Page 18 of Modern Romance October 2025 5-8
‘I’ll go to any other events you deem necessary this week,’ she offered huskily.
For a moment too long, he hesitated. She watched heat kindle in his eyes and stepped back even as answering cinders ignited inside her. Yes, the lust was still there but he wanted to getridof it because he didn’t really wanther.
‘Then we divorce,’ she added, reminding herself as much as him. ‘Because nothing is going to happen between us again.’
Chapter Five
‘Bethan?’
‘Mmm?’ Bethan stretched languorously and snuggled deeper. She knew this was a dream, but now she was finally on the edge of sleep, she didn’t have the strength to resist responding to the sultry whisper.
‘Bethan.’
This time impatience iced the heat she’d heard. She blinked blearily and clocked Ares standing beside her bed, coffee mug in hand. Full consciousness slammed. Not a dream. A disaster. She swiftly sat up, pulling the coverings with her. ‘What’s going on?’
He set the mug on the table beside her and stepped back, his arms folded across his chest. ‘I thought about what you said and you were right.’
Only Ares could concede a point with such an air of imperious condescension.
‘Of course I was.’ Still dazed, Bethan reached for the coffee and racked her brains before soon capitulating. ‘Which bit was I right about?’
His grin flashed too briefly. ‘I don’t want you to go to dinner parties in Athens with me this week. Because I don’t want to go to them. I never do. It’s long been a source of friction with my family and is partly why they wanted me to take a wife who would conform to their social requirements.’
Bethan studied the steam rising from the coffee as she processed that. ‘You never went to those dinner parties?’
‘I went to some years ago but haven’t in years. The family wanted me to do a lot of things I had little interest in.’ He paused for effect. ‘Like Sophia Dimou.’
Heat surging in her cheeks, she glanced up in time to see his smug smile. She’d been so jealous of that beautiful young woman for so long. And she’d assumed he didn’t want to take her to fancy dinner parties because she wouldn’t fit into their rarefied society—the horrors of high-school tormentors had long ago destroyed her self-esteem in that area.
‘Anyway, the simplest thing is to spend this week at the villa on Avra,’ he said.
‘What?’She jerked, splashing coffee on the back of her hand as all thoughts of Sophia fled.
He frowned and snatched up the towel she’d left draped on the back of a chair. ‘It’s private, the weather is better and the time will pass quickly.’
Um. No. She didnotwant to return to that villa. At least, not with him. She’d tried to forget its beauty but couldn’t. Hell, she’d even made artwork based on her memories of it.
‘You’ll be working here in Athens,’ she muttered as he firmly took her hand and wiped away the scalding coffee.
It had only been a splash, there would be no mark, but she didn’t seem to have the strength to tell him, or take the towel and do it herself.
‘Oh no. I’ll be there with you.’ He inspected her skin—too close, too concerned, toomuch. ‘We’ll leak some pictures to prove our ecstasy.’
She curled her fingers and slipped her hand free of his. ‘But you have a gala to organise.’
‘It’s already organised—not by me—and I can do my work remotely. I’ve done that before, if you recall.’ His smile was sharp. ‘It’s perfect, no?’
‘Not for me, no.’ She groped for a reason to reject his plan. ‘I have work to do.’
‘And you can do it on the island.’
‘Unlike you, I need more than a computer. I need supplies. I have a half-finished piece—’
‘You mean a prop? I’ll send the jet to get whatever you need from London. Let’s just get to the island and arrange it from there.’ His gaze hardened. ‘We’ll go by helicopter. It’ll be faster.’
She gaped. He knew about her work. ‘I don’t have—’
‘Whatever it is you need, Bethan, it can be bought.’
