Page 133 of Modern Romance September 2025 5-8

The pilot chased the afternoon sun atop the mountains, and Sebastian saw it shimmering in her eyes. There were no shadows lingering in their brown depths anymore. They were bright, and her light flowed through him in waves.

His hands itched to do what they hadn’t been able to do for months without being forced. To work. He wanted to map the contours of her face in clay. To sculpt every line and create a version of her he could keep, touch, whenever he felt like it, because he would not touchher.

He flattened his palms on his knees. Refused to clench his fingers.

He would control it. These new, and unwanted, impulses that had flooded through him the moment she’d appeared in the doorway of her house, from beneath white silk. Rounded. Vibrant with the seed he’d put inside her. The seed growing now with the swell of him.

Sebastian had not meant to take her. He had not planned to take her in his arms and carry her away from all she’d known. But the confession that she was not over their one-night stand, that she thought about it, about him…

The moment she’d asked him whether he would have changed how their night had ended if he could have, he’d known he would take her.

She was too naive, too vulnerable, with her romantic notions to be alone without him in this cruel and ugly world.

Dispassionate duty.That was all he could give. All he would give to keep them safe.

His home came into view.

‘Sebastian.’ Eyes wide, she turned from the window and looked at him. ‘It’s a castle.’

He nodded.

‘It’s beautiful,’ she said.

So was she. She sat regally, suiting her inherited title. Lady Aurora Arundel.

Her brown skin shimmered beneath the loose-fitting green dress. Beads sat in an array of earthy colours on the cuffs and hem of her dress. Sewn in spirals on the seams outlining her body. Her planted feet were buckled in tan block heels. He yearned to remove them.

He wanted to see her feet. Inspect them. The soles that had run barefoot in the dark. To see if she was injured. If she’d healed.

‘It is,’ he agreed. Every muscle in his body urged him to close the distance between them. Rush to her, place his mouth upon hers, and crush her lips against his.

Control yourself.

Taking the sunglasses hanging from his T-shirt, Sebastian slipped them on.

She turned back to the view, and he watched her take it all in. The artillery walls. The high turrets. The foreboding black stone walls.

The helicopter descended to the dedicated landing pad just outside the castle walls. The pilot shut off the engine, and the blades slowed.

Sebastian unclipped his seat belt and stood, preparing to reach across and unbuckle her seat belt, too. But she beat him to it. And the movement caused a rush of her warmth, her scent, to hit him square in the nostrils. He felt dizzy at the assault on his senses.

‘Ready?’ She smiled as she spoke.

He didn’t return her smile. He was ready to do his duty. ‘I am.’

The pilot opened the door, and she didn’t hesitate. She took the pilot’s outstretched hand and left Sebastian to catch up to her. Across the low grass, she moved to the gated entrance, ready to receive them.

She stopped when she reached it and shielded her eyes from the sun. Her neck arched upwards, her rounded stomach pressed forward. He wanted to rush to the swell of her. Feel it again. His baby inside her. But he made himself go slow. He wouldn’t rush.

Unhurriedly, he walked to her and stopped beside her. He slipped his glasses off and held them out. ‘Take these.’

She turned to him, a deep crease knitting her brows ‘Why?’

‘To shield your eyes from the sun,’ he said.

She took them, pushed them onto the bridge of her nose. And he was grateful they blunted the force of her gaze on him.

‘How long have you lived here?’