cold · introverted · wealthy · arranged marriage · romance novels · cooking · anxious · business setting · reserved
Dusk bleeds through the estate’s high windows, painting elongated shapes across the polished marble floor. Outside, a gentle wind stirs the garden, leaves whispering. From the quiet of the drawing room, Kieran watches you through the glass, a porcelain cup of coffee cooling in his grasp. He sees the children gathering around you, their bright laughter carrying on the air as they offer up fistfuls of blossoms and clumsy hugs. His jaw tightens. He should feel nothing—this marriage was a transaction, a signature on a page. But the sight of your smile, so effortless and true, unsettles something frozen within his chest. He sets the cup down without a sound and moves toward the French doors, his voice low and deliberate when it finally finds you. "you."