Page 111 of Modern Romance September 2026 Books 1-4

His refrain was familiar to her, too.

I don’t want to talk about it.

‘I understand that.’ Her stomach swooped with a sense of being out of her usual space and time. ‘After my family’s accident I refused to talk, too. In a way, I wonder if I wasn’t fighting against the reality of what had happened. Or perhaps it was that I was given no space to talk.’

She lifted one shoulder softly. His gaze dropped to it and lingered there in a way that made her whole body cover with goosebumps.

‘You were the picture of stoicism.’

Her eyes lifted to his. ‘Why do you say that?’

‘The accident—and funeral—made international headlines. I was living in Spain by then and it was everywhere I went.’ His expression tightened, as though that somehow had personally offended him. ‘I remember looking at you—you were so young and small—and wondering how you wouldn’t break under the pressure.’

For the first time in perhaps her entire life, Astrid had the terrifying sensation that she might cry. In public. She felt the sting of tears behind her eyes, the thickening in her throat, the sense that her emotions were running away from her. Because the truth was that a part of her had broken under the pressure and she’d never been given the leeway to go back and collect the pieces. She looked away quickly, mentally focusing on the Greek alphabet she’d loathed having to learn as a child, knowing that those unfamiliar, difficult-to-wrangle shapes and sounds would focus her immediately on the woman she was supposed to be.

Only her gaze landed on Otto and Carlotta and the emotions in their faces were difficult to interpret. Anger, though, was there. She was sure of it. Towards Javier? Or the fact they were dancing together?

‘Your stepmother does not look pleased to see us dancing,’ she said, glad she could change the subject even though her voice did tremble a little.

‘I’m not surprised.’

‘Aren’t you? Why should she look as though she wants to storm over here and physically separate us?’

Another quirk of amusement. ‘I wouldn’t put it past her.’

‘But why?’

‘I imagine she has serious hopes that you’re about to fall madly in love with Otto and ride off into the royal sunset together,’ he drawled. While she had been imagining a version of exactly that earlier this evening, hearing it from Javier’s lips brought a hint of heat to her cheeks and made her want to instantly discount even the possibility.

‘We are friends,’ was all she could say.

‘Does that mean no marriage is in the offing?’

She frowned. The part of her that was able to detach from any situation, to zoom out and analyse it academically, was fascinated by the bubble this man had created around them. As though they existed outside of time and place. As though she could tell him anything, with no fear of it turning up in the press or of it becoming gossip and fodder for a scandal-hungry public.

‘I do have to get married,’ she admitted after a beat. ‘And your brother is someone I’ve contemplated discussing this with.’

He laughed then. A short, derisive sound.

‘You find that funny?’ Despite herself, she smiled too.

‘I find it…flat. A very businesslike way to describe marriage. Then again, that is probably a lot closer to the type of marriage I’d be interested in myself. So, I get it.’

‘You shouldn’t mention this to him, though. I haven’t yet made up my mind…’

His eyes narrowed. ‘There are other contenders?’

‘It’s not as though it’s a game show,’ she said with another lift of her shoulder.

His eyes once more dropped and lingered there, then shifted sideways to the gentle swell of her breasts. Her body went from flickering with flames to exploding as though a bomb had been detonated. She looked away quickly on a rushed exhalation of air.

He replied, ‘You need not worry. Otto and I haven’t spoken in years. This will not be the thing that draws us together.’

That had her lifting her eyes to his face once more. ‘Why on earth? I knew you weren’t close, but not that you were estranged completely.’

‘That’s one way to put it.’

‘How would you put it?’