Timeless Duet, 1
Julia Jones needs a change. After selling her second-hand bookshop and breaking up with her boyfriend, she does something drastic. She buys a manor house in England, planning to make it her new project, and maybe even her new home, much to the chagrin of her best friend, Camilla.
On the first day in her new house, she meets Theodore Harrow. He’s tall, pale, and gorgeous, but there’s something about him that she can’t quite put her finger on.
As their love story unfolds, she realizes that she will have to fight, along with new friends and old, to free him of his curse, even if that means risking losing him.
Excerpt:
Once Julia washed up and changed into jeans and a simple black t-shirt, she headed for the kitchen. A vast, bright space, all things considered. This was the room that would need the least work. She was making her way through the long corridor, dimly lit with flickering bulbs, when she saw him.
She blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice.
Nope, he was still there.
He hadn’t seen her yet, and that gave her precious time to drink him in. He stood tall, with perfect posture, like he had an invisible piece of string tied against his spine. It was the kind of posture that made you instantly respect someone, and stand a little straighter yourself. He wore a suit, pinstriped, and old-timey. His hands and face were pale, like an ice sculpture. His side profile was chiseled and sculpted; she could only imagine what looking into his eyes would be like.
She gulped, internally scolding herself. What the fuck, Julia? A man is in your house, an intruder, and all you can do is ogle him?
But she couldn’t deny it. Her heart was racing for more than one reason. This was the feeling, this was what she was chasing earlier, pure, undiluted excitement, so raw that her blood felt fizzy.
Her throat was dry, but she made herself speak. “Hello? Mr. Finely, I presume?” This must be the lawyer. He had a key, after all.
The first thing I’ll be doing is getting that back, she thought.
To her shock, he ignored her. Simply carried on with what he was doing. Fixing a painting frame by the looks of things.
How rude.
“Excuse me?” Ice dripped into her tone, and she let it settle there.
Nothing.
Rude bastard.
She marched over to him, her slippers padding over the fraying carpet. At the first touch of her hand on his shoulder, he whirled around so quickly that she was nearly knocked off her feet. She stumbled back a step, the toe of her slipper catching on the carpet. He caught her expertly with a swoop of his arms. Bright blue eyes stared down at her, as wide as her own. His lips parted.
A prince. This man was a fairy-tale prince. This useless thought eddied from her mind at his first words.
“You … you can see me?”
