Modern Romance October 2019 Books 5-8. Annie West

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      ‘No? What am I missing?’

      He ground his teeth together. ‘Does it not occur to you that there are risks to you, to her, in being connected to someone like me?’

      She blinked, and something tapped the back of her mind, something she’d seen on an Internet search. Only she’d tried not to look too deeply at his life, his past—she’d felt dirty enough having to look him up on the internet to find the name of this boat.

      ‘No one needs to know.’

      His laugh was a mocking snort. ‘That’s simplistic and naïve. The tabloid press probably already has paparazzi on your trail. That’s before you show up to this—one of the most hotly photographed events of the year—heavily pregnant and asking to see me.’

      ‘I am not heavily pregnant,’ she said, and then clamped her mouth shut in frustration and the sheer irrelevancy of that. ‘And so what? Who cares? Lots of people have illegitimate children. There’ll be a rumour. We’ll say nothing, and then it will die down.’

      ‘You are missing my point,’ he insisted darkly. ‘From the minute this news hits the public domain, you will become a part of my world, and so will she, whether you want to be or not. Thinking you can just hide away from that is unrealistic.’

      ‘So?’ she said, though she hadn’t considered this, and didn’t particularly like the way it made her feel. ‘I’ll cope.’

      ‘As a bare minimum, you will find yourself and your every move open to speculation in the gossip papers, and our daughter will be photographed and written about even when doing the most mundane things. You will want my protection from this, Hannah, and she will certainly deserve it.’

      ‘I’d rather find my own way to protect her,’ Hannah said crisply. ‘I can handle a few photographers, and as for the stories, I just won’t read them.’

      His smile was a grim flicker of his lips. ‘Sure, give that a go.’ It was pure sarcasm.

      ‘In any event, it is not,’ he continued, ‘the photographers that I am concerned with.’

      She waited, holding a hand protectively over her stomach without realising it.

      ‘I was married once,’ he said, finally, the words like steel.

      She remembered. Oh, it had been buried deep inside her mind, but as soon as he said it she recalled reading that, somewhere, at some time.

      ‘And my wife was murdered.’

      Hannah sucked in a gasp, sympathy pushing every other emotion from her mind.

      ‘As was my two-year-old son.’

      Hannah was hot and cold, sorrow and pain shooting through her. She almost felt as though she might faint.

      ‘They were murdered as a vendetta against my father.’ The words were strained and urgent. ‘They lost their lives to hurt him and punish him. They were killed because of who they were to Dion Stathakis, and to me. I will not let that happen again. I will not let that happen to our daughter.’

      Hannah’s chest hurt. She’d known she was pregnant for a few weeks and already she knew she would give her life for this baby. She couldn’t imagine the desperate agony of losing a toddler, of knowing a toddler to have met such a violent end.

      ‘I’m so sorry.’ The words were thick with tears. ‘That must have been unbearable.’ She swallowed, but the tears she was so adept at fighting filled her eyes.

      He didn’t respond—what could he say?

      ‘But isn’t that even more reason for me to hide away? To let me move far away from you and your world?’

      ‘You cannot hide her. Not from men like him.’

      A shiver ran down Hannah’s spine.

      ‘Only I can protect you both.’

      Fear made Hannah tactless. ‘I beg to differ, given the past…’

      His expression cracked with pain and she winced.

      ‘I’m so sorry. That was an awful thing to say. It’s just…’

      ‘No, you’re right.’ He held up a hand to stall her. ‘I did not appreciate the danger to Amy and Brax. I failed them.’ His voice was deep and her heart ached. ‘I had no idea they were being watched, nor that a madman would use them to seek revenge on my father. His conviction did much damage to our business, and my brother and I worked tirelessly to make amends there, to return Stathakis Corp to its position of global prominence. That was my focus.

      ‘I failed them, my wife and child, and I will never forget that, nor forgive myself.’

      He straightened, his expression like iron. ‘I will not make that mistake with her.’

      He moved closer to Hannah, and she held her breath.

      His hands curved over her stomach and she felt so much in that moment. It was as though a piece of string were wrapping from him to her, binding them, tying them together. If this had been a wedding ceremony it would have felt like a lesser commitment.

      He focussed all his attention on Hannah. ‘I will put everything I am into protecting you both, into ensuring men like that cannot get you. I cannot let you get on with your life as though this is simply an aberration when there may very well be a target over her head. Or yours, just because you happened to make the regrettable decision of sleeping with me one night.’

      ‘You were the one who regretted it,’ she pointed out and then shook her head, because that didn’t matter any more. Panic was surging inside her; she felt as though she were falling back into a well only there was no light at the top of it.

      She sucked in a breath but it burned through her lungs. ‘Leonidas,’ she groaned. ‘I don’t want anything to happen to her.’

      ‘I won’t let it,’ he promised, lifting his hands to her face, holding her steady for his inspection. ‘I promise you that.’

      ‘How can you stop it?’

      His eyes roamed her face intently. ‘I will protect you and our daughter with my dying breath, that is how.’

      She shook her head, the madness of this incongruous with the sounds of revelry beyond the room. Fear had her forgetting everything they were to one another, the brevity of their affair, his quickness to leave her, the fact he’d intended for them never to see one another again—and she’d agreed to that. In that moment, he was her lifeline, and she lifted a hand to his chest to take hold of it.

      ‘Do you really think we’re in danger?’

      His eyes held hers and she felt the battle raging within him—a desire to reassure and placate her and a need to be honest.

      ‘I will make sure you are not. But you must do what I say, and trust me to know what is right for you, for her, for our family.’

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