Page 14 of Modern Romance July 2025 #4-8

CHAPTER FIVE

‘W HAT ARE YOU DOING ?’

Lizzie waited until she had pulled her sweater over her head. ‘I’m going home.’

‘You can’t go back to your cottage. I will arrange for someone to close things up for you and collect your documents. If you are thinking clothes, you will need a new wardrobe anyway so—’

‘What is wrong with the clothes I have?’

His eyes moved in a disparaging sweep from her feet to her face. ‘Do you really want me to answer that?’

She flushed. ‘I won’t let you dress me.’

A disturbing smile played across his sensual lips as he studied her.

Despite the smile and the mockery in his dark eyes, she sensed a tension about him as he gave his throaty response.

‘Husbands are normally more concerned with undressing their wives.’ He paused and laughed. ‘You blush like a virgin.’

What would he say if she said she was?

She moistened her lips and decided not to find out.

‘Do not look at me like that.’

She blinked in bewilderment.

‘You are entering into this of your own free will.’

‘I know that. Don’t flatter yourself that you could force me to do anything.’

‘I promise you I have never forced a woman.’

The male arrogance made her laugh. ‘No, you just overwhelm them with your wit and charm. Course, you’re rich, but I’m sure that has nothing to do with it.’

After a moment’s shocked silence he laughed. ‘You really don’t take prisoners, do you?’

‘I didn’t mean Deb,’ she blurted.

He arched a brow. ‘Didn’t you?’ To her relief he left no gap for her to respond before adding, ‘The fact remains you can’t go back to your cottage. The press are camped out.’

‘How do you know?’

‘Why risk it? I think it would be best for you to stay here.’

She laughed. ‘That is not happening. I have a cat, which will need feeding when I have organised—’

‘You can’t stay in your cottage. You will be a target for—’

‘I’m not going to stay there. I’ll go home. The estate has good security and high walls.’

‘So you have a cat, I do not see the relevance. Someone can deal with your cat and have him housed.’

‘Mouse is—’

‘Mouse? I thought you said you had a cat.’

‘I do have a cat. Her name is Mouse. If I’m going to put my life in storage there is no way in the world I am going to allow some stranger to walk into my house and literally pack my life away.’

‘Very well, but you will not leave here until it is dark.’

‘That’s ridiculous!’

‘That’s the deal and, if it makes you feel any better, I will not be here. Dmitri will see you safely home and then take you to your father’s estate.’

‘I’ll drive myself.’

He clenched his teeth over a robust retort. ‘Won’t it be awkward for you to see your father just now? What did he say when you said you were coming?’ It really didn’t seem the best plan to him or, for that matter, any plan at all. He studied her face. ‘You didn’t tell him you were coming.’

‘He won’t be there.’

He arched a brow. ‘You know this how?’

‘I know my father. Look, it’s my home but he really won’t be there. Dad always vanishes when there is something he doesn’t want to think about.’

‘Vanishes?’

‘Well, not vanish, more removes himself. When Mum died he went on a six-month cruise.’

The expression on Adonis’s lean face made Lizzie regret the confidence.

‘He took you with him? How old were you?’

‘I was twelve and, no, he didn’t take me with him. He couldn’t cope with me crying. He sent me postcards though.’ A smile played across her mobile mouth as she thought of them lined up around her dressing-table mirror.

Adonis had never been much impressed by Deb’s uncle on the occasions they had met, but this artless confidence made any ambivalence vanish. What a loser!

‘If you have things to do…?’ she said pointedly.

‘And deprive you of my company?’ he taunted. ‘Actually, now is as good a time as any to put things in motion.’

She shook her head. ‘What things?’

‘A marriage doesn’t arrange itself.’

‘Oh, I suppose not.’

‘I’ll keep you up-to-date with the arrangements.’

‘Don’t bother, I don’t need to know the details.’ It wasn’t as if knowing would make any difference. ‘Just do it.’

Lizzie’s furtive return to her own home under the cover of darkness made her feel like some sort of thief, even if it was one with a key.

‘Was it really necessary to go round the block three times?’ she asked Dmitri as they drew up, and immediately felt guilty for the sarcasm because she had no doubt that he was following orders. ‘Well, you can tell him there were no ninja warriors hiding in the bushes.’

‘I think the odd pap is what worries him most.’

‘Well, thanks, I can take it from here.’

