Page 23 of Modern Romance July 2025 #4-8

She nodded, determined not to let anyone think that she needed protecting, although the fact that this had been his instinct sent a warmth through her.

‘My grandson seems mightily protective about you,’ the old man commented as he paused to catch his breath after a few yards.

‘I think he’s worried I’ll say the wrong thing… I do that.’

The admission drew a rumble of laughter from the old man’s chest, which was followed by a bout of wracking coughs.

Lizzie waited.

‘You are not much like your cousin.’

‘No, Deb was very beautiful.’

He scanned her face as though searching for something. Lizzie endured the fierce scrutiny in silence.

‘So you don’t have a lover in the wings?’

Lizzie was more confused than offended. Her brows went up. ‘A lover? I don’t—’

‘I wouldn’t want my grandson’s heart to be broken.’

Lizzie shook her head. ‘I won’t break Adonis’s heart. I can promise you that,’ she said.

‘And do you always tell the truth?’

‘That depends.’

‘So you don’t think that honesty is always the best policy?’

‘Not if the truth hurts someone and would not achieve anything.’

Though he didn’t immediately respond, Lizzie had the feeling she had said the right thing.

‘So would you lie to my grandson?’

‘Adonis is not an easy man to lie to.’

Her reply brought a quiver of a smile to his lips. ‘Neither am I,’ he added, banging on the door with his cane, and a woman wearing white scrubs appeared.

‘My nurse,’ he said, his lip curling at the description. ‘Or what passes for a nurse these days.’

‘What can I say? There were no oil lamps left,’ she said, casting a professional eye over her patient and detecting the signs of strain in his face.

‘Have you thought of using a wheelchair?’

Two pairs of eyes swivelled Lizzie’s way.

Ah, well, she thought philosophically, she had to say the wrong thing at some point.

‘The last person who said that got this cane thrown at them.’

‘Wow, I can see where your grandson got his tolerant disposition from.’

The old man fought off a smile. ‘At least you have good child-bearing hips!’

It was so outrageous that Lizzie laughed, and before she could denounce this sexist comment he vanished through the doors, leaving the nurse to throw an apologetic look over her shoulder.

Did that go well?

Lizzie wouldn’t go that far, but it hadn’t gone badly as such, she decided as she began to retrace her steps. She passed musicians carrying their instruments on the way and by the time she reached the dining room it had emptied.

The only person there was Adonis, who was seated at the piano that lived there, his fingers moving quite professionally across the keys. The moment he saw her, his fingers came crashing down on the keys with a discordant clatter.

He rose and walked quickly across to her.

‘The party broke up early?’

‘It did.’

‘Can’t say I’m not relieved.’

‘So how did it go?’

‘You mean did I say the wrong thing?’

‘No, I mean how did it go?’ He could hardly blame her for doubting his concern was genuine. It came as a shock to him as well.

‘It was OK, I think, right up to the moment I suggested a wheelchair.’

Amusement sparked in his dark eyes. ‘Did he throw anything at you?’

‘No, he just told me I had good child-bearing hips.’

The comment drew his eyes straight to the area in question, where her tight bottom was lovingly outlined beneath the heavy smooth fabric that he had noticed flowed in an arousing way when she moved.

Who was he kidding? There didn’t need to be flowing involved.

She just aroused him, full stop. Maybe it was the fact she made no attempt to seduce that made her inherent sexiness all the more powerful?

He had to admit that powerful barely covered the hunger she had awoken in him. He felt he was hovering on the edge of a loss of self-control continually.

The knowledge she was a virgin should have simply drawn a very clear line in the sand.

Instead it was a very faint line that he kept making rational excuses to step over.

Without the disturbing, yet also, he had to admit, arousing virgin tag hanging over her he would have skipped tonight altogether and they would have spent it in bed.

‘I think that was meant as a compliment.’

‘I didn’t take it that way.’ Despite her claim, she gave a tolerant smile. ‘And anyway, it’s probably true.’ She sighed as her eyes flickered to the piano. ‘You play well.’

‘No, I play adequately,’ he said, a half-smile tugging at his lips. He retrieved the jacket he had slung across the back of a chair and shrugged it on.

‘How very self-deprecating of you.’ She stopped, shock flickering into her eyes. She was teasing Adonis Aetos. It was strange, she reflected, how quickly their relationship had developed.

‘You made an impression tonight.’

‘Good, bad, indifferent?’

‘The consensus appears to be that I am a lucky man.’

She felt the heat climb to her cheeks.

He studied her face. ‘Why do compliments make you so uneasy.’

