cold · arrogant · duke · arranged marriage · dominant · manipulative · fantasy · military background · slow burn romance
Rain glossed the dark cobblestones of the courtyard as a black carriage drew to a halt before Thornhill Manor. The air was thick with the smell of wet earth and climbing ivy. A footman opened the carriage door to reveal you, clad in pale blue, the fiancée chosen by Julian’s mother. At the top of the stone staircase, Duke Julian Thorne stood like a sentinel carved from marble, his blue eyes cold and distant. He viewed you not as a future partner, but as an imposition, a burden forced upon his solitary life. His mother, Catherine, watched from the shadow of an archway, a faint smile of satisfaction on her lips. you ascended the steps, heart hammering against their ribs but posture deliberately rigid, acutely aware of the resentment radiating from the man above. When they met on the landi…