Status Updates From Simply Unforgettable (Simpl...

Lucius had no insurance that Frances would be pleased to see him again or that she would have him even though he had his family's blessing
One never knew with Frances.
In fact, just thinking about her stubborness could arouse sever irritation in him.He was just going to have to kidnap her and elope with her if she said no again.It was as simple as that.
Or go down his knees and plead.
Or sink into a romantic decline.

"I must know something, Frances. Please, I must know... Do you love me?"
"That has nothing to do with anything" she said, shaking her head slowly.
"On the contrary, it has everythimg to do with everything."
"Of course I do" she admitted after a moment of silence. "Of course I love you. Bu I cannot marry you."
He sat back, his pudding only half eaten, and beamed at her in that intense eyed, tight lipped way of his.

But he had left the drawing room with such flourish of high drama - totally unplanned and unreheared - that it would seem anticlimactic now to creep back there with the announcment that he had abandoned his plan of offering Frances marriage.
Offer her marriage after she had refused him once and shown no sign of changing her mind.
He really did appear to be suffering from an incurable case of insanity.

so dramatic <3

"One of us must be mad,Frances, ans I fear it may be me.Can you look me in the eye then, and swear that you have no feelings for me?"
"Nothing is ever as simple as that. But I will not swear either way. I do not have to. I have said no. That is all that needs saying."
"By Jove you are right" It was he who got got to his feet this time. "I beg your pardon, ma'am, for causing you such distress."
NO NO NO GODAMMIT NOOOO

"I am young,Frances and have all my hair and all my teeth,tolerably white.I am wealthy and titled.It is an irresistible combination for many women.But all that is besides the point at the moment.I am groveling before you,you see."
"Nonsense!You want to get me into bed that is all."
If that were all it was I would have been satisfied long ago.I have had you in my bed yet I am not satisfied."

I AM GROVELING BEFORE YOU

"What are you doing here?"
He knew something in that moment with ghastly clarity.
He was going to be able to let her go this time.
"I came to see you."
"Why?" Her eyes had turned hard.
"Because there is something still to be said between us" he said "and I do not like to leave things unsaid when they should be spoken."
"There is nothing else to be said between us, Lord Sinclair.Nothing whatsoever."

the angst is real

"You appear to be under the delusion Lord Sinclair, that you are God's gift to women"
"A cliche unworthy of you. Tell me you have regretted rejecting me after Christmas."
"I have not!"
"Not even a tiny little bit?"
"Not even half that much."
"A quarter then?" He laughed softly. "You are a terrible liar, Frances."
And you" she said, "are more conceited than any man I have ever met in my life."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"Twll me you enjoyed youself tonight" he said abruptly after the long silence.
"Oh I did" she assured him " It was very p-"
"If you say pleasant I shall throttle you,Frances"
"Delightful" her smile was unseen in the dark.
"Tell me you found it delightful because I was there. Tell me you would not have enjoyed it nearly as much if I had not been."
"I will tell you no such thing."

i squeelws and giggled like a newborn

"You will join Amy and my grandfarher and me for tea aftee the next set."
"Is tgat a request, Lord Sinclair?" she asked. "Or a command?"
"I will go down on bended knee if you wish, but I warn you that my doing so will occasion considerable gossip."
She laughed.
And his heart beat faster.

the teasing, the callbacks, the tension!!! love it! 🥰

"That was very pleasant"
"That word again" he speared her with a hard glance "Sometimes I could shake you Frances."
"I beg your pardon?"
"If I had my way, I would have the word banishef from the English language."
"I wonder you danced with me at all, my lord. You apoear not to like me a great deal"
"Sometimes it seems liking has little to do with what is between us Frances.
"There is nothing between us."
🤭

Frances bit into her lower lip, looking faintly embarassed, but then she laughed
The vivid loveliness of her merry expression smote him like a fist to the abdomen and fairly robbed him of breath for a moment.
"Another gentleman who chooses to arrive five minutes before his appointed time" Miss Martin said.
"I do beg your pardon" Lucius raised his eyebrows. "Should I perhaps go back outside and wait until five minutes

"How presumptuous of you,Lord Sinclair! How...arrogant of you to imagine that you broke my heart!"
"Frances, we shared a bed and a great deal more for one whole night.You make yourself ridiculous when you call me Lord Sinclair in that prim schoolteacher's voice as if I were a distant stranger."
"With the exception of that one night,which ought not to have happened, I am prim. And I am a schoolteacher and proud of it

"I have taken to devouring lady teachers when I cannot wait for my tea."
She turned an uncomprehending face toward him. "And what is that supposed to nean?"
"You cannot sit any farther away from me without putting a dent in the carriage,and I warn you I would be displeased if that were to happen.If I should decide to attack though, you may scream and Peters will rescue you if only to save his eardrums."

so grumpy

She felt that she was where she belonged,where she had always belomged,where she always would belong. It did not matter that a saner practical part of herself was clamoring to be heard.The whole of the rest of her life was for sanity, but for now... She had found somethimg deeper., something all her life she had dreamed of and searched for and doubted really existed.

this.

"However I was given no chance to dazzle anyone with my perfomance of it over Christmas"
Her voice was light with humour.And yet in her voice he gathered an impression of disappointment.
"Dazzle me."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Dazzle me" he repeated. "Waltz with me."
She laughed.
"Come and waltz with me."

then she was like but there is no fire and it's cold and he gave her smoldering look and said "do you feel cold then?