‘They saw the clothes, not me.’

‘They saw you, in these clothes, which is quite different,’ he retorted, standing aside to let her walk through the door before him. ‘Lizzie, I think it’s time you let that miserable little girl who was teased by stupid boys and jealous girls go.’

She stared at this cool analysis of her teenage years, opening her mouth and then closing it again.

‘Does the therapy come with the rings? Or do I pay extra? I didn’t mean in bed or anything,’ she said, digging herself deeper into a mire of confusion. ‘Obviously not. I wasn’t suggesting—’

He looked at her, and the hard expressionless stare sent her stomach into free fall. ‘I know you weren’t.’ If he hadn’t known about her inexperience, he would be wondering about it now. ‘It’s free, no strings.’

She brought her lashes down in a concealing fringe as she fell into step beside him.

‘I’d never find my way back on my own.’

‘I’ll give you the guided tour tomorrow. You’ll soon find your way around.’

He turned on a lamp and the room was immediately flooded with soft golden light. Lizzie stood there, nerves jangling. ‘Where is that cat?’

‘Do you want a drink?’

She shook her head. ‘Best not.’

He nodded and moved away, she was not sure where to, but the tension went with him. When he came back a few minutes later, she was standing where he had left her, statue still.

‘If you are still looking for the cat, she is asleep on my cashmere sweater.’

‘Oh, no!’ She gasped with a horror way out of proportion to the situation. ‘I will go and get her—’

He caught her arm as she rushed past him, spinning her around to face him.

‘Leave it, she’s fine where she is.’

For a long moment, neither moved. Tension zigzagged in the air between them.

Her eyes were drawn to the contracting ripple of muscle in his brown throat before he released her arm.

She didn’t step away.

She didn’t breathe.

‘Will you stop looking at me like that?’ he ground out.

‘Like what?’ Her throat felt achy. She could only whisper.

‘Like you’re seeing us naked in bed.’

‘I wasn’t, but I am now.’ Her own boldness shocked her.

His eyes darkened. Her honesty was a massive aphrodisiac. ‘And how does that make you feel?’ he asked, his voice low and sinfully seductive as he bent in close enough for her to feel the warmth of his breath on her cheek, close enough to make her head spin.

Could a person forget how to breathe? she wondered as she stood frozen, her heart pounding as he bent his head. There was no barrier as he slid his tongue between her lips before plunging it in deep, the action drawing a keening sound from her throat.

The heat between them was instantaneous.

Lizzie rose on her tiptoes, her hands sliding up his back, feeling ridges of muscle before she raised her arms to link her fingers behind his neck. As she kissed him back, pressing in closer, a wild, inarticulate need pulsed through her body.

As the kiss grew frantic there was nothing in her head but burning need, nothing but his muscles and hot hard body, the male scent of him, the heat of him.

Breathing hard, Adonis broke the kiss and, looking into her glazed blue eyes, placed his hands on her narrow waist. Her half-closed eyes flickered wide when he lifted her off the ground as though she weighed nothing.

Reacting on instincts she hadn’t known she possessed, Lizzie automatically wound her legs tight around his waist, the action dragging words of approval from his lips.

They made a staggering progress backwards through the open door, mouths still sealed as they kissed frantically.

Lizzie was shocked by the primal ferocity of the need that coursed through her, shocked and excited as her heart thudded like a hammer against her breastbone as he laid her down on the bed.

Panting, she stared up at him, the raw power he exuded overwhelming.

‘You sure about this?’

She nodded, not trusting her voice.

He knelt beside her and brushed the hair from her face, the tenderness contrasting with the fierce glow in his deep-set eyes. Somehow the fact his hand was shaking made her feel safer, the knowledge that this wasn’t just happening to her.

She turned her head and pressed an open-mouthed kiss into his palm.

‘I need to hear you say it.’

She reached up and framed his face with her small hands. ‘I want this. I want you.’

He lowered his head again, and this time she met the thrust of his tongue.

His chest heaving, he pulled back. ‘One taste of you would never be enough.’

Emotion lodged in her throat, and she pushed her reply past the aching occlusion. ‘You can have as much of me as you want.’

With a growl he covered her beautiful, sensuous mouth, feeding the flames with every stroke and thrust of his tongue, every greedy nip and clash of teeth.

She gasped and twisted as his hands slid under her dress, along the soft smooth skin of her thighs. His hands felt cool on her overheated skin.

He suddenly pulled her into a sitting position, one hand on the small of her back.

‘You look beautiful in this dress, but I really want to see you without it.’