"Oh. You're the Duke's son? You look like you have a stick up your ass."
Aeliana blinked.
Wait.
What?
She stared at her father, half expecting him to say he was joking.
But Thaddeus remained perfectly serious.
Aeliana's lips parted, then shut.
Slowly—slowly—her expression shifted into something incredulous.
Her mother had said that to the heir of the Duchy? On their first meeting?
No wonder her father had fallen for her.
Aeliana bit back an unexpected, almost bewildered laugh, forcing her lips into a thin line.
She should have known.
She should have known.
This was the woman who had raised her, after all.
Thaddeus shook his head slightly, his eyes still lost in memory.
"I had never met a woman like her before," he admitted, almost grudgingly. "She didn't care who I was. She wasn't impressed by my title, wasn't interested in playing the usual games. She spoke to me as if I was just another man."
His fingers tapped lightly against the armrest of his chair.
