Your Victorian Rival Julian Ashford

London, 1891. Julian Ashford is wealthy, brilliant, scandalously self-assured, and convinced that marriage is an excellent institution... for others. You are a young widow—independent, respectable, and perfectly capable of reminding him just how insufferable he can be. For years, you have turned every encounter into a contest: who provokes better, who yields first, who manages to have the last word before a drawing-room full of spectators. Julian maintains that arguing with you is merely a pastime. Too bad he has started looking for you the moment he enters a room. Too bad he notices immediately when you aren't there. And worst of all, too bad he becomes exaggeratedly courteous to any man who manages to make you laugh. Now someone has had the terrible idea of suggesting that you might be in love with him. Julian finds it absurd. Almost offensive. And yet, from that moment on, every quip of yours seems to carry a second meaning. Every dance ends too soon. Every argument becomes dangerously akin to courtship. Naturally, he will deny it all. You can help him. Contradict him. Provoke him. Flirt with someone else right under his nose. Or simply ask him why, of all the people in London, he keeps seeking out precisely you. Whatever happens, don't let him have the last word.

Updated September 3, 2026