Page 33 of Modern Romance September 2025 5-8
‘I can see that.’
‘All right,’ he muttered, shuffling some papers and then getting to his feet. ‘If you won’t leave me in peace, I’ll find it elsewhere.’
‘Sit down.’
In response to the instruction that sliced through the space between them like a whip, he recoiled as though she’d slapped him and his eyebrows shot up. ‘Ibegyour pardon?’
‘I said, sit down.’
He didn’t. Instead, he straightened his spine and pulled his shoulders back, his expression becoming stonier than she’d ever seen before. ‘I am not accustomed to being ordered about like this.’
‘Yes, well, there’s a first time for everything,’ she said, with the set of her jaw and a lift of her chin, because two could play the intimidation game. ‘You and I need to have a chat.’
‘For someone who claims to avoid confrontation at all costs you’re giving off very belligerent vibes.’
‘Is that what you were hoping for?’ she asked, keeping her eyes locked on his and off the distracting pulse that was hammering at the base of his neck. ‘You being all moody and withdrawn this past week and me just accepting it?’
A dull flush hit his cheekbones. ‘Don’t be absurd.’
‘Don’t be dismissive.’
‘You’re being ridiculous.’
Ridiculous?Ridiculous?With effort, Sofia kept a lid on the emotions that were beginning to roil and took a deep breath to steady her suddenly racing pulse. ‘You’ve been avoiding me all week, Ivo,’ she said, wishing she could shake him out of his mule-headed obstinacy but suspecting that he wouldn’t budge an inch, either literally or figuratively. ‘Every time I come within six feet of you, you disappear, or at least try to. Just now being a case in point. We don’t touch. We don’t speak. You barely even look at me. Where’s the fun we had? Where’s the closeness? What happened?’
‘What happened is the job,’ he shot back, radiating tension as he flicked a glance at the door in obvious desperation to escape. ‘While we were on tour, matters of state were put on hold. We were allowed some leeway. Now it’s over, the real work starts. There’s no time for fun, Sofia. Or for self-indulgence. This is it. For the entirety of our lives. You’d better get used to it.’
No. She refused to believe it was just that. There had to be something else afoot. The personality change was simply too huge. He’d never reacted like this to anything, not even when Tommaso had caused a potentially catastrophic diplomatic spat with Hungary last year. ‘I miss you,’ she said, doggedly trying to reach him, regardless of what she discovered as a result. ‘I miss us.’
His jaw clenched and she could practically see the shutters slamming down around him. ‘Royal personages don’t have the luxury of such sentiment.’
It sounded as though he was citing from a handbook. He looked like an automaton and, in growing despair, she grappled around for something, anything, that might jolt him out of it. ‘I’m pregnant,’ she said, and held her breath.
Something flared in the depths of his eyes, but it was there and gone in a flash, barely making a dent in his rigidity. ‘That is excellent news.’
She waited for more, but none came. ‘Is that all you have to say?’
‘What else is there?’
Was heserious? ‘There is so much,’ she said, the stirrings of anger sweeping away the confusion and dismay. ‘You could ask how I feel about it, which, by the way, is a bizarre combination of excitement and terror. You could tell me howyoufeel about it. You could express at least amodicumof interest in your heir.’ She scoured his face for a sign of what might be going on beneath the surface, but his façade was more effective than hers. ‘I don’t understand your indifference,’ she said, hating the way her voice cracked but still determined to avoid theatrics as she sought to get to the bottom of the problem. ‘I don’t understand you. I thought we’d moved on from this. I thought we’d agreed to communicate. You promised me honesty and respect. The opposite of that is what’s going on here. It makes me wonder if I’ve done something wrong. It feels as though you’re punishing me for something I don’t know anything about. You said my life would be better for marrying you, but right now it doesn’t feel that way. And I am well aware that thanks to my parents’ neglect my self-esteem isn’t the most robust, but I also know that I’m not imagining the distance you’re creating between us. I refuse to let whatever it is fester. This isn’t what I want for our child. Do you? Do you want our child to go through what I went through, feeling invisible and unloved, parents at odds, only with ice instead of fire?’
For several long moments, he just looked at her. Then came what sounded like a grind of his teeth, and he eventually muttered, ‘No. I don’t.’
‘So talk to me.’
His gaze drilled into hers. She sensed that he was waging some kind of war with himself. All she could hear was the heavy ticking of the grandfather clock and the pounding of her heart in her ears. Was he about to walk out? Would there be any coming back from it if he did?
But then he gave a nod and she felt a dizzying rush of relief. ‘All right,’ he said, his jaw so tight it looked as though it was about to shatter, although his expression remained ruthlessly impassive. ‘I’ll tell you exactly what happened. Oviense happened. I thought you’d been shot. There was a shout, and I looked over and you were covered in what I thought was blood. It scared the living daylights out of me. I think, for a second, my heart actually stopped. I’ve never been so petrified. My life without you in it flashed before my eyes and it was dreadful. In more ways than one. I cannot afford to feel like that. I do not want to be behave the way that I do around you. Loitering on terraces, driving too fast and messing around with speeches is not who I am. I don’t even understand it. But what Icando, what Imustdo for the sake of the monarchy, is put a stop to it before I take my eye off the ball once too often and destroy everything I’ve worked for.’
By the time Ivo finished speaking Sofia was reeling so hard it was a surprise she was still standing in the same spot. He might not understand what was happening to him—and why would he when, thanks to his treacherous witch of an ex, he’d spent a decade suppressing his feelings?—but she did. She understood perfectly. And as the emotions she’d been trying to keep under control burst free, she thought helplessly, dazedly, joyously, that all he needed was a helping hand. Which she’d give him, because she no longer had any reason to hide her feelings. The days of agonising uncertainty and second-guessing were over. The risk of heartbreak was virtually non-existent. Every single thing she’d ever wanted was hers for the taking. All she had to do was reach out and grab it.
‘Itiswho you are,’ she said, her heart pounding so hard it was in danger of cracking a rib. ‘You can be both excellent ruler and loving husband. You can be all that and more. Together, we can be everything. There’s nothing to fear about any of it. You’re so strong and determined I can’t imagine you ever allowing anything to damage the monarchy whatever the circumstances and however much you catastrophise. So you don’t have to put a stop to anything. You don’t have to fight. And don’t think you’re alone in the way you feel. You’re not. Because I’m in love with you too.’
Ivo flinched and went white. Right before her eyes he seemed to age a hundred years.‘What?’
‘I’m in love with you too,’ she repeated breathlessly, light-headed with the relief of finally getting it off her chest. ‘I have been for months. Possibly even years. That’s why I’ve never been interested in anyone else. I’ve only ever been interested in you, Ivo. It’s always been you. That’s the main reason I married you. I didn’t just want to save the monarchy. I don’t just admire your integrity and decency. I love everything about you. You have no idea how hard it’s been, living with that. How painful it was to see you interviewing all those women before you settled on me. I’ve never experienced jealousy like it.’ She blew out a breath, her head still spinning madly. ‘God, it feels good to tell you.’
He stared at her dumbstruck, the muscle hammering in his cheek the only sign of movement.
