Page 179 of Modern Romance September 2026 Books 1-4

‘You always were volatile, weren’t you, Dido?’

His knowing tone made her toes curl and heat scorched.

In every other part of her life she was calm and patient. No one had been more surprised than she at the rampant flame of sexuality that burst into being when she met Panos. Her physical responses to him had been so intense they’d almost frightened her. He’d revelled in them, making his own carnal demands that she was only too happy to meet. For a short time she’d delighted in how mutual their passion was.

At the time it had seemed proof of a perfect match.

Now she knew sexual compatibility had blinded her to his many faults.

‘Okay then, talk.’

‘Not here, in public.’

She looked around. Apart from a cyclist and a man walking a dog on the other side of the street, it was empty. ‘There’s hardly a crowd here.’

Besides, she didn’t want to be cooped up inside with him. Walls tended to close around her when he was near. He took up all her oxygen and though she hated to admit it, being too near him made her aware of his masculine charisma rather than his dreadful character.

He tilted his head as if reading her reluctance for what it was, nerves. Dido stared back, refusing to be intimidated. Let him think what he liked. That was his specialty, after all. She just wanted him gone.

‘No, there’s not a crowd. But it only takes one, doesn’t it?’

He nodded past her shoulder and she swung around to see the lace curtain of her neighbour’s front window falling into place as if suddenly dropped. The window was open too.

Her neighbour worked from home and took enormous interest in everything that happened in the street. She suspected he spent more time watching and listening to the locals than working. Worse was his habit of sharing gossip, so whatever happened out here would quickly be common knowledge.

That wasn’t an option.

Dido bit her lip, calculating how long she had and whether she could risk having Panos in her home. After the way he’d treated her three years ago, she’d vowed to exclude him from her life. He could do too much damage.

Not that any effort had been required. He’d shunned her, cutting her adrift with insulting alacrity.

She glanced at her watch. If they kept this short it would be okay.

‘Five minutes only,’ she said as she walked past him and down the steps to her front door.

With the key in the lock she had a momentary qualm about the state of the place. Panos Diamandis might have inherited his fortune but he was a successful businessman with a keen eye for detail. The last thing she needed was for him to poke and pry into things she considered private.

Opening the door, she led the way into the front room, quickening her pace to scoop a couple of items off the small lounge and stuff them into a box beside the desk where she worked. A quick scan told her the room would pass muster.

The front door clicked shut and he entered her space, too tall and vital for the cramped room. She saw his gaze travel around the space, taking inventory.

She put her bag on her desk and folded her arms. ‘Four minutes and fifty-nine seconds.’

His eyes narrowed. ‘You really are eager to get rid of me, aren’t you?’

‘Absolutely. I don’t want you here. Say what you must then go.’

For a long moment he regarded her silently and she wondered what he saw. Hopefully just implacable hostility, not nerves. If he sensed she had something to lose by him staying, he’d deliberately take his time. She couldn’t afford that.

‘You claimed you genuinely believed our wedding was legal. In that case, why didn’t you confront me earlier about ending the marriage?’

She huffed out a sigh. ‘It is legal. I told you that.’

They’d married on the spur of the moment but the idea for the beach wedding had come from seeing a similar ceremony performed by a local elder.

Dido and Panos had met on a small Pacific island. She’d been enjoying a couple of days’ free accommodation after organising a conference there, while he’d stayed in a private house at the far end of the beach.

Their affair had been remarkable for she wasn’t in the habit of being swept off her feet by handsome men. But with Panos everything had felt devastatingly simple and different.