Modern Romance October 2019 Books 5-8. Annie West

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СКАЧАТЬ guess?’ he prompted, after several seconds.

      Heat flooded her cheeks. ‘I wanted to be a lawyer,’ she said, curling her fingers around the stem of her orange juice–filled champagne flute, feeling its fine crystal. ‘Law degrees take years and cost a bomb. The textbooks alone would have bankrupted my aunt and uncle.’ She said it with a smile, as though it were a joke. ‘Becoming a legal secretary was the next best thing. There was a conveyancing firm in another town, just a half-hour drive away. Angus worked there.’ She cleared her throat, sipping her drink. ‘That’s how we met.’

      ‘I see.’ If it were possible, his expression darkened even further.

      ‘I loved working at the firm, and I’m good at what I do.’ Pride touched her voice. ‘So maybe everything worked out for the best.’

      ‘I can’t say I agree with that,’ he drawled, after several long moments. His eyes roamed her face. ‘However, you no longer have any kind of financial impediment to you undertaking a law degree. You will obviously be based here, on the island, but there are many universities that offer degrees via distance. You could enrol in one to start next semester.’

      Hannah’s eyes were huge, and she was struck dumb, for many reasons.

      ‘This island is beautiful,’ she said thoughtfully, trying to imagine her future. ‘But very remote.’

      His expression glittered. ‘Yes. By design.’

      She nodded, the loss of his family naturally having made him security conscious. Nonetheless, the idea of being stuck here sat strangely in her chest. She liked a tropical paradise as much as the next person, but not without an easy escape route.

      Not necessarily for ever. She shelved her thoughts, though. They’d only just arrived. There was time to find her groove as they adjusted to this new life.

      ‘I love the idea of studying law as much as ever,’ she said sincerely. ‘But I’m kind of going to have my hands full for the next little while…’

      ‘A baby is not an excuse to turn your back on your dreams,’ he said simply. ‘You will want for nothing, and help will be available whenever you need it. I will be available,’ he added. ‘This is our daughter, not your burden alone.’

      Her heart turned over in her chest and his completely unexpected show of support and confidence had her opening a little of herself up to him.

      ‘I’m nervous, Leonidas.’ She lifted the fish to her mouth, chewing on it while she pulled her thoughts into order. ‘The idea of becoming a mum scares me half to death.’

      ‘Why?’

      ‘How can it not? I have no idea what to do, or if I’ll be any good at it. I mean, it’s a baby. I’ve never even had a pet.’

      His laugh was just a dry, throaty husk of a sound. ‘A baby is not really anything like a pet, so I wouldn’t let that bother you too much.’

      ‘You know what I mean. I’ve never had the responsibility of keeping something alive, something totally dependent on me.’

      She heard the words a second too late, before she could catch them, but as soon as they landed in the atmosphere she wished she could gobble them right back up. ‘I’m sorry.’ She leaned across the table and put a hand on his, sympathy softening her expression while his own features tightened to the point of breaking.

      ‘Don’t be. I know what you meant.’

      She nodded, but the easy air of conversation had dissipated.

      ‘Being nervous is normal. You just have to trust that you will know what to do when our baby is born.’

      ‘And you have experience,’ she said, watching him carefully.

      ‘Yes.’ He nodded, curtly, placing his napkin on his side plate and sipping his wine. Then, he stood, fixing her with a level stare. ‘Marina will show you to your room when you are finished. In the morning, a stylist will arrive to take your clothes order, and then a jeweller will come to offer you some rings to choose from.’

      She blinked up at him, his abrupt change of temperament giving her whiplash. He was obviously hesitant to discuss his first wife and son, but jeez!

      ‘Leonidas…’ Hannah frowned, not sure what she wanted to say, knowing only that she didn’t want him to walk away from her like this. ‘I can’t ignore the fact you had a family before this. I get that you don’t like talking about it, but I can’t tiptoe around it for ever. You had a son, and I’m pregnant with your daughter. Don’t you think it’s natural that we’ll talk about him, from time to time?’

      ‘No.’ He thrust his hands into his pockets and looked out to sea, the expression on his face so completely heartbroken that something inside Hannah iced over, because it was clear to her, in that moment, how hung up he still was on the family he’d lost.

      And why wouldn’t he be? They’d been wrenched from him by a cruel twist of fate, by the acts of a madman. Nothing about this—his situation—was by his choice.

      Nor was it Hannah’s, she reminded herself. She knew more than her fair share about cruel twists of fate.

      The sky was darkening with every second, but pinpricks of light danced obstinately through, sparkling like diamonds against black sand. She followed his gaze, her own appetite disappearing.

      ‘I don’t want to force you,’ she said gently, standing to move right in front of him. ‘It’s your grief, and your life. But I will say, as someone who’s spent a very long time bottling things up, that it’s not healthy.’ She lifted a hand, touching the side of his cheek. He flinched, his eyes jerking to hers, showing animosity and frustration.

      Showing the depths of his brokenness.

      It called to Hannah; she understood it.

      ‘You are an expert in grief, then?’ he pushed, anger in the words.

      ‘Sadly, yes,’ she agreed quietly.

      ‘Do not compare what we have experienced,’ he said. ‘To lose your parents is unbearable, I understand that, and I am sorry for you, what you went through. You were a child, robbed of the ability to be a child. But I caused my wife and son’s death. As sure as if I had murdered them myself, I am the reason they died. Do not presume to have any idea what that knowledge feels like.’

      That Hannah slept fitfully was hardly surprising. Leonidas’s parting shot ran around and around her mind, the torment of his admission ripping her heart into pieces. To live with that guilt would have driven a lesser man crazy.

      But it wasn’t only sadness for the man she’d hastily agreed to marry.

      It was worry.

      Fear.

      Panic.

      Stress.

      And something far, far more perplexing, something that made her nipples pucker against the shirt he’d given her to sleep in, that made her arch СКАЧАТЬ