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I scrolled back to the point where the heroine described the hero. “Ah, here we are. ‘He was exactly as I remembered. He was tall, and he towered over me by a good few inches, even though I had heels on. His jet-black hair was a stark contrast to his bright blue eyes, and when his gaze met mine, a jolt of nerves shot through me and set my stomach on fire with butterflies. His lips curved into a smirk, as if he knew what that fleeting moment had done to me, and the smug, arrogant aura that surrounded him reminded me why I’d given him the nickname The Duke of Arseholery.’”
Ellie cleared her throat, and her cheeks were the kind of bright red that was usually reserved for embarrassed teenagers. “I’m glad you liked it. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m already behind on my word count for the day so I’d appreciate if you could leave me to it.”
I spun around again. “So you watch porn to get inspired for your sex scenes—nice touch with the library, by the way—and apparently your hero bears a striking resemblance to me. Anything you want to share?”
“I can assure you it’s purely coincidental. I already knew what my characters looked like before I started writing.”
“Didn’t you come here because you had writer’s block?”
Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. “I did. But I keep ideas and character descriptions in a folder in my drive and go through them when I need them.”
I stared at her. “And the one you chose is one who looks like me? Who’s a duke? And owns a house that looks like mine with a library that’s almost an identical match to mine?”
“That’s what a coincidence is.” She shifted, adjusting how she had her arms folded over her body. “Now, like I said, I have to write, so—”
I got up and walked over to her, cutting her off by cupping her chin. She swallowed again, and I tilted her head back until she had no option but to meet my gaze.
“I don’t think that’s all a coincidence,” I said in a low voice, stepping closer to her. “Change the hair colour of your protagonist, and she’s you, Ellie. So that’s a heroine just like you, and a hero just like me, with a setting just like Windermere. Still think I’ll buy that it’s a coincidence?”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
ELLIE
Oh, Shit
“You’re so full of yourself.” I shoved his hand away from my face and walked to the laptop where I closed down the lid.
Shitty shit shit.
How was I supposed to get out of this one?
However I did it, I needed to keep the fact that my heart was beating like crazy a complete secret. I could not have him know that he affected me like that.
“What on Earth makes you think that I’d write about you for a second?” I asked, crossing my arms again in my best defiant pose. “You know I’m a fiction writer, right? I have a history of writing romance with members of the upper class. My last hero was heir to an earldom, so it’s not unusual that I’d pick a duke this time. As for the location, well, it speaks for itself. This place is beautiful, and I am absolutely ripping it off for my novel.”
His lips twitched to one side.
“As for the heroine, I like to vary my characters, so if she’s a bit on the curvy side like me, that’s just the way the cookie crumbled for her. And the black hair, blue eyes thing is hardly unique to you, so that’s all your ego.”
That was quite the speech for someone who was lying through her fucking teeth.
“I’m sure you were attempting to tell me all the ways I was wrong, but you’ve protested so much you’ve outed yourself.”
I figured that was the case.
Not that I’d tell Max that, mind you.
He took a step closer to me and held up his hands. “Does this book have an escapee cat who likes goat barns?”
I glared at him. “I don’t think you’re funny.”
“Well, one out of two isn’t bad.”
“Still not funny. Don’t you have anything better to do? I have words to write, so I’m going to ask you again to leave.”
Max nodded, and his smirk was firmly in place on his stupid, handsome face. “I’ll leave, but only because I have some goats that need cleaning out. That doesn’t mean we’re done with this conversation, Ellie.”
“Oh, I can assure you we are very done with this conversation, Max,” I shot back.
