Modern Romance October 2019 Books 5-8. Annie West

her with relief.

      Calmed, she moved back to the table, taking her seat and eating as much as she could—the butterflies in her tummy left little room for food, though.

      ‘Where are you going?’ he asked at the door to his room.

      Hannah’s smile was soft, and inside, she carried the knowledge that was continuing to unfurl inside her. She loved him. She loved him in an everlasting, for-the-rest-of-her-life kind of way. And tomorrow, they’d marry.

      ‘It’s the night before our wedding, Leonidas. Don’t you know it’s bad luck to spend it together?’

      His brows arched heavenwards. ‘A superstition?’

      ‘Yep.’ She nodded. ‘And one I intend on obeying. Go to sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.’

      He groaned, pulling her closer, his eyes locked onto hers. ‘I don’t want you to go back there.’

      He nodded down the corridor, and her heart turned over in her chest. ‘Why not?’

      She held her breath.

      ‘Because.’

      She laughed. ‘That’s not an answer.’

      A frown pulled between his brows but before he could answer, she disentangled herself from his arms. ‘It’s one night, and then a lifetime.’ Her smile almost reached her eyes. Leonidas stared at her, completely silent.

      And Hannah stared back, unable to look away, three words whispering through her, begging to be spoken—a question to be asked.

      ‘Goodnight,’ she said instead, simply. And she turned away, walking towards the bedroom she’d slept in when she’d first arrived, opening the door and moving into it for what she believed to be the last time.

      Of course it did rain in the Mediterranean on occasion. Summer storms weren’t unheard of. But the rain that lashed the side of the mansion woke Hannah before dawn, the unfamiliar ruckus causing her to frown at first. She pushed her sheet back, moving towards the window and staring out of it, so fascinated by the sight of everything that had become familiar looking so foreign and unrecognisable now. It took her a moment to realise what day it was. The significance of the morning.

      And then, to remember.

      To remember who she was marrying and what he meant to her.

      She gripped the wall behind her for support, turning and pressing her back to it as fear tightened inside her.

       ‘When Amy and Brax died, my heart died with them.’

      His words had been hammering away at her chest from the inside out since they’d come back from Paris.

      She’d decided, the night before, that she would marry him and let things play out. She’d had a sense of confidence, a sureness, that one day he would feel the same as she did.

      But what if he didn’t? What if he was right, and his heart was gone for ever, any kind of love no longer in his power to give?

      The rain fell harder and she turned to face it, pressing her forehead against the glass. The rain lashed the other side.

      What if he didn’t love her, and never would? What if he was no longer capable of love? What if she was about to tie herself to another man who was incapable of giving her what she needed?

      Panic flared.

      When Angus had proposed, she’d been grateful. She’d been grateful that someone loved her and wanted her. That someone was choosing her to be their wife and partner. Since her parents had died, she hadn’t felt that, and so she’d agreed to marry him out of gratitude rather than love.

      She’d known that, and it hadn’t mattered. She’d valued feeling wanted above anything else.

      But he hadn’t really wanted her. Not enough. He’d betrayed her before they’d even said their vows—he hadn’t deserved the trust she’d placed in him.

      And Leonidas?

      Hannah stepped away from the window, padding back to the bed, sitting down on the end of it and looking at her feet. She’d painted her toenails pale pink the day before, thinking how nice they’d look through the strappy sandals she planned to wear for her wedding.

      Leonidas didn’t want her. If she hadn’t been pregnant, they’d never have seen each other again. The thought made her gasp into the bedroom and she held a hand over her stomach, because that very idea seemed impossible to contemplate.

      Hannah could no longer disentangle her life from Leonidas’s.

      They were like roots from neighbouring trees, intertwined and interconnected, dependent on staying where they were for life.

      But what if he didn’t—wouldn’t—couldn’t love her?

      She’d decided the night before that she would simply wait. Wait for him to realise what they were, what they shared. But could she really do that?

      Hannah pushed up from the bed, knowing in her heart what she’d known even over dinner on the terrace.

      She couldn’t.

      She couldn’t do this if he didn’t know how she felt. She had to be honest with him. She had to…she had to tell him.

      And words she’d bit back the night before refused to be silenced now, so she closed the distance between their rooms quickly and pushed the door inwards without knocking, too distracted to wonder how she might find him, her thoughts churning through her.

      He was standing with his back to her when she entered, wearing only a pair of grey boxer shorts, his body momentarily robbing her of the ability to think straight. He held a square piece of plastic paper in his hands and, at the intrusion, moved quickly to place it down on the windowsill behind him.

      ‘Hannah.’ He was surprised; then worried as he saw the pinched expression on her features. ‘Are you okay?’

      ‘No. Yes.’ She shut the door behind her, moving deeper into his room, looking at this man and feeling as though everything and nothing made any kind of sense.

      ‘What is it?’ He stood perfectly still, staring at her as though he barely recognised her.

      ‘I…need to talk to you.’

      His expression didn’t shift. ‘Okay.’

      She nodded, wringing her hands in front of her body, knowing what she needed to say but not exactly sure how to express it.

      ‘I’ve done something stupid,’ she said, shaking her head.

      ‘What is it?’ He was quiet, patient, but there was something lurking just beneath his exterior. A darkness that she felt but couldn’t navigate.

      She expelled an uneven breath and padded across the carpet of his room until she was right in front of him. He stiffened a little.

      ‘Leonidas, the night we met…’ She tapered off into nothing, looking at him with eyes that were huge and awash with emotions.

      ‘Yes?’

      ‘It came out of nowhere. I’ve never done anything like that in my life but I know that there’s no way that wouldn’t have happened between us. From the moment we literally bumped into each other, I felt this…magnetic pull to you. I know that sounds…ridiculous. But I looked at you and felt like I couldn’t not go to your room with you. And, once I was with you, like I couldn’t not be with you. I feel like, from the moment we met, there’s been something bigger pushing us together.’

      He was quiet, but she didn’t let that discourage her. She’d expected this. She’d