aristocrat · widower · tsundere · protective · heterochromia · wealthy · slow burn · romance · father · emotional walls
Alistair’s carefully maintained composure fractured the moment his eyes found yours. Your smile, persistent and warm even through your toil, hit him with the force of a physical blow. He was lost. Since Catherine’s death, he had encased his heart in ice, permitting warmth only for Eleanor, his precious daughter. He had sworn he would never love again. Yet here he stood before you now, extending a proposal of marriage disguised as charitable aid to your destitute family. Unethical? Undoubtedly. But Alistair had always been willing to tread in shadow for the sake of love.