Page 36 of Modern Romance Collection May 2024 Books 1-4

Erin looked at her. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Ajax’s baby. A baby no one expected him to have after... Well, you know.’ Angel took Erin’s hand and squeezed it gently. ‘But I’m glad. He deserves to be happy. Theo showed him it was possible, but then it got snatched away.’

Someone approached Angel from the other side of the room and spoke into her ear.

She grimaced at Erin. ‘Look, I have to run—but please, make yourself at home.’

She walked away, leaving Erin in the middle of the room alone. She looked around for Ajax, but couldn’t see him straight away. As she turned she saw people stopping and looking at her. Whispering. Making little effort to hide their interest. She could see some of it was benign. But most of it was suspicious. Hostile. What had Angel said?Cut-throat.

Her hand gripped the glass of wine she held and suddenly she felt too hot. She walked towards the open doors that led out to a wide patio, where she could see more people milling around.

As she walked through the room she heard the whispers.

‘She’s some sort of ambulance-chaser lawyer...’

‘She’s not related to anyone...’

‘She did it on purpose to trap him...’

‘He’s not going to marry her...’

Erin all but stumbled out through the open doors, and for a moment she was tipping forward perilously in thin air. Then a hand wrapped around her arm, steadying her. She recognised the familiar sizzle in her blood and looked up.

‘Perfect timing,’ she said. ‘I’m sure they would have loved to see me go splat on my face.’

Ajax led her towards a low stone wall, beyond which stretched stunning gardens and a panoramic view of Athens laid out before them.

He asked, ‘What do you mean?’

Erin took a sip of wine and nodded her head towards the room full of people. ‘Well, according to some I’m an ambulance-chaser, and I’m not related to anyone important, and—oh, you’ll probably like this one—they don’t think you’ll marry me, so you’re definitely off the hook there.’

Erin raised her glass in a mocking salute.

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to be left alone.’

‘It’s fine. I was with Angel, but she was called away.’

Ajax’s jaw clenched. ‘This is why I don’t like to live here full-time.’

‘I guess Athens is a small enough city when it comes to this kind of thing.’

‘Exactly.’ He turned to her. ‘By the way, the statement has dropped.’

Erin looked at him. ‘The statement?’

‘About us. To the press.’

The man addled her brain when he was close. No wonder these people thought she was just an ambulance-chaser.

She’d looked over the statement earlier and approved it.

Ajax Nikolau and Erin Murphy would like to announce that they have a daughter and are together. They ask for their privacy to be respected.

It couldn’t have been more succint.

Erin nodded. ‘The statement... Yes.’

She looked up at Ajax again and her eyes widened. Had he moved closer, or had she? Even though they were outside, it felt as if she couldn’t draw in enough oxygen.

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