Page 109 of Modern Romance October 2025 5-8

Stella exhaled, trembling, feeling the truth of his words. She’d tried—how she’d tried!—to convince herself she was over Gio. That she despised him. But it wasn’t so.

Her heart sang when he spoke of not being able to move on. Of needing to be with her.

She should be appalled but instead felt relief.

It shouldn’t work like this. They’d only spent a week together. Yet this potent thing between them had nothing to do with how long they’d known each other.

He hadn’t put a name to the connection and nor had she. She didn’t understand it yet felt it in every pore. More so now they’d cleared the air and she’d discovered he wasn’t an arch manipulator like her father.

Even in her fury she’d felt the connection. Felt and feared it. For she’d never known anything like it. As for Gio seducing her, they’d seduced each other, despite what she’d told herself in her pain.

She thrilled that Gio had crossed the globe to claim her. He made her feel desirable and cherished. He met some intrinsic need she’d never known before.

Thatwas why Gio was dangerous. His actions, his words, played into her greatest weakness. To be wanted, cherished, loved.

She dragged in a shuddery breath, gaze fixed on the gem-bright lawn and deep blue lake beyond it. But what she saw was Gio’s silvery stare, the pain in his eyes as he spoke of her being with another man. Pain, not guile.

It was…astounding.

But what was the connection he felt? Pure lust, or something else?

‘Stella?’

Slowly she turned back. ‘What do you want from me, Gio? What are your plans?’

His mouth twisted. ‘I didn’t have a plan beyond getting you here.’

Her eyebrows shot up. ‘But your professional reputation is for insight and long-term strategy.’

His shoulders rose, hands splaying. ‘This isn’t business. It’s about us, Stella and Gio, and how we feel.’

‘I thought men didn’t talk about feelings.’

A wry smile made something needy twist inside. She pressed a hand to her stomach, feeling the bulge where his baby nestled. A dart of keen emotion pierced her.

‘You’re right. I don’t want to.’ His smile died. ‘I don’t have pretty words for you, Stella. But we started something months ago and it’s not over. I’d told myself I’d moved on but when I heard about the wedding I knew it was a lie. You know it’s a lie too or you wouldn’t be here.’

Shame bit deep. At how she’d abandoned Eduardo. But not for her father, whose plans to marry her to an aristocrat had come undone.

She didn’t want to have anything to do with Alfredo Barbieri, ever. Marriage had been a way to secure a bright future for her baby and give her the freedom to build her career while moving away from Alfredo’s influence. Now everything was in tatters yet, while she felt remorse for her jilted groom, the rest wasn’t as important as she’d thought.

Stella forced herself to think. ‘What do you suggest? An affair until the lust burns out, then we separate?’

There was a flash of steel in Gio’s eyes. As if her plain speaking didn’t please him.

Yet when he answered, his voice was rough. ‘It’s not just the two of us any more, is it, Stella? There’s the baby, and it’s mine, isn’t it?’

Silently she nodded. There was no point prevaricating now.

She watched him digest that, saw the infinitesimal changes to his expression but couldn’t read his thoughts.

How did he feel about the baby?

‘Then we need to discuss the future.’

True as that was, his words felt like a weight pressing down. She had no guidebook for this situation, no experience that would help her. And he didn’t look nearly as avid now. Or was that disappointment? Weariness slammed into her.

‘Yes,’ she said finally. ‘But later. I’d like to rest first.’