Page 120 of Modern Romance September 2026 Books 1-4

Heat speared her as she nodded slowly. She’d known, even before this conversation, that she would go to him. He stepped back from her again, this time reaching into the top breast pocket of his suit jacket and removing a business card. He held it out to her. When Astrid took it, she was surprised her fingers weren’t shaking. She felt shaky all over and like she wanted to run. Not away from him, but with a giddy, child-like sense of joy, of being alive. She wanted to spread her arms wide and feel the snow on them as she ran and ran, her legs kicking, the power of her body something she’d never tested. Not in this sense, anyway.

She glanced down and saw that the card bore only his initials and a phone number. It was discrete and the sort of card she gathered he didn’t go around giving to just anyone.

‘If you change your mind, you have my number. If you want to talk, you have my number.’ He moved closer, then, so they were nose to nose. ‘But, Astrid?’

She made a gargled sort of noise that might have been an encouragement.

‘Don’t change your mind. We both want this.’ He tilted her chin, so her eyes met his. ‘I’ll see you tonight.’

He kissed her then, just quickly, before reaching down, taking her hips and guiding her away from the door.

‘Thank you for the meeting,’ he said with the hint of a grin, as he drew the door inwards and then, disappeared from the room.

CHAPTER FOUR

WHEN HIS PHONE BUZZED an hour later, Javier fully expected it to be Astrid calling to back out of their arrangement. He didn’t want her to back out, but this was so clearly outside of the realm of her experience that he wondered if her commitment to the role of queen would win out.

But when he reached his phone, discarded on the kitchen bench, he recognised the caller’s number immediately.

Juanita.

A grimace tightened his expression.

He shouldn’t have been surprised and yet he was. When had she called last? He wracked his brain. It had been warm. He’d been on his yacht, in the Med. Summer. She’d been drunk. She only ever called when she’d been drinking.

Knowing it would take the shine off his mood, he swiped the phone to answer, held it to his ear and said, ‘Javier.’

‘Yes, I know,’ Juanita purred down the line, in that tone that had always set his pulse racing. He ground his jaw, a familiar sense of irritation flooding him now. They’d broken up years ago, but she still held a power over him that he resented. A power to make him answer his phone when she was the last person he wanted to think of today.

‘What can I do for you, Juanita?’

‘We both know the answer to that.’

He glared across the room, saying nothing in response.

‘But perhaps you have your hands too full,’ she contemplated. He realised why she was calling now. Because of that damned video.

‘I didn’t have you pegged as someone who’d go after royalty.’

‘Is that what I’m doing?’

‘It sure looks like it.’

‘Looks can be deceiving.’

‘Are you saying you’re not seeing her?’

‘I’m saying she’s more than just royalty.’

Silence. He closed his eyes then, after what he realised had been a misstep. If nothing else, he owed Astrid absolute discretion. They’d both agreed this was their secret.

‘And it was just a dance,’ he said, hating that it seemed as though he was justifying himself to Juanita. As though he cared what she thought, when she’d moved on from him and married years ago. Oh, he knew she didn’t love her husband, that she felt completely trapped by their marriage. He also knew she’d fall into his bed in a heartbeat, if he invited her. She’d all but begged him for that, many times, over the years but he’d always held fast. To Javier, marriage was an inviolable bond, until it wasn’t. But he was also the definition of ‘once bitten, twice shy’. The fact she’d cut him off when her parents had demanded she do so, had been a life lesson he never intended to forget.

‘So you’re not fucking her?’

Her jealousy was obvious. He knew he shouldn’t feel the rush of power in his veins at the knowledge that she regretted her decision, all those years ago.

‘I missed the part where we openly discussed our sex lives with one another.’