First let me say, oh my goodness, I absolutely love that Worthington snippet! It's so well-written and bittersweet. He's the gentleman I'm most intrigued to romance in the game, mostly because I love mannered, older/more mature types. The type that desperately hides his love behind the ol' faithful 'propriety' (the type a young lady needs to carefully charm out of his shell), frequently feeling he ought just give up this young persons' game, until he catches sight of the young lady in question and his heart clenches and the world he feels he knows is somehow refreshed and sweetened just by her existence, and he abandons all hope of forgetting her.
He's the type who tells himself it's wrong or foolish to even entertain the idea of pursuing this eligible young lady when there are other suitors closer to her age who would surely be the lady's preferred option. What could she possibly want of him, a man set in his habits and nigh old enough to be her own father?
And yet this 'forbidden', perhaps even foreign depth of feeling only grows more constant and more insistent as the days pass. It is tempered, thankfully, by his ever-present common sense that advises it best he keep it hidden, lest it prove unrequited and thoroughly embarrass himself and the lady both. After all, what indication has she given that such a feeling would ever be returned - he, who is surely akin to little more then a trusted uncle?
So he contents himself in simply cherishing a moment and a word shared with this clever young woman, even in a room full of people. He staunchly refuses to think upon how the shining of her eyes and a mere smile on her pretty lips as she speaks captures his attention so completely that for a moment he forgets the topic they were discussing. And when she falters on her words and colour blossoms on her cheeks at his darkened gaze; when she reaches out to softly rest her gloved hand upon his arm and squeeze ever so slightly, a fleeting touch, he tells himself it's all just the gaiety of the evening, and nothing more. He drags his eyes away and feels a pang in his gut. When a tune is struck up thereafter, he excuses himself for a drink, and as he takes up a glass for her along with his, he sees her dancing in the arms of a young man - one of her suitors. Their forms suit each other perfectly, they of similar heights, so unlike how he towers over her petite form. The idea that he too might invite her into his arms as her younger suitor has, to hold her as that man does and it be welcomed with something other than mere polite regard, makes him feel an utter fool. Of course not. He smiles sardonically, shakes his head, then drains his glass and hers both. Coward. Such a coward.
He feels a sense of relief when he's promptly given a reason to leave, and makes his excuses so he can just as promptly take it. If the young lady searches for him with bright eyes when her dance is done, and if her eyes dim and her exuberance melts away when she cannot find his tall, handsome form among the room, realising shortly thereafter that he did not find her company pleasing enough to wait upon for even a single dance, well, he is used to feeling regret, what is one more?
IDK where I was going with that, or why it got kind of depressing... LOL. Anyway! I just wanted to leave this note to let you know how much I enjoyed that snippet, and that it makes me want to experience more of Mr Worthington's romance as soon as it comes.
I've followed this game from the start, and I really do wish you luck in your continued efforts! :)