She let herself in and, walking to the window to close the blinds, she saw the four-wheel drive still sitting outside. No doubt he’d been told how long to wait—maybe all night? She was considering going outside to inform him when the car drew away, making her glad she hadn’t made a fool of herself.

Dmitri parked up and took out his phone again, ensuring he wasn’t driving before he spoke. ‘Hi, boss,’ he said, settling back into his seat. ‘The place was clear, no sign of any journalists, and she’s safe inside. I’ve parked at the end of the street, got a good view of access.’

‘Thanks for this,’ Adonis said. ‘Let me know what time she starts out.’

‘You want me to follow her?’

‘No, I’ll arrange for someone to wait for her to arrive then we can stand down. The Sinclair place apparently has pretty good security.’

Six a.m., the text had said, and the rat-a-tat knock at the door came exactly at six.

Lizzie fought against the tempting idea of ignoring the summons, turning the lock and whisking away upstairs. Maybe there was more of her dad in her than she had thought.

Her prediction that he would have absented himself—his usual way of dealing with unpleasantness—had been proved right. After his initial message to say he was playing golf in Portugal there had been radio silence.

Last night had been the first night in her own bed for a week, and maybe the last for a long time. The knowledge made her tummy muscles tighten.

After the second knock Lizzie unclenched her fingers one by one and took a deep breath.

She tried out several versions of a cool and collected smile in the mirror and settled on a scowl, which came naturally, as she sidestepped the pile of luggage crammed in the small hallway.

It was not the set of designer luggage that had been delivered along with a wardrobe of designer clothes brought by a duo who appeared to have been waiting for her return in a van bearing the name of an expensive department store.

Most of the contents of the glossy bags, wrapped between tissue paper or on hangers, were now in the motley collection of her own mismatched bags and holdalls.

True, it was a pretty feeble sort of rebellion, but it went a small way towards making her feel she was in charge of something and not some puppet. Feeble or not, it seemed a principle worth holding onto, and lessened the gut instinct that told her she was being managed.

Heart thudding, she pulled the door open a lot more violently than she had intended. She immediately lowered her line of vision a good four inches—the man standing on her doorstep was not six three. The anticlimax was intense.

‘Hello, Miss Sinclair.’

‘Hello again, Dmitri,’ she said, responding to the greeting in an overly bright voice.

‘Does my carriage await?’ she asked. Her gaze moved beyond him to the massive four-wheel drive with blacked-out windows parked outside her gate just as the passenger door opened and a woman with short bleached hair spiked around her head appeared.

‘My wife, Jenna. We’re the witnesses.’

‘Oh, that’s…good. Well. So, no bridegroom?’

‘He’s meeting us there.’

She didn’t bother asking where there was. It seemed a bit late to take any interest in the details at this stage.

As the broad-shouldered figure picked up several of her bags she grabbed a rucksack and slung it over one shoulder.

‘I’ll take that,’ he protested.

Lizzie ignored him and picked up Mouse, who was looking through the screen of her carrier with an expression of fastidious disgust.

‘A cat?’ He looked nonplussed.

‘Yes, this is Mouse. She’s a very good traveller,’ she explained, deciding to eliminate all the potential objections straight off. ‘And she’s got a passport and is up to date with all her jabs.’ She strode down the path to the car, not waiting for a response.

‘Hi, I’m Jenna.’ The openly curious woman looked her up and down. Lizzie assumed the brightly coloured kaftan-style maxi she was wearing was not normal office wear, unless Adonis kept a very informal office, which, considering his sharp suits, did not seem likely.

To Lizzie’s annoyance she heard herself say, ‘I’ve got shoes in the bag,’ when the other woman reached her seen-better-days trainers.

‘Good-looking cat. Do you want to sit up front?’

‘No, we’re fine in the back,’ Lizzie said, warming towards the woman who had admired her cat.

‘Oh, the key…’ she added, glancing at the baggage-laden figure striding down the path.

She put Mouse in the back seat and reached into the front pocket of the rucksack.

She was afraid that if she went back into the house she might go inside and lock the door to shut out this insanity.

She was on her way to her own wedding!

‘You’ll need these,’ she said, throwing them to Dmitri, who had finished putting the first load of bags in the boot and was going back for more.

He caught them casually one-handed and nodded.

He made short work of the rest of her bags and Lizzie watched him lock her door. The mundane action seemed scarily symbolic.

It was still home, she reminded herself as she accepted the keys and put them in her bag. When this was over she would be able to walk back into her old life, or reclaim a new life where her dad was not in danger of going under.