Modern Romance October 2019 Books 5-8. Annie West

a toddler, of knowing a toddler to have met such a violent end.

      ‘I’m so sorry.’ The words were thick with tears. ‘That must have been unbearable.’ She swallowed, but the tears she was so adept at fighting filled her eyes.

      He didn’t respond—what could he say?

      ‘But isn’t that even more reason for me to hide away? To let me move far away from you and your world?’

      ‘You cannot hide her. Not from men like him.’

      A shiver ran down Hannah’s spine.

      ‘Only I can protect you both.’

      Fear made Hannah tactless. ‘I beg to differ, given the past…’

      His expression cracked with pain and she winced.

      ‘I’m so sorry. That was an awful thing to say. It’s just…’

      ‘No, you’re right.’ He held up a hand to stall her. ‘I did not appreciate the danger to Amy and Brax. I failed them.’ His voice was deep and her heart ached. ‘I had no idea they were being watched, nor that a madman would use them to seek revenge on my father. His conviction did much damage to our business, and my brother and I worked tirelessly to make amends there, to return Stathakis Corp to its position of global prominence. That was my focus.

      ‘I failed them, my wife and child, and I will never forget that, nor forgive myself.’

      He straightened, his expression like iron. ‘I will not make that mistake with her.’

      He moved closer to Hannah, and she held her breath.

      His hands curved over her stomach and she felt so much in that moment. It was as though a piece of string were wrapping from him to her, binding them, tying them together. If this had been a wedding ceremony it would have felt like a lesser commitment.

      He focussed all his attention on Hannah. ‘I will put everything I am into protecting you both, into ensuring men like that cannot get you. I cannot let you get on with your life as though this is simply an aberration when there may very well be a target over her head. Or yours, just because you happened to make the regrettable decision of sleeping with me one night.’

      ‘You were the one who regretted it,’ she pointed out and then shook her head, because that didn’t matter any more. Panic was surging inside her; she felt as though she were falling back into a well only there was no light at the top of it.

      She sucked in a breath but it burned through her lungs. ‘Leonidas,’ she groaned. ‘I don’t want anything to happen to her.’

      ‘I won’t let it,’ he promised, lifting his hands to her face, holding her steady for his inspection. ‘I promise you that.’

      ‘How can you stop it?’

      His eyes roamed her face intently. ‘I will protect you and our daughter with my dying breath, that is how.’

      She shook her head, the madness of this incongruous with the sounds of revelry beyond the room. Fear had her forgetting everything they were to one another, the brevity of their affair, his quickness to leave her, the fact he’d intended for them never to see one another again—and she’d agreed to that. In that moment, he was her lifeline, and she lifted a hand to his chest to take hold of it.

      ‘Do you really think we’re in danger?’

      His eyes held hers and she felt the battle raging within him—a desire to reassure and placate her and a need to be honest.

      ‘I will make sure you are not. But you must do what I say, and trust me to know what is right for you, for her, for our family.’

       Family.

      The word seemed to tear through both of them in different ways, each reacting to the emotion of that word, the harsh implications of such a term.

      He looked stricken and Hannah felt completely shocked. She hadn’t had a family in a long time. And even though this had been foisted on both of them, the word felt warm and loaded with promise. She swallowed past a lump in her throat and shook her head, nothing making sense.

      ‘How? What? Tell me, Leonidas. I need to know she’ll be okay.’

      ‘Marry me,’ he said simply, the words like rocks dropping into the boat.

      ‘What?’

      ‘Marry me, as soon as is legally possible.’

      She sucked in a breath, his words doing strange things to her. In a thousand years, she hadn’t expected this, and she had no way of processing how she felt. Marriage? To Leonidas Stathakis?

      ‘How the heck is that going to help?’

      ‘You’ll be my wife, under my protection, living in my home. We will be raising our child together.’

      The picture he painted was so seductive. Hannah took a fortifying breath, trying to disentangle the irrational desire to make sure her daughter didn’t suffer the same miserable upbringing as she had from what was actually the right decision. It was impossible to think clearly.

      Hannah shook her head slowly. ‘It would never work between us.’

      ‘What is there to “work”?’ he asked simply. ‘You love our child, do you not?’

      Hannah’s eyes sparked with his. ‘With all my heart.’

      ‘And you want to do what is best for her?’

      Hannah’s chin tilted in silent agreement.

      ‘So trust me. Trust me to protect you both, to ensure her safety. I will never let anything happen to either of you.’

      She nodded, listening to his words, hearing the intent in them.

      ‘I cannot have my daughter raised anywhere but in my home,’ he murmured, clearing his throat. She jerked her gaze to his and the depth of feeling in his eyes almost tore her in two. ‘I need to know she is safe. That you are safe.’ He turned away from her, stalking towards the table. He placed his palms on it, staring straight ahead, out into the water. The party raged outside their doors, but inside this room, it was deathly silent.

      ‘We don’t really even know each other,’ she said quietly, even as her heart was shifting, and her mind was moving three steps ahead to her inevitable acceptance.

      Two main points were working on her to accept. Whatever threat he perceived, there was enough of a basis in fact for Hannah to be seriously concerned. His wife and child had been murdered. His father was in the mob. These threats did not simply disappear—she was in danger, and so was their daughter.

      And even if it weren’t for that, there were other considerations. Hannah’s parents had died unexpectedly and her whole world had imploded. She’d been moved to her aunt and uncle’s—who she’d barely known—and been left to their dubious care. She’d been miserable and alone.

      There were no guarantees in life, but weren’t two parents better than one wherever possible? Wasn’t it more of an insurance policy for their daughter to know both her mother and father? What if Hannah insisted on raising her alone, with Leonidas as a ‘bit player’ in their lives, and then something happened to Hannah? And what if by then he’d married someone else, and their child was an outsider?

      As Hannah had been.

      She expelled a soft breath, the reality of that like a punch in the gut. Because marrying Leonidas would mean she’d always be on the edge, that she’d never find that one thing she knew she really wanted, deep down: a true family of her own. A family to which she belonged. People who adored and wanted her.

      But this wasn’t about her; it wasn’t about her wants and desires. All that mattered was their baby.

      With resignation in her turbulent green eyes, she lifted her head a little, partway to nodding.

      He saw it, and