Page 35 of Modern Romance September 2025 1-4
Bunny nodded thoughtfully. ‘That’s sensible.’
But she wasn’t thinking about the money, she was thinking about a little boy sent abroad for his education because he was an uber-wealthy child and resented for it by those who might instead have shown him love and understanding. And she understood so much more about Sebastian in that moment. He had been forced to be a loner, forced into his general attitude of distrust with the rest of the world because his family had failed him and if family didn’t step up to help and care, why would you expect anyone else to do so? He didn’t believe in love because he hadn’t had love but perhaps that outlook could be softened by time. And was she prepared to give him that time? The longer she stayed with him, the harder it would be to leave.
And Sebastian had made it that way quite deliberately whether he saw that or not. He had put together her dream house and her dream library. He would give her everything from a four-poster bed to a designer wardrobe but he wouldn’t give her love. Sebastian, she realised without surprise, was clever enough to also be intensely manipulative. He made her feel safe but was that safety an illusion?
CHAPTER TEN
BUNNY DESCENDED THETudor staircase sheathed in a red designer halter-neck dress that skimmed forgivingly over the slight new curve of her tummy.
It had been a busy week, starting with her first appointment with the obstetrician, a lovely woman in her thirties who had once worked with Sebastian. The blood test had revealed that their unborn child was a boy. And with that groundbreaking news, she had started working her notice at the library, only that hadn’t lasted long because the runner-up for her job had proved to be still available and eager to start as soon as possible. Naturally she had stepped down early to facilitate a transfer that would suit everyone better. Going to work complete with a security team had entailed constant explanations, which had quickly become embarrassing.
‘Don’t blame Sebastian for having you guarded like the Crown Jewels,’ her mother had enthused when Bunny had dared to vent her irritation. ‘He lost everything when he lost his parents. Naturally he’s terrified of it happening again.’
As that angle had not occurred to her, she had kept her irritation to herself and had accepted her carload of security personnel, who loved it when she visited her parents, where they got treated to cake and coffee.
Sebastian had been in Germany for three days and when he had reappeared had draped a fabulous diamond pendant round her neck and matched it with a pair of stunning earrings. Herding her into their capacious shower clad only in diamonds, he had made passionate love to her and had complained bitterly about how much he had missed her. After only three days apart, she had believed that that was quite promising in terms of attachment. She was starting to think that with Sebastian she needed to pay less heed to what he said and more heed to his actions.
Sebastian strolled out of the great hall, from which the chink of glasses and a low hum of conversation emanated, to greet her. He looked shockingly hot in a tailored black dinner jacket and narrow trousers, having explained that he would dress up because his friends enjoyed ‘that sort of thing’. Even if he didn’t, he wore that polished sophisticated apparel well. Mentally she kicked herself for not recalling the kind of privileged world that Sebastian had grown up in when there must’ve been many occasions when he had had to wear such clothing simply to fit in.
She walked into a crowded room filled with gowned women sparkling with precious jewellery and well-groomed men. Her nerves were on high.
‘This is Bunny, my fiancée,’ Sebastian announced with quiet satisfaction, one hand clasped to her back.
And a literal squeal erupted from a small, bubbly brunette, who sped forward to look at the beautiful ring on Bunny’s finger and give Sebastian a warm hug. There was a welter of conjecture. Sebastian admitted freely to having been shipwrecked and stranded with her, being much more open than she was accustomed to him being, and it had the effect of relaxing her. These were people he trusted.
‘I’m Zoe, Andreas’s wife,’ the petite brunette proffered. ‘I had to come and meet you. It’s a long way to come for a party but we’ve known Sebastian for so many years that I had to meet the woman who finally cracked his ice heart.’
Bunny recalled the friendly Andreas from their rescue but he had vanished again soon afterwards, and she went pink and muttered ruefully, ‘Oh, I hope there was no cracking of hearts, unless it was mine, and mine is certainly not ice.’
‘No, you misunderstand,’ Zoe assured her. ‘I know you are a hundred per cent special because I first met Sebastian when he was seventeen and he has never introduced a woman to us, notoncein all this time. There’ve been women—I have no doubt—offstage, as it were, but never one who was a companion, a partner like you. I thought he would be single until the day he died.’
‘My word, you’re making me feel good,’ Bunny said quietly, but, much as she longed to stay with someone who knew Sebastian that well, there were others waiting to meet her and she knew her manners. ‘Hopefully see you later?’
‘You can bet on it,’ Zoe told her warmly.
‘Enjoying yourself?’ Sebastian asked her later as he drew her out onto the temporary dance floor laid out at the foot of the great hall.
‘Yes. You have some lovely friends, but I was surprised so many were medics,’ she confided.
‘You get to know people really well when you train and work in medicine. Genuine people, who don’t give a damn about my wealth or my dodgy background.’
‘It’s not dodgy. For goodness’ sake, that tragedy wasn’tyourfault!’ she exclaimed in annoyance on his behalf.
Sebastian groaned above her head and steered her into a proper dance but she had never learned how to do that and she tripped over his feet several times before surrendering and retiring to the sidelines with a giggle. ‘You’ll have to give me lessons if you want the fancy stuff,’ she warned him.
‘I’ve got family jewellery for you to wear in Greece next week,’ he told her.
‘Your grandmother’s?’
‘Yes, the pieces she had to pass down. Her personal collection went to her surviving sons, aside from the engagement ring you’re wearing, which she left to me. And I thought that was a bad joke because I never planned to marry,’ he murmured soft and low, and they stopped dancing altogether as he lifted his head to stare down at her. ‘And then, only a few weeks later, I metyou…’
Bunny grinned up at him. ‘You see, being a loner is not as much fun as you used to think!’
Sebastian rested his hands on her slight shoulders and looked down at her lovely smiling face with smouldering dark eyes. He said something in Greek and then he stretched down to steal a hungry kiss and a flame ignited between her thighs, making her throb, and she pressed her legs together tightly to contain that surge of hunger.
As she walked out to the cloakroom a few minutes later Zoe appeared by her side. ‘He’s besotted with you,’ the Greek woman said cheerfully. ‘Have you set a wedding date yet?’
‘No, not yet. Sebastian doesn’t do love.’
