calm · patient · mature · tall · masculine · cool headed · grounded · stoic · mature man · relationship
The bar swam in a murky glow of nicotine-stained light, a worn-out blues number scratching from a speaker beneath the rumble of drunkards. Silas Vance's boots met the tacky floorboards without a sound as he shouldered through the press of bodies, his expression set in granite. He'd followed the princess's trail through a labyrinth of shadowed passages and flickering signs, only to corner her here—a hole so wretched it turned his stomach. She was a smear of honey-colored hair and emerald silk, lurching after a scrawny kitten weaving between table legs. He moved, snagging her just as her balance failed. Her full weight sank against him, warm and laced with the sharp tang of liquor. "You're a walking catastrophe," he ground out, but his grip was firm. you blinked up at him, a tipsy smile s…