Page 86 of Modern Romance September 2026 Books 1-4

‘I don’t care,’ he interrupted. ‘I need to see this particular bride. The bride who’s been avoiding me for the past two weeks.’

Tension crawled through her, though she ignored it. ‘You knew where I was.’

‘Yes.’ He gazed at her, paying no apparent attention to the gown she was wearing. ‘I thought you needed some space.’

‘Well, that was thoughtful of you.’ She swallowed. ‘However, I still need space so—’

‘No.’ He came around to face her, his gaze relentless. ‘We will have this talk, Wren, and we will have it now. Before the wedding.’

‘Why?’ she couldn’t help asking. ‘What’s the point? We’ll be getting married regardless of what talk we have.’

He took a step closer, directly in front of the platform she stood on, and her breath caught. She could smell his familiar scent, feel the heat of his body. He was in suit trousers again, dark blue this time, and a black business shirt, the top couple of buttons undone, and she could not stop staring at the exposed hollow of his throat.

‘Don’t be so damn passive,’ he said roughly. ‘It’s not like you.’

She lifted her gaze to his, a spark of anger igniting inside her at the words. ‘What do you expect me to do?’ she shot back. ‘I had no say in any of this and—’

‘I asked you what you wanted two weeks ago,’ he snapped, fire flickering in his eyes. ‘But then you ran away and avoided me for two weeks.’

Her throat closed as hurt gripped her, along with a defensive, bitter anger. ‘I told you what I wanted, Isandro,’ she said.

‘Yes. You said you wanted a real marriage. That you wanted “everything”.’ His midnight gaze searched hers. ‘I want to know what you meant by that.’

There’s no escape. You’ll have to tell him. He won’t stop until you do.

No, he wouldn’t, the bastard. He’d keep pushing and pushing until she broke, and, God, she didn’t want to break.

Passive and breakable. Is that really what you want?

The bright, hot kernel of anger glowed deep inside her. An anger that had been with her for a long time, that she’d choked down and suffocated, because anger didn’t change anything. Her mother had left her, and she’d been furious, but she’d ignored it even back then, because she thought that if she was good and behaved, perhaps her mother would want her back. She’d been furious with her grandparents, too, at their ill-concealed resentment, but again, she’d never let it out. She’d been afraid that if she did, they’d decide they didn’t want her at all.

But what had being afraid changed for her? What about being good and well behaved and biddable? Nothing, that was what. Absolutely nothing. Her mother had still gone and her grandparents had still been cold and distant, so what was the point?

Now Isandro thought she was passive, and she wasn’t. She’d never been passive, not right down deep inside, where everything was hot and bright and passionate. She would have a child because she hadn’t been passive that day in his office, a precious life, a baby she’d never thought was a mistake. She’d kept that baby, too, when she didn’t have to, and that wasn’t passive either.

That was courage, surely?

Well, perhaps she should be courageous now. It was certainly better than drowning in shame and fear.

Wren lifted her chin and looked him straight in the eye. ‘You want to know what I meant? I meant this, Isandro. I’m in love with you. I’ve been in love with you for years, but I never thought we could ever be together, so I pretended I wasn’t. Then things changed, and now I’m pregnant with your child and you insisted on marrying me.’ She found herself taking a step, coming to the very edge of the platform so they were almost nose to nose, his inky gaze inches from hers. ‘So what I want is everything. I want to be your wife in every single way there is. I want your heart and your soul, and I want them for ever. That’s what I want, Isandro. That’s what “everything” means.’

Silence fell, a deep and terrible quiet, but she didn’t move. She wasn’t afraid, she realised with sudden insight. No, for the first time in her life, staring into his eyes and telling him the truth, her truth, she felt fierce and strong and braver than she’d ever been.

A combination of expressions flickered over Isandro’s handsome face, gone so fast she couldn’t tell what they were. But in his eyes, she could see shock. She must have hidden her feelings better than she’d thought if he found this confession shocking. Either that or he’d simply never thought about her feelings at all.

Perhaps, even five minutes ago, that would have hurt. But while she felt a fleeting pain, like a pinch, she was able to ignore it. Because he certainly knew what her feelings were now. She’d made it impossible for him to misunderstand.

A muscle flicked in his jaw as he stared back, his mouth in a hard line. ‘Love,’ he said eventually, sounding out the word as if he didn’t know what it meant. ‘That’s what you’ve been hiding from me? That’s all?’

The kernel of anger inside her flared hot. ‘That’s all? I bare my heart to you, tell you my deepest secret, and that’s all you’ve got to say?’ Before she knew what she was doing, Wren lifted her hands, slapped them onto his chest and pushed him, hard, making him stumble back a few steps. ‘Well, fuck you, Your Majesty. Most sincerely, fuck you.’

* * *

Isandro was conscious of the shock moving through him, a shock that, all things considered, he shouldn’t have felt. In fact, he should have known what she felt for him a long time before this, and maybe, if he was being really honest with himself, some part of him had. Some part of him had even encouraged it, because he’d liked it. He’d liked how she’d looked at him sometimes, as if he was the one star in her sky.

A mistake. Because if he’d listened to that part of himself, perhaps none of this would have happened. He’d have had her reassigned somewhere else, taken her out of his orbit to save them both. But he hadn’t, because he’d wanted her. An obsession he’d never been able to break free from.

And now, because he hadn’t, he was in yet another situation of his own making. A situation that would hurt an innocent woman whom he’d encouraged when he shouldn’t have.