Page 15 of Modern Romance September 2025 1-4

‘Dwi knows that we’ve been reported missing because it’s all over the newspapers.

I’m calling my friend Andreas so that the search can be called off.

He’ll organise everything for us and then I’m going to call Mr Bernard, so that I can explain that we broke into his house to use it.

Reggie was picked up last week, by the way,’ he advanced.

‘But he’s in hospital with an injured leg which requires surgery. ’

The phone was passed back and forth for Dwi to give the exact location of the island.

Sebastian spoke in Greek, laughing occasionally and smiling, and she surmised that Andreas was a close friend.

They all began walking towards the house as Sebastian phoned the house owner to offer their thanks for its use as well as assurances that the house would be returned to its original state.

The phone was returned to Dwi. ‘We’ll be picked up this evening by helicopter,’ Sebastian informed her. ‘Your family are already waiting for you. My yacht arrived in Bali last week and I’ve told Andreas to invite your family to use it for the duration of their stay.’

‘My family’s here?’ Bunny gasped in consternation. ‘How many of them?’

‘Parents and a couple of brothers, I believe,’ Sebastian supplied.

‘We can’t stay on your…yacht,’ she declared uncomfortably.

‘Why would you put them to the expense of staying anywhere else?’ Sebastian questioned with a frown.

A deep tide of red washed up over her heart-shaped face because that was unanswerable.

Her parents were retired and would’ve dug deep into their savings to fly out to Indonesia.

Anything that could lessen the cost of their unexpected stay in Asia would be welcome to them.

‘You have a yacht ?’ she said instead of all the many more embarrassing things that she might have said without thinking.

Back in the real world, she was thinking, the differences between her and Sebastian were starkly apparent.

He had a yacht! He spoke sufficient Indonesian to have soothed the anxious Dwi and he spoke French fluently while her grasp of the language had advanced no further than the exam she had passed at sixteen.

‘I don’t want to get on another boat,’ she confessed uneasily.

‘The yacht won’t be sailing anywhere and it’s the size of a small cruise ship.’

Bunny swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded obediently because she would have to get over her newly learned aversion to boats to allow her family to take advantage of Sebastian’s hospitality.

And his thoughtfulness on her family’s behalf, her conscience slotted in, but she really didn’t want to be reminded that Sebastian was that rich and important that his disappearance had been reported in newspapers.

Or that, in spite of his wealth and influence, he could still be unexpectedly kind.

While the two men talked, Bunny’s memory ranged free.

At dawn that morning, Sebastian had been studying her when she wakened and had informed her that the sun had given her a fifth freckle on her nose.

‘So admit it, I notice everything about you,’ he had teased, shifting over her, already hard and urgent against her.

‘Now you have to say good morning my way…’

‘Not until I’ve freshened up.’

‘You smell of me and I find that stupendously sexy,’ he had husked.

She had gloried in the sensation of having those stunning dark eyes of his locked to her. ‘According to you, you find everything about me sexy.’

‘So let me take advantage of you again…’

And without hesitation, they had taken advantage of each other, she conceded, her feminine core tingling in erotic recollection of that passion.

Although she had not known it at the time, she reflected now, that had been their last time together.

It was over, done, dusted, soon to be forgotten about, she told herself.

She wasn’t about to agonise over a stupid, meaningless fling. She wasn’t that big an idiot!

For heaven’s sake, why was she standing around dreaming when they would soon be leaving? She needed to tidy the house, change the bedding, pick up her few belongings. As she sped indoors, Sebastian caught her by the elbow. ‘We’ll eat on the yacht.’

‘Please tell me there’ll be vegetables. You wouldn’t believe how much I’ve missed them!’ she sighed, rolling her eyes with determined cheer.

‘I have a chef. You can choose your favourite meal,’ he promised. ‘Roasted veg and cheese? And a dessert?’

‘I can hardly wait,’ she said brightly, noting that he had tied up his hair again with a length of vine and that miraculously he already looked much more like the guy she had first met. Self-contained, rather remote, his brilliant dark eyes veiled even though his tone was light and casual.

‘An official investigation has been opened into the wreck,’ Sebastian warned her.

