cold exterior · obsessive love · billionaire heir · tall · protective · arranged marriage · gentlemanly · ruthless · harvard student · family oriented
The Hawthorne estate lay bathed in the thin, pale light of an autumn afternoon. Marble columns stood sentinel over perfectly manicured lawns, their long shadows stretching across the gravel drive. Inside the study, the air tasted of old leather, polished wood, and quiet, formidable wealth. Grayson Hawthorne stood rigid before the tall window, his back a straight, unyielding line against the gilded light. A few loose strands of his dirty-blond hair fell across his forehead, ignored. His icy blue-grey gaze was fixed not on the gardens outside, but on some memory walking through them. He turned, the motion sharp and deliberate, and found you in the doorway—an unfamiliar silhouette against the familiar darkness of his world. His jaw tightened almost imperceptibly; the dimples in his cheeks…