Modern Romance October 2019 Books 5-8. Annie West

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      ‘And yet,’ Leonidas agreed, his eyes roaming her body with a hunger that was not a part of him. He’d given up on fighting this, on fighting Hannah. She was breathing herself into his soul, and taking over small parts of him, forming his building blocks back into shape. Except for his heart, which would always be locked away, reserved for Amy and Brax.

      The rest of him, he could share. Especially if it made her smile the way she had been.

      ‘When? I mean to say, when will you have this baby?’

      ‘She’s due in four months.’

      Thanos let out a low whistle. ‘So you’re marrying her for custody?’

      The description turned Leonidas’s stomach. ‘I’m marrying her for security.’

      A moment of silence and then, gently, ‘Leonidas, the man who killed them is locked up for life. He’ll never get out. There’s no reason to think he wasn’t acting alone.’

      ‘It’s organised crime. Do you really think he’d have operated without instruction?’

      ‘Yes,’ Thanos spoke swiftly. ‘I think he was a lunatic, angry that our father had turned on his brother and so he took that out on you—an eye for an eye. There is no risk now.’

      ‘Would you bet someone’s life on that, Thanos? Would you bet the life of an innocent woman you were too weak to resist and that of her unborn child?’

      More silence, and eventually, ‘No.’

      Leonidas didn’t realise until that moment how badly he’d needed to hear that. ‘Here with me, on the island, she is safe. Our child will be safe.’

      ‘What’s she like?’

      ‘She’s…’ Leonidas tried to put into words a hint of Hannah, but it proved hard for some reason. ‘She’s nice. You’ll like her.’

      Thanos’s disapproval came across in his silence. ‘Nice?’

      ‘Yes, nice. What’s wrong with “nice”?’

      Thanos was quiet. ‘Does she know about Amy?’

      Leonidas stiffened. ‘Yes.’

      ‘Leo.’ Thanos rarely used the diminutive version of Leonidas’s name. It slipped out, the boyhood moniker coming naturally to him now. ‘You don’t think it’s a bit of an extreme way to keep someone safe? You couldn’t just give her a security detail?’

      Leonidas was surprised to realise he hadn’t even considered that. Not for a moment. But he understood his reasoning. Having lost Amy and Brax, he couldn’t risk anything else happening to the mother of his child, and the only way to be sure of that was to have her within eyesight. He and Amy had fought—often. They’d begun spending more and more time apart. He’d missed Brax like anything but he’d relished his space from Amy, even when he’d known he loved her—or that he had loved her once and needed to honour that love, for the sake of their child.

      But he’d been careless, letting her go without taking an interest in how she was spending her time. He hadn’t seen the danger and they’d paid the ultimate price.

      No. Hannah would be by his side, ’til death do them part. And if they were separated and he couldn’t protect her, then he’d make sure she had an army at her disposal.

      ‘A detail wouldn’t have been enough. It’s my job to keep them safe.’

      ‘I see.’ It was clear Thanos didn’t agree, though. ‘And is this what she wants?’

      Leonidas stood, moving to the window, and his legs felt a little like jelly when he thought about what Hannah might want. Perhaps she caught a hint of his movement in her peripheral vision, or perhaps she felt the tug of him in that strange way she had, but she lifted her gaze to the window of his study, lifting her sunglasses from her head so she could pierce him, through the glass, with the intensity of her emerald eyes.

      His pulse slammed inside him.

      ‘She agrees it’s for the best.’

      Thanos was quiet for a moment. ‘It all sounds very sensible and safe, then.’

      Leonidas nodded, but his insides were clenching in a way that wasn’t even remotely sensible.

      ‘Maybe you could take over negotiations with Kosta Carinedes now that you’re about to be married with a kid. That’s the kind of respectability he’s looking for.’

      Leonidas stiffened—the reality of that still difficult to contemplate. And though Thanos had obviously been joking, he was quick to retort, ‘There is no way on earth I’m telling anyone who doesn’t need to know about Hannah and our daughter. I plan on keeping this secret as long as I can.’

      There was safety in secrecy.

      Hannah smiled up at him, and lifted her hand, motioning for him to come to her, then pointing to the water.

      He shook his head on autopilot, the last vestiges of restraint reminding him that there needed to be some boundaries, some restrictions.

      She shrugged, standing up slowly, unfurling her petite frame and turning her back on him. She reached behind her as he watched, pulling on the string of her bikini top and lifting it over her head. Her hair, shimmering like a flame in the afternoon sunshine, ignited down her back.

      He held his breath as she turned once more and blew him a kiss, her smile contagious, spreading over his lips, exploding out of her like diamond dust. And then she eased herself into the pool, her beautiful, pale breasts only half covered by the water.

      He disconnected the call to Thanos, threw his phone on his desk and was already stripping his clothes as he made his way to the deck.

      It was just a swim on a very hot day, nothing more.

      Leonidas told himself he was simply doing what Hannah deserved. That it was easy for him to deliver on her dreams and that someone should do that for her, after everything she’d lost.

      She was marrying one of the richest men in the world—she could have anything she wanted in life and Leonidas was going to make sure she knew that.

      He couldn’t give her his heart, he couldn’t give her the version of happily ever after she wanted, but he could spoil her with every material possession so that she never noticed there was a gaping void inside her chest.

      He told himself a thousand and one things but as he observed Hannah with undisguised interest, watched the way her face glowed with happiness and wonderment, he knew there was something more base in his reasons for bringing her here, to Paris.

      The idea had come to him while they were swimming, earlier that day. They were marrying for somewhat pragmatic reasons, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t make some of her dreams come true. And she had always wanted to see Paris, had grown up staring at a tourist souvenir of the Eiffel Tower, and he could give her the real thing. He’d wanted her to have it.

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