‘We’ll have to make statements to the police and the shipping authorities.

You’ll have to watch what you say or you could get Reggie into trouble because that mast should never have come down like that.

Either they’ll find a reason for it failing or they’ll try to blame him for taking out a vessel that wasn’t seaworthy. ’

Bunny nodded very seriously. ‘He wouldn’t have done that.’

‘No and luckily we’re both in good health, which will help matters.’

‘But you were hurt.’

‘The mast caught the back of my head as it went down. I was fortunate the effects weren’t more serious.’ Sebastian paused and studied her. ‘Though I would ask you to keep my temporary amnesia a confidential matter. I’m over it. It’s no longer relevant. Nobody else needs to know.’

His amnesia was not relevant and she suspected that in his view that covered their temporary relationship as well. ‘Understood. I’m not going to talk about you to anyone,’ she told him stiffly and turned away.

‘There are people who will offer you a lot of money to tell them about your experiences with me here,’ he cautioned her tautly. ‘If that is likely to tempt you to talk, I would be happy to give you the cash upfront in return for your silence.’

Every scrap of colour evaporated from Bunny’s complexion.

‘I have no intention of selling you out, Sebastian. But it’s interesting how immediately distrustful you’ve become since regaining your memory.

’ Bunny’s green eyes were reproachful, her tone stiff.

‘I may not be rich but I’m happy with what I’ve got and no matter what I’m offered, I won’t be tempted to reveal any secrets that could embarrass you. ’

She went upstairs to collect their few possessions and strip the bed.

‘You don’t need to bother,’ Sebastian said from the doorway. ‘Dwi says the owner is putting this place up for sale. Apparently, this was once his dream hideaway but he’s since got married and his wife doesn’t like being so far from civilisation, so he’s not using it any more.’

‘Even so, I’ll put the sheets on to wash,’ she murmured. ‘It’s the polite thing to do.’

She was keeping busy to avoid having to think about what Sebastian had revealed.

He had just offered to pay her cash, to bribe her to prevent her from talking about her experiences on the island with him.

Well, that told her all she needed to know about his opinion of her.

Would he have believed ill of her as easily before he regained his memory?

Was he always this cynical and suspicious?

It occurred to her that perhaps she had been lucky to be washed up with a Sebastian who barely knew who he was.

To say the least, the fully restored version of Sebastian inhabited a ‘them’ and ‘us’ world from which she, by virtue of her economic status, was excluded.

He didn’t trust her any more but maybe he had never trusted her.

It was cool and damp when she heard the helicopter overhead.

The late summer weather was definitely on the turn.

Although the days remained hot the evenings were getting cooler.

As she stepped out of the house, she carried a small bundle and when she reached the beach, she tossed Sebastian’s sweater at him.

Frowning, he turned to her.

‘You forgot it!’ she yelled above the racket of the helicopter settling down on the beach. It had a very sleek paint job in purple and silver and some sort of logo on it.

He strode back towards her. ‘I left it for you…it’s cold.’

‘I’m fine.’

He ignored her assurance and instead ran a reproving finger over the goosebumps on her arm. He dropped his sweater over her head, feeding her hands carefully into the sleeves before stooping to lift her off her feet into his arms to carry her.

‘What are you doing?’ she demanded in astonishment.

‘You don’t have any shoes!’ he vented in surprise at her reaction as they were approached by the two men who had jumped out of the helicopter. Both were staring and one of them was her eldest brother, John. Her face burned with self-consciousness.

‘I’ll take her from here,’ John asserted, extending his arms to remove her from Sebastian’s hold.

Sebastian, however, stood his ground and lifted an arrogant black brow. ‘And you are?’

‘This is my brother John,’ Bunny proclaimed hurriedly.

Sebastian relaxed his hold and handed her over like a parcel. ‘Sebastian Pagonis.’

‘John Woods.’

‘Where’s Mum and Dad?’ Bunny asked as John moved her into the helicopter.

‘There wasn’t enough space for more than two of us to fly out here and Mum and Dad are a bit overcome by all this and Mum didn’t want to cry over you in front of people.’