Page 154 of Modern Romance September 2026 Books 1-4

‘But several servants must have seen you arrive—’

His features shifted quickly, impatience obvious. ‘Damn it, Astrid, so what? The whole world knows we’re seeing each other. Does it matter if they get confirmation of that again?’

‘It’s easier if we don’t feed the beast,’ she said, her tone calm, whereas his showed emotional rawness. ‘Already I’ve had my prime minister suggesting we should get married. Can you imagine how the press is going to speculate on that? All anyone in this country talks about is the need for me to start having babies. Now there are these incredibly intimate photos of you and me out there in the public domain. We need to snuff these rumours out, not add to them.’

* * *

He listened to her speak as if from a long way away. Fragments of memory and thought twisted together, knotting into a ball deep in his gut. Her reaction, the night before, when he’d given her the earrings. For a moment, he could have sworn she thought it would be an engagement ring and then, that she’d been surprised—or disappointed—when it wasn’t. Afterwards, she’d gone back to normal so quickly, he’d dismissed his reading of the situation.

But just the mention of marriage was like the turning of a key in the lock.

They’d started this thing off with a promise of no strings. They weren’t going to want more from each other than a casual situationship. A few days, at most, then a couple of weeks. But it had grown beyond that so fast, in a way he’d never experienced.

The marriage he’d outright told her wasn’t an option was suddenly all he could think of. At first, as a solution to her problem. She needed to get married and he could help her with that. But even that was a lie. A lie he was telling himself out of habit, to protect the little boy who’d constantly been hurt and rejected and told he wasn’t good enough. And yet despite that, it was a lie he could easily see past.

He wanted to marry Astrid.

There were a thousand reasons to avoid it. To run a thousand miles. He hated the thought of being a king, of moving his life to Norvenheim, but all of that paled in comparison to what he wanted. Which was, quite simply, her. No matter what marrying her meant, how it would change his life, how it would affect the empire he’d built, he couldn’t care. Not in the face of what he now realised he wished for, more than anything.

‘Astrid, you need to get married,’ he said, eyes shifting to the star earrings, remembering the first night they’d met. His voice was surprisingly flat, given the torrent of emotions he was surfing. Even then, he was fighting himself, trying to protect that little boy who’d sworn he’d never love again, who’d never put himself on the line and risk that awful feeling of rejection. But this was Astrid. She was nothing like Carlotta. Nothing like Juanita. ‘You need a husband.’

‘I’m aware of that.’ She was obviously rattled by this. And when Astrid was rattled, she withdrew, hiding behind a wall of carefully constructed ice. ‘This will die down and, in time, the focus will shift to someone else.’

If he hadn’t already accepted how invested he was in this, then her reference to another man would have driven the message home, loud and clear. There was no goddamn way he could let that happen. ‘No.’ The rebuttal was dragged from the depths of his soul, loaded with anger and disgust. How could she even contemplate what she was suggesting?

‘No, what?’

‘You can’t marry someone else.’ The very thought had him wanting to drive a fist through a wall and he was not a man who’d ever resorted to violence. ‘Astrid, you have to marry me. Can’t you see that?’

Her skin paled and her lips parted, the ice façade momentarily slipping. Her eyes ran over his face, but there was no happiness in her features, no look of agreement on her expression.

Pain, familiar and absorbing, spread through him. Rejection was one thing, but rejection by Astrid was quite another. This was just what she did, he reminded himself. She was protecting herself, in the same way he had always done.

‘You don’t have to do this,’ she groaned, shaking her head and taking a step back, when distance was the last thing he wanted. ‘You don’t have to propose, Javier. In fact, please, don’t.’

It felt a little like a body blow, but he absorbed it. This wasn’t rejection, it was panic. There was a difference.

‘I know I don’t have to.’ He followed her, closing the distance between them completely, wrapping his hands around her upper arms. She just had to remember what they were together. ‘I want to. I want this. You.’ As he said it, he knew truer words had never been spoken. Not by anyone, ever. He wanted her in the same way the earth wanted the sun.

Her eyes narrowed, her face still pale. ‘Your life is in Spain…’

‘What if you’re my life? What if my life is wherever you are?’

He phrased it as a question, but he knew the answer. Undoubtedly, she was. Javier had built an empire from nothing but the ruins of his life and he’d done it by following his instincts. Of certain things, he was so sure he knew without doubt that he was right. This was one of them. Astrid wasn’t there with him yet, but she would be. He’d bring her along on this journey, she just had to see what he did.

‘From the minute this thing started up, it’s gotten out of hand. This isn’t what either of us expected, going into it, right?’

She shook her head quickly, but with a look of dismissal that briefly shook his confidence. Not in what he wanted, but in what she did.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ she said, firmly. ‘I have to get married and it’s not going to be to you.’

‘Why not to me?’

She shook her head instantly rejecting even the suggestion. ‘Please don’t do this. Don’t turn what we are into this. I’ve never lied to you, I’ve never told you I wanted more—’

Rejection threatened to silence him, but he ignored those old feelings of uncertainty. He wasn’t that boy any more. He was Javier Diamandi and Astrid was the only woman he’d ever loved. That urgency was infused into his tone when he spoke. ‘You have wanted more every minute we’ve been together. We both have. Both of us have fought against the necessity of this ending, I just didn’t understand why until now.’

‘You’re wrong,’ she said, flatly. ‘I’ve been allowing myself to enjoy this, and you, but I’ve never wavered in my commitment to my future.’