Page 71 of Modern Romance September 2025 1-4

CHAPTER EIGHT

T HERE WAS REAL apprehension weighing down Lydia’s chest when they took the elevator from Alexis’s apartment block’s underground car park up to his penthouse, and it had nothing to do with being hidden away in it for the best part of a week to look forward to.

Her apprehension came from meeting his staff.

Three months ago his butler had been on duty when they’d arrived back from the club and had been the one to deliver food to their room, while a maid had directed her to the elevator that took her down to the block’s lobby when she’d done the walk of shame as Alexis had called it.

She didn’t know what would be worst—seeing or not seeing a flicker of recognition.

If they didn’t recognise her then she really had been just another interchangeable face to emerge from Alexis’s bedroom, but if they did then she would have to live with them thinking God knew what about her.

She knew she shouldn’t care what strangers thought of her but she did care, deeply.

‘You’re sure your staff can be trusted to keep their mouths shut about me?’ she whispered, as if the elevator had hidden microphones the staff were listening in on.

If he was annoyed at having to answer the same question for the thousandth time, he hid it well. ‘I pay them too well to talk and even if they wanted to, the non-disclosure agreements they’ve all signed are watertight,’ he reassured her for the thousandth time.

‘I’m sorry. I just couldn’t bear for my family to hear about us from anyone but me.’

He squeezed her hand. ‘They won’t.’

The elevator door opened and they stepped into the small, unfurnished room she had only the vaguest memory of.

‘Tomorrow, I will have your eye-print added and give you all the access codes to the building,’ he said, indicating the retinal scanner beside the reinforced steel door. ‘It will allow you to come and go as you please.’

‘I won’t be going anywhere for a week, but thanks.’

‘If you find yourself getting cabin fever you can always go out in that brown wig.’

‘I’d rather not risk it, but thanks.’

‘The option’s there if you want it.’

‘Thanks.’

Instead of putting his eye to the scanner, he narrowed his gaze. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing?’

He raised both black eyebrows. ‘I can feel your tension. What’s wrong? Tell me or else I can’t fix it.’

She smiled, the weight lifting a fraction. ‘Alexis, you can’t fix everything.’

‘Want to bet?’

‘Some things I have to fix myself. I’m worried about what your staff are going to think about me, which is a me problem not a you or them problem.’

His stare held hers, that flicker in his eyes making a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance, and then he smiled and pressed a chaste kiss to her mouth. ‘My staff will love you, I promise.’

He put his eye to the scanner. The green light flashed and the door opened, taking them through to the first of the many sprawling reception rooms in his impressive apartment.

Not that Lydia had paid much attention to the apartment during her one visit to it before—on the way in they’d been too intent on making it to the bedroom for her to notice anything and on the way out she’d been too intent on just leaving without bursting into tears to take in any of the décor or furnishings.

The weight in her chest lifted a fraction more to find warmth in the eyes of the staff she was introduced to.

The maid who’d shown her the way out wasn’t there but the butler was, and, though she caught recognition from him, the warmth of his welcome was enough to put her fears in this regard to bed.

‘Your cases have been delivered and unpacked for you,’ the butler said once the others had disappeared.

‘Already?’ There wasn’t much difference in flight times from Kos to Athens as from Agon to Athens, but she’d only given Maya’s details to Alexis a couple of hours ago.

‘You should know by now that I only employ the best people,’ Alexis murmured. ‘Let me show you the rest of the place and then we can shower before dinner.’

It came as no surprise that the two-storey apartment was a strong contender for the Ultimate Bachelor Pad of the Year award, coming complete with games room, cinema room and party room—the disco ball on the ceiling away gave its purpose—that were all interlinked with bars in each of them.

The main living areas were all high ceilings, sash windows, dark leather sofas and glass tables.

Everywhere they went were splashes of original pop art, from Warhols and Hockneys to colourful, eye-popping work created by more modern, contemporary artists.

‘You can study them all tomorrow,’ Alexis said, tugging at her hand when Lydia found herself enthralled with an utterly bonkers red apple on a seesaw. ‘I’ve got a surprise for you.’

‘What surprise?’

He gave her a stare. ‘It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you, would it?’

