Page 20 of Modern Romance September 2025 1-4

Right, well, that got the necessity of telling Sebastian out of the way.

She screened a yawn in the hallway of the comfortable, cluttered bungalow where her parents lived.

As she wandered into the kitchen to help her mother make dinner, she was wondering what she would wear the next day.

Her last chance to impress before she lost her normal shape and started sprouting curves.

‘Sebastian’s coming down tomorrow to take me for lunch,’ she revealed, looking on that admission as required footwork in advance of the more shocking revelation that she had conceived by a man who would have not the smallest intention or interest in putting a ring on her finger.

‘Has something happened?’ her mother enquired. ‘I thought you weren’t planning to see him again.’

‘I didn’t think I would get the chance,’ Bunny said truthfully. ‘But we have some stuff to talk about.’

‘He’s not sending you those extravagant flowers every week for nothing,’ her father commented drily. ‘Obviously he’s still interested in you.’

Bunny tensed. ‘Sort of… I think,’ she parried uncomfortably.

‘He’s got a tragic back history but I wouldn’t hold that against him,’ her father, a retired policeman, said thoughtfully.

‘I just don’t want you to get hurt,’ her mother chipped in.

And after dinner, unable to settle, Bunny told herself that she wouldn’t get hurt even though she was already counting down the hours to seeing him again, picturing him, wondering how he would feel seeing her again.

Would he feel anything ? Bunny had never been more wretched than she had been for the past six weeks, missing Sebastian with every breath that she drew.

The colour was leached out of her days by the giant black hole of unhappiness inside her.

She had told herself that she didn’t love him, that she hadn’t known him well enough or long enough for love, but, in her heart, she knew that was a lie.

For whatever reasons she had fallen for Sebastian Pagonis like a giant ton of bricks pitched off a cliff and having to get by without him weighed on her very heavily.

Sebastian appeared not long after she arrived at her last morning stop.

She was busy tidying the shelves and checking the returns when she heard steps and she suppressed a groan because she assumed it was another customer.

Instead, when she whirled round she was confronted by Sebastian, impossibly tall and broad and wholly unfamiliar in a very snazzy dark suit.

She sucked in a stark breath, her heartbeat thundering.

‘I’m a little early.’

‘No, that’s fine,’ she said breathlessly. ‘I just have to park the van in the pub car park and I’m free. You’re looking very…tailored and elegant today.’

Sebastian gave her his lazy grin. ‘I thought I should make an effort for once. I usually dress very casually.’

‘Should I be flattered?’ she teased. ‘Or intimidated?’

‘Hopefully not the latter,’ he intoned in his smooth, well-bred drawl. ‘Just don’t be expecting it all the time.’

A huge smile lit up Bunny’s face because she thought it was promising that he was already assuming that he would see her again.

He looked amazing, black hair in his usual sleek style on top of his handsome head, and he really had gone to town on his appearance because he had teamed the suit with a silver-grey shirt and a red silk tie.

Drop-dead gorgeous but never to be hers.

Live in the moment, she urged herself, enjoy him for what he is, a luxury and a pleasure.

But, ultimately, too rich for her blood.

‘Shall we go?’ he enquired, supremely proud of himself for not commenting on the fact that she looked as if she had lost weight and wasn’t sleeping well.

In fact, she seemed fragile, still beautiful though with her delicate face, snub nose and soft mouth, with her glorious golden hair tumbling round her narrow shoulders.

‘I’ll park the van…’ With difficulty she dredged her gaze from him, her colour high, and closed the door to climb into the driver’s seat.

When she’d finished locking up, she smoothed down her plain green dress, straightened her cardigan and tidied her hair, wincing because she owned not a single garment smart enough to impress anybody.

It would take time and cash to build up a decent working wardrobe.

Sebastian was posed beside a sleek sports car and another two cars were parked behind him, having already disgorged their occupants.

Men in smart suits and earpieces were all over the place.

‘Travelling in style?’ she asked.

‘The security?’ He shrugged a broad shoulder as he ushered her into the passenger seat. ‘No, this is the norm for me. My week in Indonesia was an escape week from these trappings and it turned into two weeks of freedom, so I’m not complaining.’

‘Have you always lived like this?’

Sebastian swung into the seat beside her and ignited the engine. ‘Pretty much for the last ten years.’

‘We could have a quick meal at the pub here,’ she pointed out.

‘I wanted something more special.’

‘Oh?’ But Sebastian being Sebastian, he didn’t take the bait or explain why he was opting for special rather than convenient.

A lean brown hand settled on her slender thigh briefly and she was tempted to put her hand down on top of his, eager for that connection and fighting the desire to deepen it. ‘I missed having you around,’ he told her. ‘What’s it like being back with your family?’

Her thigh tingled where he retained contact and then he removed his hand again, killing the buzz she had experienced.

‘Pros and cons. I’d like to move out but I don’t have a car and—’ Suddenly conscious that she was lamenting her financial status to a billionaire, she winced inwardly.

‘Well, there’s just good reasons to live at home for the moment. ’

‘I’ve a feeling that that will change.’

‘With me being pregnant?’ Bunny shook her head as he filtered his silver Lamborghini down a long lane lined with wonderfully colourful maple trees. ‘My family aren’t the type to throw me out in the winter snow. Lecture me, maybe, be disappointed, probably, but nothing worse.’

‘No, not that,’ he said evasively as he pulled the car to a halt below the trees and parked in front of a long traditional farmhouse. ‘This is a very exclusive restaurant. I hope it lives up to its ratings.’

‘After the island I can eat anything, except not fish…please, no more fish for at least six months,’ she pleaded as he climbed out, urging her to remain seated, and walked right round the bonnet to open her door for her. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Acting like a gentleman. You’re pregnant,’ he reminded her as he grasped her hand and lifted her gently out. ‘You shouldn’t be straining a single muscle right now.’

‘You told me that you were raised to be a gentleman but that you don’t behave like one,’ she reminded him.

‘I’m also highly adaptable. All my life, I’ve had to be,’ he imparted, leading her through the parked cars, not to the front entrance as she had expected, but to a quieter side entrance.

She heard the distant hum of voices and the clatter of china and cutlery.

An older man greeted them and ushered them along a cosy panelled corridor into a very comfortable room with a beautifully set single table, two chairs and a big, cushioned sofa by the window.

The fire in the old-fashioned fireplace was lit to ward off the autumn chill and decorated with pumpkin lights.

‘This is lovely, very seasonal,’ Bunny said warmly as they ordered drinks and the menus were presented. They both chose light bites rather than full meals. A private lunch date where they had their own room was unexpected but she assumed that once again Sebastian was conserving his privacy.

Sebastian fingered the tiny box in his pocket and breathed in deep.

The server left the room. Sebastian looked at Bunny’s happy smiling face with satisfaction and then he rose upright before dropping down fluidly onto one knee.

He was being traditional so he might as well go the whole hog, he decided with determination, even if his agile brain was already throwing up a cartoonish image of the old-fashioned gesture.

He clicked open the box and extended it and said with all the gravity he could muster, ‘Will you marry me?’