Page 233 of Modern Romance September 2026 Books 1-4

Dido stared. ‘There’s no need. It was so long ago and we have enough.’

‘There’s every need,’ he corrected. ‘He took what wasn’t his. I’ll get it back for you, or what’s left of it. He’s on the verge of bankruptcy. It’s up to you whether you keep it or give it away.’

He watched his beloved take that in, felt the shudder pass through her. Relief?

Despite his fear, Panos couldn’t go another second without knowing how she felt about him. ‘I refuse to let him get away with hurting the woman I love.’

He almost winced at her stunned expression.

Surely he could have done better. That was no suave, persuasive declaration, yet he hadn’t been able to keep it in any longer.

Silently he cursed his lifelong struggle to acknowledge and share his emotions. He’d been so closed off for so long. Dealing with feelings, much less talking about them, was new to him.

Would she give him the chance to get better at it?

Breathing deep, ignoring the nervous hammer of his pulse, he smoothed his palms over her hands as if to rub heat into them. ‘I’m sorry you heard my conversation and misunderstood. But I’m telling the truth. Whatever my faults I’ve never lied to you, Dido. I never will.’

Dido shook her head, like a swimmer trying to clear water from her ears. ‘You…love me?’

‘Ne. S’agapo.’ Yes. I love you.

Looking into her dazed eyes, English deserted him. When her fingers moved in his, curling tight, he pulled her close and murmured endearments in his own tongue. My sweet. My eyes. My heart.

He raised her hand to his lips, tasting her warmth and sweet honeyed vanilla. Nothing in the whole world tasted better than Dido.

She swayed and he wrapped his other arm around her but she shook her head. ‘I thought you wanted a convenient marriage. We have a child. Wasn’t this, us, an extension of that? A basis for raising a family.’

Panos hid dismay at her words. It’s what he’d once said he wanted, but it turned out he was greedy. He needed Dido, heart and soul.

‘I do want a family, but only with you, Dido. I love you with my whole heart.’ It got easier to say each time. He’d shout it to the world if it would convince her. ‘We’re building something real and good. Surely you feel that too. All I ask is—’

Her fingertips on his mouth stopped his words. ‘Don’t you want to know how I feel?’

He was strong enough to bear this. He had to be. ‘Tell me.’

Never had a second stretched so long.

She looked proud, almost defiant, like a strong woman about to tell him to go to hell. ‘I love you.’

‘What?’

He gaped as her serious face transformed and she gave a huff of laughter. Then amusement vanished and she leaned in, expression earnest. ‘I love you, Panos. S’agapo. I even know how to say it in Greek.’

His heart pounded. He was astonished, torn between disbelief and elation. ‘I thought you believed the worst. That you’d thought I’d been plotting against you to take Theeny away. How can you believe me so easily? How can you love me?’

That was the truly impossible thing. For no one, ever, had loved him. Even craving her love, doing everything recently to win it, part of him had despaired of it ever happening.

‘Simple. I know you now. I trust you. I know how horrified you were, discovering you’d jumped to the wrong conclusion about me before. You’re a good man who tries to do the right thing. You wouldn’t try to steal my daughter away. Not now.’

Never in his life had Panos been lost for words but he was now.

‘Don’t look so shocked. I know my feelings. I’ve known for a long time.’ Her gaze dipped from his before she looked up again, and what he saw there melted every last vestige of bitterness a lifetime of loneliness had created.

‘I loved you three years ago, Panos. That’s why I hated you for banishing me. Why I never wanted to see you again. But since then you’ve proved you are the man I’d once believed in. Overhearing that conversation rocked me. But instead of running away, I came to get the truth from your lips. Because you’re right, I know you wouldn’t lie to me.’

His throat closed on an uprush of emotion and he pulled her close, wrapping his arms tight around her, whispering endearments against her silken hair.

Her arms came around him, squeezing, her head against his chest. His ribs expanded on a mighty sigh as he tried to take it all in.