Page 9 of Modern Romance September 2025 1-4

CHAPTER FOUR

‘Y OU’RE CLEVER,’ S EBASTIAN commented over an evening meal of freshly grilled fish, which he had supplied, and freshly made bread, which she had baked.

‘How?’ she challenged although she knew perfectly well, for that afternoon had passed with both of them laying out an SOS message on the beach on both sides of the island. Palm leaves weighted down with stones had worked the best. And Sebastian had been kind of quiet and broody.

‘When you told me to undress, you knew what—’

‘Of course, I did,’ she said lightly. ‘But it’s not that simple, Sebastian. I’m not ready to take that step with you.’

His wide sensual lips compressed hard. ‘That’s fine.’

‘And maybe you haven’t thought of it, but I have… Have you any contraception?’

His ebony brows lifted and dropped again, his lustrous dark eyes steady while his lush black lashes dipped. ‘As a matter of a fact, no. But surely you —?’

‘What I was using was left behind on the catamaran.’

In the simmering silence, Sebastian breathed in deep and smiled at her, a level smile that surprised her. ‘I should’ve thought of that aspect. I’m afraid I didn’t.’

‘And I’m afraid I’m naturally sensible and cautious,’ Bunny confirmed quietly.

‘As a rule, I am too,’ he told her, his brilliant dark eyes narrowing. ‘But, not with you for some reason. Don’t look so anxious. But I will certainly cherish that moment when you told me to take my clothes off for many years…and then took them away to wash them.’

‘I didn’t want to argue with you. I didn’t want a confrontation.’

‘Listen…’ Sebastian closed a hand over hers with complete casualness and smiled at her.

‘A woman doesn’t ever have to apologise for being clever when she’s saying no.

I’m not the type of guy who will ever quarrel with that but, be warned, I am the kind of man who will think of all the other things we can do. ’

‘Understood,’ she said a little breathlessly, her colour high.

‘You’ve been bitten,’ he pointed out, indicating the swelling on her arm.

‘Last night,’ she said with a shrug.

‘You won’t be bitten tonight. We’re both sleeping with the insect drapes around us upstairs.’

Bunny bit at her lower lip.

‘And you will be perfectly safe in that bed with me,’ Sebastian assured her smoothly.

Bunny didn’t think she would be safe even in an Arctic environment with Sebastian, never mind a big, comfy bed.

Furthermore, her pyjamas weren’t dry as yet, which meant sleeping in the shirt again.

She breathed in deep and asked herself if she was really that concerned.

And she wasn’t. She trusted Sebastian, didn’t know why but she simply did.

In her opinion he was too outspoken to be a habitual liar.

‘How long do you think it will take for us to be found?’

‘It could be a couple of weeks until a search finds us and I doubt if we’re even officially missing yet. We’ll conserve the tinned and dried goods and I’ll fish,’ Sebastian informed her.

Bunny tried not to think of the horror that would assail her family when or if they were informed that she had gone missing at sea. In an effort to move on from that thought, she said, ‘Who do you think owns this place?’

‘A keen birdwatcher with enough cash to build his dream hideaway in the back of beyond,’ Sebastian opined with a frown. ‘Someone older than us, I suspect, and there’s no sign of a woman or guests ever having been here. I’ll compensate the owner for everything we’ve used, broken or ruined.’

‘I suppose that’s all you can do,’ Bunny muttered, thinking that there really wasn’t anything else to eat on the island unless they started trapping birds and she recalled Reggie telling one of their hunting-mad passengers that it was forbidden on most of the islands they visited.

She tried to get into a book on birds and soon found herself yawning.

Sebastian had taken himself off again. He was like that: restless, always needing an occupation or a challenge.

She went upstairs and had a brief shower, put a replacement head on the electric toothbrush and freshened up.

Pleasantly sleepy, she unfurled the drapes right round the bed and crept in one side.

She wondered if she should put a pillow down the middle of the mattress and grimaced at an idea that would only make Sebastian laugh at her.

A while later, she was vaguely aware of Sebastian’s return, the sounds of him undressing, the beat of the water in the fabulous shower and she turned towards him as the mattress gave beneath his weight.

