Friends or Lovers

Book 1: Lodgers & Lovers

by Faye Hall

Genres: Romance Anthologies & Collections; Erotic & Steamy Romance; Historical Romance; 20th Century Romance; Small-town Romance; Friends to lovers; friends to lovers; small town romance; steamy romance; Second Chance Romance; rural romance; australian romance; Spicy Historical Romance

Synopsis

A friendship formed through happenstance, or was it always love pulling them closer together?

Alex and Hettie shared a classroom and a pastime of breaking the rules set out for them by society and their parents. They both came from privileged families, but they wanted more than anything to break free from expectations and embrace the developing social changes.

Desperate to teach his daughter what was expected of a young woman approaching marriageable age, Hettie’s father sends her away to Bowen, hoping some years and distance would show her a different way of life and convince her she deserved a better companion than Alex.

Eight years passed, and Alex was no longer the same man blindly devoted to Hettie. His inheritance has dwindled because of bad business deals, and he can’t access the money left in his trust for two more years…and he was constantly looking over his shoulder, fearful he’d be found by those he was gathering information on for the police.

Returning home, Hettie was poised and graceful as her father wanted, but she’s also been taught independence and the place for women in the new century. She didn’t have to tolerate being told how she should live her life, nor did she need a man to complete her…that was until she was reunited with Alex, his gentle touch reminding her how they parted company eight years ago.

Hettie had changed so much, and she couldn’t afford to continue the unique friendship she once shared with Alex. Men were hunting her, desperate to prove she wasn’t entitled to her inheritance. Hiding away in the cottage her aunt left her, Hettie fights the emotions tugging at her heart, asking herself if she and Alex were friends or lovers.

Release date: July 4, 2025

Publisher: 4th Avenue Press

Print pages: 243

Content advisory: contains sex, strong language, and some violence.

Sample

“I think Father hopes I’ll come home refined and with a husband in tow.”

“Not what you want?” Receiving the shake of her head, Alexander studied her.  “A beautiful, and educated, young woman who doesn’t want a husband?  But you asked me to teach you what you thought you’d need to know to keep one interested.  Have you changed your mind and decided you’d rather your future husband find interest somewhere else?  Or perhaps my lessons haven’t encouraged you to want to indulge in the few pleasures that can exist between a man and a woman.”

Her stomach tightened as she tried to make sense of every thought rushing through her mind.  Holding his dark stare, her heart thudded as she remembered all the things she once thought to share with Alexander…things that were now not even a possibility. 

“You should have told me if I was a disappointment to you.  I assure you, it wouldn’t have been the first time I was told such a thing,” Alexander persisted.

“But you didn’t disappoint me.”

 “Then perhaps there was something else I forgot to teach you.” His gaze narrowed.  “Surely there’s something you still long to do, or try, before you’re whisked away to this new life of yours.”

There was, but as close as they had become over these last few years, she couldn’t stand here and tell him what she longed for most was to feel his skin against hers.  Such longing wasn’t acceptable, and certainly not what a woman of her position was ever encouraged to entertain or invite, still…

Dragging her gaze away from his, she turned toward the cool-looking lake behind him.  “Right now, I want to swim and forget the life being planned out for me.”  And she did.  After all, if it was up to her, Henrietta would linger here in Inkerman – and with Alexander – for as long as it took to understand the yearning building inside her whenever she was near him.

She walked over to the bottlebrush tree on the bank of the creek and began unbuttoning her blouse.  Though her hands trembled, she couldn’t ignore the hope building inside her that Alexander might indulge her and her curiosities a while longer before her father’s plans forced them apart. “You could join me if you want.”

“You’re serious, aren’t you?”

Her blouse unbuttoned, she slid the fabric down her arms and hung it on the tree branch.  She’d never undressed in front of a man before, but she feared if she didn’t do this now, she would regret it for the rest of her life.  Unfastening her skirt and petticoat, she hesitated a moment, knowing what it would look like she was inviting.  She had shared so much with him already, from kisses to tender touches, but there were still a few lingering curiosities nagging at her.  They weren’t anything she should ask Alexander to show her, but she could think of no one else she’d rather experience such things with.  Sliding the fabric down her legs, she stepped out of them and placed both pieces with the other item of clothing.  A few months ago, she was content to practise the occasional kiss, her hands shifting over his naked torso, learning what a man’s skin felt like, but now…she couldn’t explain it, but from the moment her father told her she would be leaving, all she hungered for was Alexander’s touch to linger longer, satisfying a burning hunger she had to feel his skin against hers.

She lifted her gaze toward him as she slipped her boots off.  “I’m eighteen years old and I want to have some fun before I’m forced into rules and restrictions, and reminded that everything I enjoy about life is wrong.”

He stepped toward her, pulling his shirt from his trousers hesitantly as he studied her.  “I know better than most what you find enjoyment in, but I can’t say we’ve ever done any of those things in your underwear before.”

“I can collect frogs and stones anywhere.”  She turned and stepped toward the water.  Hesitating on the bank, her breath caught in her throat as she glanced over her shoulder at him.  “But you are the most fun I’ve ever had, and I will miss you terribly when I’m sent away.”

Stepping into the water, Henrietta waded out toward the few large boulders breaking through the surface, aware of the open invitation in her words.  The sound of Alexander entering the water behind her made her heart thud in anticipation.

“Why would you find me fun?” Alexander asked as he swam nearer.

She turned to face him, a slight smile on her lips.  “You’ve taught me to fish and play cards, and we’ve laughed until we’ve cried and then laughed some more.”

He stopped a few inches from her.  “And is that all you’ll miss?  Or will you miss having a willing subject to play out all your curiosities with whilst you discover what a man is and wants from a woman?”

She reached for his hand, the faint red marks still on his palm from the day he’d stepped in to divert the blame away from her.  Lifting it to her lips, she kissed it softly.  “I think…”