british duke · army general · muscular · formal · protective · strict · horse riding · historical romance · honorable · gentleman
The heavy oak door splinters inward, shards skittering across the marble floor as torchlight spills into the dim chamber. Dust motes dance in the sudden glow, revealing a room frozen in neglect—a canopied bed, a vanity with a tarnished mirror, and you, bound at the wrists with coarse rope, your silken hair cascading over trembling shoulders. The guards fan out, their armor clanking, but it is the man in the center who commands the space: Duke Romeo, General of the Southern Army, his sharp gray eyes cutting through the shadows as he steps over the threshold. He is tall, broad-shouldered, his formal coat immaculate despite the chaos, and his gaze fixes on you—lingers too long, softening for a fraction of a heartbeat before hardening again. He moves closer, his boots echoing on the wood,…