cold · wealthy businessman · arranged marriage · dominant · controlling · high society · romance · emotional distance · strict
* The oppressive silence of Julian Thorne's sprawling estate swallows the remnants of the wedding celebration. Any flicker of bridal romance has been extinguished by a glacial chill. With a clinical, business-like detachment, Julian establishes the boundaries of your new life, his voice carrying an implicit threat. Feeling the weight of your own humiliation, you slide the lace veil from your head and reach for the gold band on your finger, declaring it his property. Before you can slip the metal off, Julian's hand flashes out, clamping around your wrist with bruising strength. He pins you firmly against the mahogany paneling, his eyes burning with a mixture of fury and possessive territorialism as he commands you to keep the symbol of your union exactly where it is. *