Page 31 of Modern Romance September 2025 1-4
‘If a cave came with the usual mod cons I’d live in it. I picked this place based onyourpreferences because I don’t really care about my domestic surroundings.’
‘Did you buy this property specially?’ she asked with a wince.
‘Thee mou…the last thing we need to do in the Pagonis empire is buy property. I’d never seen the house until I visited it a few weeks ago but itisan inherited estate. It belonged to my grandfather’s first wife, Rosalie. She was an orphaned only child when they married and she died in childbirth.’
‘I didn’t realise he’d been married more than once—’
‘Neither did I until I grew up. My grandmother must have been a little sensitive about being thesecondwife because she never mentioned her predecessor or as far as I know ever visited this place. It had tenants for decades and I had to throw an army of staff in to put it into order.’
A remarkable turreted and walled Tudor gateway greeted them at the foot of the country lane they were travelling. ‘Where on earth are we visiting?’ Bunny enquired, assuming this was a detour before the main event.
‘Wait and see,’ Sebastian urged.
Beyond the gates, long stretches of grass ran between ancient woodland trees and the lane branched to the right. Tall, elaborate chimneys pierced the skyline and then she saw the building. ‘Where are we?’
‘Our future home… Knightsmead Court.’
Bunny gaped at the ornate expanse of red brick and the lines of mullioned windows, utterly deprived of speech. ‘It’s glorious,’ she whispered, pinching her forearm to be certain that she wasn’t fantasising, because Sebastian was bringing her to her dream home. ‘But it looks awfully big and not at all your style.’
‘But very much yours,’ Sebastian pointed out with assurance as he ran the Lamborghini to a halt on the gravel. ‘Let’s get out and explore.’
They stepped through a doorway above which a date in the sixteenth century was etched. An older woman welcomed them and Sebastian introduced them. Maybelle was the housekeeper. Bunny concentrated as much as she could on the conversation while sidling to the left to gaze into a log fire set in an opulently moulded chimneypiece. Warmth spilled out from the flames, lights flickering on polished oak furniture while flowers from an arrangement in the corner scented the air. To the rear a spectacular carved staircase wended up to the next floor with astonishing sculpted pineapples adorning the newel posts on the way. It was gorgeous while also being unexpectedly homely and warm.
‘Let me show you to your new domain…’ Sebastian urged, closing one hand over hers and walking her towards the back of the rambling house, his thumb caressing her slender wrist. ‘After my grandfather’s first wife died, the house was let but only after the most valuable furniture, paintings and books were removed and placed in safe storage. Everything has now been returned and here we have the library.’ He flung open a heavy door into a large, very cluttered room, piled with specialist book storage boxes.
‘Oh, my goodness!’ Bunny exclaimed, scanning the two-tier room with its gallery and solid wooden staircase in one corner, not to mention the plethora of empty shelves waiting to be filled. ‘But this room isn’t from the Tudor era.’
‘Of course not, and we can be grateful that the Victorians built a massive extension at the back of the house to house the library and various other things that were deemed necessities back in their day.’
‘Grateful?’ she queried in surprise.
‘The extension was crumbling and threatening the integrity of the original historic house but it couldn’t be demolished because this is a listed building. The trade-off for restoring it at an incredible cost was being allowed to add bathrooms in the Victorian extension to make the house a little more habitable for our tenants.’
‘This library is going to be a huge job,’ she confided absently. ‘And an absolute joy. Now I understand why you said that you had work for me.’
‘As long as you understand that that work only starts when we return from Switzerland,’ Sebastian extended lazily.
‘We?’Bunny spun round and looked at him, automatically taking in the wickedly hot perfection of him sheathed in jeans and a black shirt that moulded every inch of his powerful torso and long, strong legs. Black diamond eyes glittered back at her in enquiring mode. ‘But I’m not travelling to Switzerland with you.’
‘Of course you are…and to Germany.’
Bunny blinked in bewilderment. ‘No, Ican’t. I’ll be working my notice for the next month.’
Sebastian stilled, lean, darkly handsome features tightening. ‘Even after I told you how I felt about that?’
‘Just a few weeks and then they’ll have someone who will take over when I leave. That way the readers won’t be left without the service and disappointed,’ she reasoned awkwardly, but her conviction that she was doing what was right remained unshaken.
‘What aboutmebeing disappointed?’ Sebastian breathed in a bitter undertone. ‘Where do I come into this decision?’
Bunny’s heart sank on the realisation that they had hit a sticking point, one of those concealed tripwires or triggers that set couples at odds when they didn’t know each other well enough to know what the other party wanted. And the awful truth was that Sebastian hadn’t come into her decision at all because he hadn’t told her that he wanted her with him when he went abroad.
CHAPTER NINE
‘WELL, YOU DIDN’Treally come into the decision because it’s my life and my reputation at stake, not yours,’ Bunny proffered tightly. ‘And it’s only for a month, Sebastian! The way you’re reacting, you’d think I’d decided to work miles away for the next year at least. I had absolutely no idea that you were expecting me to travel with you,bewith you when you’re working. You didn’t share that wish with me.’
‘I didn’t,’ Sebastian conceded between teeth that sounded gritted.
He had had everything planned but plans fell through, especially with Bunny in the driving seat. She was bone-deep stubborn. She had said no to marriage, which had thrown him onto the defensive. He had dealt with that setback, however, had accepted that he was pretty much on probation as a would-be husband. As a result, he had worked to make everything else perfect for her. However, the simply wanting her with him, wanting her within reach, had fallen apart as a goal as well. And he couldn’t believe it because he had made so much effort on her behalf. For the very first time he was reallytryingwith a woman, but she hadn’t budged an inch from her previous stance.Washe being unreasonable? He was willing to admit that he was demanding, but nothing had ever been as important to him as she was.
