d not be taken by surprise. he gave her the space of three silent heartbeats to change her mind, offer disclaimers, or break into song, but she merely sat on the bench, regarding him silently in the moonlight.

so he kissed her.

{a lady of true distinction}