Page 12 of Modern Romance September 2026 Books 1-4

It was one of the reasons she’d never tried to find her mother—too much hurt had calcified into a sense of pride. Of course, Hope knew that underneath the pride she was terrified she’d be rejected again, but she diverted that line of thought now.

‘Of course,’ Axel said. ‘I can contact you tomorrow morning?’

‘That would be…acceptable.’

He turned to leave and she said, ‘Wait, do you have my number?’

He stopped. ‘Yes, Hope, I can get your number.’

She felt heat in her face again. Of course, he could. He could probably go to the moon and back for a meeting. ‘OK, then. Goodnight, Mr Drakos.’

‘Axel.’

Her heart thumped unevenly. ‘Axel.’

And then he was gone and Hope stood there in her flatmate’s vertiginous high heels and, even though she heard the faint sound of the engine of his car pulling away outside, she had to wonder if she’d just been having a very vivid hallucination.

* * *

But the next morning when her phone pinged with a text message she knew it hadn’t been a fantastically realistic and crazy dream.

From a number she assumed to be his, there came this message: Morning, Hope. I trust you rested well. Have you come to a decision about my offer? A.

Rested well? Not really. She’d kept having strange dreams where she was in crowded places with a very tall man in front of her and she’d try to get his attention only to be pushed aside or ignored.

But she also knew what she was going to say…because for the first time in her relatively safe and mundane existence she felt the urge to do something completely out of her comfort zone.

She’d made this decision on her own. Claire had sent her a text last night reminding Hope that she had gone away for a few days with her boyfriend. And in a way she was glad because she wondered was this a grubby, unethical thing to do? But, she reminded herself, he had mentioned a contract, and he was unmistakably proud.

For people who lived in his rarefied world, money was merely a means to get whatever you wanted. Nothing was impossible. Not even hiring a convenient girlfriend for a few weeks. So that he could gain more money and success.

In a way Hope felt sorry for him. He seemed to have a pretty soulless existence outside his obvious ambition to rule the world. But then, she knew pity was the last thing he would accept. He probably pitied her for her meagre existence and her paltry effort to retain some sense of pride by not letting him buy her a house outright. As if that could disguise the fact that she came from nothing and no one.

And then she lambasted herself for thinking like that. Just because she didn’t know who her parents were, it didn’t make her any less worthy than someone like him, whose lineage went back into the times of the Greek gods.

Because looking the way he did, he was definitely descended from a—

Ping!

Hope looked at her phone and saw another message: Hope. Are you there? A.

Before she could even reach for her phone it started ringing. She picked it up. ‘Hello?’

‘Hope.’

His voice, low and accented, right in her ear. It felt almost erotic after those dreams last night. Hope gripped the phone. ‘Good morning, Axel.’

‘Have you come to a decision?’

Hope stood up. She was still in her dressing gown. It was very early. Just after dawn. ‘You’re impatient, aren’t you?’

‘I’m not used to waiting.’

Hope huffed a little laugh. He was honest at least. And then before she could change her mind, and feeling as if she were stepping off the edge of something into a massive void, she said, ‘Yes, OK. I’ll do it. Be your…fake girlfriend.’

‘Good, I’m pleased to hear it. I’ll send Derek over to you. He’ll be there to pick you up within the hour.’

‘An hour?’ Hope squeaked. She’d kind of thought that he might say, OK, see you in a week. Or, I’ll have my assistant get in touch…