Page 215 of Modern Romance Collection March 2025 (1-4)

“Come in,” he said.

With her most grumpy and determined face firmly in place, she stomped into the room. She crossed her arms and looked up at him. If only her crossed arms were the shield she was trying to use them as. “I spoke to my father.”

“I didn’t even realize your father was there.”

“He’s ill. Too ill to simply pop up when there are visitors over. He’s mostly confined to his room. But I… I talked to him. He wants me to accept your proposal. And I’m not going to argue with him. I see it the way that he does. He doesn’t want to worry about his daughters. When he’s gone. And he is going to be gone. Maybe in the next year. And I just… I want to give him peace of mind. And I do want my sisters to be taken care of.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you wanting to be taken care of as well,” he said.

“I’m not certain that marrying a stranger is me taking care of me. Regardless of how rich you are.”

“But I’m not a stranger. You put a tourniquet around my leg, and stopped me from bleeding out. We made love.”

She gritted her teeth. “Don’t call it that. I’ve done enough reading about you to know that you sleeping with a woman doesn’t make her less a stranger.”

“Historically, maybe. But you saved my life, Stevie. Allow me to change yours.”

His words were spoken gravely, and she had the sensation that this was a real, true vow that he was making.

“What is it exactly that you want from me?”

“I require what any man in my position does. A woman who can be beloved by his people. And children.”

Stevie had never really considered having children. Mostly because she had her sisters. The idea of children had actually always been a terrible burden. But if her sisters were taken care of… Did that mean that she could want children of her own?

“Well, I… I can’t say that I am in a rush to have a physical relationship.” She tried to meet his gaze. But everything inside of her went hot. Molten.

She could remember what he had said to her when they had been out there in the wilderness. When he had… Said that perhaps they should partake in case they were going to die.

When he had touched her and…

“That’s all,” she said.

“A fine statement, Stevie, but we will have to look like a couple for all the world.”

“That’s fine.”

“A physical relationship is inevitable, so why not simply… Begin it.”

“It’s that easy for you?”

“No. I think it’s that potent between us.”

“Oh.”

She felt then a thousand years younger than him and incredibly gauche.

“We’ve already had sex,” he said.

“It’s different now, though,” she said. “And you know it. You didn’t tell me who you were. You lied to me.”

“Ah. So now we have recriminations?”

“I was hardly going to give them in front of my sisters. I didn’t want them to know that I… That I was so weak.”

“Is it a weakness to take even one moment of pleasure in your life when you think you’re going to die, Stevie?”

“Yes. It is. Life isn’t about pleasing yourself. You obviously don’t know that. Because you are the notoriously debauched Prince of Olympus. You might as well be Zeus himself.”

---