Page 128 of Modern Romance Collection December 2024 Books 5-8

She closed her eyes. Counted to ten.Slowly.Surely she was going to wake up any minute now.

Any. Minute.

‘What are you doing?’ His question was spoken as softly as velvet brushed against her skin. His was a deep, sensual voice her ears liked, because they perked up, as did the speed of her heart, to a painful staccato rhythm.

And it was...uncomfortable.

Her mind didn’t know him, but her body—

She opened her eyes. ‘What amIdoing?’

‘Yes,’ he replied.

‘What areyoudoing?’ she asked, hoping to challenge his deplorable confidence he belonged here, had the absolute right to touch her and call himself husband. When—

‘Watching you.’

‘Then stop it,’ she spat, because his eyes on her felt...hot.

Her temples pounded.Hard. A bass drum between her ears.

She placed her fingertips to her temples and rubbed, but the pressure behind her eyes only increased. Her brain throbbed mercilessly, as if her mind was searching for something but an error code kept appearing.

‘This isn’t a movie,’ she forced out. ‘I didn’t fall over and forget my life.’

‘You have forgotten it,’ he corrected. ‘You have forgotten...me.’

‘Who could forgetyou?’

‘My wife, obviously.’

And she couldn’t help herself any longer. She looked down at her ring finger. And that was when she saw it.

‘Oh, my God.’

She brought her hand closer to her face. And sure enough, there on her finger was a tan line, a white circular band.

Just as he’d promised there would be.

Something had sat on her finger long enough for the sun to kiss the rest of her hand and leave this piece of her flesh untouched.

A ring.

‘It can’t be true,’ she whispered.

‘If you require it,’ he said, ‘I’ll produce our marriage certificate.’

‘Marriage certificate?’ She flexed her fingers out in front of her again. ‘Do you carry it around in your pocket for occasions such as this?’

Her laugh was a heavy cackle of self-mockery. Because what was a marriage certificate? Just a piece of paper. Her mother was, for all the intents and purposes,married. She’d had a child with a man she loved. She was devoted to him. Committed. But—

‘I do not have the certificate here,’ he said. ‘But I do have this.’

His left hand appeared next to hers. On his ring finger was a plain, simple gold wedding band. And on the finger next to it, on his little finger, was another ring. It was an exact match to the first one, only smaller, more feminine.

He removed it and slipped the ring onto her finger.

She’d never thought of herself as a Cinderella wannabe. Never longed for that life. But this was her glass slipper, wasn’t it? It was the perfect fit. A match. The white of her skin was hidden by the perfect circular thickness of gold on her finger.

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