Page 177 of Modern Romance September 2025 1-4

She pushed it away. “Why don’t you turn off the lights and come sit next to me?” she suggested.

There was a moment of hesitation that might have concerned her, but he faced her with a sly grin. “With guests in the home? For shame,tesoro.”

She chuckled and shook her head. “I want to enjoy the tree lights. Turn the overheads off and come.”

He did as beckoned, turned off the overhead lighting so now it was only the twinkling red, green and white of the tree. Amelia knew all the work that had gone into that tree. She knew it was simply some electricity and bits of shiny things placed carefully, but it felt like magic all the same.

Diego slid onto the chaise next to her, and she leaned against him, appreciating the strong warmth of his body.

“It was the perfect night.” Just perfect. Even the hiccups had been perfect, because they allowed it to feel real. They would look back on tonight with smiles, satisfaction over handling everything that had come their way.

She turned to him in the glow of the Christmas tree she’d decorated for him. So that he could return to the castello and remember. Feel. Come back to life.

She wanted to look back on this moment, this night, and remember it for being the perfect start to something beautiful and lasting.

His face lit by the twinkling lights, the shadows around them like a cocoon rather than any darkness. But life was both.

And she wanted both with him.

Perhaps she should ease into it, warn him a bit before the words escaped, but in the end, Amelia only had the simplicity of the feeling.

“I love you, Diego.”

Amelia had not let herself imagine the moment after. She’d simply told herself she’d handle whatever came her way. Even if he rejected her. This wasn’t abouthim. It was about howshefelt.

But the way he froze, his eyes going flat and blank, was like being stabbed through the heart.

And she hadn’t prepared for that at all.

Diego did not panic. Not outwardly. Not just yet. He had not considered… Not yet…

Perhaps he should have. And because, perhaps, he’d seen it there in her eyes even if he’d pretended he hadn’t, he didn’t panic. He wasn’t ready, but a part of him was.

Because he’d already decided what he’d do, which was why he’d given himself leave to enjoy tonight. A goodbye forher.

But now she was talking about the opposite of goodbye, and he would have to ruin everything.

Yes, he supposed it was the punishment he deserved.

Carefully, he took her arm from around him, slid out from the weight of her and herlove, and got to his feet.

When that was not quite enough to allow him a careful breath, he took a few steps away from the chaise. He had to look away from her, picture perfect in the warm glow of Christmas tree lights, in the dress he’d bought knowing she would look like some kind of Christmas angel.

Which had made it clear,again, how little he deserved this respite. How completely he belonged on his mountain, paying his penance. She wasn’t going to understand that, but she couldn’t. She did not have blood on her hands like he did. She had only grief, not blame.

He’d never convince her, so he didn’t set out to. He simply set out to make this as little of a wound on her as possible.

He considered his words, weighed them. Then made sure to deliver them with an authority she would not be able to argue. “Amelia, you are mistaken.”

For a moment, a tense silence settled over the room like a lead weight. When she spoke, her tone was cool and cutting. “There’s no need to be an idiot about it.”

He blinked once, opened his mouth, but no words came. Anidiot. She’d called him…

She got to her feet now. Without the heels, she barely came up to his chin, but she had the stance of a fighter ready to brawl.

“I know how I feel, Diego. Now, you do not have to feel the same, but you will do me the courtesy of acknowledging that I am a grown woman in charge of my own feelings. I do not say what I do not mean.”

“Very well,” he said carefully, a negotiator trying to avoid the explosion. “You are not mistaken.” He should leave it at that, but… “But you are wrong.”