Page 26 of Modern Romance Collection May 2024 Books 1-4

She was here under sufferance, because the press had found out about Ashling, and if that hadn’t happened Erin had no doubt that Ajax would be in Athens, probably wining and dining another woman, not even thinking of her.

Here he was being civil. Yet not civil enough to refer to his own child by her name.

Ajax’s expression was unreadable. A little stiffly, he said, ‘I hadn’t ever planned on this again.’

Erin hesitated a second, then said, ‘But you planned it...before?’

Ajax looked at her. And then he took his wine glass and stood up. He went over to the stone wall, turned his back to her. Erin couldn’t help her gaze moving over the width of his shoulders and then down to his narrow hips. Firm buttocks, lovingly outlined by the faded denim.

She looked away hurriedly, afraid he’d turn and catch her ogling him. But he didn’t turn around. He said, ‘Actually, no, I didn’t plan it.’

‘So...how...?’ Erin trailed off, confused.

He turned around and rested his backside against the wall, looking at Erin. ‘My older brother was due to get married and start a family. He and Sofia were the ones who were engaged. But a few weeks before the wedding he was on board one of our ships and a storm blew up. He was trying to help the crew when he slipped and hit his head. He never recovered and he died a few days later.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Erin said. To have the death of his brother and then his wife and son...it had to have been almost impossible to get over. But then she frowned, ‘You said your brother was engaged to Sofia?’

Ajax nodded.

‘How didyouend up marrying her?’

‘It was a strategic marriage, designed to forge a strong union between my family and hers. When my brother died she was already pregnant with Theo. It was agreed that I would marry her—to protect the agreement between the families and to minimise the gossip about Theo. But it’s a relatively open secret that he was actually my nephew.’

This was huge. Too much for Erin to take in all at once.

‘So you and she...?’ Erin trailed off again.

Ajax arched a brow. ‘She and I...what?’

Erin felt foolish for asking, but some part of her needed to know. ‘You didn’t marry for love?’

Ajax looked at her for a moment, and then to her shock he emitted a sharp laugh.

‘Love? No. She wasn’t marrying my brother for love either—although they were better suited. Physically, at least.’ He continued, ‘Sofia and my brother and I come from families where anything as frivolous as love was weeded out generations ago. Marriages are as strategic as business deals.’

So Theo hadn’t been his son. His marriage hadn’t been based on a love match, as Erin had assumed. For someone who considered herself to be healthily cynical, she felt exposed—and very gauche.

Of course men like Ajax Nikolau moved in very different circles. There was too much money and power at stake to merely fall in love. And yet she knew that losing Sofia and Theo had been devastating. Or at least losing Theo...

As if reading her mind, Ajax said, ‘I don’t—’ He stopped and amended his words. ‘Ididn’tconsider Theo a nephew. He was my son. I was there for his birth. I had no idea what to expect, but when he was handed to me...’

‘You fell in love?’ Erin said quietly.

He looked at her, and she could see even now the slightly bewildered expression on his face. ‘Yes, I did.’

No wonder he’d decided never to risk it again. Loving and losing... She could understand it now, even if it didn’t make it any easier to accept.

She wasn’t so different herself. The thought of loving someone enough to be hurt by them was terrifying to her. Witnessing her father’s devastation had been almost worse than her abandonment by her mother.

After her one relationship at university she’d realised that focusing on her career brought her more satisfaction, and no man had come along to distract her from that or persuade her otherwise. Until Ajax. It wasn’t that she wanted to emulate her mother’s obsession with work above all else, but more that she didn’t want to risk the devastation she’d witnessed growing up with a heartbroken and lonely father.

She forced her mind away from such concerns. There was no danger of that here.

Erin said, ‘Her name is Ashling and she exists—no matter how much you want to distance yourself from that fact.’

Ajax’s mouth tilted on one side in a rueful half-smile. ‘I think that horse has bolted by now.’

It was something, and Erin clung to it. ‘Thank you for telling me what happened. So, what is the plan?’

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