Page 141 of Modern Romance December 2025 5-8

The matter-of-fact description of his childhood chilled Amy’s blood. She had zero idea of what his life had been like in the years before they’d met, and he had rarely mentioned anything beyond the basics. She knew he had lived in several foster homes and had left school with little or no qualifications, which had seemed strange to her at the time, because it was very obvious he was super smart.

They had reached the lawned area.

‘I can manage the rest and I’m sorry, I really didn’t intend to be out in the dark.’

‘I’m going your way.’

‘Weren’t you going to swim?’

‘I might use the pool later, and the next time you feel the need for a midnight skinny-dip you might think of using it yourself.’

Accustomed to the dark now, she could make out the outline of his classical features and it didn’t take much imagination to envisage the mocking gleam in his dark eyes as he taunted her.

‘I wasn’t skinny-dipping; I have a swimsuit on and—’ She hesitated.

‘What?’

‘People might see me in the pool.’

‘And that is an issue, why, exactly?’

She hesitated and then admitted, ‘Well, there have been a couple of comments, nothing nasty or anything, but staff aren’t normally housed where I am and they…we don’t have access to the pool and tennis courts or the leisure facilities. I don’t want anyone to jump to the wrong conclusions,’ she finished, glad the darkness concealed her burning cheeks.

‘The wrong conclusions?’

Her jaw clamped in response to this display of feigned ignorance. ‘You know exactly what I mean.’ His torch had been trained into the distance but, as he spoke, he brought it up on her face again like a spotlight. ‘And it was only once.’

‘Oh, is that why you’re so cranky? I’ve never been anyone’s dirty little secret before. Oh, well, a bit of creeping around can be quite stimulating, so I’ve been told. Or are you talking about a discovery fantasy?’

She batted wildly at his hand, panicked by the insidious tug of desire she felt at his taunts. She heard the sound of the torch hitting something hard a second before they were enclosed in a velvet blackness, as the moon had been swallowed up by a cloud.

The smothering darkness created a dangerous illusion of intimacy and she could feel it like a spider spinning its silken cords around her.

‘I don’t have anything to keep secret. I know I’m not here long, but it’s hard to work as a team if… I just don’t want any awkward questions, that’s all.’

‘Stay still.’

She froze and felt a hand land on her shoulder. ‘You were about to step into a pond.’

‘How do you know?’ she asked, puzzled. She couldn’t even see the outline of the castle. She could still feel its presence, though not as intensely as she was aware of Leo’s. All her senses were attuned to him.

‘I have excellent night vision.’

‘Of course you do.’

He laughed at her dry tone. ‘That’s it,’ he added when, encouraged by his guiding hand, she took a step towards him. ‘Do you want to have one?’

‘Want to have what?’

‘Do you want a secret?’

Her throat was dry, her heart beating fast. ‘Is that code for something?’

‘You know what I’m saying, but I’ll spell it out for you so there is no misunderstanding. Fantasies are not enough. Once is not enough, not nearly enough. I stayed away yesterday because of your migraine but I am asking you now. Amy, do you want to have sex with me?’

‘Yes.’ She was a mess of screaming hormones, but he didn’t have to make beautifully indecent propositions to do that to her. He just had to exist.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. His calm was illusionary and it was in danger of shattering at any moment. He was in the grip of a lust that showed no sign of diminishing and the only logical cure was to satiate it.