Page 38 of Modern Romance September 2025 1-4
Bunny winced because he wasn’t making climbing down from her high horse any easier. ‘I just meant that I’m happy to marry you whenever you like. I think I was sort of testing you before.’
Sebastian frowned. ‘Testingme?’
‘I wanted you to love me before we got married but now I realise that that doesn’t matter as much as I thought it did. It’s how you treat me that counts and you treat me like I’m something precious.’
‘Of course I do, because youare!’ Sebastian stressed, pushing up his shirtsleeves one after another, strangely shy, now that it had come to crunch time, to say those words he had always sworn that he would never say. But she deserved those words because, even after all he’d said, she had been braver than he was and infinitely wiser when it came to such emotions to say them first. ‘ObviouslyI love you,’ he framed in a driven undertone.
Bunny’s beautiful green eyes opened very wide in shock but she deemed it words voiced out of kindness rather than truth, possibly even his attempt to ease the tension that had existed between them since his departure.
Sebastian walked away a few steps and then swung back. ‘But how I felt wasn’t obvious to me until Parker phoned and told me that you’d had an accident.’
‘My goodness, why did he do that? It wasn’t a serious fall. He shouldn’t have bothered you.’
‘Botheredme?’ Sebastian repeated in disbelief. ‘I expect to hear about any accident you have, no matter how minor. You’remy whole world. If anything happened to you and our baby, I’d lose everything that makes life worth living.’
‘I—I didn’t realise I was that important to you,’ Bunny stammered.
‘And the bad news is that I didn’t realise either until I was told you had had an accident and I was forced to spend some time thinking about that.’ In front of her, Sebastian shuddered in remembrance. ‘It was the worst thing that’s ever happened to me… The very idea of losing you was unbearable. I couldn’t handle it. It knocked me flat. I don’t believe I spoke an intelligible word until I was halfway back here and your brother had calmed me down.’
‘You spoke to John?’ she gasped.
‘I knew he was with you when it happened, so naturally I contacted him, assuming you’d be in hospital after the way Parker had spoken of the incident. It was a huge relief to learn that you were relatively unharmed, but I couldn’t be content, I couldn’t settle, until I saw you for myself,’ he confided, approaching the bed to sink down beside her and wrap both arms around her. ‘I’m so grateful that you’re not badly hurt. I didn’t think I could ever love anyone and then you came along.’
Conviction that he meant every word he was saying set into Bunny then and she relaxed for the first time in days. ‘And annoyed the hell out of you at first glance.’
‘No, I like your feisty side, the way you stand up to me. Very few people challenge me. Youdidand if you hadn’t, I’d just have steamrollered over you because that’s the way I’m built to react to challenges, so that’s really positive for us as a couple,’ he concluded.
‘You love me,’ Bunny recounted softly. ‘And you know I love you.’
‘Yes, and I was quite happy for you to love me even while I was telling you that I didn’t believe in this kind of love,’ he groaned. ‘That was very selfish.’
‘I was selfish too. I always wanted you to love me even though you said you couldn’t. I set my heart on theonething you’d told me you couldn’t offer.’
‘That’s your stubborn backbone, but you were pushing me towards a cliff I needed to fall off…to find real happiness,’ he breathed tautly. ‘And I fell today the minute I had to face the concept of a life that didn’t include you. It’s good. Now we both know where we are…so you’d agree to marry metomorrow? How did that timeline come about?’
Bunny went red, a little embarrassed even in the midst of that happiness to admit that she had felt kind of desperate and had feared that she was putting him through hoops because of the way Tristram had strung her along.
‘I’m glad the little twerp did that if it means I got you instead!’ Sebastian teased, not remotely concerned about anything she had done, lying back on the pillows to curve her close. ‘Did I tell you that I checked him out and discovered that, far from being in finance as you assumed, Tristram is a podcaster?’
‘A podcaster?’ Bunny echoed in disbelief.
‘Apparently he didn’t do well in finance and he decided to interview minor celebrities instead. He’s got a decent following but he’s basically a paparazzo, which I assume explains why he was chasing after you.’
‘He wanted the shipwreck story,’ Bunny guessed and shook her head. ‘I wouldn’t have told him a word.’
The familiar scent of Sebastian flooded her as she buried her nose in his shirtfront and then he tipped up her face and his mouth closed over hers in an unashamedly hungry kiss. Her fancy outfit was tossed on the floor. Sebastian was far too busy telling her how beautiful she was and cupping the very faint swell of her belly with possessive enthusiasm to notice what she had worn. It wasn’t very long until both of them were stripped and making passionate love. Bunny cried out his name in release and he groaned in ecstasy, cradling her against him when she was drowsy.
‘It’s a shame tomorrow would’ve been too short notice for your family,’ Sebastian mused.
‘What are you talking about?’
‘Our wedding,’ Sebastian told her with immense satisfaction. ‘Do you think in two weeks’ time?’
‘You are so impatient,’ she complained while hugging him with delight that he really couldn’t wait to get that ring on her finger.
‘I was scared of falling in love,’ he admitted with startling abruptness. ‘My father was obsessively jealous and possessive about my mother before she started the divorce and when I first began feeling weird about you I was afraid that his excessiveness might be in my DNA as well.’
‘Weird?’ Bunny queried. ‘Weird about me?’