They took the marble stairs to the top floor where Alexis’s bedroom was, but instead of going through its door, they carried on past other doors to the end of the wide, light corridor. He flung the final door open for her with a flourish.

To Lydia’s bemusement, she’d been shown to an office.

A very nice office, with three huge desktop computers set out on a horseshoe desk, a coffee machine, sofa and six more pieces of pop art on the walls, and with an amazing view of the Acropolis.

She assumed it was the view that was the surprise because she could think of nothing less thrilling than an office.

‘What do you think?’ he asked, staring at her with a tiny bit more intensity than the occasion called for.

She returned his intensity. ‘It’s the best office in the whole wide world.’

His brow furrowed and then he burst out laughing. ‘I’m not showing you this for the sake of it—I’m showing you it because it’s yours.’

Now it was Lydia’s turn to furrow her brow. ‘What do you mean by mine?’

‘ Your office, to work on your designs or play solitaire or whatever you want to do in it. I’ve had it on good authority that these computers are the best for your line of work but if they don’t suit your needs or are not to your taste or liking we can change them…’

‘Wait,’ she interrupted. ‘Are you telling me you’ve created an office for me?’

‘And I thought you were quick on the uptake.’

‘Alexis, I only agreed to marry you on Friday.’ Although she supposed it would technically have been Saturday. ‘Today is Monday.’

‘Yes, it gave my staff plenty of time to arrange it all. Once we’ve broken the news of our marriage to the world we can get an interior designer in to discuss what else you’d like to do with it and colour schemes of how you’d like the rest of the place to look and feel.’

‘The rest of the place?’ she said faintly.

‘This is now your home and it needs to feel like yours too or you will never be comfortable here.’

But there was no time to digest any of this for, without any warning whatsoever, Alexis had scooped her into his arms and was marching her down the corridor.

‘What are you doing?’

He grinned. ‘What I would have done yesterday if I hadn’t thought you’d punch me—carrying you over the threshold.’

It was the brightness of the room that stopped Lydia from planting the intended kiss on his mouth.

In utter disbelief, she turned her head from left to right as far as her neck would extend.

The last time she’d been in this room it had been an unashamed bachelor’s bedroom with seduction unashamedly in mind, with luxurious charcoal panelling and black silk sheets on a waterbed so big that if it had burst they’d have had to swim to safety.

Other than the layout, nothing remained.

Now, the walls were painted a soft eggshell green and cream, the bed of equal size but with a wrought-iron frame and luxurious cream and gold bedding that matched the new drapes hanging on the windows and the new, lighter, hardwood flooring…

This was a different room, she realised with a sinking heart. She’d been so desperate to leave the last time she’d been here that she’d remembered the position of the room wrongly.

‘I thought I was going to be sharing your room,’ she said, trying not to let her dejection show as he carried her to the bed. Dejection over something that just a day ago had been what she’d wanted. If she hadn’t become so lust-struck she’d be celebrating this turn of events.

He laid her down and stretched on top of her. ‘You are. This is it. Do you like it?’

‘What, this is your room?’

‘ Our room now,’ he corrected. ‘But formerly my room.’

She wriggled out from under him so she could take it all in again and wrap her head around what she was seeing…

He propped himself on an elbow. ‘Anything you don’t like, we can change.’

‘No, no, it’s lovely, it’s just…so different.’

Unsure from her expression and tone what she really meant, Alexis stared more closely at her and dubiously asked, ‘Did you prefer it as it was?’

She gave a bark of surprised laughter. ‘God, no! It was awful!’ Colour stained her cheeks and she quickly added, ‘I mean, it wasn’t particularly to my taste.’

He smiled wryly. ‘I didn’t imagine it was and that’s why I had it all changed.’

‘What? All this has changed since Saturday?’

He stroked her soft cheek and said words that told a version of the truth. ‘When I knew I would be marrying, I set things in motion.’ Putting his mouth to her ear, he seductively whispered, ‘How about we christen the bed before we shower?’

She pulled her head back to stare at him wonderingly. ‘Do you mean…?’

He smiled at the movement of her throat when she couldn’t finish her question.

‘No one else has slept in this bed.’ He laced his voice with meaning.

‘This is our room and our bed and no one else will ever sleep in it but us.’ He gave a wider smile and slid his hand down to her belly.

‘I suppose we can let our baby share with us on occasion.’