Page 26 of Modern Romance September 2025 5-8
‘What? No. Of course not. I just feel we ought to get back to it. This day off is unnecessary,’ she said, warming to the theme that had clearly just struck her. ‘We’re neglecting our duty, and I know how important that is to you. An impromptu visit or an event of that sort would be excellent PR. It would demonstrate our dedication to the people and the job. I’m sure something could be rustled up somewhere.’
She really was desperate to avoid being alone with him. Why? What did she not want him to know? Whatever it was, he hoped she’d continue to resist his efforts to dig beneath her surface. He rather enjoyed watching her sweat and squirm. Her on the back foot and him in the driving seat was a very satisfying dynamic. It returned the control to him, restored order and meant that he was back to being the man he recognised, thank God.
She would yield in the end, of course. She was no slouch when it came to the effective deployment of words, but he was an experienced orator who could tie her in knots if he chose to. He had skills that had been honed on the battlefield of diplomacy and could force the most intransigent of world leaders to bend to his will. Up against that, she wouldn’t stand a chance.
‘I appreciate your commitment,’ he said, thinking he’d relish the challenge nonetheless. ‘But we have other plans.’
‘What other plans?’
‘I’ve arranged a day out.’
She frowned. ‘A day out?’
He nodded. ‘That’s right.’
‘Areyoubored withme?’
Hah. As if. He didn’t think he’d ever be bored with her, further proof he’d made a wise decision by choosing her to be his bride. The rest of his life was hopefully going to be a very long time. It would be infinitely more bearable with someone who held his interest out of bed as well as in it. ‘Not in the slightest,’ he said. ‘Ifeel, however, that we could do with a change of scenery. Fresh air and space, away from the masses. Especially after yesterday evening’s episode on the terrace. Such a build-up of pressure needs more than a few moments of gazing out at a darkened garden. There’s a place about an hour from here. A crown estate. It’s remote. We’ll have privacy. We can relax. It’ll be fun.’
She stared at him as if he’d suggested running through the streets naked, and he empathised. He was almost as surprised as she was by the thought of relaxing. Whether or not the experience would actually turn out to be fun, of course, was anyone’s guess, Presumably that would depend on what she was keeping from him. But with no protocol to follow, no protection officers, journalists or camera crews milling about, it would certainly be novel.
‘It’s not a date, is it?’ she asked, looking faintly alarmed by the thought.
‘Of course it’s not a date,’ he said, ignoring the unfathomable tightening of his chest and responding instead to the suddenly pressing need to nip any notion of that in the bud. ‘Why would you even think that? A marriage of convenience has no call for such a thing. So don’t go getting the wrong idea, Sofia. We can’t afford such sentimental nonsense. We are who we are and there’s no point wishing otherwise. This isn’t some romantic claptrap. It’s merely some timeout to kick back and unwind. An opportunity for me to get to know what makes you tick. That’s all.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE LAST THINGSofia wanted to do was spend the day alone with Ivo when he was so determined to get to know her. She’d have to be constantly on her guard, and after last night she was exhausted enough already.
But what choice had she had?
She’d run out of options.
And as a result, she was now sitting in the passenger seat of a low-slung black convertible that wound through the hills inland to the north of the south coast, thinking that, despite his insistence this wasn’t a date, it certainly felt like one. The wind whipped through her hair. The sun was warm on her face. The gorgeous man handling the powerful car like a pro was her lover, her husband, who’d arranged a day off, a day out, who’d loaded the boot with a picnic and wished he wasn’t who he was.
Was he aware of the whisper of regret that had tinged those words? she wondered as she stole a glance at him, her breath catching at the sight of his handsome profile and strong sexy forearms. She couldn’t imagine he was. He’d be appalled.
She, on the other hand, couldn’t seem to let it go despite her attempts to do exactly that. What did it mean? For all his protestations to the contrary, did he actuallywantromance? Deep down, did he yearn for love, like she did? What would be the implications if he did? A relationship that didn’t have to be the loveless match she’d signed up to? A chance that he might actually come to return her feelings?
Ivo slowed to turn off the main road and onto a narrow lane that led through a village and then up yet another hill. Sofia similarly applied an emergency brake to these dangerous and oddly seductive thoughts. He was bound by duty—and he accepted and embraced that—but he wouldn’t be human if he didn’t experience the occasionalwhat ifhimself. She must not ‘get the wrong idea’ and fall into the trap of imagining things that didn’t exist. Shehadto keep her feet on the ground and the convenience aspect of their relationship at the forefront of her mind and remember that this wasn’t a date and she was glad about that.
As for finding out what made her tick and the questions he was no doubt lining up to fire at her the second he had a chance, she’d just have to get in there first. Go on the offensive and askhimsome questions for a change. Wheedle outhissecrets and exposehisvulnerabilities to uncover the man that nobody else saw. He wasn’t the only one with tenacity.
They pulled up at a set of huge wrought iron gates and the two pairs of outriders veered away and disappeared, leaving them alone. The gates swung open and he depressed the throttle to roar up the cypress-tree-lined drive, a five-second burst of recklessness that was as unexpected as the faded jeans and untucked polo shirt he wore.
After bringing the car to a sharp stop at the top of it, kicking up gravel some distance from a huge gleaming white structure, Ivo levered himself out of the driver’s seat and strode round the bonnet to the passenger side. With a yank on the handle, he opened her door and stood aside.
‘Here we are,’ he said, as she swung her legs round and rose from the seat in a move that would have been a lot more elegant had his gaze not fixed on the bare skin below her skirt and darkened, as if he was remembering those legs entwined with his.
He slammed the door shut, jolting Sofia out of similar hot and distracting memories. Getting a grip, she shaded her eyes and looked up and around. The plain, almost round monolith rose from the high ground into the bright blue sky, dominating the view for miles. In the distance, beyond the undulating landscape, she could even see the sea. ‘And where, exactly, is that?’
‘Rafifi Castle.’
‘It doesn’t look much like a castle,’ she said, scanning the building and its environs. ‘Where’s the moat? Where’s the drawbridge? Why doesn’t it have any of those long thin openings for archers?’
‘Who knows?’ He reached into the car for the floppy wide-brimmed sun hat that she’d placed on the back seat for the ride. ‘It was built in the thirteenth century but there are no relevant documents as to its purpose. It was obviously never designed to be a military building. It has no stables or dungeons and up until a hundred years ago didn’t even have any bedrooms, let alone a kitchen. What itisis a perfect octagon. One theory is that it was built as a sundial. Something to do with the mysterious laws of the stars, I believe.’
‘How fascinating.’
