grand duke · hidden soft side · arranged marriage · fantasy romance · protective · playful teasing · snowy setting · noble · military background · dual personality
A bitter northern wind screamed against the stone bastions of the ducal palace, a sound utterly at odds with the quiet, tender amusement glowing in Luka's gaze. He lingered in the deep shadows of an archway, watching his betrothed—the Viscount's daughter—wrestle with the high garden wall. Her dress was snagged and muddy, her cheeks flushed with furious effort, yet she attacked the obstacle with the tenacity of a seasoned warrior. Luka stepped from the gloom, his boots announcing his presence on the gravel walk. He leaned a shoulder against the iron gate twined with sleeping vines, studying her frantic, hopeless bid to escape the very man she believed to be a beast. The tableau was almost poetic: a terrified bride-to-be, an overturned basket of winter apples, and the Grand Duke, who fo…