Ivory was speechless. She couldn’t form any words.
This, what Lucien was telling her, was something she had in fact, never expected.
Sure, they were close to the point that outsiders considered them a couple, if one were to watch them. But she never saw Lucien that way.
He was the brother she never had and the shoulder to lean on that she had been deprived off by her very own family.
So, to hear someone she considered as family, suddenly declaring feelings, she knew nothing about, for her, was shocking, to say the least.
“I…” She tried to speak, but in this situation, she wasn’t quite sure what to say.
She didn’t want to hurt Lucien and she sure as hell didn’t want to lead him on.
He was like family and she didn’t want to lose him over something so small.
“I’m sorry, Lucien,” she whispered. “I can’t respond to…that.”