Her Runaway Duke: A Beauty and the Beast, Grumpy vs Sunshine Regency Romance (Noble Pursuits Book 1) by Ellie St. Clair

Author:Ellie St. Clair [Clair, Ellie St.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Prairie Lily Press
Published: 2024-06-14T00:00:00+00:00

Siena could hardly believe that this man sitting in front of her was the same one she had encountered just a week ago. He was not exactly enigmatic, but a glimmer of a man who cared had come shining through.

“I must ask you something,” she said, her fingers playing over the stem of her glass. They had enjoyed five courses, and she couldn’t eat another bite, but nor did she want this evening with him to end.

“Ask me anything you’d like,” he said, splaying his hands out in front of her, and she appreciated that he would provide her such an opportunity.

“Anything?” she said, wondering if he truly meant it.

“Yes.”

“Very well,” she said, but now that she had her chance, shyness took over. “Have you… ever done anything like this for a woman before?”

“What do you mean?”

“This dinner. The effort you have put in tonight to make me feel special. Is this how you used to court women?”

He stared her directly in the eye as he slowly shook his head. “Never.”

“Never?”

“No. I will not lie and say that there were never other women, but none of them were special. Not like you.”

Siena had to bite her lip to hide the smile that threatened to bloom far too big at his response and she dipped her head so that she wouldn’t look like a lovesick fool.

But then he reached out, his forefinger catching her beneath her chin as he raised her face to look at him again.

“My turn to ask you a question.”

She turned serious once more.

“Of course.”

“Why were you not scared of me when you first arrived? Why did you not hide from me or run away in fear?”

“A person’s visage does not scare me. I have seen far too many people who were beautiful, flawless, even, on the outside, but most atrocious underneath.”

“You are different from anyone I’ve ever met,” he said, pausing for a moment to simply look at her, and she warmed under his scrutiny. “I was as horrible to you as I am to anyone else. You should have wanted to run from here. From me. Why didn’t you?”

“Well, for one, the roads were impassable,” she said, jesting, although she only received a half smile in response. “But truly, Levi, when you saved me, I saw a protective, heroic side in you. You could have easily continued riding and pretended that you never saw me. But you didn’t, despite the fact that you wanted nothing more than to be left alone where no one could find you. That showed me that perhaps there was more to you than you showed others, and if I only dug a little deeper, I would like what I found.”

“And did you?” he asked, his voice nearly a whisper.

“I most certainly did,” she said, barely able to finish her breathless response before he leaned in and his mouth crashed upon hers, his thirst for her and depth of his emotion present in his kiss.

Siena would have loved to progress this kiss,

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