‘Go back to sleep,’ he whispered.

‘My mind is too busy. I was thinking of the last time I shared a bed on a regular basis… Not a happy place to revisit,’ she muttered ruefully and ready to kick herself.

Sleepy Bunny was confiding Bunny, Sebastian registered, and he grinned. ‘Something bad happen?’

‘My ex had been cheating on me from the start and I was with him for over two years before I found out. How sad is that?’

‘Are you still sad about it?’

‘Heavens, no! It’s way over a year since we broke up. I’m only sad that I didn’t catch on sooner. I wasted a lot of time at uni with him when I could’ve been out having fun.’

‘Learn from it,’ Sebastian advised, sliding an arm round her and easing her closer. ‘Don’t get all your hopes and dreams tangled up with one person. It doesn’t work. People almost always let you down.’

And where did that depressing belief come from? Sebastian questioned inwardly, positively chilled by what he had said. People could be fast friends and dependable. Yes. He had collided with a lot of the other sort in life but the few close friends he had he trusted completely.

‘Kiss me goodnight,’ he said abruptly.

‘It won’t stop at one kiss.’

Sebastian laughed with rich appreciation. ‘Is that me or you you’re condemning?’

‘Both of us,’ she traded, her cheek resting against his shoulder, her body relaxing into the heat and the already familiar scent of him. ‘Let’s be sensible.’

‘I don’t think I’ve ever heard a gloomier piece of advice from a woman.’

‘You’re more daring than me.’

‘Daring is more fun,’ Sebastian chided, rolling over and gazing down at her in the moonlight, his tousled dark head descending slowly.

And she knew he was giving her time to pull away if she chose but her brain was preoccupied with wondering if she had had any fun since childhood.

She didn’t think so, aside from the very occasional night out with friends.

She had toed the line Tristram had laid out like that Stepford wife that Sebastian had mentioned, and the memory stung.

Her ex hadn’t liked her going out with friends but most likely, she acknowledged now, that had been because he was afraid of her seeing him out cheating on her.

It struck her that she had spent most of her life doing what other people believed she should do, first her family and then her ex.

Irritated by that thought that she had never yet claimed the freedom to be herself, she tipped her head back and trailed her soft full lips over Sebastian’s and he took the hint like a trooper. She was a little better prepared for that sensual onslaught than she had been earlier in the day.

Even so, that unfamiliar jolt of pure excitement still shook her up.

He was one hell of a kisser. Fingers sliding through her hair, he flattened her to the bed and kissed her breathless.

She was conscious of every hard, sculpted angle of his big, powerful physique.

A little shiver feathered through her in response to the hard masculine arousal pressed against her.

And then before she could even catch her breath, Sebastian was pulling back and settling her back on her own side of the bed.

‘Night, Bunny.’

‘Night,’ Bunny whispered shakily, knowing she wished he hadn’t stopped, knowing she had been burning up to touch him and feel him touch her, but clearly the fun had gone out of it for him.

Served her right too for holding so fast to her boundaries.

She wasn’t a teenager any more or a born-again virgin.

Tristram had taught her a hard lesson but he hadn’t broken her, hadn’t reduced her to a timid woman, afraid of her own shadow or her desires.

Why wasn’t she being honest with herself?

She wanted Sebastian more than she had ever wanted any man and she might never get another chance to explore that side of herself with such a perfect partner.

Sebastian was experienced, sophisticated, gorgeous…

Tick, tick, tick, he checked every box. In addition, she was never going to see him again once they got off the island and wasn’t that even more perfect?

Sebastian as a wicked one-off experience?

Wasn’t that much safer than attaching all sorts of foolish emotions to how he could make her feel?

And then another rather frightening thought occurred to her and she burst into speech.

‘You’re not married or engaged or anything…are you?’

Sebastian froze. ‘Absolutely not. I’d be wearing a wedding ring if I was married and I’ve never seen the point in engagements.’

And all of that was true…totally, sincerely true.

‘I didn’t think so but I found myself needing to check,’ Bunny muttered and, before she could lose her nerve, she slid under the sheet that covered them, small smooth hands travelling across his torso and down a long, powerful, hair-roughened thigh.